the day of the Lord's repose in the grave and descent into Hades ; the favorite day in all the year for the administration of baptism, which symbolizes participation in the death of Christ." The Great Sabbath was generally spent as a fast day, even in the Greek church, which usually did not fast on Saturday. In the evening of the Great Sabbath began the Eastee YiGiLS,^ which continued, with Scripture reading, singing, and prayer, to the dawn of Easter morning, and formed the solemn transition from the Tracr^a a-Tavpcoaifxov to the 'irda-)((x avacnd- (Tifjiov, and from the deep soitow of penitence over the death of Jesus to the joy of faith in the resurrection of the Prince of life. All Christians, and even many pagans, poured into the church with lights, to watch there for the morning of the resur- rection. On this night the cities were splendidly illuminated, and transfigured in a sea of fire ; about midnight a solemn procession surrounded the chm*ch, and then triumphally enter- ed again into the " holy gates," to celebrate Easter. Accord- ing to an ancient tradition, it was expected that on Easter night Christ would come again to judge the world.* The Eastee festival itself * began with the jubilant saluta- tion, still practized in the Russian chm-ch : " The Lord is risen!" and the response: "He is truly risen !" * Then the Other etymologists derive it from carena {careme), i. «., fasting^ or from Tear {kuren, lo choose), i. e., the chosen day ; others still from karo-parare, i. e., preparation-day. ' Me'^o or ay I OP adfi^aroy; sahbatum magnum, or sanctum. ^ Rom. vi. 4-6. ' Vigilioe paschales ; Travvvx'tSes. * Comp. Lactantius : Inst, divia. vii. c. 19 ; and Hieronymus ad Matt. xxv. 6 (t. vii. 203, ed. Vallarsi): *'Unde traditionem apostolicam permansisse, ut in die vigi- liurum Paschae ante noctis dimidium populos dimittere non liceat, expectantes adven- tum Christi." ' Festum, dominicce resurrection^ ; eoprij ava(TTa,<Ttfj.o!, KvpiaKi] fj.e- 70X17. ' " Dominus resurrexit." — " Vere resurrexit." 404 THIRD PERIOD. A.D. 311-590. holy kiss of brotherhood sealed the newly fastened bond of love in Christ. It was the grandest and most joyful of the feasts. It lasted a whole week, and closed with the following Sunday, called the Easter Octave/ or Whiie Sunday,'' when the baptized appeared in white garments, and were solemnly incorporated into the church. § T9. The Time of the Easter Festival. Comp. the Literature in vol.~T at §i)^; also L. Idelee: Handbiicli der Clironologie. Berlin, 1826. Vol. ii. F. Pipee: Gescbichte des Osterfestes. Berlin, 1845, Hefele: Conciliengeschichte. Freiburg, 1855. Vol. i. p. 286 ff. The time of the Easter festival became, after the second century, the subject of long and violent controversies and practical confusions, which remind us of the later Eucharistic disputes, and give evidence that human passion and folly have sought to pervert the great facts and institutions of the New Testament from holy bonds of unity