Une homélie de Jean de Bolnisi et la durée du carême en Syro-Palestine

Abstract

The homily of John of Bolnisi is interesting for the history of the Palestinian liturgy in a threefold way. First, it allows us to see that during some years or even during some decades there existed in Jerusalem a eucharistic ceremony on Good Friday evening as a commemoration of the reposition of the venerable wood of the True Cross by Heraclius, what happened also on a Good Friday. Secondly, John's homily must be compared with other Syro-Palestinian sources which allows us to state that the last Sunday before Lent was usually, at least in an anecdotic way, consecrated to the theme of Adam's expulsion from the paradise. Eventually, the cycle of quadragesimal homilies of the Georgian bishop bears witness of a tradition which is attested at Antioch by Severus of Antioch and also by Egeria at Jerusalem, where Lent is composed of eight weeks in stead of the usual six weeks. The source of this difference must be found in the existence of a Judaizing stream. This movement had probably as its counterpart, from the Jewish side, a Christianizing stream. Both movements were, as one can surely attest for the Judaizing stream, alive to not fast not only on Sunday but also on the seventh day of the week