These days were called 'half-fasts,' sc»)(-7C/«ni<i (Tertull. de Jejun. 13), because on them Christians broke their fast at 3 p.m. or even at noon; or more frequently 'station days' as in Hernias (I.e., though he does not specify the days) and in Ter- tullian (t/c Jejun. 14). This is a military metaphor. TertuUian (de Orat. 19) says : ' If the Station has received its name from the example of military life —for we are God's military [cf. 2 Co W, 1 Ti 1"]— certainly no gladness or sadness chancing to the camp abolishes the Stations of the soldiers ; for gladness will carry out discipline more willingly, sadness more carefully.' And St. Ambrose says: ' Our fasts are our encampments which protect us from the devil's attack ; in short, they are called Stations, because standing and staying in them we repel our plotting foes ' (Serm. 25, ed. of 1549, p. 716c).
3. Saturday. — There was a considerable diverg- ence of custom with regard to the observance of Saturday. In the East it was commonly regarded as a feast, while in many parts of the West it was a fast, that of Friday being continued to the Saturday, and the added fast being called a ' super- position' {.^ii/irr/iiixitiii, irWpSeiris). Tertullian (de Jejun. 14) inLiitioiis and condemns the custom of fasting on Saturday: 'You [' psychic' Christians] sometimes continue your station even over tlie Sabbath, a day never to be kept as a fast except at the Passover season.' St. Jerome -writing to Lucinius in A.D. 398 (Ep. 71) discusses the question, and says that it had been ' treated by the eloquent Hippolytus ' and others ; but he does not tell us what their opinions were. The Council of Elvira in Spain (c. 305 A.v.) ordered superpositions each month except in July and August (canon 23) ; and in canon 26 says that the enor is to be corrected ' ut onini sabbati die superpositiones celebremus,' which may mean that superpositions were to be held every Saturday (Hefele), or that this weekly fast was henceforward forbidden (Bp. J. Words- worth). The latter meaning would suit canon 23 better, but Hefele's construction suits canon 43. St. Au^stine says that in his time they did not fast at Milan on Saturday (Ep. liv. ad Januar. % 3). Writing in the 5th cent., Socrates (HE v. 22) says that in his day almost all Churches celebrated the sacred mysteries on the Sabbath of every week [Saturday], yet the Christians of Alexandria and Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, had ceased to do this. This ' ancient tradition ' may probably go back before the 4th century. Socrates goes on to say that the Egyptians near Alexandria and those of ih.- 'llu'liaul held synaxes on the Sabbath, but. nnlik.- ciln-r Christians, 'after hav- ing eaten ami -ali-ln-.l llniiiselves with food of all kinds [tlie At;aiJL- V], in the evening make the Offering (irepl iairipav irpoatpipovTei) and Jjartake of the mysteries.' Sozonien (HE vii. 19) repeats Socrates' statements. *
The Testament of our Lord (i. 23), according to our present Syriac text, prescribes Eucharists on Saturday or Sunday ; but we must probably correct 'or' into 'and,' by the omission of one Syriac
letter ( o] into O), and the rule will then agree
• Dnm IxtIpk-ii (.Did. d'.irrhrnl. Chr^l. s.v. 'Agape,' col. 822) tliiiiK^ th-il in SM.rril.-s :mii) .sn/oiiM-ii there is no trace of an Au-^ip. , I. ,( I,' I 1 , ill l;nt it appears clear to the
jti ■ I ' I '': I ' ' i - iiiiclgatisfyingthemselves'
|i ur,: I I 'U- puri*ose of the custom
(l-'--ii-ihi 1 1-^ 1.1 k-. I' "I- II'' ' ■. nil). Ir of the Last Supper. For .1 full .1;, ...-i..ii ui li.i ..!.„::. ..:. 1 d.ite of introduction of the .iS^il.'-i, ---J Hiistiu-i' t'"'lli''""''"=')^''i'--'- of Religion, s.c.
CALENDAR, THE CHRISTIAN
CALENDAR, THE CHRISTIAN 255
with the Arabic Didnscalia, § 38. In the Apostolic Constitutions (ii. 59) Saturday and Suntlay are specially appointed for Divine service ; and we note that in this passage Saturday is the author's interpolation into his source, the old Didasr.nlin mentioning only Sunday (Hauler, Verona Frag- ments, p. 44). Pseudo-Ignatius forbids a Christian to fast on Sunday, save on Easter Even [the read- ing of the last words is doubtful, but the sense is clear], lest he be a ' Christ-slayer ' (xpi-CTOKrdvos). And so the same author in Apost. Const, vii. 23 bids his hearers feast on the Sabbath and tlie Lord's Day, except on Easter Even ; and in v. 13, 15, he bids them leave off' fa.sting on the seventh day, save on that Sabbath when the Creator was under the ground. The Apostolic Canons strongly make the same prohibition as to fasting on ordi- nary Saturdays (Canon 66 [65]).
As we saw above, Alexandria did not celebrate the Eucharist on Saturday for some time before Socrates. St. Athanasius {Apol. con. Ariaii. 11) implies that it was celebrated on Sunday only. He replies to a charge against Macarius of break- ing a chalice, and shows that the place alleged was not a church, that there was no one there to perform the ' sacred office,' and that the day was not the Lord's Day, and did not require the use of it [the sacred oftice]. This at least shows that there was no ii.xed day except Sunday for the Eucharist. And Briglitnian {Journ. of Theol. Stud. i. 92) thinks that tlie same is implied in the Sacramcntary of Serapion (c. 350 A. D.), which gives ' The first prayer of tlie Lord's day ' {KvpiaKijs), without arranging for any other day. But this is hardly conclusive, especially as Thmuis was not Alexandria, and Socrates says that the 'neigh- bours of Alexandria ' did have a Saturday Euchar- ist. By A.D. 380 the latter was already established in Alexandria (Timothy of Alex. Ecspons. Canon. 13, see Brightman, I.e.). Cassian says that in his time there were no public services in the day among the Egyptians except on Saturday and Sunday, when they met at the third hour for Holy Communion (Inst, iii, 2). St. Augustine sums up the matter by saying that in some j^ilaces no day passed witliout the sacrifice being ottered ; in others it was only on Saturday and the Lord's Day, or, it may be, only on the Lord's Day (Ep. liv. ad Januar. § 2).