haligweorc

September 21, 2007

New Post at the Cafe

Filed under: Church Year — Derek the Ænglican @ 7:23 am

It’s on the Ember Days.

4 Comments »

  1. That’s a good one, Derek; very beautifully written, and I didn’t know any of that.

    So does that mean this Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday? Like two days ago, today, and tomorrow? And why did they add Saturday on, do you know? (Maybe you said and I missed it; sorry, if so. I’m awfully tired tonight.)

    Comment by bls — September 21, 2007 @ 7:38 pm

  2. Derek, have you any hint about the reason for that odd combination of Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday for Ember Days? I could understand Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday or even Monday-Wednesday-Friday, but have never figured out the odd Ember Day constellation.

    I’ve searched and never found an answer.

    Comment by John-Julian, OJN — September 22, 2007 @ 12:37 pm

  3. I assumed that Wednesday and Friday were chosen because they were the traditional days of abstinence and/or fasting.

    But even if so, why Saturday? I wonder if that was added as the day for ordinations?

    Comment by bls — September 22, 2007 @ 1:20 pm

  4. Yeah, I’ve always surmized along with bls that Wednesdays & Fridays were the theoretical church-wide fasting days but my guess is that these were not universally observed. Perhaps the fasts were more strictly observed on these days…

    As for Saturday, I’m not clear but there were sometimes feasts of twelve lessons on Saturdays as vigils of major feasts. Perhaps these Saturdays were something similar.

    Also recall that these were the three non-Sunday days provided for in early medieval lectionaires.

    (I’m throwing evidence at the wall and seeing what will stick… ;)

    Comment by Derek the Ænglican — September 23, 2007 @ 12:26 pm

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