Canon XC.
We
have received from our divine
Fathers the canon law that in honour of Christ’s resurrection, we
are not to kneel on Sundays. Lest therefore we should ignore the
fulness of this observance we make it plain to the faithful that after
the priests have gone to the Altar for Vespers on Saturdays (according
to the prevailing custom) no one shall kneel in prayer until the
evening of Sunday, at which time after the entrance for compline, again
with bended knees we offer our prayers to the Lord. For taking
the night after the Sabbath, which was the forerunner of our
Lord’s resurrection, we begin from it to sing in the spirit hymns
to God, leading our feast out of darkness into light, and thus during
an entire day and night, we celebrate the Resurrection.
Notes.
Ancient Epitome of Canon XC.
From the evening entrance of the Sabbath until the
evening entrance of the Lord’s day there must be no kneeling.
Van Espen.
No doubt the synod by the words “we have received
from the divine Fathers,” referred to canon xx. of the Council of
Nice.
For many centuries
this custom was preserved even in the Latin Church; and the custom of
keeping feasts and whole days generally from evening to evening is
believed to have been an Apostolic tradition, received by them from the
Jews. At the end of the
VIII
th
Century the Synod of Frankfort declared in its xxj. canon, that
“the Lord’s day should be kept from evening to
evening.”
385
385
“The evening
and the morning were the first day.”—
Gen. i. 5
.