son. Daily instruction formed a part of the service, and holy communion was celei)rated at least every Lord's day. The last week, the Holy or Great 'Week, was kept with still greater strictness and solemnitj'" (Blunt, Diet, of Doctrinal and Historical Theoloijy, p. 408 j.
II. Practice of later Times. — Fasting, after a time, ceased to be a voluntary exercise. By the second canon of the Council of Orleans, A.D. 541, it was decreed that any one who should neglect to obser\-e the stated times of abstinence should be treated as an offender against the laws of the Church. The eighth Council of Toledo, in the 7th century (canon 9), condemns any one who should eat flesh during the fast before Easter, and says that such offenders should be forbidden the use of it throughout the year. In the 8th century fasting began to be regarded as a meritorious work, and the breach of the observance at the stated times subjected the offender to excommunication. In later times some persons who ate flesh during Lent were punished with the loss of their teeth (Baronius, A nnal. ad an. 1018). Afterwards these severities were to a great extent relaxed. Instead of the former limitation of diet on fast-days to bread, salt, and water, permission was given for the use of aU kinds of food except flesh, eggs, cheese, and wine. Then eggs, cheese, and wine were allowed, flesh only being prohibited, an indulgence which was censured by the Greek Church, and led to a quarrel between it and the Latin. In the 13th centiu^y a cold collation in the even- uig of fast-days was permitted.
The following are the fasts which generally obtamed in the Church: 1. The annual fast of forty days before Easter, or the Seaso?i of Lent. The duration of this fast at first was only forty hours (Tertull. De Jejun. c. 2, 13 ; Iren«us, ap. Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 1. v, c. 24). By the time of Gregory the Great (in the 8th centurj') it had extended to thirty-six days, and it had been so accepted by the Council of Nicrea; but by Gregory the Great, or by Gregory II, it was extended to forty days, the dura- tion of the recorded fasts of INIoses, Elias, and our blessed Saviour (Exod. xxxiv, 28 ; 1 Kings xix, 8 ; Matt, iv, 2). Hence the term Quadrayesima (q. v.), whicl\ had al- ready been used to denote this period, became strictly applicable. Socrates {Hist. Eccl. 1. vii, c. 19), Basil the Great, Ambrose, and Leo the Great speak of this quad- ragesimal fast as a divine institution but this can mean no more than that the fast was observed in imitation of the example of the divine Iledeemer {Condi. Genonens. c. 7 — in canone ajwstolorum, G8 : "Si quis Episcop., aut Presbyt, etc., sac. Quadragesimam Pascha", aut quartam feriam, aut Parasecevem non jejunaverit," etc. : Concil. Coloniens. ii, pt. 9, can. 6). 2. Quarterly fasts, no traces of which occur before the 5th centurj', although Bellar- mine {De bonis operihus, lib. ii, c. 19) says that the first three of these fasts were instituted in the times of the apostles, and the last by pope Calixtus, A.D. 224. 3. A fast of three days before tlie festival of the Ascension, introduced by Mamercus, bishop of Yienne, in the mid- dle of the 5th century. In some places it was not cele- brated until after Whitsuntide. It was called Jejunium Royutionum, or Jejunium Litaniarum, " the fast of Ro- gations or Litanies," on account of certain litanies sung on those days. The words XiTaviia and XiVni, "lita- nies," in Latin Supjdicationes et lioyatioms, in their original signification, are but another name for prayers in general, of whatever kind, that either were made jjubUcly in the church or by any private person. (See Euseb. Vit. Const. 1. i, c. 14 ; 1. iv, c, GC ; Cbrysost. Horn, antequam iret in exilium ; Cod. Theod. lib. xvi, tit. v, " De hiereticus," 1, 30, 1.) 4:. Monthly fasts, a fast-day in every month except July and August {Concil. IlUberit. can. 23; Turon. ii, can. 18, 19). 5. Easts before festi- vals, in the jilacc of the ancient vigils which were abol- ished in the Sth'centur}-. 6. Weekly fasts, on Wednes- days and Fridays, entitled stationes, from the practice of soldiers keeping guard, which was csil\QAstatio by the Romans (" Stationum dies," Tcrtullian, De Orat. ; " Sta- tionibus quartam ct sextam Sabbati dicamus," Idem, De
LENT
347
LENTILE
Jejunio ; T»;c vtirfTiiac, rijg Tirpdcog Kai Tiig Trapa- aiciv^jC, Clem. Alex. iSirom. 1. 7). These fasts were not so strictly observed as some others, and were altogether omitted between Easter and Whitsuntide. The obser- vance was enjoined especially upon the clergy and monks (Constit. Ajwst. v, 15; Can. Apost. G9). By the Council of Elvira, c. 26, at the beginning of the 4th cen- tury, Saturday was added to the weekly fasts, and this led to the gradual neglect of the Wethiesday fast in the Western Church. The stations, or fasts on stationary days, terminated at three o'clock P.:M. (" non ultra no- nam detijiendum," TertuHian, Be Jejunio ; "Quando et orationes fere nona hora concludat de Petri exemplo quod Act. X refertur," ib. c. 2). Hence TertuUian calls them haJf-fasts ("semijejunio stationum," De Jejun. c. 13). Wiien a fast was continued the whole day, it was entitled Jejunium, or Jejunium perfectum ; and when it lasted uutil the morning of the following day, or for several days together, it was distinguished by the title Supcrpositio {inrsp^ijcnt:). The latter kind of fasts was commonly observed during the rjreui week, or week be- fore Easter; but it was not strictly peculiar to that sea- son. It exceeded the others not only in point of time, but by the observance of additional austerities, such as the c.i]po(bayia, or lirintj! on dry food, namely, bread, salt, and water, taken only in tlie evening. 7. There were also occasional fasts, appointed by ecclesiastical authority in times of great danger, emergency, or dis- tress (Cyprian, Ep)ist. 8, § 1 ; 57, § 3 ; TertuUian, Ajjol. c. 40 ; De Jejun. c. 13).