ninth hour (3 p.m.) on the four days from Monday until Thursday,

and then to keep, if possible, a total fast on Friday and Saturday; but 1,3 See lrenaeus, cited by Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History, V , xxiv, 12 ; Tertullian, On the Fasts, 2, 1 3 - 1 4 (P.JL. [Patrologia Latina] ii, 9£ 6 a , 9 7 1B -9 7 4 A ); I lippoJytus, Apostolic Tradition, 20 (cd. Botte, p. 42).

the usual bows and prostrations, and the kontakion o f the day.

(5) Holy God. . . , etc., and the Lord’s Prayer.

Priest: 0 Thou who at the ninth hour for our sake hast tasted death

after the usual three Psalms we say, O Thou who at the ninth hour. . . , with three prostrations, followed by O loving Lord, for our sakes. . . . Before the Gospel reading, the priest censes the Book o f the Gospels, the church and the people, as at the Third Hour. After the Gospel Reading we say, Deliver us not up unto the end. . . , and the rest o f the Hour with

(4) Reader: Both now. . . , and the Theotokion 0 loving Lord, fo r our

(1) Reader: 0 come, let us worship. . . ,25

not all the faithful were as strict as this.34 In this six-day Paschal fast may be seen the distant origins of Holy W eek; but the developed ritual to which we are accustomed, with special commemorations on each day of the week, is not found until the late fourth century.35 During the pre-Nicene period, there seems to have been a unitary celebration of Christ’s death and rising, considered as a single mystery, at the Paschal vigil lasting from Saturday evening until Easter Sunday morning. Friday was kept as a fast in preparation for this vigil, but it had not as yet become a distinct and specific com­ memoration of the Crucifixion; the Cross and the Resurrection were celebrated together during Easter night. (2)

The Prayer of-the Hours.

Choir: 0 Thou who at the ninth hour. . . (prostration).

The four Gospels are read in various ways, but thefollowing is the most

Psalms 83, 84, 8^. Glory be to the Father. . . . Both now. . . . Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, glory to Thee, 0 God (three times).

The Fast o f Forty Days. There is no evidence of a forty-day fast

(8) The reader says Amen, and the prayer 0 Master and Lord. . . ; and

Priest: Let my prayer draw near to Thee, 0 Lord: give me under­

common practice: St. Matthew in two portions, on Monday at the Third and Sixth Hours; St. Mark in two portions, on Monday at the Ninth and on

(2) Reader: Kyrie eleison (three times).

in the pre-Nicene period. The first explicit reference to such a fast is in Canon £ of the Council of Nicaea (32^), where it is treated as something familiar and established, not as an innovation on the part o f the Council.36 By the end of the fourth century the observance of a forty-day fast seems to have been the standard practice in most parts of Christendom, but in some places - possibly including Rome —a shorter fast may have been kept. This forty-day fast, found in evidence from the fourth century on­ wards, differs somewhat in scope and character from the one-week fast of the pre-Nicene period, and the precise relationship between

Choir: 0 Thou who at the ninth hour. . . (prostration).

Glory be to the Father. . . . Both now. . . . And then the appointed kathisma of the Psalter.263

the two is not easy to determine. It has been suggested that the

Priest: Let my supplication come before Thee, 0 Lord: deliver me

(3) Then we sing the Lenten verses in TONE E IG H T :

forty-day fast was originally connected with Epiphany rather than Easter; but the evidence for this seems inconclusive. It is, however, clear that whereas the pre-Nicene fast was specifically a Paschal ob­ servance in preparation for Easter, the forty-day fast was connected more particularly with the final preparation of the catechumens for

Choir: 0 Thou who at the ninth hour. . . (prostration).

in the fesh , put to death the pride o f our fesh , 0 Christ our God, and save us. 24 If the Ninth Hour does not follow immediately, the service ends as at the con­ clusion o f the Third Hour (p. 8 3, n. 22). 25 If the Ninth Hour does not follow immediately after the Sixth, w e begin as at the start o f the Third Hour (§ 1). 26 Except on Fridays, when there is no kathisma of the Psalter.

the sacrament of Baptism or ‘ illumination’ . In the weeks before their

Priest: Glory be to the Father. . . .

standing, according to Thy word.

baptismal initiation, the candidates underwent a period of intensive training, with daily instruction, special services and fasting. The 34 See Dionysius of Alexandria, Canon 1 (Letter to Basilides: T .G . x , 12 7 7 A ); Oidascalia Apostolorum 2i (e<l. R. 1*1. Connolly, p. 189). 35 Nothing is said about these dally commemorations in the Catechetical Homilies of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, delivered c. 3 $o, but they are described in detail by the pilgrim Egeria, who was in Jerusalem for Lent and Holy W eek c. 3 8 1 - 4 : see her Travels, § § 2 7 -3 8 , (tr. J. Wilkinson, ligcrla's Travels [London 1 9 7 1] , pp. 12 8 -3 9 ) . 36 For references to a forty-day fast in the period immediately following Nicaea,

(6) The reader says the troparia:

according to Thy word.

see Athanasius, Festal Letters for the years 3 3 0 - 4 1 , and Eusebius o f Caesarea, On

Reader: Kyrie eleison (forty times).

sakes. . . ; and then the verse Deliver us not up unto the end. . . .

the Feast ofVascha, 4 - 5 (P.G. xxiv, 697C-700C), dating from c. 32 9 .

Priest: God be merciful to us and bless us. . . .

TONE EIGHT

existing members of the church community were encouraged to share with the catechumens in this prayer and abstinence, thus re­ newing year by year their baptismal dedication to Christ. So the forty-day fast came to involve the whole body of the faithful, and not just those preparing for Baptism. Lent, as we know it, is thus the result of a convergence between these two elements - between the six-day pre-Nicene fast, which was directly in preparation for Easter, and the forty-day post-Nicene fast, which originally formed part of the training of candidates for Baptism. It was natural that these two elements should become fused into a single observance, for they both have the same end­ point - the night of Holy Saturday. The Paschal vigil on this night,

Then the Prayer of St. Ephraim once, with three prostrations.

When the thief beheld the Author o f life hanging upon the Cross, he said: ‘I f it were not God made flesh that is crucified with us, the sun would not have hid its rays nor would the earth have quaked and trembled. But, all-forbearing Lord, remember me in Thy Kingdom. ’ Glory be to the Father. . . . in the midst, between the two thieves, Thy Cross became a balance-beam oj righteousness. For the one was carried down to hell by the burden of his blasphemy; the other was lightened o f his sins and brought to the knowledge o f God. 0 Christ our God, glory to Thee. Both now. . . . Sta vrotheotokion When she who bare Him saw upon the Cross the Lamb and Shepherd and Saviour o f the world, she said weeping: ‘ The world rejoices, fo r it receives

in celebration of the death, burial and rising of Christ, was for obvious reasons chosen as the occasion for administering Baptism; (or this sacrament is precisely an initiation into the Lord’s Cross and His Resurrection (see Rom. 6: 3-4 ). Today in most parts of the Church there is no organized catechumenate, and it is customary to administer Baptism on many other occasions besides the night of Holy Saturday; yet the baptismal sig­ nificance o f Lent has still a living importance. For every member of

then immediately we begin the Typika.

deliverance; but inwardly I burn, seeing Thy Crucifixion which Thou sufferestfor all men, 0 my Son and God.9 (7)

the Christian community, Lent is a time of spiritual training and re­

Then we read the Typika, followed by Vespers and the Liturgy o f the Presanctified.

Kyrie eleison (three times). Glory be to the Father. . . . Both now. . . . Greater in honour than the cherubim. . . In the Name o f the Lord, give the blessing, father.

newed illumination. It is a time to realize afresh that, by virtue o f our baptismal initiation, we are crucified, buried and risen with Christ; it is a time to reapply to ourselves the words of St. Paul, T live, yet not I, but Christ lives in m e’ (Gal. 2 : 20). It is a time for us to listen more closely to the voice of the Spirit in whom we were sealed at our Chrismation, immediately after our ‘burial’ in the baptismal waters.

The choice of the number forty for the days of Lent has obvious

Biblical precedents. The people of Israel spent forty years in the wilderness (Exod. 16 : 3^) ; Moses remained fasting for forty days on Mount Sinai (Exod. 34: 28) ; Elijah abstained from all food for forty days as he journeyed to Mount Horeb (3 [1] Kgs. 19 : 8). Most im­ portant of all, Christ fasted for forty days and forty nights in the wilderness, tempted by the devil (Matt. 4 : 1). But how are the forty days to be computed? In the fourth and lil’th centuries, the manner of reckoning varied. Some kept a fast of nI x weeks, some of seven or even eight.37 Three points arose: 1,7 Sec Socrates, Ecclesiastical History, V , 22 (P.G. Ixvii, 632B-633B); Sozomen,

(a) Is Holy Week included in die forty days, or treated as a distinct and additional period? (b) Is Saturday regarded as a day of fasting? (c) Are the forty days reckoned continuously, including Saturdays and Sundays? Or is Sunday excluded from the calculation, and