Library › Egeria › Pilgrimage of Etheria

Pilgrimage of Etheria

Egeria, tr. McClure and Feltoe, 1919

d10

10. Points of Liturgical Interest

1. Epiphany. Etheria leaves practically no room for doubt that both in Egypt and at Jerusalem the Feast of the Nativity was kept on January 6, not on December 25, and this is in accordance with what we know to be the general usage of those churches otherwise. Our Christmas Day had distinctly a Western origin, not having been introduced into the East before 375, and that was at Antioch. Juvenal, bishop of Jerusalem (†458), is said to have accepted it, but Cosmas Indicopleustes, a native of Egypt, in the first half of the sixth century, distinctly witnesses against its observance in Jerusalem then. For the vicissitudes in regard to Christmas see Duchesne, op. cit. pp. 259 ff., and Conybeare, Rituale Armenorum, p. 512.

2. The Purification (Feb. 14). Etheria’s name for it is simply quadragesimae de Epiphania (the fortieth day from E.), the common name for it being Hypapante (ὑπαπαντή, or meeting, i.e. of the Holy Family with Simeon and Anna). This is the earliest extant notice of it. Naturally it would begin as a favourite local commemoration in the Holy City, and thence it spread towards the West in the sixth century.

3. Lent at Jerusalem lasted eight weeks when Etheria was there, the forty days (or more strictly forty-one days) being made up by omitting all the eight Sundays and all the Saturdays except Easter Eve. This prolongation of the season is not mentioned elsewhere.¹ But it may be noted that the retention of the Saturday as a festival (not in Lent only) was long general in the East, if not to some extent in the West. Etheria says that in Jerusalem they call Quadragesimae Eortae (i.e. ἑορταί, feasts), but this is probably a mistake on her part due to her imperfect knowledge of Greek, ἑορτή (sing.) being commonly used for the great yearly festival of Easter.

4. The observances of Holy Week are all of great interest in view of the early date of the record. They included the following: —

(a) The children’s waving of olive or palm branches on the Sunday. This, again, started at Jerusalem.

(b) The celebration of the Communion in the late afternoon of Maundy Thursday: for this practice see further below on p. xiii.

(c) The adoration of the Cross and the observance of the Three Hours on Good Friday.

(d) King Solomon’s ring and the ancient anointing horn of the kings were also exhibited and venerated.

5. Ascension Day itself was kept, but without much ceremonial, and at Bethlehem, not in the Imbomon, as one would have expected. Curiously enough, however, on the afternoon of Pentecost (p. 87) meetings were held both in the Eleona and in the Imbomon at which the feast of the Ascension was again commemorated.²

6. The following were the Daily Offices: —

(a) Vigiliae nocturnae before dawn.

(b) Mattins (at dawn).

(c) Terce (only in Lent).

(d) Sext.

(e) None.

(f) Lucernare (Vespers).

No mention is made of Prime or Compline. These services were open to all who wished to attend, but naturally the chief part of the congregation consisted of ascetics of both sexes (monazontes et parthenae, p. 45). Three psalms³ and three prayers were said at each office, and Etheria was agreeably impressed with the (to her unfamiliar) practice of adapting Psalms, Prayers and Lessons⁴ to the special teaching of the season or place.

She also speaks of “hymns” and “antiphons” being used. The practice of “singing or saying” hymns other than the Psalms of David in Divine service was of very early origin, certainly in the East, and almost as certainly in the West; so that in any case Etheria would not have been entirely unaccustomed to it. But in the fourth century —largely in consequence of the efforts of the orthodox or catholics to counteract the spread of Arian views by this means — hymn-writing and singing had received a very great impetus, and such compositions, whether metrical (as in the West) or merely rhythmical (as in the East), had become a regular part of public worship throughout Christendom. Thus, at Constantinople we know that S. Chrysostom had encouraged their use, and at Milan S. Ambrose had himself written hymns for the purpose,⁵ while at Edessa the famous Syriac hymns of Ephraem belong to about the same period, and were intended as a counterblast to the unsound teaching conveyed by the older songs of Bardesanes. With regard to the “antiphons” which Etheria mentions, it is difficult to say whether she means compositions strictly so called, because they were sung antiphonally, or in a more general sense “anthems” as we call them, for both kinds were already probably in use.⁶

It is not necessary to repeat here what Mrs. McClure has said in her footnote on p. 46 by way of possible explanation of the obscure expression “to approach the bishop’s hand,” which occurs frequently in Etheria’s account of the services at Jerusalem.

With regard to Etheria’s use of the word missa in her narrative, it must be remembered that it still has for her its original meaning of “dismissal,” and is so rendered in this translation. It does not seem to have been introduced into church phraseology much before the end of the fourth century, and she herself does not employ it till she begins to describe the services at Jerusalem (pp. 46 ff.). There she applies it to all kinds of meetings for public worship, and much more often to the daily or occasional offices than to the Liturgy properly so called, where, however, she is careful to distinguish between the missa catechumenorum and the missa fidelium. Her usual terms for the Eucharist are oblatio and offerre, and the congregation is usually said procedere for its celebration.

One quite new feature of this edition, on which Mrs. McClure had spent much care, is the use that she has made in her notes of the Old Armenian Lectionary for the purpose of identifying the psalms and lections sung or said at Jerusalem during her visit. “This evidence,” says Archbishop Bernard, “supplies an interesting confirmation of the accuracy of Etheria’s observations as to the nature of the services at which she was present”: for the frequent references in its rubrics to Jerusalem sites are shown to be genuine and to belong to an early period by the statements of more than one Armenian father in the first half of the eighth century.⁷ The information will be found set out in full in Mr. Conybeare’s Rituale Armenorum, pp. 507 ff.: it is based upon two MSS., one at Paris in the Bibliothèque National of the eighth century, the other, at Oxford in the Bodleian, of the fourteenth century, and upon the commentary of Gregory Asharuni (early eighth century).

7. Fasting. Various details are given, in particular with regard to Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent (p. 59) and the extra strict fast of the Apotactitae (pp. 61 f.); but the rules are not always quite clear, owing to Etheria’s use of Missa (dismissal) for other services than the Eucharist, as the length of the fast depends on the hour of Communion. She speaks also of the fast after Pentecost (p. 89), which as late as the tenth century was still in theory to be observed in Western Christendom (see Dowden, Ch. Year and Kalendar, pp. 85 f.). We find references to it in S. Athanasius (Apol. de fuga, 6) and in the Apostolic Constitutions (v. 20). It is perhaps more than a coincidence that one of the Ember seasons in the West was fixed by the date of Pentecost.

No relaxation was allowed on account of a martyr’s festival falling on a “Station” day in Lent at Jerusalem: cf. Council of Laodicea in Phrygia (A.D. 361), c. 51.

8. The Eucharist. The usual liturgical hour on Saturdays and Sundays was the third (9 a.m.), but on “Station” days throughout the year the ninth (3 p.m.). Once a year, on Maundy Thursday (see above), it was even later, i.e. after the tenth hour (4 ‘p.m.). This last usage is stated by Archbishop Bernard (op. cit. p. 61) to have been after a meal, in conformity with that of the African Church (Council of Carthage, A.D. 397, c. 29, and S. Aug. Ep. ad Januar. c. 7), but Etheria seems to me very distinctly to state that they took their food after, not before (p. 71). Otherwise during Lent the Liturgy was celebrated only on Saturdays and Sundays, and not on Wednesdays and Fridays.⁸

It is interesting to note that the language employed in service time was Greek, not Syriac, though interpretations of lessons and instructions were given in Syriac for the benefit of those who did not know Greek (p. 94).

At the Sunday Eucharist as many of the priests who were present preached as wished to, and the bishop preached last of all.⁹ The posture of the preacher seems to have been that of sitting (as in the Jewish synagogue), while the congregation stood. Applause as well as other signs of emotion were often called forth by the reader or speaker (p. 94).

9. The use of incense is mentioned on p. 49, but apparently for fumigation before the Liturgy (or at all events the ἀναφορά itself) begins, not actually as part of the ceremonial.

10. Etheria was struck by the use of the Kyrie eleison as a response by the numerous choir boys standing by during the recitation of the names from the diptychs at vespers (p. 47).¹⁰ The evidence goes to show that this formula was not introduced into the West of Christendom till the end of the fifth century. The 3rd Canon of the Council of Vaison (529) speaks of it as having reached Provence by way of Rome and Milan: probably it reached Spain somewhat later. See E. Bishop, Liturg. Hist. pp. 116 ff.

11. Holy Baptism. The course of preparation of those catechumens who became competentes during Lent and the Baptism itself on Easter Eve is fully described, and likewise the further instructions given to the newly baptized during the ensuing Eastertide. The descriptions tally in most respects with what may be gathered from S. Cyril of Jerusalem’s eighteen Catechetical Lectures delivered to the competentes and the five on the Mysteries delivered to the neophytes in 386.

12. The Dedication Festival: see p. xlvi below.

13. Martyr Memorials. That of S. Thomas at Edessa is mentioned on p. 32; that of S. Elpidius at Haran on p. 37; of S. Thecla at Seleucia in Isauria on p. 42; of S. Euphemia at Chalcedon on p. 43, and of S. John at Ephesus on p. 44. Among the other churches and holy sites Etheria visited (besides those in the Sinai district) mention may be made of the Church of Melchizedek (p. 28), the garden of S. John Baptist at Aenon (p. 27), and the grave of Job at Carneas (p. 29). She gives a full description on p. 20 of the scheme of devotions she and her companions used on each occasion, the order followed being this: prayer, reading, psalm, prayer; for less full accounts see pp. 7 f., 21 f., 26 f., 32, 35 f., 40 and 43.

14. Officers of the Church. Except Marthana, the deaconess (p. 42), who had been at Jerusalem and was afterwards in charge of nuns at Seleucia, the only one who needs to be specified here is the archdeacon. He is four times mentioned at Jerusalem as “lifting his voice” to announce the place of the next service and to invite the congregation to attend (pp. 63, 65, 70 and 87). The same official is mentioned as assisting the bishop when he confers minor orders in the Statuta ecclesiae antiqua. These used to be considered as emanating from the fourth Council of Carthage (398), but they are now usually assigned to the end of the fifth century and held to be of Gallican origin (Duchesne op. cit. p. 132). In any case this is probably the earliest reference to the archdeacon in the East. He takes a prominent part in the services of the Coptic and Syrian Churches and is ordained to his office with special rites (see Denzinger, Ritus Orientalium, ii, pp. 10, 70, 86, and 142).

15. Eulogiae. At various places Etheria was presented with these after service, e.g. at Sinai, p. 5, where she explains them to be “gifts of the fruits grown on the mountain,” and at Nebo on p. 21, and out of the garden or orchard of S. John the Baptist on p. 28. See explanation in footnotes in loco of this, which can hardly be considered a liturgical matter in the form in which Etheria mentions it.

Previous · Contents · Next