The penitential character of Wednesday was very probably inspired by the consideration that it was the day on which the Passion (the arrest of the Lord) commenced, while Friday was the traditional day on which the death of Christ was commemorated by the Church.Īccording to the Liber pontificalis (ed. As early as the Didache, at the end of the apostolic period, therefore, Wednesday and Friday were observed as fast days, later as stational days, too. In view of the fact that the roots of the primitive Christian Church were in Judaism, it is not surprising that its religious practice influenced the discipline of the penitential system of the ancient Church. Though the ultimate origins of the Ember Days are obscure, certain Jewish and pagan influences were operative in their formation. Graz 1955) c.1252.2) the Ember Days were not included among the days on which fast or abstinence are required according to the reorganization of penitential discipline contained in Pope Paul VI's apostolic constitution Poenitemini of Feb. Though formerly observed as days of fast and total (1917 Codex iuris canonici (Rome 1918 repr. They were observed liturgically in that each Ember Day has its own proper Office and Mass celebrated in violet vestments (red, however, in Pentecost). According to this tradition, a Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday in a determined week of each season were constituted Ember Days in the liturgical calendar: winter (the week after the third Sunday of Advent), spring (the week after the first Sunday of Lent), summer (in the week after Pentecost Sunday) and autumn (after the feast of the Holy Cross, September 14). There's a connection here to a comment made by u/GodGivesBabiesFaith on another thread - that churches are generally asking too little of people in terms of discipline/catchechesis, not too much.By an ancient tradition in the Roman rite, the historical 12 liturgical and penitential days arranged in four triads ( Quattuor tempora, "the four seasons"). But no reason not to hold morning and/or evening prayer on those days. In terms of Ember Days specifically, their nature as fast days gives things a different feel. So very little logistics / preparation are required. It's very easy to hold morning prayer in the church, all you need are prayer books, a single person to preside (doesn't even have to be clergy!), and a bible for the readings. Attendance will be sparse, of course, but maybe that will actually help initially. This doesn't have to be a eucharistic service, it could be morning pray or evening prayer. It seems like the first step is to hold a service in the church for all feasts and holy days. I don't know whether this stems from lack of interest from the clergy, lack of interest from the congregation, or lack of time/resources from the clergy. I'm in TEC, and my parish (and I assume many others) ignores not only the ember days, but the vast majority of non-Sunday feast days. Good questions, and the problem is more general. However, being church-seasonal doesn't seem to translate obviously to the natural seasons, and the collects can be somewhat lacking, too: the Whitsunday Collect says everything the Whitsun Embertide collects say, and does it better.Īre there other traditions, prayers, or observances that can make these fasts at the four seasons come to life today? The Sarum rite has Embertide propers that are related to the church season they fall in (except the September Embertide, which is about fasting in general). This isn't what the Ember Days always were, though. While it's always a good idea to pray for the clergy, and yes, missions and world peace too, I kind of wonder if those ideas resonate with people anymore. People who like to talk about the Ember Days usually describe them as hallowing the four seasons with prayer, but I can't quite see how that works when the prayers are so specifically clerical. Even in the Canadian 1962, two of the three alternative propers are for missions (the Advent one is for world peace). The Collect even explicitly contains a prayer for an increase in vocations. In the Prayer Book tradition, the Ember Days are solely for prayer for clergy.
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