The Christian observance of the seasonal Ember days had its origin as an ecclesiastical ordinance in Rome and spread from there to the rest of the Western Church. It is only the Michaelmas Embertide, which falls around the autumn harvest, that retains any connection to the original purpose. He also connects them with the great Christian festivals.Īs the Ember Days came to be associated with great feast days, they later lost their connection to agriculture and came to be regarded solely as days of penitence and prayer. The earliest mention of four seasonal fasts is known from the writings of Philastrius, bishop of Brescia (died ca 387) ( De haeres. When the fourth season was added cannot be ascertained, but Pope Gelasius I (492–496) speaks of all four. The Liber Pontificalis ascribes to Pope Callixtus I (217–222) a law regulating the fast, although Leo the Great (440–461) considers it an Apostolic institution. Sabak argues that the Embertide vigils were ".not based on imitating agrarian models of pre-Christian Roman practices, but rather on an eschatological rendering of the year punctuated by the solstices and equinoxes, and thus underscores the eschatological significance of all liturgical vigils in the city of Rome." Īt first, the Church in Rome had fasts in June, September, and December. Possibly occasioned by the agricultural feasts of ancient Rome, they came to be observed by Christians for the sanctification of the different seasons of the year. The purpose of their introduction was to thank God for the gifts of nature, to teach men to make use of them in moderation, and to assist the needy. The term Ember days refers to three days set apart for fasting, abstinence, and prayer during each of the four seasons of the year. The word imbren occurs in the acts of the "Council of Ænham" (1009): jejunia quatuor tempora quae imbren vocant, "the fasts of the four seasons which are called "imbren'". The word occurs in such Anglo-Saxon compounds as ymbren-tid ("Embertide"), ymbren-wucan ("Ember weeks"), ymbren-fisstan ("Ember fasts"), ymbren-dagas ("Ember days"). Neil and Willoughby in The Tutorial Prayer Book (1913) prefer the view that it derives from the Anglo-Saxon ymbren, a circuit or revolution (from ymb, around, and ryne, a course, running), clearly relating to the annual cycle of the year. Why they were named foldfasten it is less easy to say." We meet with the term Frohnfasten, frohne being the then word for travail. In mediæval Germany they were called Weihfasten, Wiegfastan, Wiegefasten, or the like, on the general principle of their sanctity. Ember-week in Wales is Welsh: "Wythnos y cydgorian", meaning "the Week of the Processions". Thus, there is no occasion to seek after an etymology in embers or with Nelson, to extravagate still further to the noun ymbren, a recurrence, as if all holy seasons did not equally recur. The German converts them into Quatember, and thence, by the easy corruption of dropping the first syllable, a corruption which also takes place in some other words, we get the English Ember. In French and Italian the term is the same in Spanish and Portuguese they are simply Temporas. "The Latin name has remained in modern languages, though the contrary is sometimes affirmed, Quatuor Tempora, the Four Times. According to John Mason Neale in Essays of Liturgiology (1863), Chapter X: The word ember originates from the Latin quatuor tempora (literally 'four times'). Ordination ceremonies are often held on Ember Saturdays or the following Sunday. These fasts traditionally take place on the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday following St Lucy's Day (13 December), the first Sunday in Lent, Pentecost (Whitsun), and Holy Cross Day (14 September), though some areas follow a different pattern. Ember days are quarterly periods ( Latin: quatuor tempora) of prayer and fasting in the liturgical calendar of Western Christian churches.
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