The Pilgrimage of Egeria

The following is a selection from a remarkable document known as The Pilgrimage of Egeria. It is her description of the Holy Week celebrations in Jerusalem during her pilgrimage to the Holy Land from 381-384. Egeria seems to have been an early religious woman who writes for her community back in Gaul. It is one of the earliest descriptions we have of the Church's liturgical prayer. She brings a sharp eye, a deep curiosity, and a profound faith to her account.

I find it a wonderful reminder of the ancient spiritual practices that remain so much a part of our own prayers during Holy Week. Our faith is built on all like Egeria who have gone before us and have witnessed to the Holy Spirit at work in our midst. - Fr. Dan

Procession with Palms on the Mount of Olives.

Accordingly at the seventh hour all the people

go up to the Mount of Olives, that is, to Eleona,

and the bishop with them, to the church, where

hymns and antiphons suitable to the day and to the

place are said, and lessons in like manner. And

when the ninth hour approaches they go up with

hymns to the Imbomon, that is, to the place whence

the Lord ascended into heaven,and there they sit down,

for all the people are always bidden to sit when the

bishop is present; the deacons alone always stand.

Hymns and antiphons suitable to the day and to

the place are said, interspersed with lections and

prayers. And as the eleventh hour approaches, the

passage from the Gospel is read, where the children,

carrying branches and palms, met the Lord, saying

“Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord”

and the bishop immediately rises, and all the people

with him, and they all go on foot from the top of

the Mount of Olives, all the people going before him

with hymns and antiphons, answering one to another

“Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord.”

And all the children in the neighbourhood, even those

who are too young to walk, are carried by their

parents on their shoulders, all of them bearing

branches, some of palms and some of olives, and

thus the bishop is escorted in the same manner as

the Lord was of old. For all, even those of rank,

both matrons and men, accompany the bishop all

the way on foot in this manner, making these

responses, from the top of the mount to the city,

and thence through the whole city to the Anastasis,

going very slowly lest the people should be wearied;

and thus they arrive at the Anastasis at a late hour.

And on arriving, although it is late, lucernare takes

place, with prayer at the Cross; after which the

people are dismissed.

Stations at Gethsemane.

And at the first cockcrow they come down from the

Imbomon with hymns, and arrive at the place where

the Lord prayed, as it is written in the Gospel and

He was withdrawn (from them] about a stones cast,

and prayed, and the rest. There is in that place a

graceful church. The bishop and all the people

enter, a prayer suitable to the place and to the day is

said, with one suitable hymn, and the passage from

the Gospel is read where He said to His disciples

“Watch, that ye enter not into temptation.” the whole

passage is read through and prayer is made. And

then all, even to the smallest child, go down with the

Bishop, on foot, with hymns to Gethsemane; where,

on account of the great number of people in the

crowd, who are wearied owing to the vigils and weak

through the daily fasts, and because they have so

great a hill to descend, they come very slowly with

hymns to Gethsemane. And over two hundred

church candles are made ready to give light to all

the people. On their arrival at Gethsemane, first a

suitable prayer is made, then a hymn is said, then

the passage of the Gospel is read where the Lord

was taken. And when this passage has been read

there is so great a moaning and groaning of all the

people, together with weeping, that their lamentation

may be heard perhaps as far as the city.

From that hour they go with hymns to the city on

foot, reaching the gate about the time when one man

begins to be able to recognize another, and thence

right on through the midst of the city; all, to a man,

both great and small, rich and poor, all are ready

there, for on that special day not a soul withdraws

from the vigils until morning. Thus the bishop is

escorted from Gethsemane to the gate, and thence

through the whole of the city to the Cross.

Good Friday. Service at Daybreak.

And when they arrive before the Cross the daylight

is already growing bright. There the passage from

the Gospel is read where the Lord is brought before

Pilate, with everything that is written concerning that

which Pilate spake to the Lord or to the Jews; the

whole is read. And afterwards the bishop addresses

the people, comforting them for that they have toiled

all night and are about to toil during that same day,

(bidding) them not be weary, but to have hope in

God, Who will for that toil give them a greater reward.

And encouraging them as he is able, he addresses

them thus: "Go now, each one of you, to your

houses, and sit down awhile, and all of you be ready

here just before the second hour of the day, that from

that hour to the sixth you may be able to behold the

holy wood of the Cross, each one of us believing that

it will be profitable to his salvation; then from the

sixth hour we must all assemble again in this place,

that is, before the Cross, that we may apply ourselves

to lections and to prayers until night."

The Column of the Flagellation.

After this, when the dismissal at the Cross has

been made, that is, before the sun rises, they all go

at once with fervour to Sion, to pray at the column

at which the Lord was scourged. And returning

thence they sit for awhile in their houses, and presently

all are ready.

Veneration of the Cross.

Then a chair is placed for the bishop in Golgotha

behind the Cross, which is now standing; the bishop

duly takes his seat in the chair, and a table covered

with a linen cloth is placed before him; the deacons

stand round the table, and a silver-gilt casket is

brought in which is the holy wood of the Cross. The

casket is opened and (the wood) is taken out, and

both the wood of the Cross and the title are placed

upon the table. Now, when it has been put upon the

table, the bishop, as he sits, holds the extremities of

the sacred wood firmly in his hands, while the deacons

who stand around guard it. It is guarded thus be-

cause the custom is that the people, both faithful and

catechumens, come one by one and, bowing down at

the table, kiss the sacred wood and pass through.

And because, I know not when, some one is said to

have bitten off and stolen a portion of the sacred wood,

it is thus guarded by the deacons who stand around,

lest any one approaching should venture to do so

again. And as all the people pass by one by one, all

bowing themselves, they touch the Cross and the

title, first with their foreheads and then with their

eyes; then they kiss the Cross and pass through, but

none lays his hand upon it to touch it. When they

have kissed the Cross and have passed through, a

deacon stands holding the ring of Solomon and the

horn from which the kings were anointed; they kiss

the horn also and gaze at the ring ... all the

people are passing through up to the sixth hour,

entering by one door and going out by another; for

this is done in the same place where, on the preceding day,

that is, on the fifth weekday, the oblation

was offered.

Station before the Cross. The Three Hours.

And when the sixth hour has come, they go before

the Cross, whether it be in rain or in heat, the place

being open to the air, as it were, a court of great

size and of some beauty between the Cross and the

Anastasis; here all the people assemble in such great

numbers that there is no thoroughfare. The chair is

placed for the bishop before the Cross, and from the

sixth to the ninth hour nothing else is done, but the

reading of lessons, which are read thus: first from the

psalms wherever the Passion is spoken of, then from

the Apostle, either from the epistles of the Apostles

or from their Acts, wherever they have spoken of the

Lord's Passion; then the passages from the Gospels,

where He suffered, are read. Then the readings from

the prophets where they foretold that the Lord

should suffer, then from the Gospels where He

mentions His Passion. Thus from the sixth to the ninth

hours the lessons are so read and the hymns said, that

it may be shown to all the people that whatsoever the

prophets foretold of the Lord's Passion is proved

from the Gospels and from the writings of the Apostles

to have been fulfilled. And so through all those

three hours the people are taught that nothing was

done which had not been foretold, and that nothing

was foretold which was not wholly fulfilled. Prayers

also suitable to the day are interspersed throughout.

The emotion shown and the mourning by all the

people at every lesson and prayer is wonderful; for

there is none, either great or small, who, on that day

during those three hours, does not lament more than

can be conceived, that the Lord had suffered those

things for us.

Afterwards, at the beginning of the ninth hour,

there is read that passage from the Gospel according

to John where He gave up the ghost. This read,

prayer and the dismissal follow.