Jerusalem (Old city) - Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Golgotha)

<Lent>

27. (2) Here is what is done on each day of these weeks. On Sundays the bishop reads the Gospel of the Lord's resurrection at first cockcrow, as he does on every Sunday throughout the year. Then, till daybreak, they do everything as they would on an ordinary Sunday at the Anastasis and the Cross. (3) - - - Lucernare is at the normal time when it always takes place in the Anastasis and At the Cross and in all the other holy places; for on Sundays there is no service at three o'clock. - - - (6) On Wednesdays in Lent, then, they assemble, as during the rest of the year, at three o'clock on Sion, - - - and after the dismissal the people conduct the bishop with singing to the Anastasis, starting out in time the arrive at the Anastasis for Lucernare. They have the hymns and antiphons, and the Lucernare dismissal takes place at the Anastasis and the Cross, (7) though during Lent it is later than at other times of the year. - - -

<Palm Sunday>

30. (1) The next day, Sunday, is the beginning of the Easter week or, as they call it here, "The Great Week". On this Sunday they do everything as usual at the Anastasis and the Cross from cock-crow to daybreak, and then as usual assemble in the Great Church known as the Martyrium because it is on Golgotha behind the Cross, where the Lord was put to death. - - -

31. (4) So it is already late when they reach the Anastasis; but even though it is late they hold Lucernare when they get there, then have a prayer At the Cross, and the people are dismissed.

<Holy Thursday>

35. (2) After the dismissal at the Martyrium they go Behind the Cross, where they have one hymn and a prayer; then the bishop makes the Offering there, and everyone receives Communion. On this one day the Offering is made Behind the Cross, but on no other day in the whole year. After the dismissal there they go to the Anastasis, where they have a prayer, the usual blessings of catechumens and faithful, and the dismissal.

36. (3) - - - Thus the bishop is conducted from Gethsemane to the gate, and from there through the whole city as far as the Cross. (4) By the time they arrive Before the Cross it is pretty well full day, and they have another Gospel reading, the whole passage about the Lord being led away to Pilate, and all the recorded words of Pilate to the Lord or to the Jews. (5) Then the bishop speaks a word of encouragement to the people. They have been hard at it all night, and there is further effort in store for them in the day ahead. So he tells them not to be weary, but to put their hope in God, who will give them a reward out of all proportion to the effort they have made. When he has given them as much encouragement as he can, he speaks to them as follows: "Now off you go home till the next service, and sit down for a bit. Then all be back here at about eight o'clock so that till midday you can see the holy Wood of the Cross, that, as every one of us believes, helps us attain salvation. And from midday onwards we must assemble here Before the Cross again, and give our minds to readings and prayers till nightfall."

<Good Friday>

37. (1) Before the sun is up, the dismissal takes place At the Cross, and those with the energy then go to Sion to pray at the column at which the Lord was scourged, before going on home for a short rest. But it is not long before everyone is assembled for the next service. The bishop's chair is placed on Golgotha Behind the Cross (the cross there now), and he takes his seat. A table is placed before him with a cloth on it, the deacons stand round, and there is brought to him a gold and silver box containing the holy Wood of the Cross. It is opened, and the Wood of the Cross and the Title are taken out and placed on the table. (2) As long as the holy Wood is on the table, the bishop sits with his hands resting on either end of it and holds it down, and the deacons round him keep watch over it. They guard it like this because what happens now is that all the people, catechumens as well as faithful, come up one by one to the table. They stoop down over it, kiss the Wood, and move on. But on one occasion (I don't know when) one of them bit off a piece0 of the holy Wood and stole it away, and for this reason the deacons stand found and keep watch in case anyone dares to do the same again. (3) Thus all the people go past one by one. They stoop down, touch the holy Wood first with their forehead and then with their eyes, and then kiss it, but no one puts out his hand to touch it. Then they go on to a deacon who stands holding the Ring of Solomon, and the Horn with which the kings were anointed. These they venerate by kissing them, and they start round about eight o'clock with everybody going by, entering by one door and going out through the other, till midday. All this takes place where on the previous day, Thursday, they made the Offering. (4) At midday they go Before the Cross — whether it is rain or fine, for the place is out of doors — into the very spacious and beautiful courtyard between the Cross and the Anastasis, and there is not even room to open a door, the place is so crammed with people. (5) They place the bishop's chair Before the Cross, and the whole time between midday and three o'clock is taken up with readings.  They are all about the things Jesus suffered: first the psalms on this subject, then the Apostles (the Epistles or Acts) which concern it, then passages from the Gospels. Thus they.read the prophecies about what the Lord would suffer, and the Gospels about what he did suffer. (6) And in this way they continue the readings and hymns from midday till three o'clock, demonstrating to all the people by the testimony of the Gospels and the writings of the Apostles that the Lord actually suffered everything the prophets had foretold. For those three hours, then, they are teaching the people that nothing which took place had not been foretold, and all that was foretold was completely fulfilled; and between all the readings are prayers, all of them appropriate to the day. (7) It is impressive to see the way all the people are moved by these readings, and how they mourn. You could hardly believe how every single one of them weeps during the three hours, old and young alike, because of the manner in which the Lord suffered for us. Then, when three o'clock comes, they have the reading from St John's Gospel about Jesus giving up the ghost, and, when that has been read, there is a prayer, and the dismissal. (8) After the dismissal Before the Cross, they go directly into the Great Church, the Martyrium, and do what is usual during this week between three o'clock and evening. - - -

<Octave>

39. (1) The eight days of Easter they celebrate till a late hour, like us, and up to the eighth day of Easter they follow the same order as people do everywhere else. The arrangements and decorations for the eight days of Easter are like those for the season of Epiphany in the Great Church, and also in the Anastasis, At the Cross, on the Eleona, at Bethlehem, the Lazarium, and elsewhere. (2) On the first Sunday, Easter Day itself, they assemble in the Great Church, the Martyrium, and similarly on the Monday and Tuesday; and when they have had the dismissal, there they always go with singing from the Martyrium to the Anastasis. But on the Wednesday they assemble on the Eleona, on the Thursday in the Anastasis, on the Friday on Sion, on the Saturday Before the Cross, and on the eighth day, the Sunday, they assemble once more in the Great Church, the Martyrium. - - -

40. (1) On the eighth day of Easter, the Sunday, all the people go up with the bishop immediately after midday to the Eleona. - - - Then they go up to the Imbomon and do as on the Eleona. Then the time comes for all the people and apotactites to take the bishop with singing to the Anastasis, and they arrive there for Lucernare at the usual time. (2) Lucernare is held at the Anastasis and At the Cross, and from there all the people, every single one, conduct the bishop with singing to Sion. - - -

<Pentecost>

43. (8) Again in the Anastasis they have hymns and antiphons and a prayer, and the catechumens are blessed, and then the faithful. Then the same is done again At the Cross, and once more every single member of the Christian community conducts the bishop with singing to Sion. 

(transl. Wilkinson)