HOLLY WEEK

Holy Week in the Christian year is the week immediately before Easter. The
earliest allusion to the custom of marking this week as a whole with special
observances is to be found in the Apostolical Constitutions (v. 18, 19), dating
from the latter half of the 3rd century and 4th century. In this text, abstinence
from flesh is commanded for all the days, while for the Friday and Sunday an
absolute fast is commanded. Dionysius Alexandrinus in his canonical epistle (AD
260), refers to the 91 fasting days implying that the observance of them had
already become an established usage in his time. [1]

There is some doubt about the genuineness of an ordinance attributed to Roman

Emperor Constantine, in which abstinence from public business was enforced
for the seven days immediately preceding Easter Sunday, and also for the seven
which followed it. The Codex Theodosianus, however, is explicit in ordering that
all actions at law should cease, and the doors of all courts of law be closed
during those 15 days (1. ii. tit. viii.).
Of the particular days of the "great week" the earliest to emerge into special
prominence was naturally Good Friday. Next came the Sabbatum Magnum
("Great Sabbath", i.e., Holy Saturday or Easter Eve) with its vigil, which in the
early church was associated with an expectation that the Second Advent would
occur on an Easter Sunday.
Other writings that refer to related traditions of the early Church include, most
notably, The Pilgrimage of Etheria (also known as The Pilgrimage of Egeria),
which details the whole observance of Holy Week at that time.
Today, in the Western Christian Church, among Lutherans, Anglicans,
Methodists, Presbyterians and Roman Catholics, the liturgies used for Holy
Week are nearly identical. [2]
In the Moravian Church, the Holy Week services (Passion Week) are extensive,
as the Congregation follows the life of Christ through His final week in daily
services dedicated to readings from a harmony of the Gospel stories,
responding to the actions in hymns, prayers and litanies, beginning on the eve of

Palm Sunday and culminating in the "Easter Morning" or Easter Sunrise service
begun by the Moravians in 1732.