MYSTERIES

4: LITURGY

Cyril's long episcopate was a period of perhaps unique liturgical creativity, due to historical circumstances as well as his own inventiveness. He must have been born within a few years of the Church's emergence from the shadows of persecution; as a boy he shared in the excitement of the discovery of Christ's cross and his tomb, and he was ordained priest in Constantine's great basilica a very few years after its dedication in 335. By the end of his episcopate in 387 a colourful and moving liturgy had developed in Jerusalem; and, although we have no way of discovering precisely how much of the credit for it belongs to him, his sermons show that he knew how to exploit to the full the liturgical possibilities of the most sacred site in Christendom.

Cyril's own addresses are not the only evidence we possess concerning his practice and understanding of the liturgy. There is also an eyewitness account of the Jerusalem liturgy written by the pilgrim who is now generally known by the name of Egeria. Her work shows that she was a member of a religious community from Spain or the south of Gaul who wrote for her sisters an account of her three-year tour of the biblical lands. As the one, incomplete MS in which the work has come down to us does not tell us the author's name, for its opening pages are missing, the name ‘Egeria’ was given her as the result of informed guess-work. The first editors at the end of the nineteenth century gave her the name ‘Silvia’, the sister of Rufinus of Aquitaine, whom Palladius speaks of as a pilgrim; another conjecture was ‘Galla Placidia’, but this failed to gain general acceptance. In 1903 M.Férotin, observing the close correspondence between her itinerary and that of the woman pilgrim who was the subject of a letter written by the Spanish monk Valerius in the seventh century, argued that the women in the two writings were identical. However, although most scholars have accepted Férotin's suggestion, there remains uncertainty concerning the pilgrim's name, for the MSS of Valerius’ letter give her name in several forms. For a while advocates were found for the forms ‘Aetheria’, ‘Etheria’ or ‘Eucheria’, but scholarly opinion now favours the form ‘Egeria’; and so we shall call her. The period of her pilgrimage has been fixed precisely as 381–384 by P.Devos, and thus falls within the last few years of Cyril's long episcopate. In her breathless and ungrammatical Latin she provides invaluable information about the liturgical setting of Cyril's sermons.

INITIATION

Since Cyril's addresses never speak of the baptism of babies, it seems likely that the normal practice was to defer the baptism of the children of Christian parents until they were old enough to choose to be baptized. Whether or not J.Jeremias was right to argue that infant baptism was regularly practised in the first two centuries— K.Aland wrote a detailed refutation of the theory—from early in the third century there is evidence for the practice in many parts of the Church. In the middle of the fourth century, however, it seems as if the baptism of babies was generally abandoned for several decades; between 329 and 354 there are many examples of saints who had one or both parents Christians, but were nevertheless not baptized until they were grown up, such as Gregory of Nazianzus (a bishop's son!), Basil the Great, Ambrose and Augustine. It is possible that there is a connection between what Jeremias calls this ‘crisis’ and the new freedom from the threat of persecution which Christians were enjoying.

The information Cyril gives us about the celebration of initiation in Jerusalem throughout his episcopate does not tell us how candidates were treated before they gave in their names for baptism at the beginning of Lent. From the third century we have references from different parts of the Church to a three-year catechumenate in Rome (Hippolytus), and in Egypt and Palestine (Clement and Origen); on the other hand, Augustine, who was born in North Africa about this time, was received into the catechumenate as a child, but not baptized till many years later. It is impossible to say, however, if either of these arrangements was in force in Jerusalem. L.Dujarier believes that the purposeful programme of instruction which extended over the three years in the early Church was crammed by Cyril into the few weeks of Lent, and necessarily was lacking in depth. W.Harmless however shows that Dujarier overlooked the effect of the prolonged period as catechumens; for even if there were no longer the organized catechetical classes which are evident in the Apostolic Tradition, the catechumens attended the Sunday liturgy and heard the readings and the homily before they had to leave the assembly. Cyril asks the candidates for baptism to look back to this period in their lives:

Up till now you have been called a Catechumen, one who hears from the outside. You heard hope, but you didn't see it. You heard mysteries, but you didn't understand them. You heard the Scriptures, but you didn't understand their depth. But now you are hearing a sound not from outside but from within, for now the Spirit lives in you and makes your mind God's home. (Procat, 6)

Augustine later described a rite of admission into the catechumenate which consisted of the tracing of the sign of the cross on the candidate's forehead, a laying-on of hands, the administration of salt on the tongue, and exorcism. Cyril gives us no indication however whether these rites were performed in his church.

Cyril's instructions commence at the beginning of Lent with the enrolment of the catechumens who wish to be baptized at Easter. He gives the impression that the rite had by the middle of the century become something of a formality, so that little rigour was exercised in selecting the candidates for baptism:

We are the servants of Christ. We welcomed you. We had the responsibility of doorkeepers, but we left the door open. Perhaps you came in with your soul spattered with the mud of your sins and with stained intentions. You came in; you were passed; your name was recorded. (Procat. 4)

Egeria however describes a more formal investigation:

For those who give in their names give them in before the first day of Lent, and a presbyter records everyone's name, that is, before the eight weeks during which, as I have said, Lent is observed. When the presbyter has recorded everyone's name, shortly afterwards on another day of Lent, that is, on the day on which the eight weeks begin, the bishop's chair is set in the middle of the Greater Church, that is the Martyrium; the presbyters sit on seats on either side of him, and all the clergy stand. Then the candidates are brought in one by one, the men with their godfathers and the women with their godmothers. Then as they come in one by one, the bishop questions their neighbours in these words: ‘Is he good-living? Does he respect his parents? Does he avoid drunkenness and vanity?’ And he asks at least about each of the vices which are more serious in a person. If the bishop establishes that the person is above reproach in each point of his inquiry before the witnesses, he writes down the person's name with his own hand. But if a charge is brought against anyone, the bishop orders them to depart, saying: ‘Let him amend his life, and when he has done so, then let him come to the font.’ In these words he inquires about both men and women. (Pereg. 45)

Perhaps therefore over the years between the Procatechesis and the Mystagogics Cyril perceived the need to be more rigorous in the selection of candidates.

Once the applicants’ names have been accepted for baptism they are no longer known as catechumens but ‘candidates for enlightenment’. Nevertheless they still have to attend regular catechetical instructions, which have a double purpose: On the one hand they provide a systematic instruction in doctrine:

Imagine catechesis is a building. If we don't make the house secure by strengthening the building with clamps in the proper order to prevent gaps appearing or the structure becoming unsound, even our earlier efforts will be wasted. Stone must follow stone and corner fit corner in the right order. We must smooth away irregularities if the building is to rise. In the same way we bring you, so to speak, stones of knowledge. You must learn about the living God; you must learn about judgment; you must learn about Christ; you must learn about the resurrection. I shall have many things to say in order: first I must explain them piecemeal, only later in their mutual connections. If you don't join them together into a single whole, remembering what comes first and what second, I will have performed my task of building, but the structure you have will be unsound. (Procat. 11)

On the other hand they will receive ammunition to use against opponents:

You are being given weapons to use against the power ranged against you, weapons against heresies, against Jews and Samaritans and pagans. (Procat. 10)

During this period before baptism the candidates also had to attend regular exorcisms, in the course of which they were breathed upon in order to inspire sacred awe and to drive away the devil; during this rite the candidate's face was veiled.

Egeria describes this Lenten process:

For it is the custom here that during these forty days of fast those who are seeking baptism are first exorcised early in the morning by the clergy as soon as the morning dismissal from the Anastasis has taken place. The bishop's seat is at once placed at the Martyrium in the Greater Church, and all the people to be baptized, both men and women, sit in a circle near the bishop, and their godfathers and mothers stand in their place; and if any of the people want to listen, they all come in and sit down—but only the Faithful. But the catechumens are not present while the bishop teaches the law, which he does in this way: for these forty days beginning with Genesis he goes through all the Scriptures, first expounding them literally, and then explaining the same spiritually. Similarly with regard to the resurrection and faith, everything is similarly explained during these days. This is called catechesis…The result is that in these places all the Faithful follow the Scriptures when they are read in church, because they are all taught for these forty days, i.e. from the first to the third hour, since the catechesis lasts three hours…When the dismissal has taken place after the catechesis about the third hour, the bishop is at once escorted with hymns to the Anastasis, and the dismissal takes place about the third hour; thus they are taught for three hours a day for seven weeks. (Pereg. 46)

Since the extant Catecheses would not take anything like three hours to deliver, the time was presumably taken up with repeating the talks in Syriac, in explanations and discussions in small groups, and in exorcisms and prayers. After the five weeks, Egeria states, the candidates ‘receive the Creed’; as it has been kept secret from them up to this point, they are now taught it by heart, but are not allowed to write it down. Cyril gave directions for this ‘handing over of the Creed’, which took place at the end of his fifth Catechesis:

I want you to memorize it word for word, and to recite it very carefully among yourselves. Do not write it down on paper, but inscribe it in your memories and in your hearts. (Cat. 5.12)

From this point, Egeria tells us, the bishop begins to explain the Creed to them, as he had the Scriptures, ‘first literally and then spiritually’ (Pereg. 46.3).

Egeria's account of the contents of the catechesis raises problems. (a) There is nothing in Cyril's Catecheses corresponding to this systematic exposition of the whole Bible; perhaps this is because the instruction was so informal that a text was not preserved, (b) It is difficult to reconcile the time-table Egeria gives for the instructions on the Scriptures and the Creed with the text of Cyril's Catecheses. If, as she says, no instructions were given in the eighth week (Pereg. 46.4), and the instructions on the Creed did not begin until the end of the fifth week, it is hard to see how the thirteen which exist could have been fitted in, especially as they do not seem to have been given every day. (c) We shall discuss in section 5 below Cyril's treatment of the literal and spiritual senses of Scripture; but what does Egeria mean when she speaks of the literal and spiritual senses of the Creed? What Cyril does do is to explain how the truths about Christ are foreshadowed in the Old Testament; perhaps this is her understanding of the spiritual sense of the Creed.

Although Cyril does not tell us this, we know from Egeria that towards the end of Lent the candidates had to appear before the bishop in the Martyrium and show him that they had learnt the Creed by heart:

The bishop's seat is placed at the back of the apse behind the altar, and there they come one by one, the men with their godfathers and the women with their godmothers, and recite the Creed to the bishop. When the recitation of the Creed to the bishop is completed, the bishop addresses them all in these words: ‘During these seven weeks of Lent you have learnt the whole law of the Scriptures and also heard about faith; you have heard also about the resurrection of the flesh and a full explanation of the Creed, at least as far as was permitted to you as catechumens. But matters of deeper mystery, that is, concerning baptism itself, you are not allowed to hear, since you are still catechumens. And lest you should think that anything is done without good reason, when you have been baptized in the name of God, you will receive instruction in the Anastasis throughout Easter week after the dismissal from the church.

The final sentence is confirmed by Cyril's remarks towards the end of the last Catechesis:

After the holy and saving day of Easter, starting on Monday every day of the following week, after the assembly you will enter the holy place of the resurrection, where, God willing, you will hear further catechetical instructions. You will receive further teaching about the reasons for everything that is done, and you will receive proofs from the Old and New Testaments.

Cyril's Mystagogics contain ample information about the rites of initiation celebrated at the Easter Vigil. To appreciate the impact of the rites, we should remember that the candidate will have received no precise information about what to expect. Cyril's account begins with the candidates’ entry into the outer hall of the baptistery, which was probably to the south of the Holy Sepulchre. There they each hear a voice coming out of the darkness—Cyril repeatedly emphasizes the voice of the instructor—telling them to stretch out their hand and renounce Satan, presumably repeating the formula phrase by phrase, ‘as though he stood there before you’ in the west, the home of darkness (MC 1.2). Next they are turned to face the east from which the Easter sun is shortly to rise and bidden to make a brief profession of faith, which takes the place of the traditional act of loyalty to Christ. They thus announce to the devil that they are transferring their loyalty from him to Christ—an act which, in an age when the devil was taken seriously, must have required a degree of courage.

The candidates then enter the baptistery itself, where they strip. Although Cyril attributes their freedom from embarrassment to their recovery of the innocence of Paradise, one must remember too that it was dark and the sexes were probably segregated. Their whole bodies are then anointed with exorcised olive-oil; Cyril sees this rite not only as a protection against devils (this was the customary explanation) but also as a symbol of a ‘share in the richness of Christ’ (MC 2.2–3). Baptism follows in the usual form: the candidate is immersed three times after professing faith in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The baptized re-enact the Lord's three days in the tomb, and themselves die and are reborn (MC 2.4). Coming up from the font, the neophytes are clothed in a white baptismal robe (MC 4.8), and anointed with perfumed oil called muron or chrism; in this way they share Christ's Messianic anointing, and, like Christ after his own baptism, receive the Holy Spirit (MC 3.1). Finally they attend the whole of the Eucharist for the first time, for catechumens and candidates for baptism had to leave the church after the liturgy of the word. In the course of this Eucharist they hear for the first time the Lord's Prayer; later in St Augustine's Hippo the Prayer was taught before baptism in a rite which parallelled the handing over of the Creed.

We have seen how at the end of Lent Cyril promised that he would explain the rites of initiation in the week after Easter. Egeria also speaks of daily instructions ‘throughout those eight days, i.e. from Easter to the octave’ (Pereg. 47.1). In fact, however, there are only five Mystagogics; which suggests that here and perhaps elsewhere Egeria's account may not be completely accurate. She gives her sisters a charming description of Cyril as he delivered these last instructions:

When the Easter season arrives, throughout those eight days, i.e. from Easter to the octave, after the customary dismissal from the church and procession with hymns to the Anastasis, a prayer is said immediately, the people are blessed, and the bishop stands leaning on the inner rail in the cave of the Anastasis, and explains everything which took place at baptism. At that time no catechumen is present; the only ones to enter the Anastasis are the neophytes and the Faithful who wish to hear of the mysteries. The doors are shut, to prevent any catechumen from getting in. As the bishop explains and recalls each point, the shouts of applause are so loud that they can be heard even outside the church. For truly he unfolds the mysteries in such a way that no one who hears them explained in his way can be left unmoved. (Pereg. 47.1–2)

EUCHARIST

Since catechumens regularly attended the first part of the Eucharist, departing after the readings, homily and intercessions, Cyril's description begins at the point which was unfamiliar to them, namely the celebrant's washing of his hands, apparently to the accompaniment of Psalm 25 (26) (‘I shall wash my hands among the innocent’) and the kiss of peace. Cyril's reference to the command to be reconciled before making an offering suggests that the Offertory followed. Next came the Preface with the customary introductory dialogue, concluding with the Sanctus (MC 5.4–6).

The rest of the Eucharistic Prayer presents an important problem. Its structure seems to be:

However, can there really have been no Institution Narrative and no prayer of Anamnesis (commemoration) and Offering, both of which are indispensable features of later Eucharistic Prayers? It is true that, since Cyril gives us only a paraphrase and not the complete text, it is possible that the ‘missing’ sections did form part of his Prayer, but for some reason were omitted from his summary. However, this seems less likely, as the phrases ‘then’ and ‘after this’ which introduce each of the three sections set out above seem to indicate that the list is meant to be exhaustive. Thus after giving a paraphrase of the Sanctus, Cyril continues:

Then, when we have sanctified ourselves through these holy hymns, we call upon the God who loves mankind to send down the Holy Spirit on the offerings so as to make the bread Christ's body and the wine Christ's blood, for whatever the Holy Spirit touches is made holy and transformed, (n. 7)

With apparently no space left for the Narrative and Anamnesis the text continues:

Then, after the completion of the spiritual sacrifice, the worship without blood, we call upon God over this sacrifice of propitiation for the peace of all the churches… (n. 8)

A number of commentators have therefore taken Cyril's Eucharistic Prayer to be but one of several without Institution Narratives, such as the Didache and the Liturgy of SS. Addai and Mari, so that the later Jerusalem liturgy of St James would be a composite of Cyril's prayer with the ‘missing’ sections added later from other sources. Nevertheless, whatever be the case with primitive liturgies, comparison with other examples from Cyril's period makes it unlikely that a liturgy as late as the 380s would be without Institution Narrative or Anamnesis-Oblation.

For this and other reasons it seems more plausible to suggest that Cyril's ‘completion of the spiritual sacrifice’ included some form of Institution Narrative and Anamnesis-Oblation. There is no evidence that at this date the Eucharistic Prayer was thought to be composed of epiclesis, Narrative and Anamnesis as distinct modules. Cyril probably takes it to be composed of two sections: the first, sacrificial section being followed by the intercessions ‘over’ the sacrifice. In this way the structure of Cyril's Prayer would resemble that of the Egyptian Liturgy of St Mark, in which, after the conclusion of the Sanctus, ‘heaven and earth are full of your glory’, God is asked to ‘fill’ the sacrifice through the descent of the Holy Spirit (epiclesis), because of Christ's words and deeds at the Last Supper (Narrative), in consequence of which the sacrifice is offered in proclamation (Anamnesis) of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

After the Eucharistic Prayer there follow:

DAILY OFFICE

Although Cyril's own writings give no account of the celebration of the Office in Jerusalem, Egeria describes it in detail. The first liturgical hour is that of the Vigil celebrated before cockcrow by the monks and virgins in the Anastasis, in the presence of laypeople, perhaps pilgrims like herself; it consists of psalms said responsorially, antiphons and prayers. At daybreak the bishop arrives with the clergy, enters the cave of the resurrection, and pronounces prayers and blessings; he then comes out from the cave, and stands within the railing to bless and dismiss the people individually. The same pattern is followed at noon and the ninth hour (3 p.m.). At the tenth hour in the presence of the bishop the Lucernarium is celebrated, at which the candles are lit from the flame which burned perpetually inside the cave; then a deacon reads a list of people who are to be prayed for, and to each name a large choir of children replies ‘Kyrie Eleison’. The bishop blesses the catechumens and the Faithful separately, then goes in procession to the jewelled cross that stood on the rock of Calvary, and again blesses the catechumens and the Faithful. Finally the procession moves ‘behind the cross’ to the Martyrium, where the blessings are repeated.

On Sundays the worship is much more elaborate, and participation in it calls for considerable stamina. The people assemble in the Martyrium before cockcrow so as not to be late, and sing psalms (ymni) while they wait for the doors of the Anastasis to be opened.

But as soon as the first cock crows, the bishop comes down and enters the cave in the Anastasis; all the doors are opened and the whole crowd comes into the Anastasis, where countless lights are already shining. When the people have come in, one of the priests recites a psalm and everyone responds, and then a prayer is said. Again one of the deacons recites a psalm and a prayer is said in the same way; then a third psalm is recited by one of the clergy, a prayer is said for the third time, and [the needs of] all are called to mind. So when these three psalms have been recited and the three prayers have been said, at once thuribles are carried into the cave of the Anastasis, and the whole basilica of the Anastasis is filled with their fragrance. Then the bishop stands there inside the railings, takes the gospel, goes to the door and personally reads the account of the Lord's resurrection. As soon as the reading begins, the cries and the groans of all the people are so loud, and there is so much weeping that even the most hardened person could be moved to tears because the Lord suffered so much for us. So after reading the Gospel, the bishop goes out and is escorted with psalms to the Cross, and all the people go with him. There once more a psalm is recited and a prayer said; again he blesses the Faithful, and the dismissal takes place. As the bishop leaves, everyone approaches his hand. Thereupon the bishop retires to his house, and from that time all the monks return to the Anastasis, and psalms and antiphons are recited until it is daylight; with each psalm or antiphon a prayer is said. For every day the priests and the deacons take turns in watching at the Anastasis with the people. Any laymen or laywomen who wish remain there until it is daylight; those who prefer not to, return home and take some more sleep.

When it is daylight, because it is Sunday, there is a procession to the Greater Church which Constantine built, the church at Golgotha behind the cross, and everything is done as is customary everywhere on Sunday. All the same, because it is the custom here for any of the priests who are in their seats to preach if they wish, and after them the bishop preaches—these homilies are given every Sunday in order to train the people continually in the Scriptures and the love of God—while these homilies are being delivered there is a long wait before the dismissal from the church is given, and so it does not take place before the fourth or even the fifth hour.

The bishop then leads the Faithful, but not the catechumens, back into the Anastasis, where ‘thanks are given to God’ —which may be a reference to the Eucharist. It is getting on for noon before the service is over (Pereg. 24.8–25.1).

FEASTS

Egeria shows how much use Cyril made of the sacred sites connected with each feast, though the incomplete state of the MS leaves gaps in our knowledge. Pentecost Sunday was celebrated at Sion (the Upper Room) rather than the Martyrium (Pereg. 25.6). Christ's birth was celebrated at the Epiphany:

It would be impossible to describe the decoration that day of the churches of the Anastasis, the cross or in Bethlehem. You can see nothing there but gold and jewels and silk. The hangings you see are of gold-embroidered silk; the curtains you see too are of gold-embroidered silk. The sacred vessels of every kind brought out that day are gold and jewelled. And how could one calculate or describe the number or weight of the candles, the candelabra, the lamps and the various sacred vessels? (Pereg. 25.8)

The feast was celebrated for eight days. On the fourth day the celebrations were held in the Eleona instead of the Martyrium, on the fifth at the Lazarium, dedicated to Lazarus at Bethany, on the sixth at Sion, on the seventh in the Anastasis, and on the eighth at the Martyrium again. Throughout the week the church at Bethlehem was decorated in the same way, and joyful celebrations were held there. Forty days after the Epiphany the Presentation was commemorated, with the appropriate readings from St Luke (Pereg. 26).

Egeria describes the observance of Lent and Holy Week in great detail. What is now called Palm Sunday was celebrated at the various sacred sites: at the Lazarium, where the gospel passage recounting Mary's anointing of Jesus’ feet (Jn 12) was read, and the Mount of Olives, first at the Eleona (at the cave where Jesus taught) and then at the Imbomon, the place of the Ascension. At the eleventh hour, after the reading of the Palm Sunday gospel, the bishop and the people went in procession down from the Mount and through the city to the Anastasis.

For all the people go in front of him with psalms and antiphons, repeating the response: ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ And all the children in the region, including those who are too young to walk, and their parents hold them at their necks—all holding branches, some of palm-trees, others of olive-trees. And in this way the bishop is escorted in the same way that the Lord was escorted then…and in this way, slowly, slowly, so as not to tire the people, it is already evening by the time they reach the Anastasis. (Pereg. 31.2–3)

On the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday there were long services of psalms, readings and prayers, lasting from 3 to 7 p.m. On the Tuesday there was a night visit to the Eleona, where the bishop read from St Matthew the discourse Jesus gave on the Mount of Olives after his entry into Jerusalem: ‘See that no one leads you astray’ (Mt 24.4). On the Wednesday night in the Anastasis a priest read from outside the rails of the tomb the gospel account of Judas’ bargain to betray Jesus.

And when this passage is read the cries and the groans of the whole congregation are so loud that no one can fail to be moved to tears at this time. (Pereg. 34)

On the Thursday afternoon, the Eucharist was celebrated twice, first in the Martyrium, then in the open courtyard ‘before the cross’—the only occasion in the year, Egeria tells us, when the Eucharist was celebrated there. The people, having been warned to assemble at the Eleona in the first hour of the night, ‘for a very tiring experience faces us tonight’, ‘all hurry to return home to eat’, before climbing the Mount of Olives. They remain there till midnight, engaged in psalms, prayers and readings of the gospel passages in which ‘the Lord spoke to the disciples on this day, seated in the very cave which is in this church’; they then move on to the Imbomon, to the place of the Ascension, for more hymns, readings and prayers. At cockcrow the procession moves on to ‘the place where the Lord prayed’, where there is an ‘elegant church’, where the gospel account of the Agony in the Garden is read; then all, ‘up to the smallest infant’, descend with the bishop to Gethsemani,

where, because of the size of the crowd, and wearied by the watching and worn out by the daily fasting, because they have to descend so high a mountain, slowly, slowly, they come with hymns to Gethsemani. More than two hundred church candles have been prepared to provide light for all the people.

There the account of Jesus’ arrest is read, once more amid cries and groans and tears, which can almost be heard in the city. The procession reaches the city gates at first light, where:

everyone without exception is waiting there, older and younger, rich and poor. On that day above all no one leaves from the vigil to the morning.

From there they move to the cross, which they reach by daybreak, where the account of the trials of Jesus is read. The bishop then addresses some words of encouragement to the people:

Go to your own homes now, each one of you, and rest for a little while, and be ready here about the second hour of the day; and from then until the sixth hour you can see the holy wood of the cross, and believe that it will be profitable to each one of us for our salvation. (Pereg. 36)

First, however, the devout go to Sion to the column where Jesus was scourged. The veneration of the wood of the cross takes place ‘behind the cross’, where the oblation has been celebrated the day before.

The bishop sits on his seat with a table covered with a cloth in front of him; the deacons stand round the table. A box of silver and gold is brought, containing the holy wood of the cross. It is opened and brought forward, and the wood of the cross and the title are placed on the table.

The bishop presses on the ends of the holy wood, while the people file up and bow to kiss it. Deacons stand around to guard the relic, because a pilgrim was said to have bitten out a piece of it.

So in this way all the people file by one by one, bending and touching the cross and the title first with their forehead and then with their eyes, and so they kiss the cross and pass on, but no one stretches out a hand to touch it.

Here follows the veneration of Solomon's ring and the horn which held the oil with which the kings were anointed (Pereg. 37.1–3).

At midday, wet or fine, they reconvene before the cross in a ‘very big and quite beautiful courtyard’, where the bishop's chair is set, for a three-hour service of psalms and readings of all the passages in the Gospels, Epistles and Acts which deal with the Passion, as well as the Old Testament prophecies.

In this way during those three hours all the people are taught that nothing took place which was not foretold, and that nothing was foretold which was not fully fulfilled…At each of the readings and prayers the emotion and the groaning of all the people is so great that it is a wonder; for there is no one, old or young, who does not lament for those three hours that day to an extent that cannot be imagined at the thought of what the Lord suffered for us.

The service concludes with John's account of the Lord giving up his spirit. Another service in the Martyrium follows. Although everyone is tired,

the people who wish—or rather can—do keep vigil there [in the Martyrium] until morning, but the clergy do keep vigil there, at least the stronger or younger among them. (Pereg. 37.4–9)

A large number of people kept vigil for part of the time.

On the Saturday the usual offices are performed at the third, sixth and ninth hours. The vigil itself Egeria does not describe, as it was celebrated in the same way in her own home, noting only that the newly baptized in their white robes go with the bishop from the baptistery to the Anastasis, before joining the congregation in the Martyrium. After the Easter Vigil the people revisit the Anastasis, where the Easter Gospel is read again. On the afternoon of Easter Sunday there is a procession to Sion, where John's account of Jesus’ appearance to the Apostles in the Upper Room is read (Pereg. 38–9).

During Easter Week the churches are decorated as for the Epiphany. Every day the bishop, the clergy, the religious (aputactitae), the neophytes and any others who wish climb the Mount of Olives and visit the Eleona and the Imbomon, returning to the Anastasis for the Lucernarium. On Low Sunday all the people take part, after which they proceed to Sion for the reading of the Gospel about the appearance to Thomas and the other Apostles. For the seven weeks after Easter there is no fasting.

Pentecost Sunday is a a very strenuous day for the people. After the usual Sunday Eucharist in the Martyrium, the whole congregation ‘without exception’ (usque ad unum: Pereg. 43.2) proceeds with psalms to Sion, so as to arrive at precisely the third hour. Then the account in Acts of the descent of the Holy Spirit at that hour is read, after which the Eucharist is celebrated. After a short rest, the people all climb up to the Imbomon, ‘so that not a single Christian remains in the city’. There the Scripture passages about the Ascension are read. From there the procession goes to the Eleona, then down the hill to the Martyrium, which is not reached until the second hour of the night, for the procession moves ‘slowly, slowly…in case their feet get tired’ (Pereg. 43.7). By the light of two hundred candles they enter the Martyrium through the great doors which face the forum. From there they go to the Anastasis and the cross, and finally to Sion, where there are more readings, psalms and prayers.

Thus very tiring efforts are borne on this day, since vigil was kept at first cockcrow at the Anastasis, and from that point there has been no respite throughout the day; and all the ceremonies are prolonged to such an extent that it is midnight by the time everyone returns home after the dismissal takes place on Sion. (Pereg. 43.9)

Another octave was celebrated, Egeria tells us, for the annual celebration of the Dedication of both the Martyrium and the Anastasis (Pereg. 48–9). However, Egeria may be mistaken here, since the Anastasis was not built by Constantine, but later during the episcopate of Cyril. The date was between 12 and 15 September, and coincided with the celebration of the Finding of the Cross. It also coincided with that of the dedication of the Roman temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, who had been one of the patrons of the pagan city of Aelia Capitolina; this fact supports the theory that Constantine intended his buildings at Jerusalem to match and outshine the pagan rites. The name ‘Encaenia’ (Dedication) is derived from the Septuagint text of 2 Chron 7.9, which recounts Solomon's dedication of the Temple. People came from as far afield as Egypt and Mesopotamia for the celebration; ‘more than forty or fifty bishops’ took part. The churches were decorated as sumptuously as at Easter and the Epiphany. Processions went on different days to the Eleona and other sites as during the other octaves.

LECTIONARY

At the head of each of Cyril's baptismal addresses except the Procatechesis the MSS note the Scripture reading, to which the preacher sometimes subsequently refers. Cyril's lectionary corresponds almost exactly with the readings prescribed in the Old Armenian Lectionary for the use of the Armenian community in Jerusalem. This document has survived in three recensions, the earliest MS, which is in Yerevan, the Armenian capital, dating from the beginning of the fifth century, only about twenty years after Cyril's death; the other two MSS, from Paris and Jerusalem respectively, date, according to A.Renoux, between 417 and 439.

The Armenian Lectionary does more than just set out the passages read at the various services; it also confirms many of the details Egeria gives concerning the particular church in which each service is held. In addition it provides us with information about the observance of saints’ days in Jerusalem, which perhaps Egeria reported in a section of her Peregrinatio which has not survived.

MYSTERIES

Historians have given the name disciplina arcani (the discipline of secrecy) to the practice of keeping the central rites and formulas hidden from those who were not members of the Church. This sense of reserve is already apparent in the Gospels: ‘Do not give what is holy to the dogs, or throw your pearls before swine’ (Mt 7.6). In the fourth century however this plea for reverence developed into a widespread and systematic command not to reveal the Christian mysteries to pagans or even catechumens. Thus the unbaptized had to leave the congregation before the eucharistic section of the liturgy; hence the distinction between the Mass of the catechumens and the Mass of the Faithful. Apart from the baptismal and eucharistic rites, the secrecy extended to the Creed, which in Jerusalem was not taught until a few days before baptism, and the Lord's Prayer, which was kept secret until the Easter Eucharist. Especial care was taken not to commit the secrets to writing. Before teaching the Creed to the baptismal candidates, Cyril warned them not to write it down (Cat. 5.12); later Pope Innocent I instructed another bishop that the Kiss of Peace should be given ‘after everything which I am not entitled to make public’ (Ad Decentium, 1.4: PL 20.553). Accordingly in Jerusalem the candidates went through the rites of initiation without any preliminary explanation; it was not until the week after Easter that Cyril taught the newly baptized the meaning of these rites in the Mystagogic Catecheses. Egeria describes the enthusiasm with which these instructions were received:

the bishop stands, leaning on the inner railing in the cave of the Anastasis, and explains everything which is done at baptism…And as the bishop explains and recalls each point, the shouts of applause are so loud that they can be heard even outside the church. For truly he unfolds all the mysteries in such a way that no one who hears them explained in this way can be left unmoved. (Pereg. 47.1–2)

Cyril gives reasons for this practice. It is better pedagogically to witness the rites before learning their meaning: ‘I saw clearly that seeing is much more convincing than hearing.’ Only now are they ‘able to understand the more divine mysteries’ (MC 1.1). Although St Ambrose followed the same practice in Milan, in other places the practice was different; St John Chrysostom, for example, instructed the candidates in advance, ‘so that you may go from here with knowledge and a more assured faith’ (Bapt. Hom. (Stavronikita) 2.12).

Closely associated with the disciplina arcani was the use of the liturgy to inspire awe. Thus Cyril describes both the renunciation of the devil and the Eucharistic Prayer as an ‘awe-inspiring moment’; the consecrated bread and wine are the ‘awe-inspiring sacrifice’ (MC 1.5; 5.4; 5.9); as early as the Procatechesis he relates how the exorcists ‘inspire fear’ (Procat. 9). In practice Cyril seems deliberately to have performed the rites in such a way as to foster this experience of awe, as his explanation of the Renunciation shows:

Nonetheless you hear a voice telling you to stretch out your hand and say to him as if he were there before you: ‘I renounce you, Satan.’ I want to tell you why you stand facing west, for you need to know. The west is the quarter from which darkness appears, and Satan is himself darkness and exerts his power in the dark. (MC 1.4)

This defiance cast in Satan's face in the darkness of the baptistery must have been a particularly spine-chilling experience. In fact all the initiation-rites must have had a cumulative effect of this kind. Even before giving in their names for baptism, the candidates had heard mysterious hints of great secrets and privileges that lay before them. In the Procatechesis and the first Catechesis Cyril summarizes these enticements:

The baptism which lies before you is a great matter. For prisoners it means ransom; for sins forgiveness; the death of sin; new birth for the soul; a shining garment; a holy, indelible seal; a chariot to heaven; the food of paradise; the grant of royalty; the grace of adoption. (Procat. 16)

Acquire the pledge of the Holy Spirit through faith, so that you may be received into the everlasting tabernacles. Approach the mystic seal, so as to be recognizable to your Master. Be numbered among Christ's holy and spiritual flock, to be set apart on his right hand and to inherit the life which has been prepared for you. (Cat. 1.2)

The same concern for the emotive power of the liturgy can be seen in Cyril's exploitation of its celebration at the very places where each saving incident took place. In addition to the Martyrium, the Anastasis and the rock of Calvary, there were services at Sion, the Lazarium, the Eleona, the Imbomon, the place of the Agony, and that of the Arrest; there were also visits to Bethlehem:

people can never weary of hearing about the Master's crown, especially at this holy place of Golgotha. For while others can only hear, we see and touch. (Cat. 13.22)

Egeria's repeated descriptions of the cries and the groans which the people were moved to utter during the Easter services is testimony to the emotive power of the celebrations.

Long before Cyril's time this exploitation of religious awe had been a feature of the Greek and Roman mystery-religions. The very word ‘awe-inspiring’ (phrikodes), which literally means ‘causing a shiver’ or ‘making the hair stand on end’, had formed part of the vocabulary of the pagan mysteries; in these initiation was performed through secret rites in which the candidates took part in the reenactment of episodes in the life of a god or goddess, generally involving death and resurrection. One of these rites to which the word ‘awe-inspiring’ was applied was the celebration of the mysteries of the corn-goddess Demeter or Ceres. These mysteries commemorated Demeter's loss of her daughter Persephone (Proserpine), who had been carried off by Dis (Pluto), the god of the underworld. While the goddess was mourning her loss, she refused to allow the wheat to grow; but eventually Persephone was reunited with her mother for eight months in every year, which symbolized the period of growth. Every year in commemoration of Demeter's loss and recovery of her daughter, at the time of the autumn sowing the Athenians performed ceremonies at Eleusis, which included rites of initiation. Although little is known about the details of these secret rites, it seems that the candidate was required to re-enact Demeter's search for Persephone, fasting, sitting with veiled face on a fleece-covered stool beneath a winnowing-fan, and given a spiced or drugged drink called kykeon. Much play was made of the alternation of light and darkness:

Proserpine is sought in the night by the light of torches. Once she is found the whole rite ends amid rejoicing and the waving of torches.

A climax of the ceremony seems to have been the contemplation and handling of a sacred object, perhaps a golden ear of wheat. Thus Clement of Alexandria records the following profession of faith made by the initiates:

I fasted; I drank the kykeon; I took out of a box, handled and put away in a basket; I took out of the basket and put into the box.

Although the original purpose of the Eleusinian rites was to obtain from the gods the seasonal rebirth of the crops, their aim was eventually extended to include a blessed afterlife. In the words of Aristides, whom we have quoted above:

The effect of the festival is not only immediate pleasure or release from past misfortunes; with regard to death they have fairer hopes that they will enjoy a happier existence and not lie in the darkness and mud that are in store for the uninitiated. (Eleusinios 259)

The great Roman orator Cicero, who was himself initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries, pays this tribute to their power:

Your Athens was the source of many great and wonderful benefits to the human race; but I think that none is greater than those mysteries which refined our uncouth rustic lives and made us humane and gentle, (de Legibus 2.26)

The mysteries owed their effectiveness to the emotive power of the rites. According to a catch-phrase that was attributed to Aristotle, ‘those undergoing initiation are not expected to gain knowledge (mathein) but an experience (pathein) and a disposition’.

Christian initiation, as practised by Cyril at Jerusalem, bore striking resemblances to these pagan rites.

This accumulation of points of resemblance between Cyril's baptismal practice and the pagan initiation rites confirms Hugo Rahner's belief that there was here and elsewhere a conscious attempt to assimilate into Christian practice some of the liturgical techniques of the mystery-religions.

If any one person is to be singled out as the original thinker behind this scheme, the most likely candidate is Constantine. Before his conversion the Emperor had been a devotee of the one god symbolized by the Unconquered Sun, and had been initiated into various mysteries. He now transferred his allegiance to Christ and adopted the cross as the emblem of Christ's victory and his own. Accordingly he determined to transfer Rome from the protection of the pagan gods to that of Christ, and eventually founded a new, Christian Rome at Byzantium. Throughout the empire Christian mysteries were to replace the old pagan ones. Jerusalem, the place where the Christian hero-god had died and risen, and where one could revere the sacred objects connected with his sufferings, above all the cross, Golgotha and the tomb, was the perfect place for the foundation of a Christian mystery-shrine, which superseded the pagan ones and provided the ideal location for the celebration of the Christian rites of initiation. To Jerusalem were added Bethlehem and the Mount of Olives. As Eusebius explains it, Constantine's master-plan was this:

Choosing in this region three places which were honoured by three mystical caves, he set about adorning them with opulent buildings.

Constantine had already erected many churches before work began on the Palestinian buildings, beginning with the Lateran basilica in Rome in 313. In the mid-320s, however, he began a new style of church, such as the basilicas of St Peter and St Paul in Rome, incorporating a martyr's tomb or a sacred place. A.Grabar suggested that this new style was derived from pagan cult-centres for the worship of heroes, in which the tomb of the hero was sometimes contained in a crypt within a round or polygonal structure, and set beneath an altar or shrine. The three churches in the Holy Land conformed to this new type. The buildings at Bethlehem and the Eleona incorporated respectively the caves of the Nativity and the teaching of the mysteries; in Jerusalem the Martyrium was built over the spot where the cross was found, and the tomb set apart in a cave-like structure outside.

Since the Martyrium had been dedicated for some fourteen years by the time Cyril became bishop, he cannot take all the credit for the devising of the imaginative liturgy which was celebrated there. However, he seems to have exploited and developed what he inherited; and to Constantine's buildings in the Holy Places he added the churches at Sion, the Anastasis and the Imbomon. Pilgrims like Egeria spread his influence throughout the Christian world.

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