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The Christian church year is an annual cycle of seasons and days observed in
the Christian churches in commemoration of the life, death, and Resurrection of
Jesus Christ and of his virtues as exhibited in the lives of his saints. This
section surveys the origin and meaning, development, and current revisions of
this cycle.
The church year has deep roots in the primitive human impulse to mark certain
times with sacral significance and ritual observance. These are times when
conscious attention is given to the mysterious forces that surround and involve
all living creatures in the natural and inexorable cycles of light and darkness;
labour and rest; birth, growth, decay, and death.
Two interrelated cycles have had primary importance in the shaping of
religious calendars. One is cosmic: the phases of the Moon and the solar
equinoxes and solstices. The other is the periodic succession of the seasons of
nature that determines times of sowing and reaping. Both cycles speak to the
mystery of birth, death, and rebirth and to human dependence upon the fecundity
of life given in the natural creation.
The Jewish religious year, grounded in the divinely revealed Law of the Old
Testament, was the foundation for the church year of Christians. It is a
lunar-month calendar stemming from the primitive nomadic life of the Hebrews,
with its chief festival at the first full moon of spring, known later as the
Passover. Grafted onto this calendar after the settlement of the Hebrew tribes
in Palestine were the agricultural festivals--dependent upon "the early and
later rains"--the firstfruits at Passover, the first harvest at the Feast
of Weeks or Pentecost, and the autumn harvest at the Feast of Tabernacles or
Booths. (see also Index: Judaism, Sukkoth)
Of uncertain origin, but prior to the monarchical period (11th to 6th century
BC), the Hebrews observed a seven-day week, of which the last day, or sabbath,
was a holiday and day of rest. Whatever its original purpose, it became
transformed into a sacral day, consecrated to Yahweh, the one God of the
Hebrews, and increasingly surrounded with restrictions upon all activity other
than worship. In the time of Jesus (1st century AD), "keeping holy the
sabbath day" was a principal hallmark of adherence to Judaism.
The remarkable aspect of the Jewish religious year was its transformation, in
successive codifications of the Old Testament Law, into a series of historical
commemorations associated with God's deed in creation and in the redemption of
God's people. At first, the sabbath was related to the Exodus, the deliverance
of the Hebrews from Egypt in the 13th century BC (Deuteronomy 5:15), and, later,
to the repose of God at the completion of creation (Exodus 20:8-11; Genesis
2:2-3). The three agricultural feasts became a sequence of remembrances of the
Exodus from Egypt and the pilgrimage through the wilderness to the promised land
(Exodus 12:1-20; Leviticus 23; Deuteronomy 16:1-17). Through these annual
celebrations the devout Jew relived the saving events of the past and
anticipated the final deliverance of the people of God in the age to come.
Rabban Gamaliel, a contemporary of Jesus, said, "In every generation a man
must so regard himself as if he came forth himself out of Egypt. . . . "
(from Mishna, Pesahim 10:5).
In his earthly life Jesus was subject to the law of sabbath, feast, and fast
prescribed in the Old Testament; but his ministry and teaching pointed to a new
age, the coming Kingdom of God, when the Law would be fulfilled. He was,
therefore, not so much concerned with outward conformity to legal regulations as
he was with the spirit in which they were observed. "The sabbath was made
for man, and not man for the sabbath" (Mark 2:27). It was in the context of
a celebration of the Passover feast with his disciples that he was arrested,
tried, and put to death.
Early Christians believed that the new age promised by Jesus had dawned with
his Resurrection, on "the first day of the week" (Matthew 28:1; Mark
16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1). By this event the Law was fulfilled. Now every day
and time were viewed as holy for the celebration and remembrance of Jesus'
triumph over sin and death. Though many of his disciples continued to observe
the special times and seasons of the Jewish Law, new converts broke with the
custom because they regarded it as no longer needful or necessary. Paul, himself
a dutiful observant of the Law, considered the keeping of holy days a matter of
indifference, provided the devotion be "in honor of the Lord" (Romans
14:5-9). He warned his converts not to judge one another with regard "to a
festival or a new moon or a sabbath" (Colossians 2:16). (see also Index:
early church)
From the beginning the church took over from Judaism the seven-day week.
Before the end of the apostolic age (1st century AD), as the church became
predominantly Gentile in membership, the first day of the week, or Sunday, had
become the normative time when Christians assembled for their distinctive acts
of worship, in commemoration of the Lord's Resurrection (Acts 20:7; 1
Corinthians 16:2). During the first two centuries AD, the Greco-Roman world in
general adopted the planetary seven-day week of the astrologers.
Christian writers of the 2nd century came to view Sunday, "the Lord's
day," as a symbol of Christianity in distinction from Judaism. Most of the
churches decided to observe the Lord's Passover (Easter) always on a Sunday,
after the Jewish feast was over. In addition, local churches began to celebrate
the anniversaries of the deaths of their martyrs, called "birthdays in
eternity," for these also were regarded as witnesses to the resurrection
triumph of Christ in his followers. The weekly Sunday and the annual Paschal
(Passover) observance of 50 days from Easter to Pentecost (the Jewish harvest
festival that also commemorated the revelation of the Law to Moses) were thus
the principal framework of the church year until the 4th century--reminders of
the new age to be brought by Christ at his coming again in glory at the end of
time, when the true believers would enter their inheritance of perpetual joy and
feasting with their Redeemer and Lord.
The establishment of Christianity as a state religion, following the
conversion of the emperor Constantine (AD 312), brought new developments. The
Paschal season was matched by a longer season of preparation ( Lent) for the
many new candidates for baptism at the Easter ceremonies, and the discipline and
penance of those who for grievous sins had been cut off from the communion of
the church.
A new focus of celebration, to commemorate the birthday of Christ, the world
Redeemer, was instituted at ancient winter solstices (December 25 and January 6)
to rival the pagan feasts in honour of the birth of a new age brought by the
Unconquered Sun. Later, the Western churches created a preparatory season for
this festival, known as Advent. Many new days were gradually added to the roster
of martyr anniversaries to commemorate distinguished leaders, the dedication of
buildings and shrines in honour of the saints, and the transferral of their
relics. (see also Index: Sol Invictus)
Unlike the cycle of feasts and fasts of the Jewish Law, the Christian year
has never been based upon a divine revelation. It is rather a tradition that is
always subject to change by ecclesiastical law. Each self-governing church
maintains the right to order the church year according to pastoral needs of
edification. The pattern of the year therefore varies in the several churches of
the East and of the West. The subtle adjustments of a lunar-month calendar, with
its movable date of Easter, and a solar calendar of fixed dates require many
rules to avoid conflict of observances.
In the Western churches periodic reforms of the church year have occurred,
notably in the Reformation era and again in the 20th century. The Protestant
Reformers of the 16th century took differing attitudes toward such reforms. With
their strong sense of the prime authority of Scripture and of the freedom of the
gospel from all legalisms in liturgical matters, they revised the church year
with varying degrees of radicalism. Lutherans and Anglicans took a conservative
position, retaining the traditional seasons but eliminating commemorations that
had no connection with the biblical record. (see also Index:
Protestantism)
The Reformed churches, on the other hand, allowed only those feasts with a
clear basis in the New Testament: Sundays, Holy Week and Easter, Pentecost, and
in some cases Christmas. The Church of Scotland and Anabaptist and Puritan
groups abolished the church year entirely, except for Sundays. In recent years
this attitude has been very much modified. Their protest has been a reminder to
the church that all days are regarded as belonging to Christ in the freedom of
his Spirit, who cannot be controlled by rigid systems of fixed special
observances.
In the late 20th century in the Western churches the church year was being
subjected to an overall revision comparable in scope only to that of the 16th
century. This was due to a number of currents of interest that were converging; i.e.,
advances in historical and liturgical studies, changes in theological
perspectives, and ecumenical encounters.
The basic structure of the church year was the creation of the ancient
churches in the varied cultures surrounding the Mediterranean Sea that were
embraced in the Roman Empire. Christian missionaries have carried the church
year throughout the world--first in the Northern Hemisphere and, since the 16th
century, in the Southern Hemisphere, where the natural seasons are reversed. It
is unlikely that the dates of the two major feasts, Easter and Christmas, which
control the seasons of the church year, will be changed. But new symbols and
popular customs associated with them will emerge in areas where, for example,
Easter is celebrated in the autumn rather than as a spring festival.
The church year consists of two concurrent cycles: (1) the Proper of Time
(Temporale), or seasons and Sundays that revolve around the movable date of
Easter and the fixed date of Christmas, and (2) the Proper of Saints
(Sanctorale), other commemorations on fixed dates of the year. Every season and
holy day is a celebration, albeit with different emphases, of the total
revelation and redemption of Christ, which are "made present at all
times" or proclaim "the paschal mystery as achieved in the saints who
have suffered and been glorified with Christ" (second Vatican Council,
"Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy"). The church year is an epitome
in time of the history of salvation in Christ.
The Orthodox churches of the Byzantine tradition recall the Resurrection of
Christ every Sunday. Many Sundays take their title from the Gospel lesson for
the day. In addition to Easter, "the feast of feasts," there are 12
other major feasts: Christmas, Epiphany, Hypapante (Meeting of Christ with
Simeon, February 2), Palm Sunday, Ascension, Pentecost, Transfiguration (August
6), Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14), and four feasts of the Blessed
Virgin Mary--her Nativity (September 8), Presentation in the Temple (November
21), Annunciation (March 25), and Falling Asleep (August 15).
The principal cycle consists of (1) 10 weeks before Easter, contained in the Triodion(pre-Easter
liturgical service book); the first four of these Sundays prepare for the Great
Fast, or Lent (i.e.,
the Sunday of the Pharisee and Publican; the Sunday of the Prodigal Son;
Meat-Fast Sunday, after which abstinence from meat is enjoined; and Cheese-Fast
Sunday, after which the fast includes cheese, eggs, butter, and milk), and (2)
eight weeks after Easter, contained in the Pentekostarion(post-Easter
liturgical service book), including the Feast of Ascension, 40 days after
Easter, and concluding with the Festival of All Saints on the Sunday after
Pentecost. Other special commemorations of the period are the Feast of
Orthodoxy, on the first Sunday in Lent, recalling the end of the Iconoclastic
Controversy in 843, and the feast of the Fathers of the first Ecumenical Council
of Nicaea in 325 on the sixth Sunday after Easter.
The schedule of fixed holy days in the Menaion (liturgical service book for
each month) begins on September 1, the New Year's or Indiction Day of the
Byzantine Empire. It includes the invariable feasts of Christ, St. Mary and
other Christian saints, and many Old Testament saints.
The separated churches of the East (those not accepting the jurisdiction of
Orthodox patriarchs or bishops) have calendars basically similar to the
Byzantine. West Syrians (Jacobites) and East Syrians (Nestorians) begin the year
with a series of Sundays devoted to themes of the Dedication of the Church
(consecration by a bishop) and the Annunciation (of the angel Gabriel to Mary
that she would bear the Son of God)--the West Syrian sequence starting on
November 1, the East Syrian on December 1. There are few saints' days in the
Nestorian calendar. The Copts (Egyptians) and Ethiopians date their year from
August 29, considered the beginning of the Christian Era in the persecution of
the emperor Diocletian (AD 303-311). They have some 32 feasts of the Virgin Mary
and many feasts of angels. The Armenian Church follows the Byzantine in
beginning the year with the preparatory Sundays before Lent, but it commonly
observes fixed holy days on the nearest Sunday. It is the only ancient church
that never adopted the feast of Christmas on December 25 but celebrates the
incarnation only on Epiphany, January 6. (see also Index: Eastern
Christian Independent church, Coptic Orthodox Church, Ethiopian Orthodox church)
The church year begins on the first Sunday in Advent, which is the fourth
Sunday before Christmas Day. Until 1969, after Advent and Christmas, there
followed the seasons of Epiphany, Pre-Lent, Lent, Easter, Ascension, and
Pentecost. The first day of Lent is Ash Wednesday, being the 40th day (exclusive
of Sundays) before Easter. A special festival of the Holy Trinity occurs on the
first Sunday after Pentecost. Corpus Christi, a feast celebrating the Real
Presence of Christ in the bread and wine of the Eucharist (Communion meal, or
the Lord's Supper), was instituted in 1264 by Pope Urban IV and is observed on
the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. In 1925 Pope Pius XI created the Feast of
Christ the King, assigned to the last Sunday in October.
Until 1969, the fixed holy days began with St. Andrew (November 30), the
nearest to the beginning of Advent. The three days before Ascension Day, called
Minor Rogation Days ("Days of Asking"), are devoted to special prayers
for fruitful harvests. Found only in the Roman Catholic Church are the fasts of
the four seasons (quatuor tempora), known as Ember Days, and especially
associated with ordinations to the ministry. They occur on the Wednesdays,
Fridays, and Saturdays after the third Sunday of Advent and the first Sunday in
Lent, in the week of Pentecost and the week after Holy Cross Day (September 14).
(see also Index: Ember Day and Ember Week)
A revised calendar was issued by Pope John XXIII in 1960. The
"Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy" of the second Vatican Council
called for further reforms. These have been completed in the new calendar and
lectionary promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969.
The most important feature of the new calendar was the restoration of all
Sundays as feasts of Christ. No saints' days, even of the Virgin Mary, may take
precedence of a Sunday. In the Proper of Time, the season of Pre-Lent was
eliminated, and two cycles were provided: (1) the principal seasons, Sundays,
and holy days from Advent to Pentecost and (2) a schedule of 33 Sundays per
annum to be observed in numbered sequence in place of the Sundays previously
designated "after Epiphany" and "after Pentecost." The
ancient Roman Feast of St. Mary was restored to January 1; a new Feast of the
Baptism of Christ was assigned to the first Sunday after Epiphany; and the Feast
of Christ the King was shifted to the last Sunday of Ordinary Time. All octaves
were eliminated. Fixed holy days are now arranged from January 1.
A considerable simplification, reclassification, and in many cases shifting
of dates were made in the Proper of Saints. Except for 13
"solemnities" (including major feasts of Christ and Mary) and 25
"feasts," all other saints' days and holy days were reduced to
"memorials," either obligatory or optional--with the right of national
and regional episcopal conferences to alter their rank. Ember and Rogation Days
were assigned as votive masses to be observed according to regional directives.
Regulations regarding holy days and processes leading to the canonization of
saints are controlled by the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship (formerly
the Congregation of Rites). Certain feasts, in addition to all Sundays, are
designated "holy days of obligation," when all the faithful must
attend Mass. In the United States these are: Christmas Day (December 25), the
Feast of St. Mary (New Year's Day), Ascension Day, the Assumption of the Blessed
Virgin Mary (August 15), All Saints' Day (November 1), and the Immaculate
Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (December 8). In addition to these,
"days of obligation" observed elsewhere include: St. Joseph's Day
(March 19), the Annunciation (March 25), SS. Peter and Paul Day (June 29), and
the Feast of Corpus Christi.
Lutheran and Anglican churches preserve in their liturgies the seasons of the
Roman Catholic calendar; but in general they reduced the fixed holy days to
primary feasts of Christ and the Apostles and evangelists, Michaelmas Day
(September 29), and All Saints' Day (November 1). In the second half of the
year, Sundays were named "after Trinity." In the late 20th century the
revisions of Lutheran and Anglican service books were influenced by the new
designs of the Roman Catholic calendar, notably proposals to eliminate Pre-Lent
and to name Sundays "after Pentecost" instead of "after
Trinity." Anglican and Lutheran calendars were also enriching their entries
with many non-biblical saints and holy days, but for optional observance.
Lutherans celebrate a festival of the Reformation on October 31 or the Sunday
preceding that date.
In other Protestant churches, only Sunday observance remains obligatory,
including Easter and Pentecost. Holy Week is frequently observed, and Christmas
is commonly celebrated liturgically on the Sunday preceding December 25. Among
these Protestant churches, new service books and hymnals have exhibited interest
in recovering the major seasons of the Proper of Time, from Advent to Pentecost,
and in some cases the Feast of All Saints. Especially significant was the
restoration of the seasons in the Reformed (Presbyterian) and Methodist
churches.
Many Protestant churches devote Sundays to special themes of a religious,
charitable, or civic nature, such as Race Relations, Rural Life, Christian Home,
and Labour Sundays. Harvest festivals, common in the Western churches since the
Middle Ages, have a distinctive American tradition in Thanksgiving Day, on the
fourth Thursday in November. Traditionally held to have originated in the
Plymouth (Mass.) colony in 1621, it was first proclaimed a national holiday by
President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. Ecumenical services, now worldwide, are
observed during the Octave or Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, January
18-25--a custom started by Paul James Wattson of the Franciscan Friars of the
Atonement and developed by Abbé Paul Couturier. The week is jointly
sponsored by the World Council of Churches and the Vatican Secretariat for
Promoting Christian Unity.
Regular Christian corporate worship on Sundays goes back to the apostolic
age, but New Testament writings do not explain how the practice began. Jewish
Christians probably kept the sabbath at the synagogue, then joined their Gentile
fellow believers for Christian worship after the close of the sabbath at
sundown, either in the evening or early Sunday morning. When the church became
predominantly Gentile, Sunday remained as the customary day of worship.
Assemblies for the Eucharist were common on Saturday, however, as well as on
Sunday in the Eastern churches into the 5th century, and Eastern canons forbade
the practice, customary in the Roman Church, of fasting on the sabbath.
The term Lord's Day, signifying the triumph of Christ in his Resurrection and
the beginning of a new creation, was in use by the end of the 1st century
(Revelation 1:10; Didache 14; Ignatius of Antioch, Magnesians 9:1).
Some writers referred to the sabbath as the rest promised to the people of God
at the end of time and to Sunday as "the eighth day," or beginning of
a new world (Hebrews 4:4-11; Letter of Barnabas 15).
In 321 the Roman emperor Constantine decreed Sunday to be a legal holiday and
forbade all trade and work other than necessary agricultural labour. Later
emperors extended the prohibition to include public amusements in the theatre
and circus. Church councils of the period were more concerned to enforce the
obligation of Sunday worship, the earliest being the Spanish Council of Elvira (c. 300);
but a synod of Laodicea (c. 381) enjoined Christians not to
"Judaize" but to work on the sabbath and rest, if possible, on the
Lord's Day. The Old Testament commandment of sabbath rest received a spiritual
interpretation from the Church Fathers when they applied it to Sunday; e.g.,
Augustine of Hippo held that the sabbath rest from servile work meant abstention
from sin (compare Tract. in Joannis, Book III, chapter 19; Book XX,
chapter 2).
A literal application of the sabbath law to Sunday became evident in
conciliar canons and civil laws of the Frankish kingdoms in the 6th century,
climaxed by Charlemagne's capitulary adopted by the Council of Aachen, 789
(canon 80). Medieval legislation thereafter repeatedly sought to enforce the
"holiday" of Sunday, as also of many other holy days, for the benefit
of serfs and labourers.
Sabbatarian laws applied to Sunday were also continued by the Protestant
Reformers. The Acts of Uniformity of Edward VI in 1552 and of Elizabeth I in
1559 required all persons to attend worship on Sunday, the latter imposing a
fine for neglect to do so. The Church of England's Canons of 1604 (number 13)
make similar provision. Many Puritans were strongly sabbatarian in sentiment.
Some of them referred to Sunday as "the sabbath." In the Puritan
colonies of New England, the so-called Blue Laws of Sunday observance were
especially severe. Today some states and cities in the United States have
statutes restricting certain trades and amusements on Sunday. Church laws
continue to insist upon the moral obligation to attend worship every Lord's Day.
(see also Index: Protestantism, Uniformity, Acts of)
The Advent (from Latin adventus, "coming") season is
peculiar to the Western churches, though its original impulse probably came from
the East, where it was common, after the ecumenical Council of Ephesus in 431,
to devote sermons on Sundays before Christmas to the theme of the Annunciation.
In Ravenna--a channel of Eastern influences upon the Western Church--Peter
Chrysologus (reigned c. 433-450) delivered such homilies (sermons). The
earliest reference to a season of Advent is the institution by Bishop Perpetuus
of Tours (reigned 461-490) of a fast before Christmas, beginning from St.
Martin's Day on November 11. Known as St. Martin's Lent, the custom was extended
to other Frankish churches by the Council of Mâcon in 581.
The six-week season was adopted by the church of Milan and the churches of
Spain. At Rome, there is no indication of Advent before the latter half of the
6th century, when it was reduced--probably by Pope Gregory I the Great--to four
weeks before Christmas. The longer Gallican season left traces in medieval
service books, notably the Use of Sarum (Salisbury), extensively followed in
England, with its Sunday before Advent. The coming of Christ in his Nativity was
overlaid with a second theme, also stemming from Gallican churches, namely, his
Second Coming at the end of time. This interweaving of the themes of two advents
of Christ gives the season a peculiar tension both of penitence and of joy in
expectation of the Lord who is "at hand."
Popular piety in Advent is chiefly devoted to musical and dramatic
performances based upon biblical prophecies and stories of the Nativity of
Christ. In many homes and churches simple devotions are associated with an
Advent evergreen wreath, in which four candles are inserted and lighted, one by
one, each week, as a symbol of the coming of the "Light" of the world.
The word Christmas is derived from the Old English Cristes
maesse, "Christ's Mass." There is no certain tradition of the date
of Christ's birth. Christian chronographers of the 3rd century believed that the
creation of the world took place at the spring equinox, then reckoned as March
25; hence the new creation in the incarnation (i.e., the conception) and
death of Christ must therefore have occurred on the same day, with his birth
following nine months later at the winter solstice, December 25. The oldest
extant notice of a feast of Christ's Nativity occurs in a Roman almanac (the
Chronographer of 354, or Philocalian Calendar), which indicates that the
festival was observed by the church in Rome by the year 336.
Many have posited the theory that the feast of Christ's Nativity, the
birthday of "the sun of righteousness" (Malachi 4:2), was instituted
in Rome, or possibly North Africa, as a Christian rival to the pagan festival of
the Unconquered Sun at the winter solstice. This syncretistic cult that leaned
toward monotheism had been given official recognition by the emperor Aurelian in
274. It was popular in the armies of the Illyrian (Balkan) emperors of the late
3rd century, including Constantine's father. Constantine himself was an adherent
before his conversion to Christianity in 312. There is, however, no evidence of
any intervention by him to promote the Christian festival. The exact
circumstances of the beginning of Christmas Day remain obscure. (see also Index:
Sol Invictus)
From Rome the feast spread to other churches of the West and East, the last
to adopt it being the Church of Jerusalem in the time of Bishop Juvenal (reigned
424-458). Coordinated with Epiphany, a feast of Eastern origin commemorating the
manifestation of Christ to the world, the celebration of the incarnation of
Christ as Redeemer and Light of the world was favoured by the intense concern of
the church of the 4th and 5th centuries in formulating creeds and dogmatic
definitions relating to Christ's divine and human natures.
Christmas is the most popular of all festivals among Christians and many
non-Christians alike, and its observance combines many strands of tradition.
From the ancient Roman pagan festivals of Saturnalia (December 17) and New
Year's come the merrymaking and exchange of presents. Old Germanic midwinter
customs have contributed the lighting of the Yule log and decorations with
evergreens. The Christmas tree comes from medieval German mystery plays centred
in representations of the Tree of Paradise (Genesis 2:9). Francis of Assisi
popularized the Christmas crib, or crèche, in his celebration at Greccio,
Italy, in 1223.
Another popular medieval feast was that of St. Nicholas of Myra (c. 340)
on December 6, when the saint was believed to visit children with admonitions
and gifts, in preparation for the gift of the Christ child at Christmas. Through
the Dutch the tradition of St. Nicholas (Sinterklaas, hence "Santa
Claus") was brought to America in their colony of New Amsterdam, now New
York. The sending of greeting cards at Christmas began in Britain in the 1840s
and was introduced to the United States in the 1870s. (see also Index:
New York City, Christmas card)
In Hellenistic times an epiphany (from the Greek epiphania,
"manifestation"), or appearance of divine power in a person or
event, was a common religious concept. The New Testament uses the word to denote
the final appearing of Christ at the end of time; but in 2 Timothy 1:10 it
refers to his coming as Saviour on earth. In this latter sense, a festival of
Christ's epiphany is first attested among heretical Gnostic Christians (those
who believed that mankind was saved by secret knowledge, not faith, and that
matter was evil and the spiritual world good) in Egypt in the late 2nd century
(Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis, Book I, chapter 21), on January 6,
when he was manifested as Son of God at his baptism. The date is that of an
Egyptian solstice, celebrated by pagans as a time of overflow of the waters of
the Nile, and in certain mystery cults as the occasion of the birth of a new
eon, or age, from the virgin goddess Kore, daughter of the earth-mother goddess
Demeter. In other places of the Middle East, the time was associated with
miraculous fountains from which wine flowed in place of water. (see also Index:
Gnosticism)
Nothing more is known of an Epiphany feast until the 4th century, when it
appears in the Eastern churches as a festival second in rank only to Easter. It
commemorated three "manifestations": the birth, the baptism, and the
first miracle of the Lord at Cana (John 2:1 ff.). In the latter half of the
century Eastern and Western churches adopted each other's incarnation festival,
thus establishing the 12-day celebration from Christmas to Epiphany. The
particular emphasis in the Eastern feast upon the baptism of Christ led to
special liturgical ceremonies of the blessing of waters and the ministration of
baptism at this time. In the West, where Christmas was the primary festival, the
Epiphany was associated particularly with the Adoration of the Magi to the
infant Jesus (Matthew 2:1-12), as anticipation of the universal redemption of
Christ in his "Manifestation to the Gentiles." (see also
Index: Eastern Orthodoxy)
A season of Pre-Lent, peculiar to the Roman Catholic rite, was eliminated
from that calendar in 1969. It had developed in the 6th century as a time of
special supplication for God's protection and defense in a period of great
suffering in Italy from war, pestilence, and famine. It was marked by three
Sundays before the beginning of Lent, called, respectively, Septuagesima,
Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima--roughly 70, 60, and 50 days before Easter. Though
not included in the discipline of Lenten penitence and fast, the season was
related by some authorities to influences from the East, especially upon Roman
monastic customs, for a longer Lent of eight weeks.
Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday (the initial day of Lent), is in
many places a day of carnival, though its name derives from the custom of going
to confession for absolution and penance before Lent (from the Middle English
word shriven, "to shrive"). A famous carnival is that of Mardi
Gras (French: "Fat Tuesday") in New Orleans.
The Lenten (from Middle English lenten, "spring") season is
rooted in the preparation of candidates for baptism at the Paschal vigil. For
several weeks they received intensive instruction, each session followed by
prayer and exorcism. The earliest detailed account of these ceremonies is in the Apostolic
Tradition (c.
200) of Hippolytus. At the conclusion all the faithful joined the catechumens
(inquirers for instruction) in a strict fast on the Friday and Saturday before
Easter. These were the days "when the Bridegroom was taken away"
(compare Mark 2:20).
As a 40-day period (six weeks) Lent is mentioned in canon 5 of the first
ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325. In the 4th century instruction of the
baptismal candidates was normally given by the bishop. Several such
"catechetical lectures" on the creed and sacraments have survived,
notably those of Cyril of Jerusalem and Theodore of Mopsuestia. Augustine's
treatise De
catechizandis rudibus (c. 400) gave a less dogmatic and more biblical
and historical approach. The Roman Church organized its instruction around three
(later seven) "scrutinies," at which the catechumens were introduced
to the Gospels, the Apostles' Creed, and the Lord's Prayer.
Since Sunday was never a fast day, piety sought to conform the Lenten fast
exactly to 40 days, after the examples of the 40 days in the wilderness of
Moses, Elijah, and Christ. In the Eastern churches, where Saturdays were also
excluded from fasting, this developed into an eight-week Lent. At Rome, from the
late 5th century, the fast began on Wednesday before the first Sunday in Lent.
During Lent also, grievous sinners were excluded from Communion and prepared
for their restoration. As a sign of their penitence, they wore sackcloth and
were sprinkled with ashes (Tertullian, De paenitentia 11; compare the
biblical precedents: Jeremiah 6:26; Jonah 3:6; Matthew 11:21). This form of
public penance began to die out in the 9th century. At the same time, it became
customary for all the faithful to be reminded of the need for penitence by
receiving an imposition of ashes on their foreheads on the first day of
Lent--hence the name Ash Wednesday.
The last week of Lent was one of special devotion in remembrance of the
Lord's Passion. Athanasius in his Festal Letter of 330 called it
"holy Paschal week." The Church of Jerusalem in particular organized
dramatic ceremonies during the week at appropriate holy sites of its
neighbourhood. A detailed description is contained in the account of a Spanish
nun (c.
395), Peregrinatio ad loca sancta (or Peregrinatio
Etheriae). From Jerusalem many of these ceremonies, such as the Palm Sunday
procession and the Good Friday veneration of the cross, spread to other
churches.
The Roman Catholic liturgy of Holy Week begins with the blessing of palms and
a procession on Sunday, with a solemn rendition of St. Matthew's Passion
narrative at the mass. On Thursday the bishop blesses the sacred oils for the
catechumens and the sick and the chrism (oil) for confirmation, and, in ancient
times, penitents were reconciled for their Easter Communion. After a festal mass
commemorating the institution of the Eucharist, the altars are stripped and
washed. An additional ceremony, of medieval origin, has given its name to this
day -- the washing of feet, in imitation of the Lord's action at the Last Supper
(John 13:2-15). It is popularly called the Maundy, from the anthem sung during
the ceremony (Mandatum, "a new commandment," John 13:34). (see also Index:
feet, washing of, Maundy Thursday)
Another medieval custom, which has had a popular revival in the late 20th
century, is the service of Tenebrae, held on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, in
the evening. It is the old choir office of Matins and Lauds, originally sung
before dawn and marked by the gradual extinguishing of candles before the
breaking of the light of day.
On Good Friday (the day commemorating the Crucifixion of Christ), the Mass of
the Presanctified is observed. Its name is derived from the fact that there is
no consecration of the sacred elements of bread and wine; instead, Communion is
ministered from the Reserved Sacrament (consecrated elements retained from
previous celebrations). Other features are the singing of the Passion according
to John, the impressive series of intercessions, and the adoration of the cross
with singing of the Reproaches and the hymn "Pange lingua"
("Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle"). Following the Communion and
dismissal of the people, there are no further liturgical rites other than the
daily choir offices until the vigil of Easter. (see also Index:
Presanctified, Liturgy of the)
The term Easter, commemorating the Resurrection of Christ, comes from the Old
English easter or eastre, a festival of spring; the Greek and
Latin Pascha, from the Hebrew Pesah, "Passover." The earliest
Christians celebrated the Lord's Passover at the same time as the Jews, during
the night of the first (paschal) full moon of the first month of spring (Nisan
14-15). By the middle of the 2nd century most churches had transferred this
celebration to the Sunday after the Jewish feast. But certain churches of Asia
Minor clung to the older custom, for which they were denounced as
"Judaizing" (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book V, chapters
23-25). The first ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325 decreed that all churches
should observe the feast together on a Sunday. Yet many disparities remained in
the way the several churches calculated the date of Easter. Today the Eastern
churches follow the Julian calendar, the Western churches its correction by Pope
Gregory XIII in 1582, so that in some years there may be a month's difference in
the time of celebration.
Since 1900, various religious, business, and professional groups have
promoted the concept of a fixed world calendar, which would include a fixed date
for Easter. Proposals have been placed before the League of Nations and its
successor, the United Nations. The second Vatican Council in its
"Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy" (1963) accepted the principle of
a fixed date for Easter, subject to approval by other churches, provided that no
world calendar impaired the regular succession of a seven-day week. The World
Council of Churches in the early 1970s canvased its member bodies to this end,
and a large majority replied in favour of such a change. An Easter message of
Athenagoras I, the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople, in 1969, called for a
resolution of the differences between the Eastern and Western churches and a
search for a common date. Among those preferring a fixed date for the observance
of Easter--regardless of the issue respecting a common world calendar--the
second Sunday in April has been widely proposed.
The Easter celebration continues for 50 days, to and including the Feast of
Pentecost. In the early church, as on all Sundays, there was no fasting or
kneeling in prayer during the period.
The liturgy began with a solemn vigil on Saturday evening. A new fire was lit
for the blessing of the Paschal candle (the Exultet)--symbol of the driving away
of the powers of darkness and death by the Passover of the Lord. There followed
a series of lessons from the Old Testament, with a homily based upon the
narrative of Exodus 12. Then, toward midnight, while the faithful were engaged
in prayers, candidates for baptism were taken to the baptistery for their
initiation. Returning to the assembly, they were confirmed by the bishop with
chrism and the laying on of hands, and toward dawn the Easter Eucharist was
completed. A similar celebration was repeated on the eve of Pentecost for those
who were hindered from receiving baptism at Easter.
As at Christmas, so also at Easter, popular customs reflect many ancient
pagan survivals--in this instance, connected with spring fertility rites, such
as the symbols of the Easter egg and the Easter hare or rabbit. The Easter lamb,
however, comes from the Jewish Passover ritual, as applied to Christ, "the
Lamb of God" (compare John 1:29, 36; 1 Corinthians 5:7).
At first, the church commemorated the Ascension (from the Latin ascensio, "ascent")
of Christ into heaven, after his Resurrection (Luke 24:50-51; Acts 1:1-11), as
part of the total victory of Christ celebrated from Easter to Pentecost. A
special feast of the Ascension is not mentioned before the 4th century. The
Spanish Council of Elvira (c. 300) appears to have rejected it as an
unwarranted innovation. But by the end of the 4th century the feast had become
universal in the church, on the 40th day after Easter.
The old English popular name for the feast is Holy Thursday, but there is no
liturgical tradition to support the idea of an "Ascensiontide" as a
season distinct from Easter. From the 10th century there developed an
"octave" of Ascension, adopted at Rome in the 12th century but
suppressed in 1955. The three days before Ascension Day, known as Minor Rogation
Days, were instituted by Bishop Mamertus of Vienne (Gaul) in 470 and extended to
all the Frankish churches at the Council of Orléans in 511. Pope Leo III
(reigned 795-816) adopted them at Rome. They are observed by processional
litanies and fasting as a supplication for clement weather for the crops and
deliverance from pestilence and famine. In 1969 the Minor Rogation Days were
changed to votive masses.
The Jews had an early harvest festival seven weeks after the firstfruit
offerings of Passover, called the Feast of Weeks. The Priestly Code (Leviticus
23:15-16) assigned it to "the morrow after the seventh sabbath"--which
would be a Sunday. Early rabbinic tradition (Babylonian Talmud, Pesahim 68b)
associated the festival with the giving of the Law at Sinai, on the basis of
Exodus 19:1.
The Christian festival of Pentecost (from the Greek pentecoste,
"50th day"), unlike Easter, is not rooted in Judaism but is based
upon the narrative of Acts 2, recording the gift of the Holy Spirit to the
disciples and the launching of the church's mission to all peoples on the
Pentecost that followed the Lord's Resurrection. The outpouring of the Spirit
was the final seal upon Christ's redemptive work, a sign of the inauguration of
the new age when the Law was fulfilled and the way to salvation opened to the
Gentile peoples. For this reason the early Christians considered Pentecost to be
included in, but climactic of, the great "50 days" of Easter.
Pentecost was in fact the name commonly given by the early Fathers to the whole
season.
As early as the 5th century, baptisms were administered at Pentecost to those
unable to be initiated at Easter, and a vigil rite was developed comparable to
that of the Pascha (Leo the Great, Letters
16; Leonine and Gelasian sacramentaries). The Anglo-Saxons called the feast
White Sunday (Whitsunday), from the white garments bestowed upon the newly
baptized (compare Bede, Ecclesiastical
History, Book II, chapter 9; Penitential
of Archbishop Theodore of Tarsus). The term Whitsunday has been customary in
the Anglican churches since the First Prayer Book of Edward VI (1549).
The Sundays after Pentecost mark the season of the life of the church between
the two advents of Christ as it fulfills its mission to the world under the
guidance of the Spirit. Bishop Stephen of Liège (reigned 902-920)
instituted a Feast of the Holy Trinity on the first Sunday after Pentecost,
which spread through northern Europe. It was taken up in the Use of Sarum and
was accepted at Rome in 1334 by Pope John XXII. It became common to date the
Sundays after this feast, instead of after Pentecost, as in the Roman liturgy,
and this practice was followed by the Carthusians and the Dominicans and in the
Lutheran and Anglican churches. (see also Index: Lutheranism, Anglican
Communion)
xi) Saints'
days and other holy days.
The celebration of days in honour of the saints or "heroes of the
faith" is an extension of the devotion paid to Christ, since they are
commemorated for the virtues in life and death that derive from his grace and
holiness. Originally each local church had its own calendar. Standardization
came with the fixation of the rites of the great patriarchal sees, which began
in the 4th century and was completed for the Byzantine churches in the 9th
century. The Roman calendar of the Gregorian Sacramentary became the basis of
the Western Church's observances with the liturgical reform of Charlemagne (c. 800),
but it was constantly supplemented throughout the Middle Ages by new additions
from diocesan or provincial areas. It was not until 1634 that the Roman see
gained complete control over the veneration and canonization of saints in the
Roman Catholic churches subject to its jurisdiction. (see also Index:
veneration of the saints)
Before the toleration of the Christian Church under Constantine (AD 312), the
several churches commemorated only their martyrs, on the anniversaries of their
deaths, commonly called their natale, or birthdays, with rites similar to
those of Easter. By giving up life for their faith, often after cruel tortures,
the martyrs were the supreme examples of the imitation of Christ. The earliest
attested institution of such an anniversary is recorded in the Martyrdom of Polycarp of
Smyrna (c. 155). The oldest Roman calendar of the martyrs reaches only to
the beginning of the 3rd century and includes the joint martyrdom of the
church's apostolic founders saints Peter and Paul (June 29), a feast apparently
instituted in the year 258. (see also Index: "Martyrdom of
Polycarp")
After the age of the martyrs, the calendars continued to be enriched by
entries of eminent bishops, teachers, ascetics, and missionaries. Other new
feasts were associated with the transfer of the relics of saints to sumptuous
shrines or churches dedicated in their honour. A precedent of great influence
was the feast of dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (or Anastasis,
"resurrection") at Jerusalem, on Sept. 14, 335, where the discovered
tomb and cross of Christ were enshrined on the supposed site of his victory over
death. The feast is popularly called Holy Cross Day. From the 4th to the 6th
century many "inventions" or discoveries of relics were produced and
fictitious "Acts" written to promote the cults of apostles,
evangelists, and hitherto unknown martyrs of earlier times.
In the late 4th century a feast of All Martyrs was observed by the East
Syrians on May 13 and by the West Syrians and Byzantines on the Sunday after
Pentecost. Pope Boniface IV received from the emperor Phocas (reigned 602-610)
the Pantheon at Rome, which he dedicated on May 13 to St. Mary and All Martyrs.
The Feast of All Saints at Rome on November 1 was promulgated by Pope Gregory IV
in 835, in place of the May festival. Some authorities believe this festival to
be of Irish origin; others relate it to a chapel of All Saints in St. Peter's
Basilica established by Pope Gregory III (reigned 731-741). (see also Index:
All Saints' Day)
Liturgical feasts in honour of Mary--related to the incarnation
cycle--developed in the East after the third ecumenical Council of Ephesus in
431, where she was declared to be Theotokos ("God-bearer"). At Rome
the earliest special commemoration was on the Octave of Christmas, but Pope
Sergius I (reigned 687-701), an Easterner, introduced to Rome her four major
feasts: her Nativity (September 8); Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(February 2, with its procession of candles--hence "Candlemas");
Annunciation (March 25); and Assumption (August 15). (see also Index:
Roman Catholicism)
The early Christians had no system of colours associated with the seasons,
nor do the Eastern Churches to this day have any rules or traditions in this
matter. The Roman emperor Constantine gave Bishop Macarius of Jerusalem a
"sacred robe . . . fashioned with golden threads" for use at baptisms
(Theodoret, Ecclesiastical
History, Book II, chapter 23). Toward the end of the 4th century, references
are made to shining white garments worn by celebrants at the Eucharist (Apostolic Constitutions, Book
VIII, chapter 12; Jerome, Dialogi
contra Pelagianos, Book I, chapter 29). Inventories of Frankish churches in
the 9th century reveal a variety of colours used for vestments, but without any
particular sequence for their use; but the Ordo
of St. Amand of the same period refers specifically to dark vestments at the
major litanies and black ones at the Feast of Purification (February 2).
The modern colour sequence of the Roman Catholic Church was first outlined in
Pope Innocent III's treatise De sacro altaris mysterio (Book I, chapter
65, written before his election as pope in 1198), though some variations are
admitted. White, as a symbol of purity, is used on all feasts of the Lord
(including Maundy Thursday and All Saints') and feasts of confessors and
virgins. Red is used at Pentecost, recalling the fiery tongues that descended
upon the Apostles when they received the Holy Spirit, and also at feasts of the
Holy Cross, Apostles, and martyrs, as symbol of their bloody passions
(sufferings and deaths). Black is used as a symbol of mourning on days of
fasting and penitence and at commemorations of the departed--but violet,
symbolizing the mitigation of black, is allowed during Advent and Lent. Green is
used on other days, without special significance, as a compromise colour
distinguished from white, red, and black. Innocent's symbolism is based upon
allegorical (symbolic) interpretations of colours and flowers mentioned in
Scripture, especially in the Song of Solomon.
In the later Middle Ages other colours were used in various churches, such as
blue for certain feasts of the Virgin Mary, and rose (a mitigation of violet) on
the third Sunday in Advent and the fourth Sunday in Lent. The missal of Pope
Pius V in 1570 prescribed the sequence of Innocent III, with rose on the two
Sundays mentioned. In 1868 the Congregation of Rites allowed the use of gold
vestments in place of white, red, and green. Medieval English uses showed much
variation, but the predominant principle was use of the finest vestments, of
whatever colour, on great feasts, and others on lesser days of importance. In
the Use of Sarum, white, red, and blue were the primary colours; but in Lent an
unbleached cloth was customary, changing to deep red during the two weeks before
Easter.
Anglican and Lutheran churches have in recent times generally followed the
Roman sequence, although some Anglican churches have restored the colours of the
Use of Sarum. In the liturgical experiments since World War II, the sequences
and symbolism inherited from the Middle Ages are being abandoned, and a greater
freedom is evident in paraments (vestments and hangings), with increasing
variety and combinations of colours, especially on festal occasions. (M.H.S.)
(see also Index: Anglican Communion)
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