The Office in Holy Week

The Office in Holy Week, or more particularly the Triduum, is quite different in form to the rest of the year, so it is important to pay close attention to the rubrics as set out in your Diurnal or Breviary, and follow the Ordo closely.

This post provides something of an overview, but should be read in conjunction with the Ordo.

Psalm Sunday to Holy Week Wednesday

The first days of Holy Week are all first class days:

• For those who say it, Matins each day has two nocturns/three readings, with the invitatory antiphon and hymn of passiontide;
• Lauds to None have proper antiphons for each day, with other texts from the ordinary of passiontide;
• Vespers uses the antiphons from the psalter, with a proper canticle and collect each for the Magnificat.

The Sacred Triduum

From Holy Thursday, follow the Office as set out in the Diurnal, ignoring the psalter section of the book. There are a number of special features of the Triduum that are worth taking note of.

It is worth noting that the Benedictine Office is, for all purposes and intents, identical to the traditional Roman Office during this period. So if you have the opportunity to attend Tenebrae or other Offices sung publicly, take them! You may also wish to listen to the monks of Norcia, who broadcast many of these Offices each year.

The other key point to note is that some of the Holy Week ceremonies include parts of the Office - so those who attend them do not need to sing or say those particular hours separately (see the Ordo).

Tenebrae (Matins and Lauds)

The Office of Tenebrae, or Matins and Lauds, is a special feature of the Triduum. It is said in darkness, and a candle is extinguished as each of the psalms is said.

The 1962 rubrics specify that Tenebrae not be anticipated, or said the night before. As this generally makes public recitation of the Office impractical outside a monastery, it is generally ignored. Thus the normal practice is to perform Tenebrae for Maundy Thursday on Wednesday night, and so forth. Note that the Diurnal does not contain the Matins psalms for Tenebrae, so you will need to obtain these from elsewhere should you wish to say it in full.

Prime to None from Maundy Thursday to None on Holy Saturday

The psalms for Prime, Terce, Sext and None during the Triduum are set out on MD 279*ff. No introductory prayer or hymns are said, and the Gloria Patri is not said at the end of each psalm.

Each hour closes the antiphon ‘Christus factus est’ – each day of the Triduum, an additional phrase of the antiphon is added, as set out on MD 282*.

Vespers

Vespers (if said) is often said quite early, in order to make room for Tenebrae/the Easter Vigil.

The antiphons and psalms for Vespers can be found on MD 296*ff.

Note that:

• There are no introductory prayers;
• As for the other hours, the Gloria Patri is not said at the end of each psalm;
• The first psalm on Holy Saturday is on MD 298*;
• Antiphons for the Magnificat each day are on MD 303*;
• On Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, the antiphon Christus factus est is said;
• On the concluding prayers for Holy Saturday, see MD 305*.

Compline

The rubrics for Compline from Maundy Thursday to Holy Saturday are set out on MD 305*ff. Note the addition of the Nunc Dimittis.

April 16: Saturday in Passion Week

Giotto, 1266-1337

Today's Gospel is John 12: 10-36, the entry into Jerusalem:

"So the chief priests planned to put Laz'arus also to death, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.

The next day a great crowd who had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!"

And Jesus found a young ass and sat upon it; as it is written, "Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on an ass's colt!"

His disciples did not understand this at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that this had been written of him and had been done to him.

The crowd that had been with him when he called Laz'arus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead bore witness.The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign.

The Pharisees then said to one another, "You see that you can do nothing; look, the world has gone after him."

Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks.

So these came to Philip, who was from Beth-sa'ida in Galilee, and said to him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus."

Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew went with Philip and they told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If any one serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant be also; if any one serves me, the Father will honor him.

"Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? `Father, save me from this hour'? No, for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify thy name." Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again."

The crowd standing by heard it and said that it had thundered. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him."

Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not for mine.

Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler of this world be cast out; and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself."

He said this to show by what death he was to die.

The crowd answered him, "We have heard from the law that the Christ remains for ever. How can you say that the Son of man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of man?"

Jesus said to them, "The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light."

When Jesus had said this, he departed and hid himself from them."

April 15: Friday in Passion Week

James Tissot, 1836-1902

Today's Gospel is John 11:47-54, the Jewish leaders decide to kill Our Lord:

"So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council, and said, "What are we to do? For this man performs many signs.

If we let him go on thus, every one will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation."

But one of them, Ca'iaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all; you do not understand that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish."

He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day on they took counsel how to put him to death.

Jesus therefore no longer went about openly among the Jews, but went from there to the country near the wilderness, to a town called E'phraim; and there he stayed with the disciples."

April 14: SS Tibertius, Valerian and Maximus, Martyrs, memorial

Conversion of St Valerian
Lorenzo Costa, 1505-6

Valerian was the husband of St Cecilia, Tiburtius was his brother, and Maximus was a Roman soldier sent to execute her.  All were converted by St Cecilia to Christianity, and martyred in 230 AD. These three saints were buried in the Catacomb of Praetextatus on the Via Appia, where their tombs are mentioned by the pilgrim nun Egeria.

April 14: Thursday in Passion Week; SS Tibertius, Valerian and Maximus, Martyrs, memorial

Rubens, ca1618

Today's Gospel is Luke 7: 36-50, St Mary Magdalen washes the feet of Our Lord, and he forgives her sins:

"One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house, and took his place at table.

And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.

Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner."

And Jesus answering said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you."

And he answered, "What is it, Teacher?"

"A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he forgave them both. Now which of them will love him more?"

Simon answered, "The one, I suppose, to whom he forgave more." And he said to him, "You have judged rightly."

Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house, you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little."

And he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."

Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, "Who is this, who even forgives sins?"

And he said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

April 13: St Justin, Memorial

icon by Theophanes the Cretan, 1546-6
Stavronikita Monastery's Katholikon

(NB This feast is celebrated on April 14 in the Roman 1962 calendar).

St Justin Martyr (100–165) was an early Christian apologist. Most of his works are lost, but two apologies and a dialogue survive.

Pope Benedict XVI gave a General Audience on the saint in 2007:

In these Catecheses, we are reflecting on the great figures of the early Church. Today, we will talk about St Justin, Philosopher and Martyr, the most important of the second-century apologist Fathers.

The word "apologist" designates those ancient Christian writers who set out to defend the new religion from the weighty accusations of both pagans and Jews, and to spread the Christian doctrine in terms suited to the culture of their time.

Thus, the apologists had a twofold concern: that most properly called "apologetic", to defend the newborn Christianity (apologhía in Greek means, precisely, "defence"), and the pro-positive, "missionary" concern, to explain the content of the faith in a language and on a wavelength comprehensible to their contemporaries.

Justin was born in about the year 100 near ancient Shechem, Samaria, in the Holy Land; he spent a long time seeking the truth, moving through the various schools of the Greek philosophical tradition.

Finally, as he himself recounts in the first chapters of his Dialogue with Tryphon, a mysterious figure, an old man he met on the seashore, initially leads him into a crisis by showing him that it is impossible for the human being to satisfy his aspiration to the divine solely with his own forces. He then pointed out to him the ancient prophets as the people to turn to in order to find the way to God and "true philosophy".

In taking his leave, the old man urged him to pray that the gates of light would be opened to him.

The story foretells the crucial episode in Justin's life: at the end of a long philosophical journey, a quest for the truth, he arrived at the Christian faith. He founded a school in Rome where, free of charge, he initiated students into the new religion, considered as the true philosophy. Indeed, in it he had found the truth, hence, the art of living virtuously.

For this reason he was reported and beheaded in about 165 during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher-emperor to whom Justin had actually addressed one of his Apologia.

These - the two Apologies and the Dialogue with the Hebrew, Tryphon - are his only surviving works. In them, Justin intends above all to illustrate the divine project of creation and salvation, which is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the Logos, that is, the eternal Word, eternal Reason, creative Reason.

Every person as a rational being shares in the Logos, carrying within himself a "seed", and can perceive glimmers of the truth. Thus, the same Logos who revealed himself as a prophetic figure to the Hebrews of the ancient Law also manifested himself partially, in "seeds of truth", in Greek philosophy.

Now, Justin concludes, since Christianity is the historical and personal manifestation of the Logos in his totality, it follows that "whatever things were rightly said among all men are the property of us Christians" (Second Apology of St Justin Martyr, 13: 4).

In this way, although Justin disputed Greek philosophy and its contradictions, he decisively oriented any philosophical truth to the Logos, giving reasons for the unusual "claim" to truth and universality of the Christian religion. If the Old Testament leaned towards Christ, just as the symbol is a guide to the reality represented, then Greek philosophy also aspired to Christ and the Gospel, just as the part strives to be united with the whole.

And he said that these two realities, the Old Testament and Greek philosophy, are like two paths that lead to Christ, to the Logos. This is why Greek philosophy cannot be opposed to Gospel truth, and Christians can draw from it confidently as from a good of their own.

Therefore, my venerable Predecessor, Pope John Paul II, described St Justin as a "pioneer of positive engagement with philosophical thinking - albeit with cautious discernment.... Although he continued to hold Greek philosophy in high esteem after his conversion, Justin claimed with power and clarity that he had found in Christianity 'the only sure and profitable philosophy' (Dial. 8: 1)" (Fides et Ratio, n. 38).

Overall, the figure and work of Justin mark the ancient Church's forceful option for philosophy, for reason, rather than for the religion of the pagans. With the pagan religion, in fact, the early Christians strenuously rejected every compromise. They held it to be idolatry, at the cost of being accused for this reason of "impiety" and "atheism".

Justin in particular, especially in his first Apology, mercilessly criticized the pagan religion and its myths, which he considered to be diabolically misleading on the path of truth.

Philosophy, on the other hand, represented the privileged area of the encounter between paganism, Judaism and Christianity, precisely at the level of the criticism of pagan religion and its false myths. "Our philosophy...": this is how another apologist, Bishop Melito of Sardis, a contemporary of Justin, came to define the new religion in a more explicit way (Ap. Hist. Eccl. 4, 26, 7).

In fact, the pagan religion did not follow the ways of the Logos, but clung to myth, even if Greek philosophy recognized that mythology was devoid of consistency with the truth.

Therefore, the decline of the pagan religion was inevitable: it was a logical consequence of the detachment of religion - reduced to an artificial collection of ceremonies, conventions and customs - from the truth of being.

Justin, and with him other apologists, adopted the clear stance taken by the Christian faith for the God of the philosophers against the false gods of the pagan religion.

It was the choice of the truth of being against the myth of custom. Several decades after Justin, Tertullian defined the same option of Christians with a lapidary sentence that still applies: "Dominus noster Christus veritatem se, non consuetudinem, cognominavit - Christ has said that he is truth not fashion" (De Virgin. Vel. 1, 1).

It should be noted in this regard that the term consuetudo, used here by Tertullian in reference to the pagan religion, can be translated into modern languages with the expressions: "cultural fashion", "current fads".

In a time like ours, marked by relativism in the discussion on values and on religion - as well as in interreligious dialogue - this is a lesson that should not be forgotten.

To this end, I suggest to you once again - and thus I conclude - the last words of the mysterious old man whom Justin the Philosopher met on the seashore: "Pray that, above all things, the gates of light may be opened to you; for these things cannot be perceived or understood by all, but only by the man to whom God and his Christ have imparted wisdom" (Dial. 7: 3)."

April 13: Wednesday in Passion Week

James Tissot

Today's Gospel is John 10: 22-38 - Jesus asserts his divinity, and the Jews threaten to stone him:

"It was the feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem; it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon.

 So the Jews gathered round him and said to him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly."

Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand.

My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one."

The Jews took up stones again to stone him.

Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of these do you stone me?"

The Jews answered him, "It is not for a good work that we stone you but for blasphemy; because you, being a man, make yourself God."

Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, `I said, you are gods'? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came (and scripture cannot be broken), do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, `You are blaspheming,' because I said, `I am the Son of God'? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father."