VII. Умовение ног в великий четверг в Иерусалиме и на острове Патмос

During the service of Maundy Thursday of Holy Week, the “rite of washing the feet,” performed here in Russia by bishops in almost all cathedrals, always attracts many pilgrims and makes a deep and touching impression on them. This rite makes a much stronger impression on thousands of pilgrims of different tribes in Jerusalem itself, so to speak, at the place of its establishment, 104 which is greatly facilitated by those curious details of this rite that surround its performance here and which are unknown to us. To perform the “rite of washing the feet” in Jerusalem, in view of the complexity of its rituals and the numerous monologues contained in it, the participating hieromonks begin to prepare in advance, so that by not knowing their answers they do not create disorder and confusion in the orderly flow of the rite itself. Each participant in the ceremony receives the name of one of the apostles. The so-called tomb of the Last Supper in Zion The place where the rite of washing the feet is performed is the open square 105 in front of the southern doors of the Church of the Resurrection, opposite the entrance to the Avraamievsky Monastery. On this square, from the evening of Holy Wednesday, a rather high platform τό άνώ-,-εον is built, surrounded by a barrier and having an entrance door with a staircase of five steps on the eastern side. The entire platform is covered with luxurious carpets. In the middle of the platform there is a high table, covered with a shroud and surrounded by twelve candles, located in a circle near a large candle standing on the table. A folded silk towel is placed on the table, and a silver lahan with a washbasin is placed under the table. Opposite the entrance door, a gilded chair is placed behind the table for the patriarch, and on its sides there are benches or stools with cushions, six on each side, for the participants in the ritual - the hieromonks. A large altar cross is erected behind the patriarchal seat, and ripids are located on its sides. Near the wall of the Avraamievsky Monastery, at a considerable height from the floor, there is a pulpit for the reader of the Gospel, decorated with olive branches. The square in front of the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem, where the rite of washing feet is performed From early morning, the roofs of the Church of the Resurrection, the Avraamievsky Monastery, the Gethsemane monastery courtyard, the minaret of the neighboring mosque, the cornices of adjacent buildings and false stairs, and the entire square in front of the temple are filled to incredible crowding with countless crowds of pilgrims of different tribes and tourists of other faiths, who want to see at least something from a distance of what is happening on the said square. Places convenient for contemplation are taken by wealthy pilgrims straight away and for a lot of money. Honorary visitors and Russian and Greek consuls with their retinues, present at the liturgy and at this ceremony, have comfortable rooms specially arranged for them on the terrace of the Gethsemane courtyard. The doubled outfits of the Turkish army can hardly hold back the onslaught of a large crowd of pilgrims, clear the way for the participants in the religious ceremony and, with great effort, establish the necessary order. The patriarch celebrates the Liturgy on this day in the church of the Apostle James, brother of the Lord, in the co-service of twelve hieromonks 106 appointed to participate in the rite of washing the feet, and all the clergy wear red vestments. At the end of the liturgy, at about 9 o’clock in the morning, after the exclamation “The blessing of the Lord is upon you,” the singers begin to sing Psalm 50, and the procession leaves the church to the square, where an elevated platform is built. Before the start of the procession from the church, on both sides of the royal doors, two candlesticks with lit candles are placed, and here the hieromonks, participants in the ritual of washing the feet, come out of the altar and are located six on each side. The Patriarch, having taken St. The Gospel, hands it over to the most vocal hierodeacon appointed to read the Gospel during the ceremony. The procession leaves the church in this order: in front, the patriarchal kavas clear the way for the procession, with their usual maces, followed by the choristers, then boys in surplices with candlesticks on which candles are burning, then novices in surplices with a cross, banners and repids, then deacons with a dikiri and trikiri and censers, then the priests - participants in the ritual in pairs and, finally, the patriarch himself with a cross in his hands. The whole procession stops for a while near the doors of the Church of the Resurrection, and the ecclesiarch or deacon, holding a jug of rose water with which to wash the feet of the ritual participants, approaches the raised platform and stops near its stairs. The appointed reader of the gospel ascends to the pulpit and from there loudly (γεγωνοία ττ| φων^) proclaims: And may we be worthy to hear the Holy Gospel... Reader: Reading from Matthew's Holy Gospel. Let's remember. During this time, Jesus called his twelve disciples and spoke to them. The Patriarch, addressing the elders, participants in the washing ceremony, continues: Together, for the Passover will be in two days, and the Son of Man will be given up to be crucified (Matthew 26:2). The archdeacon reads: The day has come, unleavened bread, in which it is fitting to eat Easter: and the ambassador Peter and John spoke. The Patriarch, addressing the hieromonks who bear the names of these apostles, continues: Go ahead, prepare for us Easter, and the pits. Reader: She recited to him (Luke 22:7–8). The hieromonks representing the apostles Peter and John continue: Lord, wherever you want, we will prepare the Passover meal for you (Matthew 26:17). Reader: She recited to him (Luke 22:10) The Patriarch continues, turning to Peter and John: She goes to the city: and a man hides you in a bottle carrying water: and you walk along it: And if the master of the house hears a cry, as if the teacher says: “Where is Vitalitsa, let me sleep with my disciples during the Passover.” And he will show you a great upper room, sent ready: prepare it for us (Mark 14:13-15). The hieromonks portraying Peter and John go to the ecclesiarch, standing at the platform with a jug of water, and say: The Teacher says: where is the Vitalnitsa, where I will sleep the Passover with my disciples (v. 14). Ecclesiarch, pointing to the elevation, answers: “It’s sitting” 107. Those sent return to the patriarch and say: “Lord, everything is ready to eat.” After this, the patriarch and everyone participating in the rite of washing the feet proceed to the dais: in front are a novice with a large patriarchal cross and four novices with repids, who stand at the bottom along both burials of the staircase leading to the dais, then the deacons with the dikiri and trikiri and censers in their hands, censing before the patriarch blessing the people, and finally the hieromonks, two at a time. row. Those participating in the ritual ascend to the dais while singing the fifth song of the canon with its troparions, and all other clergy remain below, surrounding the platform on all sides. Before the patriarch and twelve hieromonks take their places at the table and begin to sit down, the reader of the gospel proclaims: And when the hour came, and the ten apostles were with him. And speech to them. The Patriarch continues: I have desired to eat this Passover with you, before I will not even accept torment: I say to you that from now on I will not eat from it until they die in the kingdom of God (Luke 12:14-16). Immediately after these words of the patriarch, the singers begin to sing the stichera of self-vocal ablutions: “Girded with laziness and washed the feet of the disciples, O Christ God,” etc., laid down in the usual rite of ablutions. One of the deacons pronounces the great litany for the consecration of the water of washing with the addition of petitions for pious and Orthodox Christians, for the patriarch and for St. city. Upon the exclamation: “For you are sanctification,” the patriarch reads the prayers prescribed in the usual rite of washing the feet: “Most good God, unapproachable by Divinity,” and the adoration “Lord our God, who showed us the measures of humility.” The pakhriarch and the ritual participants stand during this entire time, and, at the end of the prayers, they sit down again. The Archdeacon will proclaim from the pulpit: And be worthy of us. Archdeacon: Reading from John the Holy Gospel, and after the proclamation: Let us hear, reads: At the time, O knowing Jesus, as the Father has given him all things in his hand, and as he came from God, and is coming to God: he rose from supper, and put on his vestments, and received the lention, girded. Then he ordered the code to go into the washroom, and begin to wash him with the disciple, and wipe him off with the lantern with which he was girded (John 8:3-5). At the words of the archdeacon: “Rising from the supper,” the patriarch rises from his seat and, with the help of the deacons, begins to take off his vestments, remaining only in his vestment and vestments, and then, girded with a white silk ribbon, takes from under the table a silver basin with a jug in his left hand, and another lention or towel in his right, and begins to wash the presbyters’ feet. The deacon puts a bouquet of fresh flowers on the table in a vase for the patriarch. Washing begins with the junior hieromonk, who takes a place on the right side of the patriarchal seat. Each of the hieromonks washes only one foot, which the patriarch, after wiping it with lention, kisses (άσπάζδταί). The person being washed kisses the hand of the patriarch. During all this time, the gospel reader slowly and in a chant repeats the indicated words of the gospel of John. When the patriarch approaches the last of the hieromonks, portraying Simon Peter (this honor is mostly given to our archimandrite and head of the Jerusalem mission), the reader of the gospel reads: And I came to Simon Peter: and said the same word to him. This moment in the ritual makes the most powerful and even stunning impression on the audience. The curious crowd of spectators, tired of intense anticipation, having satisfied their curiosity with the first moments of this complex religious ceremony, little by little becomes distracted, restless and, losing their reverence, begins to make noise, worry and behave absent-mindedly. But as soon as the reader-deacon approaches the monologue of Christ with the Apostle Peter, silence reigns in the crowd again, and everyone listens attentively to what is being read and turns their gaze to the platform, following the details of the ritual. Washing of feet on Maundy Thursday in Jerusalem The archimandrite portraying Simon Peter, standing up, continues: Lord, are you washing my noses 108. Gospel Reader: Jesus answered and spoke to him. Patriarch: I do what I do, do not weigh it now, but you will understand now. Archimandrite depicting the Apostle Peter: Lord, do not wear my eyes only, but also tell my eyes. Patriarch: the exhausted one does not demand only to wash his nose, because everyone is clean: and you are clean, but not all. Reader: knowingly the one who betrays him: for this reason he speaks, as if all things are not pure (vv. 6–11). The archimandrite, portraying Simon Peter, sits down in his place, and the patriarch, having washed his leg, kisses it. After finishing washing his feet, the patriarch puts the basin with the washstand in its original place, puts a towel on the table and begins to put on sacred clothes, and The archdeacon on the pulpit proclaims: Reading of the Holy Gospel from John and reads: At the time, when their minds were at their feet, to take on their garments, they lay down and spoke to them (v. 12). The Patriarch, having put on his clothes, sits down in his place and, turning to the elders, says: Together, what have I done to you? You speak to me, Teacher and Lord: and you speak well, for I am. If you have washed your nose, Lord and Teacher, you must also wash each other’s nose. I gave you an image, so that as I have done for you, you do it too. Amen, amen, I say to you: a servant does not bear the will of his master, nor the messages of the will of him who sent him. This is still together, blessed are you, if I create. I do not say about all of you: for I have chosen you; but let the scripture be fulfilled: he who eats bread with me, lifts up his heel on me (vv. 13-18). The reader on the pulpit says: These words Jesus was troubled in spirit, and testimonies, and speech: The Patriarch continues: Amen, amen, I say to you, for only you will betray me. Archdeacon: So the disciples looked at each other, wondering who they were talking about. There was only one of his disciples, reclining in the bosom of Jesus, and Jesus loved him. Simon Peter was beckoned to ask who it was that he was speaking about. Nanad that on Persian Jesus, the verb to him (vv. 21-25). The hieromonk portraying the Apostle John, turning to the patriarch and rising from his seat, asks: Lord, who is the betrayer 109 of Thee (v. 25). Gospel Reader: Jesus said to him. The Patriarch continues: He soaked his hand in salt with me. For the Son of man is coming, as it is written about him: Woe to that man to whom the Son of man is given over (Mark 14:20-21). The archdeacon on the pulpit reads: “Jesus spoke to them again.” The Patriarch continues: Children, I have not been with you for long. You will seek me, and even as I died in Judea, even as I went, you cannot come: and to you I say this day. I give you a new commandment, that you love one another, just as you have loved, that you also love yourselves. Everyone understands this, as my disciples are by nature, if they have love among themselves. The Archdeacon reads: Simon Peter said to him. Archimandrite depicting the Apostle Peter: Lord, you are coming. The Archdeacon reads: Jesus answered him. Patriarch: Even though I am walking, you cannot now follow me: make sure you follow me. Archdeacon: The verb to him is Peter. Archimandrite: depicting the Apostle Peter, continues: Lord, why can’t I walk after you now; (now) I will lay down my soul for You. Archdeacon: Jesus answered him. Patriarch: Lay down your soul for Me: Amen, I say to you, the alector will not cry until he has answered me three times (John 13:33–38) Gospel Reader: “Jesus spoke to them again.” Patriarch: Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God, and believe in me. In my Father's house there are many abodes: if not, I would say to you: I am going to prepare a place for you. And if I prepare a place for you, I will come again and invite you to me: that where I am, you too will be. And maybe I’m going, together, and I know the way. Archdeacon: The verb to him is Thomas. Hieromonk depicting the Apostle Thomas: Lord, we do not know where you are going: and how we can lead the way. The Patriarch continues: I am the way and the truth and the life: no one will come to the Father but me. If they knew me quickly, they knew my Father, and henceforth you will know him, you will see him. Gospel Reader: The verb to him was Philip. Hieromonk portraying the Apostle Philip: Lord, show us the Father, and it will be sufficient for us. Patriarch: I have only been with you for so long, and you have not known me, Philip; seeing me, in the form of the Father: and as you say: show us the Father (14:1-9). The reader from the pulpit reads: “Jesus spoke to them again.” Patriarch: If you love me, you will keep my commandments (v. 15). It is still a little while, and the world will not see me, but you will see me: as I live, you will live (v. 19). If you have my commandments and keep them, that is to love me: and if you love me, you will be loved by my Father: and I will love him, and I will appear to him myself. Gospel Reader: The verb to him is that Judas is not Iscariot. Hieromonk portraying the Apostle Judas: Lord, and what will happen, as if you wanted to appear to us, and not make peace. Gospel Reader: Jesus answered and spoke to him. Patriarch: If anyone loves me, he will keep my word: and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our abode with him. If you do not love me, you will not keep my words (vv. 21–24). Gospel reader: “Now Jesus spoke to his disciples.” Patriarch: You will all be offended because of me this night. For it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered (Matt. 26:31). A little, and if you do not see me, and again a little, and you will see me, as I go to my Father (John 16:16). Gospel Reader: “I answer Matthew and speak to the disciples” 110. Hieromonk depicting the Apostle Matthew: What is this, he says to us: you are a little, and you do not see me: again you are a little, and you will see me: and as I go to my Father. Reader: “Then the verb Bartholomew” 111. The hieromonk, portraying the Apostle Bartholomew, continues: what is this, the hedgehog tells us, a little; (vv. 17–18) Reader: “Verb to them Simon the Zealot” 112. Hieromonk depicting the Apostle Simon the Canaanite: We do not know what we say. Reader: Jesus knew that he wanted to ask him, and he spoke to them. The Patriarch continues: Are you arguing with each other about this, as if you said: you are a little, and you don’t see me; and again, you are a little, and you will see me; Amen, amen, I say to you, for you will weep and mourn, and the world will rejoice: you will be sad, but your sorrow will be joy. When a woman gives birth, she has sorrow, for her year has come: but when she gives birth to a child, who does not remember the sorrow for the joy that a man was born into the world. And you have sorrow now; I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. And in that day you will not ask me anything (John 16:18–23). These things are spoken to you in parables: but the hour will come when I will not speak to you in parables, but will tell you clearly about the Father (v. 25). Gospel Reader: “Jacob Alpheus said to him” 113. The hieromonk, portraying the Apostle James Alpheus, continues: Behold, now you speak without hesitation, but you speak no parables. Gospel Reader: “Jacob of Zebedee spoke to him” 114. Hieromonk depicting the Apostle James of Zebedee: now we know that you weigh everything, and you do not demand, but who asks you. Reader: “The verb to him Andrey” 115. Hieromonk portraying the Apostle Andrew: In this we believe, and we know truly that you came from God. Reader: “Jesus said to him” 116. Patriarch: Do you believe now? Behold, the hour is coming, and now it has come, that you may be separated, each to his own, and leave me one: and I am not alone, for the Father is with me. These are the words to you, may there be peace in me. You will be thrown into a world of sorrow, but be brave, for I have overcome the world (vv. 29–33). Gospel Reader: Jesus said this, and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said. The Patriarch 117, lifting up his eyes and hands to the mountain, says: Father, the hour has come: glorify your Son, that your Son also will glorify you (17:1). I have glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now you, Father, have glorified me with your own glory, even though you had no peace before. I have revealed your name as a man, which you gave me out of the world: your besha, and you gave them to me: and you have kept your word (pp. 4-6). Holy Father, I have kept them in your name, which you have given to me, so that they may be one, as we are. When I was with them in peace, I kept them in your name: those which you gave to me, I kept, and no one perished from them, except the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled (vv. 11-12). I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe their words for my sake (v. 20). Father, these which you have given to me, I desire, that even where I am, they also may be with me: let them see my sweetness, which you have given to me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, you have not known the world, but I have known you, and have known that you sent me. And I told them the name, and I will say: Yes, the love with whom you loved me will be in them, and I in them (vv. 24-26). The reader on the ambo then concludes the Gospel reading: And this river Jesus went out with his disciples to the field of the stream of Kedrsk, where he came to the hillside, and into it he and his disciples were seen (18:1). The deacon on the platform exclaims: “Let us pray to the Lord,” the patriarch reads the last prayer of the rite of washing the feet: “Lord our God, who through your many mercy has exhausted himself and received the form of a servant.” After this prayer, the hierokyrix pronounces the word in Turkish from the elevated pulpit, and the patriarch and all participants in the ceremony immediately rise from their seats. The Patriarch blesses the people on all sides with a trikirium, while singing “EU πολλά Ιτη, oeto-a,” and sprinkles them with rose water for washing 118, with the help of a bouquet of fresh flowers, which he holds in his right hand and which stood on the table during the washing of the feet. Having descended from the dais, the patriarch from the square of the Church of the Resurrection, in full vestments, accompanied by all the clergy, while singing the antiphons of the 4th tone, to the ringing of bells, solemnly walks through the streets of the city to the patriarchate and there, while singing many years in honor of the Orthodox reigning dynasties, the Sultan and the head of the Zion Church, takes off his sacred vestments. All participants in the celebration are treated to the patriarch in the patriarchate. The people who accompanied the procession to the patriarchate remain for a long time at its gates, and the natives express their joy and delight by shouting and clapping their hands, performing various fantasies, etc. Besides Jerusalem, in the East the rite of washing feet is now performed only on the island of Patmos by the abbot of the famous St. John the Theologian monastery. This rite is in many ways similar to the Jerusalem rite, but it also has its own curious features, explained by the fact that this rite, as we will see below, adopted from Jerusalem, retained here the traditional, ancient features thrown out by the editors of the Jerusalem rite in 1885. And on Patmos, the rite of washing the feet is performed outside the church, in one of the two city squares. In addition to imitation of Jerusalem, the explanation for this phenomenon here must be sought in local reasons: in the extremely small size of the cathedral monastery church and in the huge gathering of pilgrims here on this day from neighboring islands. For the washing ceremony, a raised platform covered with carpets is also built here. Its light wooden barrier is decorated with garlands of greenery from mersina and spikenard. At the four corners of the platform, lanterns with candles are placed, decorated with fresh and artificial flowers, and crosses and repids are installed. In the middle there is a table for the niptir (washbasin), behind it there is a chair for the abbot, and on its sides there are seats for those participating in the ritual of washing the feet. Here, on a raised platform, in one of its corners, a lectern for the Gospel reader is prepared. There are several steps leading to the platform. In one of the corners of the square there is an icon of the Savior praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. Washing of feet on Maundy Thursday on the island of Patmos At the end of the liturgy in the cathedral, all the hieromonks participating in the ritual, in sacred attire, in kamilavkas covered with a fleur-de-grass basting, presenting a cross and lamps, leave the church in pairs in the following order: Depicting the apostles Andrew and James Alfeev, Simon the Canaanite and Thaddeus, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Apostle Judas is portrayed by a layman. The participants in the ritual are followed by hierodeacons with censers in their hands, censing the abbot along the way. The abbot walks next to the hierodeacon, appointed to read the Gospel, which he carries in his hands. The rite begins with the exclamation of the abbot: “Blessed is our God,” after which the psalm is read: “Lord, hear my prayer,” and the fifth hymn of the canon of Maundy Thursday is sung by the singers all the way to the square, where the ritual of washing the feet takes place. Upon arrival at the elevated platform, the abbot reads the first prayer: “Lord our God, who showed us the measures of humility,” which occupies second place in the usual rite of washing the feet - for bowing. Then the gospel reader proclaims: “And may we be counted worthy to hear the holy gospel,” and reads the composite gospel, beginning with the gospel of Mark X, chapter 1, art. 32–45, which describe the conversation of the Lord with the disciples James and John, the sons of Zebedee, further from the Gospel of Matthew chapter XX, art. 22–29, from the Gospel of John ch. XIII, 2–18, which outline the dialogues of Christ with the Apostle Peter and the conversation of Christ after washing his feet. The abbot washes the feet of the participants in the ritual with rose water and, with the help of two deacons, then wipes them with a ribbon. After washing the feet, read from the Gospel of John XIV chapter, art. 1–11, and then from the gospel Matthew 26:36–46. Having said: “Sit there, until I go and pray there” (v. 36), the abbot takes three hieromonks representing the Apostle Peter, James and John, descends with them from the elevated platform and, seating them on its steps, says: “My soul is sorrowful unto death: wait here and watch with me” (v. 38). Then the abbot goes to the place of the square where the icon of the Savior is placed and prays: “My Father, if it is possible for me to eat, let this cup pass by from me: not as I will, but as You will” (v. 39), returns to the steps of the platform and, finding the abandoned disciples sleeping, says to them: “Is it not possible for one hour?” Watch with me. Watch and pray, so that you do not enter into adversity: the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (vv. 40-41). Then the abbot again goes to the icon and says: “My Father, if this cup cannot pass by from me, unless I drink it, thy will be done” (v. 42). After prayer, he returns a second time to the sleeping hieromonks and, leaving, prays for the third time. At the end of the prayer, the abbot approaches the platform and says: “Sleep and rest: behold, the hour is approaching, and the Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of sinners. Arise, let us go: behold, come near and betray me" (45–46). At these words, the abbot rises with the three named hieromonks to the platform and reads the prayer: “Lord our God, who has exhausted himself in abundance of mercy,” after which the dismissal of Maundy Thursday is made: “Who, for his superior goodness, showed the kindest path of humility to never wash his feet as a disciple.” While singing then the stichera: “Lord, the woman who has fallen into great sins,” the abbot sprinkles the people with washing water, and the procession returns to the monastery in the order described above. The rites of washing the feet, now performed in Jerusalem and Patmos, have quite significant features compared to the rite practiced in our church. Their place of origin, however, must be considered Jerusalem, the practice of the later Zion Church. The numerous similarities that still exist in both rites tell us this: the place where the rite of washing the feet is performed, its decorations, the names of the participants in the rite after the names of the apostles, even the order of readings from the evangelists with dialogues between Christ and all the apostles, in addition to the dialogues between the Savior and the Apostle Peter, which are found both in our modern rite and in the most ancient rites of Byzantine origin 119. If we take into account the above notes from Russian and Greek pilgrims from the beginning of the second half of the last century until 1885 and later, which we noted in footnotes, speaking about the construction of a special chapel near the wall of the Avraamievsky Monastery, decorated with icons, and about the recitation of the Savior’s prayer to the Savior by the Patriarch of Gethsemane, with his three times coming to the steps of the platform on which they rest hieromonks depicting Peter, James and John, and compare the same moment in the Patmos rite of washing the feet, then we will have much more similar features between both rites. It is quite possible to assume that if we had the opportunity to compare the authentic list of the rite of washing the feet, practiced in Jerusalem until 1885, with the rite now performed on Patmos, which is known to us both from manuscripts and even in the description, which, unfortunately, does not differ in completeness and thoroughness 120, then there would be even more features similar in both rites, and, perhaps, there would even be a complete opportunity establish a genetic connection between both ranks. Unfortunately, apart from inaccurate descriptions of the Jerusalem rank among former pilgrims, we currently do not have solid data for such a comparison of both ranks. The rite of washing the feet, now practiced in Jerusalem, was compiled and printed in 1885, by order of His Beatitude Patriarch Nicodemus I. The correction of the rite of washing the feet at this time was undertaken, as stated in the preface to the printed edition of it 121, in order to destroy the numerous “tautologies and repetitions” that caused “confusion, confusion” in the rite of washing the feet. disorder and discord,” to develop “a better and more orderly order,” the exact implementation (απαρέγκλιτα) of which was the responsibility of the clergy of the Zion Church. The prescription of Patriarch Nicodemus I and his synod is now being carried out exactly in Jerusalem, but the rite of washing the feet developed at that time has hardly acquired the perfection and positive qualities that Patriarch Nicodemus I expected from it. The repetitions of the same readings noted in the rite according to different evangelists, which unnecessarily lengthened the very sequence of the rite, have been destroyed - this is undoubtedly 122. It is also true that the rite, due to the omission in the Gospel reading of the story of the Savior’s Gethsemane prayer, became shorter. But this exhausts the positive qualities of the corrected rank. If we pay attention to the internal aspects of this rank, then it is hardly possible to talk about them in a positive sense. First of all, the Gospel reading reveals a cumbersome and tedious mosaic: it all consists of small passages borrowed from various evangelists. In the presentation of the Gospel events, the consistency and integrity of the story is not observed 123. Transitions are artificial, monotonous and consist of a repeated stereotypical phrase; “Jesus spoke to them again, and one day: “Again Jesus spoke to his disciples,” which belongs to the editors of the order, and not to the evangelists. In the reading of the Gospel, in order to increase the dramatic element and in order to give the opportunity to each of the participants in the rite of washing the feet to be characters, arbitrary and unjustified by the Gospel text monologues of the apostles Matthew, James Alpheus, Simon the Kananite, Jacob Zebedee and Andrew were introduced. The monologues themselves, it is true, are borrowed from the Gospel text, but which of the apostles pronounced them is not clear from the Gospel. The evangelists express themselves this way: “Deciding from his disciples to himself,” or “Verb to him bo,” or “Verb to him the disciples ero,” and therefore putting the Gospel texts into the mouths of the said apostles, pronounced according to the current rite of washing the feet, means taking on a heavy responsibility - to interpret the texts of the Gospel at your own discretion. What surprises such free handling of the text of the evangelists can lead to, a clear example of this can be another known to us, from the manuscript of the Athos-Panteleimon Library, the rite of washing the feet of 1728, undoubtedly practiced in Jerusalem and written by a certain priest Aleviz 124. Here, for example, in the mouth of the Apostle Simon Peter are put the very words that, according to the modern rite, are spoken by the three apostles: James Alphaeus, Jacob Zebedee and Andrew, namely: “Behold, now you speak without hesitation, and speak no parables. asks: “We believe this, because you came from God” (John 16:29–30) and, in addition, the words: “We do not know what he says” (v. 18). From the lips of the Apostle Bartholomew we hear the words: “Now we know that we are all weighed,” with the addition of the non-existent address in the Gospel: “Lord,” which in the current rite are intended to be pronounced by the Apostle James of Zebedee with the continuation: “And you do not demand, but who asks you” (ibid.). The Apostle Andrew says the words: “Lord, behold, here are two knives” (Lk. 22:38), which in the current rite are completely omitted, and instead of them the same apostle is supposed to say: “In this we believe and know truly that you came from God.” There are also direct insertions into the Gospel text, although not numerous, such as, for example, the response of the ecclesiarch, depicting the owner of the house in which the washing of feet should take place: “There is Sitsa,” and the words of the hieromonks, depicting Peter and John, addressed to the patriarch: “Lord, everything is ready to eat.” To the words: “In this we believe” (John 16:30) is added: “And we know it truly,” and to the words: “I go to the Father” (v. 17) is added: “Mine.” Finally, the Gospel story about the Last Supper is not fully consistent. Since in this story a significant role is assigned to the Apostle Judas, the betrayer of the Savior, and the depiction of him as a sacred person would be incompatible with the dignity of the dignity with which he is invested, Judas Iscariot is not mentioned at all now in the Jerusalem rite of washing the feet and is replaced by Judas not Iscariot, who is instructed in the rite to utter the words: “Lord, and what happened, as we want to appear, and not make peace” (John 14:22). All dialogues with Judas Iscariot are omitted in this rite 125. The Patmos rite of washing the feet, which allows a layman to perform this thankless role, therefore deserves more attention and sympathy, because the ritual preserves historical truth. So, the rite of washing the feet, now performed in Jerusalem, with all its external merits, as clearly reproducing in the faces of a crowd of thousands of pilgrims who have gathered here from different parts of the world, one of the most important moments in the last days of the life of our Savior and making a deep impression on them, cannot, however, be attributed to strictly liturgical rites. Here, quite a bit was sacrificed to dramatic effect on the part of its compilers, who deviated from the text of the evangelists. The Jerusalem rite of washing the feet is closer to the ancient mystery than to a similar rite practiced among us. And therefore, one cannot but approve of the wise order of the Zion Church to perform it on a stage outside the church, and not inside it, as it was performed in ancient times in the Byzantine church and is still performed in our cathedrals. In the practice of the ancient Jerusalem church, the rite of washing the feet was performed by the patriarch, indeed, at the place of its establishment, i.e. in Zion in the upper room called uTrepwov. In case of rainy weather, the rite of washing the feet is performed in the Church of the Resurrection. It is worthy of note that on this day two married Arab priests are appointed among the concelebrating clergy and participants in the rite of washing the feet, one of whom is the steward of the pitriarchy, and the other is obliged to depict the face of the Apostle Judas, not Iscariot. The latter enjoys for his role the right of primacy, upon receiving the sacred fire, from the hands of the patriarch on Holy Saturday to accept a bunch of 33 candles that he lit on the Holy Sepulcher, for distributing them to all pilgrims (Appovii, ecpr^spl; luopvYj; 1896, No. 3511) The evangelists do not have this answer or the one that follows it. The Gospel of Matthew says: “And the disciples made them as Jesus commanded them, and prepared them” (26:19). In the Gospel of Mark: “And his disciple departed, and came into the city, and found it, as he had said, and prepared the Passover (14:16). The remark of Arseny Sukhanov: “he did not speak with Peter (i.e., the patriarch), like we do” (Proskinitary. Kazan 1870, p. 87), should be attributed to the number of misunderstandings or inaccuracies of our traveler. In the Gospel there are no words “betray Thee” In the Gospel of John: “he decided from his disciples to himself” (v. 7). In the same place: “Verb to God” (v. 18). There are no corresponding words in the gospel. In the Gospel: “His disciples spoke to him” (v. 29). These words are not in the gospel In the gospel: “Jesus answered them” (v. 31). In the rite of the previous edition, it was necessary to depict the patriarch and the praying Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane, which was usually represented by a gazebo, furnished with icons of the washing of the feet and the Last Supper and located under the archdeacon's pulpit. “The apostle, who was performing the ritual of washing his feet in place of the absent patriarch, according to one Russian monk-pilgrim in 1858, came down (from the platform) and prayed in the mentioned cave, and at that time three, bearing the names of the apostles Peter, James and John, were sitting on the lower steps of the platform” (Soul. Read. 1863, March., p. 281), apparently depicting the sleeping apostles in the village of Gethsemane. This moment in the rite of washing the feet in Jerusalem is also mentioned by the later 1881 pilgrim Fr. A. Anisimov in his “Travel notes of a Russian shepherd about the sacred East.” Izyum 1886, p. 297. This point was excluded from the order only in 1885, by order of the Jerusalem Patriarch Nicodemus I, but in practice it, apparently, is sometimes retained to this day (Nsa Suov, 1904 et. t. a, aeH. 167; 'Appovta 1896 1t. No. 3511). In this water, the people soak scarves with the seeds of one local plant, which they then store for a whole year in their homes, believing that fumigation with these seeds has the power of driving away unclean spirits. In the rite of washing the feet, which was practiced among us in the 16th century and undoubtedly transferred from Byzantium, dialogues are conducted only between Christ and the apostle. Peter, or, more precisely, between those depicting them as a bishop and a hieromonk, but about the latter in this rank the following curious remark is made: “Then, the Supreme One stood up, a little afraid, and raised his hands under the phelonion, pointing with his right hand to his feet, saying in a quiet voice in the hearing of everyone: “Lord, not only.” Tazh, showing his hands, says: “But also hands.” And turning his hands, he points to the head, which he bows a little to, and says: “And the head.” Saint: “The betrayed does not demand only to wash his nose, because everything is clean,” etc. RKp. Solovets. bib. (Kazakh spirit. Academician) No. 1086 l. 463 rev; No. 1090, l. 43 rev. 50; RKP. M. Synod. bib. No. 371 (675) l. 13 vol.). A description of this rank was made by a Patmos native M. Malandraki in the magazine “^(ot^r”, 1890 It. tojx. 17', tgo/. (3\ ae/.. 61–63. This rite bears the following title: “ΆκολουίΚα τοΰ ίεροΰ νι-τΐ,ρο;, γι·νορ.ένη έν τω πατριαργίχω βρόνω Ιεροσολύμων", έν Ίεροσολύμ. 1885 in fol. pag. 1–15. The only exception is the repetition of verse 14 from the XIV chapter of the Evangelist Mark: “The Teacher says: where is the vital place, where I will celebrate the Passover with My disciples.” This verse is pronounced, according to the Gospel, by the patriarch and then repeated by the hieromonks, portraying Peter and John, before the ecclesiarch, who represents the owner of the upper room necessary for the Last Supper. In what is known to us, according to the manuscript of the Athos-Panteleimon Monastery of 1728, “The Sequence of the Divine Washing of the Feet,” the composite first gospel is presented in the following order: Mark 10:32–34; John 11:16; Mark 10:35–45; Matt. 19:29, 27–28; John. 14:1–10, 11:7–10, 16:19–30; 14:21–24; 8:33–38; Лук. 22:35–36, 38 ; Матф. 26:21–22 ; Иоанн. 13:22–25; Матф. 26:23–25 ; Иоанн. 16:29–32, а ко второму the usual farewell conversation of the Savior is added to the gospel in the rite of washing the feet. There are no artificial transitions in this sequence. There are insertions from the year 1728, but very insignificant: 6 'hjaou;, Korea, Hryutb;, osbtf, ffiXtv 6 Xpioro;, 6 Trapaoioou; as, but here there are two alterations of the Gospel text: 6 Khrstgb; vm. 'Iyjsou; (John 14:3) and o i & u> o e x a vm. o i o е % a (Mark 10:41). In the rite of 1728, Judas Iscariot participates in the rite of washing his feet together with Judas not Iscariot and pronounces the words of the Gospel: “I am food, rabbi,” receiving in response: “You are the advertiser” (Matthew 26:25). Judas Iscariot in the current rite is replaced by the Apostle Thaddeus, about whom the 1728 rite makes no mention at all. You might be interested in: