All Traditions not of Equal Obligation-The Test "from the Beginning"- "Sursum Corda"-The Holy Scriptures and the Sacred Ministry Supreme Examples of Tradition- THE CHURCH CALENDAR AND ITS USE Greek and Roman Calendars-Anno Domini, or the Year of Our Lord-Why not adopted till the Year 541-Dionysius Exiguus-What we owe to Julius Cæsar-Error of the Cal- endar in A. D. 1582-"New Style" adopted by Churches in Communion with Rome-Not adopted by England till TECHNICAL WORDS IN THE CALENDAR Lunar Cycle, Metonic Cycle, Golden Number, or Prime, Paschal Moon, Epact, Dominical Letter, Bissextile or Great Variety in Details of Calendars, but One Central Prin- 53 Why Easter not Immovable like Christmas-(For Origin of Easter see Chapters IV and V; for Origin of Sunday see Chapter VI.) Great Importance attached to Easter seen in the Quartodeciman Controversy-How finally settled in the Church at the Council of Nice, A.D. 325- Why the British and Irish Rule for Easter differed from that OTHER MOVABLE FEASTS-WHITSUNDAY AND TRINITY The Coming of the Holy Ghost and the Birthday of the Church -The Name Whitsunday-The calling of Sundays "after Trinity" instead of "after Pentecost, or Whitsunday,” Hooker on their Observance-Red-letter and Black-letter Days -The Special Value of Black-letter Days-Why a Saint's Day is called Dies natalis, or Birthday—Appropriateness of the Time of the Nativities of the Baptist and of Our Lord-Also the Days given to S. Andrew, S. Thomas, S. Stephen, S. John the Evangelist, and the Holy Inno- All Hallows and Hallowe'en-The Great Need of such a Day of Remembrance-Paradise not Heaven-The Intermediate The Revision of the Old English Calendar in 1661 imperfect— THE FASTS OF THE CHRISTIAN YEAR Fasts equally with Festivals open to Abuse-Yet the New Testament as well as the Old full of Accounts of Fasting- The Example of Christ and His Apostles-The True Pur- The Words Lent and Quadragesima—Meaning of the Names of the Pre-Lenten Sundays-Early Origin of the Fast in Preparation for Easter-Blunt on the Original Object of CHAPTER XXI GOOD FRIDAY AND EASTER EVEN PAGE Good Friday kept at first as a Feast Day in connection with Easter-After the Decision of the Church to observe Easter always on a Sunday, Good Friday naturally acquired its Present Character-Consecration of the Eucharist, but not Reception, began early to be omitted on Good Friday-Called the "Mass of the Pre-Sanctified"Blunt on the Disuse of this Custom in the Church of England-The practice of Bishop King of Lincoln, Dean Church, Dean Gregory, and Dr. Liddon-Easter Even.... 114 CHAPTER XXII OTHER DAYS OF FASTING Ember and Rogation Days-Fridays-Vigils and Eves.... 120 CHAPTER XXIII VARIATIONS AND REVISIONS OF CALENDARS The Use of Liturgies Universal in the Primitive Church-Leading Features Common to All, yet Many Variations in Detail-Meaning of the Word "Use"-Various Revisions of the Liturgies of Rome and England-Need of Revision also in the Calendars, especially of Black-letter DaysSome Peculiarities of the Roman and Oriental Calendars.. 124 THE CHRISTIAN YEAR ITS PURPOSE AND ITS HISTORY CHAPTER I WHY THE CHURCH HAS A CHRISTIAN YEAR "The way before us lies Distinct with signs, through which in set career, -Wordsworth, "Eccles. Sonnets," XIX. "Our festival year is a bulwark of orthodoxy as real as our confessions of faith."-Archer Butler. THE question of the age or origin of particular festivals or fasts is not so important as the practical and historical grounds on which the Christian Year is founded. No apology in the modern sense of the word is needed for its use, but rather an apologia or rationale to show how the system is "broad based" on reason and human experience as well as on the divine will. It has been well said indeed that "The foundations and heart of the whole festal system of the Church were given by a Higher Hand, and only the development-the much less important part of the whole-is to be attributed to the thoughts of men." 1 The Christian Year may then be described (1) as a 1 Kellner's Heortology, p. 203. |