Holy Week in Jerusalem (4th century)

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Topography of Jerusalem in late antiquity (Madaba map)

The Holy Week in Jerusalem was described by the pilgrim Egeria in her travelogue ( Itinerarium ) at the end of the 4th century . It is a series of church services and liturgical performances from the Saturday of Lazarus to Sunday on Easter . The Bible texts of the Passion story and the Easter Gospel were related to the places where, according to ancient Christian tradition, the relevant events had taken place. Place and time intertwined: the appropriate Bible text, the - in ancient perception - the authentic place and the right time (in the church year ) came together.

places

The places for these liturgical inspections were either in the area of ​​the Mount of Olives , where a Christian landscape of remembrance had formed early on, or in the Constantinian Church of the Holy Sepulcher . It is the central building of Christian Jerusalem, located directly on the main street ( Cardo maximus ), as the mosaic map of Madaba shows. Other places in the city area, with the exception of the flagellation column on Mount Zion , do not yet play a role in the Old Jerusalem liturgy of Holy Week .

Model of the Holy Sepulcher in the 4th century

This is also due to the fact that during the Holy Week the visit to authentic places alternated with a visit to symbolic places; This becomes particularly clear when the Lord's Supper on Maundy Thursday did not go to a house in which tradition placed Jesus' last supper with the disciples - but instead the congregation went to receive communion under the cross in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, to a highly symbolic place.

Roman structure, closing wall of the Constantinian Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Alexander Nevsky Church)

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher extended from the Cardo about 132 m to the west and was almost 43 m wide. It was an imperial construction project, but you couldn't build bigger because the available land was limited. Its importance was shown in the precious furnishings that Emperor Constantine had provided. From the Cardo you got through the Propylaea into the atrium , behind which there was a five-aisled basilica , the so-called Martyrium, 58 m long and 40 m wide. You could walk along the outside of the basilica through an open corridor on both sides and get into an inner courtyard with the Golgothafelsen . Behind the inner courtyard was the domed rotunda of the anastasis (" resurrection "), in the middle of which was the Holy Sepulcher aedicula . Eight gates led from the inner courtyard into the anastasis.

Remains of the representative entrance area of ​​the late antique Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Propylaea and atrium) can be discovered at the Suq Chan ez period , namely at the Russian Orthodox Alexander Nevsky Church and the confectionery next to it: four stumps of the Cardo, ancient paving and threshold, about 7 m of the eastern wall from Constantinian times.

All of the Constantinian churches in Jerusalem were built by local architects. The Christians were still a minority in Palestine in the 4th century, for whose normal worship smaller churches were sufficient, "and the open courtyards and squares in all these complexes took into account the expected influx of pilgrims."

Days

Lazarus Saturday

During the holy week one visited several places on the Mount of Olives, where there were old Christian places of remembrance. The Via Dolorosa was unknown.

The Holy Week began on the afternoon of the Saturday of Lazarus .

The believers migrated from Jerusalem to Bethany on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives. Here tradition localized a place on the street where Jesus and Mary , the sister of Lazarus , met ( John 11 : 20-27  EU ). At the seventh hour (at 1 p.m.) the bishop of Jerusalem arrived and the monks met him; and they all went to the church that was built on this site. The content of a short service was reading the relevant passage from the Bible. "So it is staged exactly along the lines of the Gospel of John: the bishop takes the place of Jesus , the monks take the place of Mary and the believers take the place of the Jews."

The place is an old memorial point, the so-called stone of waiting for Jesus. It was located on the side of the street across from today's Greek Orthodox Church near Burj al-Hammar in an area that has now been abandoned.

Then everyone went to the “so-called lazarium”, singing hymns, where a large crowd had already gathered in the surrounding fields.

According to the report of the pilgrim from Bordeaux , there was already a tomb with a chapel revered as the grave of Lazarus in the 4th century, and the crowd gathered around this small cult building in the open air. A few years after Egeria's visit, Jerome testified to a "church that has now been built there" east of the tomb of Lazarus. It existed until the earthquake of 447 and is well known archaeologically: a three-aisled basilica, 19 m wide, about 35 m long, with an inscribed apse and raised presbytery . The remains of the purely ornamental mosaic floor are among the oldest church mosaics in the region. Today the area is in Franciscan ownership ; the 4th century mosaics are exhibited in the courtyard in front of the entrance to the modern church.

After a service with suitable hymns, antiphons and readings, the priest went to a raised place and from there recited the Gospel of John Chapter 12 EU , which contains a reference to Easter. The raising of Lazarus was the impressive prelude to the Holy Week in the Jerusalem liturgy.

Entrance to the Eleona Grotto in the area of ​​today's Paternoster Church on the Mount of Olives

All of them then hiked the shortest route, that is, over the hill of the Mount of Olives from Bethany back to Jerusalem and went straight to the rotunda of the Constantinian Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Anastasis), where the usual evening prayer with lighting of the lights ( Luzernar ) took place. This daily evening ritual had taken on a special form in Jerusalem. The light was not simply kindled like everywhere else, but “brought out” from within the Holy Sepulcher.

Palm Sunday

On the afternoon of Palm Sunday at 1 p.m. the believers and the bishop went to the Mount of Olives with palm branches. A festive service was held in the Eleona Church.

The Eleona was one of the Constantinian churches in Jerusalem. Their location was made up of a venerated grotto on the way from Bethany to Jerusalem, which is very clear from Egeria's report (see: Tuesday).

At 3 p.m. they went to the so-called Imbomon singing hymns, where everyone sat while the deacons stood. Various readings and chants alternated until 5 p.m. then the gospel of the entry into Jerusalem was read out ( Matthew 21 : 1–11  EU ).

The Imbomon was a rock or small hill on the crest of the Mount of Olives that was clearly visible from the city, where a mosque is now located. The Ascension of Christ was located here. There was no church there at the time of Egeria, but the free space was used for various liturgical celebrations.

In a procession young and old accompanied the bishop to Jerusalem in the same way as Jesus entered Jerusalem, with Psalm 118.26  EU being sung again and again as the antiphon : “Praise be to him who comes in the name of the Lord!” Egeria describes, that all children, including the little ones who were carried on their backs by their parents, held branches of palms or olive trees in their hands during this descent from the Mount of Olives.

It was only late to arrive at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher for evening prayer with lighting of the lights. This common return to the main church at the end of the day, which corresponds to a return to the usual liturgical processes of the daily prayer, formed a counterbalance to the dramatic visualization of the Passion story and will be repeated on the following days.

Easter Monday

The day began with the usual liturgy of Lent . But from 3 p.m., the Non with subsequent Lucerne was celebrated in the martyrdom of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher as a parish service that lasted into the night. Finally, the bishop moved to the Holy Sepulcher Aedicula, where he blessed and dismissed the faithful and catechumens .

Eleona Grotto, remains of the "Grotto of Instruction" on the site of the Paternoster Church

Easter Tuesday

Everything happened exactly as it did on Monday, but the congregation did not go home after the discharge but walked to the Mount of Olives in the dark. In the Eleona church, the bishop went to the cave where, according to tradition, Jesus used to teach his disciples. The gospel book was presented to him and he stood up to read all of Jesus' speech on the omens and persecutions of the end times ( Matthew 24-26  EU ). After the blessing, everyone returned home late at night.

Already in the 2nd and 3rd centuries a "grotto of instruction" was venerated on the grounds of the Eleona church; After the Council of Nicaea , she “came out of her esoteric semi-darkness in one fell swoop into the glaring light of the imperial building program.” When Egeria visited Jerusalem, Eleona was firmly integrated into the liturgical life of the city and her importance was not limited to the subject of the Church of the Assumption. The Eleona Church of Constantine looked like this: through a portico one got into the atrium with a large cistern ; behind the atrium was the actual basilica with a floor area of ​​around 30 × 18 m and adorned with a mosaic floor. At that time you had a good view of the city from here. This made it a suitable place for the end-time discourse, which addresses the fate of Jerusalem.

Pilgrim bottle from Bobbio with a depiction of the Constantinian Holy Sepulcher Aedicula (bottom center). The fence-like demarcation of the entrance area is clearly recognizable and played an important role in the liturgy.

Wednesday of Holy Week

Also Wednesday began in the Holy Sepulcher with the usual liturgy of Lent. Late in the evening the bishop went to the Holy Sepulcher aedicula; but the liturgy stopped in front of the metal grille with which the entrance was then framed. From here he presented the account of the betrayal of Judas ( Matthew 26 : 14-16  EU ). Then the whole congregation gathered in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher began to cry and lament.

Maundy Thursday

The Holy Thursday began as a normal day during Lent, except that the service has been completed earlier. The bishop then distributed the Eucharist to the faithful "behind the cross". This happened once a year only on Maundy Thursday. However, the location in today's Church of the Holy Sepulcher can no longer be precisely located; it was probably a kind of chapel inside the basilica, where the Golgothafelsen stood open.

After the service was over, everyone rushed home to the cena , the ancient main meal in the evening. Then they went to the Eleona Church on the Mount of Olives. Here, from around 7 p.m., hymns were sung and Jesus' farewell speeches read out ( John 14-17  EU ). At midnight they went to the Imbomon, where the service continued.

Good Friday

Remains of the late antique mosaic floor of the ecclesia elegans in the Church of the Nations

At the first crowing of the cock on Good Friday , the community moved from Imbomon down the Mount of Olives to the place where tradition had located the prayer of Jesus before his arrest ( Luke 22 : 41-44  EU ). Here was a “noble church ( ecclesia elegans )” where the appropriate gospel was read. Young and old now climbed downhill to the Garden of Gethsemane , which used to take a long time ( lente et lente ) because of the rush of the crowd and because the people were very weakened by fasting and sleep deprivation, and ultimately also by nightly hiking on the Mount of Olives. More than 200 burning candles were set up there "as light for the people". In this magnificently illuminated garden with olive trees, the gospel of the arrest of Jesus was read out, and thereupon there arose such moans, weeps and wails that it could be heard as far as Jerusalem. The liturgical mourning mixed with the vital expression of exhaustion.

Egeria's “elegant church” is probably identical to the basilica, discovered in 1920, which is now the so-called Church of Nations . (The Garden of Gethsemane would then have been located further down the valley in the 4th century.) When the Church of the Nations was built, attempts were made to show as much of the excavated basilica as possible. The modern church faces the same direction but is larger so the basilica's walls and column bases are in the interior, where they have been marked by gray marble slabs. Remnants of the mosaic floor in the side aisles were integrated into the modern floor.

The crowd now accompanied the bishop back into town. At dusk you arrived at the city gate (today's Löwentor ). By the time the crucifixion was reached in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, it was already light. Here the account was read of how Jesus was interrogated by Pilate . The bishop then turned to the crowd and encouraged them to see the rest of that difficult day. It is good now to rest a little at home so that one is strengthened for the continuation of the liturgy at the second hour (at 8 o'clock).

Before sunrise, a crowd of believers gathered at the flagellation column on Zion to commemorate the Passion of Christ at this station; and then there was some time to rest.

According to Hieronymus, there was a Christian church on Mount Zion in the 4th century , in whose portico the flagellation column was venerated. This Hagia Sion or "Church of the Apostles" was particularly associated with Pentecost . On the southeast corner of today's sanctuary David grave / Upper Room are from outside five layers of stone from Roman blocks recognizable; this is probably the rest of the Hagia Sion church, which Egeria mentions several times.

In the meantime the bishop had taken his seat ( cathedra ) “behind the cross” in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher , and a table covered with linen was set up in front of him , on which the cross relics were placed for veneration by the faithful: wood from the cross of Christ (otherwise in a silver, gilded box) and the tablet that was attached to the cross. It was customary for people to bow individually in front of the table and touch the relics with their foreheads, look at them and then kiss them. While seated, the bishop held both ends of the cross relic in his hands. The deacons stood in a circle around the table and guarded the relics because, as Egeria explained to her readers, there was a case where someone had bitten off a piece of wood and stolen it. A deacon held Solomon's signet ring and the anointing horn of the kings of Judah , two objects that were also venerated by the faithful. Because of the narrowness of the room, it was not until noon before all believers, entering through one door and leaving the other, had worshiped the cross relics in this way.

Inner courtyard of the Constantinian basilica, view to the south (model)

The crowd now gathered in the large courtyard of the Constantinian basilica between the rotunda (anastasis) and the martyrdom. From 12 p.m. to 3 p.m., in this courtyard, the faithful listened to the reading of scriptures appropriate to the passion of Christ, alternating with prayers. Those present showed their emotional involvement in this event with excited gestures, complaints and crying.

In the southeast corner of this central atrium rose the rock spur identified with Golgotha, about five meters high, on which stood a large cross. Here a distinction was made between the two liturgical places “in front of the cross” (in the atrium) and “behind the cross” (in the basilica). For comparison: Whoever visits the Church of the Holy Sepulcher today, enters the area of ​​the former Constantinian atrium from the south side through the portal of the Crusader period.

At the ninth hour (3 p.m.) the account of how Jesus died was read from the Gospel of John. The community was then released.

Those who were not too exhausted later found themselves at the Holy Sepulcher Aedicula for a night watch.

Excursus: Fasting Practice in Jerusalem

When describing Good Friday, Egeria mentioned that the believers had been exhausted from fasting . Basically, however, fasting in Jerusalem was something that everyone could make more or less hard for themselves: “Nobody demands how much one has to do, but everyone does what he can. Those who do a lot are not praised, nor are those who do less criticized. It is so common here. ”Fasting, she explains, means doing without bread, oil and fruit; one fed on water and a pastry ( sorbitio modica de farina ). Hieronymus handed down a kind of recipe for the pastry: It consisted of flour and finely chopped vegetables and was served with oil.

Holy Saturday

On Holy Saturday the liturgy took place in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the usual way, but preparations for the vigils of the Easter vigil were already made.

Easter night

The Easter Vigil in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was not very different from the routine that Egeria knew from her home country. Therefore she does not describe the Easter vigils. In the Constantinian basilica there was a large baptismal font ( fons ), since the baptism was performed by immersion. Those baptized on Easter vigil ( infantes ) were dressed and led by the bishop to the Holy Sepulcher aedicula, where the bishop went behind the barriers and from there blessed the baptized, possibly also giving confirmation. The liturgy is determined by the imitation of death and resurrection.

The location of the Constantinian baptistery is not certain. Max Küchler suspects it in the courtyard north of the Anastasis rotunda. The argument for this is the Greek inscription φωνὴ κυρίου ἐπὶ τῶν ὑδάτων phone kyriou epi ton hydaton ( Psalm 29.3  EU ) on a cistern that Gustaf Dalman discovered in the northwest corner of the area. It relates to baptism; such a cistern was necessary to run a baptistery. Many other researchers, for example Eckart Otto, think it is more likely that the original baptistery was in the same place where under Emperor Constantine IX. Monomachus after the destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher by al-Hākim a baptistery was built: south of the rotunda. It still stands today and is the middle of the three chapels, the apses of which you can see on the left hand side in the forecourt of the Holy Sepulcher.

Easter Sunday

The Easter service also corresponded to what Egeria already knew, with the Easter Gospel being preached in the Anastasis. Because the crowd was already exhausted by the night watch, the Eucharistic celebration should not be prolonged excessively: "Everything is hurried out of consideration for the people."

source

literature

  • Harald Buchinger : Holy times? Christian celebrations between mimesis and anamnesis using the example of the Jerusalem liturgy of late antiquity . In: Peter Gemeinhardt, Katharina Heyden (ed.): Communio Sanctorum: Holy, Holy and Holiness in Late Antique Religious Cultures . De Gruyter, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-11-028391-4 , pp. 283–323.
  • Herbert Donner (Ed.): Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The oldest reports by Christian pilgrims to Palestine (4th – 7th centuries). 2nd, revised and supplemented edition, Katholisches Bibelwerk, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 978-3-460-31842-7 .
  • Max Küchler : Jerusalem. A handbook and study guide to the Holy City . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-525-50170-2 .
  • Günter Stemberger : Jews and Christians in the Holy Land. Palestine under Constantine and Theodosius . CH Beck, Munich 1987, ISBN 978-3-406-32303-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Harald Buchinger: Holy Times. P. 295.
  2. ↑ Harald Buchinger: Holy Times. P. 305.
  3. ↑ Egeria: Itinerarium. Chapter 30.1, p. 237: "It is called martyrdom because it is on Golgotha, that is, behind the cross (post Crucem), where the Lord suffered - therefore martyrdom."
  4. ^ Günter Stemberger: Jews and Christians. Pp. 58-59.
  5. ↑ Max Küchler: Jerusalem. Pp. 412-415.
  6. ^ Günter Stemberger: Jews and Christians. P. 64.
  7. ↑ Max Küchler: Jerusalem. P. 924.
  8. ↑ Max Küchler: Jerusalem. Pp. 914-920.
  9. ↑ Georg Röwekamp: Itinerarium (introduction). P. 65.
  10. ↑ Max Küchler: Jerusalem. P. 926.
  11. ↑ Max Küchler: Jerusalem. P. 929.
  12. ↑ Egeria: Itinerarium. Chapter 29.6, pp. 234–236: " revertuntur ... rectus ad Anastase "
  13. ↑ Egeria: Itinerarium. Chapter 24.4, p. 210: " Lumen ... de spelunca interiori eicitur ".
  14. ↑ Egeria: Itinerarium. Chapter 24.4, p. 211: “But at the tenth hour, which is called Lychnikon here - we say Lucerne - the whole crowd gathers again in the anastasis; all the candlesticks and candles are lit, and infinite light shines. "
  15. ↑ Max Küchler: Jerusalem. Pp. 882-883.
  16. ↑ Harald Buchinger: Holy Times. P. 304: “The bishop represents Christ in a mimetic way, not only in the palm procession ... but also e.g. B. in the teaching of the disciples on Tuesday of the high week ... "
  17. ↑ Egeria: Itinerarium. Chapter 31.3, p. 239.
  18. ↑ Georg Röwekamp: Itinerarium (introduction). P. 84 (While Jesus' entry into Jerusalem had led him directly to the temple, the path of this procession ended in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher as the “new temple”).
  19. ↑ Harald Buchinger: Holy Times. P. 305.
  20. ^ Georg Röwekamp: Itinerar (preface). (Source for this is the Armenian Lectionary): "The readings on Monday ... deal with creation, the fall of man, hope for redemption and the announcement of suffering through Jesus."
  21. ↑ Max Küchler: Jerusalem. Pp. 858-862.
  22. ^ Günter Stemberger: Jews and Christians. P. 61.
  23. ↑ Georg Röwekamp: Itinerarium (introduction). P. 85.
  24. ↑ Georg Röwekamp: Itinerarium (introduction). P. 53 (Because of its importance for the liturgy of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which in turn served as a model for other churches, a similar liturgical site was set up in Milan “on the cross”).
  25. ↑ Max Küchler: Jerusalem. P. 814.
  26. ↑ a b Max Küchler: Jerusalem. P. 815 (Georg Röwekamp identifies the “elegant church” with the Eleona [ Itinerarium (introduction) . P. 63]).
  27. ↑ Max Küchler: Jerusalem. Pp. 828-829.
  28. ↑ Max Küchler: Jerusalem. Pp. 100–101 (The gate was called Osttor in the 4th century; the name Stephanstor did not appear until the 15th century).
  29. ↑ Max Küchler: Jerusalem. P. 614.
  30. ↑ Max Küchler: Jerusalem. Pp. 640-641.
  31. ↑ Georg Röwekamp: Itinerarium (introduction). P. 54 (The cross relic was normally kept in a chapel on the southern edge of the east atrium).
  32. ↑ Egeria: Itinerarium. Chapter 37.2, pp. 249-251
  33. ↑ Egeria: Itinerarium. Chapter 37.3, p. 251 (Egeria's account is the earliest mention of the two Solomon relics. The anointing horn upgraded the Church of the Holy Sepulcher as a new temple; the ring symbolizes Solomon's power over the demons).
  34. ↑ Georg Röwekamp: Itinerarium (introduction). P. 87 (According to the Armenian Lectionary, Old and New Testament texts alternate according to the scheme of promise and fulfillment).
  35. ↑ Max Küchler: Jerusalem. P. 464.
  36. ↑ a b Max Küchler: Jerusalem. P. 435.
  37. ↑ a b Egeria: Itinerarium. Chapter 28.4, p. 233.
  38. ↑ Georg Röwekamp: Itinerarium (introduction). P. 82.
  39. ↑ Georg Röwekamp: Itinerarium (introduction). P. 89 (Based on the Armenian Lectionary: Creation , saving Isaac , Passover , Jonah , passage through the Red Sea , enlightenment of Jerusalem ( Isaiah 60  EU : a Jerusalem specialty), God's answer to Job , rapture of Elijah , rescue of Jeremiah , passage through the Jordan , resurrection vision Ezekiel 37  EU , three men in the fiery furnace ).
  40. ↑ a b Egeria: Itinerarium. Chapter 38.2, p. 255.
  41. ↑ Gustaf Dalman: The Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem . In: Gustaf Dalman (Ed.): Palestine Yearbook of the German Evangelical Institute for Classical Studies of the Holy Land in Jerusalem . 3rd year. Ernst Siegfried Mittler and Son, Berlin 1907, p. 34–55 , here p. 36 f. ( Digitized versionhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3D~GB%3D~IA%3Dpalaestinajahrb02jerugoog~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3D~ double-sided%3D~LT%3D~PUR%3D ).
  42. ↑ Max Küchler: Jerusalem. P. 461.
  43. ↑ Eckart Otto: The ancient Jerusalem: Archeology and history . CH Beck, Munich 2008, p. 111 .