PASSION
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PASSION
fested by our Lord, and sets forth the Passion as the
great act by which the redemption of mankind was
accomplished. He is the only one who records the
statement of Pilate that he found no cause in Jesus;
and also the examination before Herod. He alone
tells us of the angel who came to strengthen Jesus in
his agony in the garden, and, if the reading is right,
of the drops of blood which mingled with the sweat
which trickled down upon the ground. To St. Luke
again we owe our knowledge of no less than three of
the seven words from the Cross: the prayer for His
murderers; the episode of the penitent thief; and the
last utterance of all, "Father, into thy hands I com-
mend my spirit". Finally it is St. Luke alone who
tells us of the effect produced upon the spectators,
who so short a time before had been so full of hatred,
and how they returned home "striking their breasts".
The traditional character of the Fourth Gospel as having been written at a later date than the other three, and after they had become part of the religious possession of Christians generally, is entirely borne out by a study of the passion. Although almost all the details of the story are new, and the whole is drawn up on a plan owing nothing to the common basis of the Synoptists, yet a knowledge of what they had written is presupposed throughout, and is almost necessary before this later presentment of the Gospel can be fully understood. Most important events, fully related in the earlier Gospels, are altogether omitted in the Fourth, in a way which would be very perplexing had we not thus the key. For instance, there is no mention of the institution of the Holy Eucharist, the agony in the garden, or the trial and condemnation before Caiphas. On the other hand, we have a great number of facts not contained in the Synoptists. For instance, the eagerness of Pilate to release our Lord and his final yielding only to a definite threat from the Jewish leaders; the presence of our Lady at the foot of the Cross, and Jesus' last charge to her and to St. John. Most important of all perhaps, is the piercing of the side by the soldier's spear, and the flowing forth of blood and water. It is St. John alone, again, who tells us of the order to break the legs of all, and that Jesus Christ's legs were not broken, because he was already dead.
There seems at first sight a discrepancy between the narrative of the Fourth Gospel and that of the Syiiop- tists, namely, as to the exact day of the crucifixion, which involves the question whether the Last Supper was or was not, in the strict sense, the Paschal meal. If we had the Synoptists only we should almost certainly decide that it was, for they speak of preparing the Pasch, and give no hint that the meal which they de- scribe was anything else. But St. John seems to labour to show that the Paschal meal itself was not to be eaten till the next day. He points out that the Jews would not enter the court of Pilate, because they feared pollution which might prevent them from eating the Pasch. He is so clear that we can hardly mis- take his meaning, and certain passages in the Synop- tists seem really to point in the same direction. Joseph, for instance, was able to buy the linen and the spices for the burial, which would not have been pos- sible on the actual feast-day. Moreover, one passage, which at first sight seems strongest in the other direc- tion, has quite another meaning when the reading is cor- rected. " With desire I have desired", said Jesus to His Apostles, "to eat this pasch with you, before I suffer. For I say to you, that from this time I will not eat it, till it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God" (Luke, xxii, 15). When the hour for it had fully come He would have been already dead, the type would have passed away, and the Kingdom of God would have already come. ARTHaH S. Barnes.
Passion Plays. — The modern drama does not originate in the ancient, but in the religious plays
of the Middle Ages, themselves an outcome of the
liturgy of the Church. Ecclesiastical worship was
thoroughly dramatic, particularly the Holy Mass,
with its progressive action, its dialogue between the
priests and their ministers at the altar, or, on feast-
days, between the officiating priest and his assistants,
with the choir of singers, and the people. Often
— e. g. at Christmas, Epiphany, and Easter — the
text of the Gospel called for a variety of roles. The
celebration of the feasts was as rich and varied as
they were numerous; poetry and music, in particular,
helped to impress properly on the laity the full signifi-
cance of the great events commemorated. The Ben-
edictines of St. Gall, in Switzerland, in the tenth cen-
tury wrote sequences, hymns, litanies, and tropes and
set them to music. The tropes — elaborations of parts
of the Liturgy, particularly the Introit, fine musical
settings — found universal acceptance and remained in
use in various forms until the end of the seventeenth
century. These tropes were dramatic in construction
and, as their musical settings prove, were sung alter-
nately by two choirs of men and boys, or by two half-
choirs. The history of the ecclesiastical drama
begins with the trope sung as Introit of the Mass on
Easter Sunday. It has come down to us in a St.
Gall manuscript dating from the time of the monk
Tutilo (tenth century).
The conversation held between the holy women and the angels at the sepulchre of our Lord forms the text of this trope, which is comprised in the four sentences: "Quem qua;ritis in sepulchro, o christicote? — Jesum Nazarenum, o ccclicolae — Non est hie. Surrexit, sicut pra^dixerat. Itenuntiate, quia surrexit de sepul- chro. — Resurrexi, postquam factus homo, tua jussa patcrna peregi." — The first three sentences are found in many liturgical books dating from the tenth to the eighteenth century. The trope, however, did not develop into a dramatic scene, until it was brought into connexion with the Descent from the Cross, widely commemorated in Continental monasteries, but which appears first in a Ritual of English origin, attributed to St. Dunstan (967). In giving directions for public services, the Ritual refers to this custom, particularly as observed at Fleury-sur-Loire and Ghent. On Good Friday, after the morning services, a crucifix swathed in cloth was laid in a sort of grave arranged near the altar, where it remained until Easter morning. On Easter morning, after the third re- sponsory of the Matins, one or two clerics clothed in albs, and carrying ])alms in their hands, went to the grave and seated themselves there. Thereupon three other priests vested in copes, and carrying censers representing the three holy women, joined them. Upon their arrival the angel asked them : " Whom seek ye? " The women answered ; they hear from the angel the message of the Resurrection and were told to go forth and announce it. Then they intoned the anti- phon: "Surrexit enim, sicut dixit dominus. Alle- luia". The choir finished Matins with the "Te Deum".
This simplest form of liturgical Easter celebration was elaborated in many ways by the addition of Biblical .-ifnlcnces, hymns, and sequences, in particu- lar the " Victimie paschali", which dates from the first half of the eleventh century; also by the representa- tion of St. Peter and St. John running to the grave, and by the appearance of the Lord, who thenceforth becomes the central figure. The union of these scenes in one concerted action (the dialogue), rendered in poetic form (hymns, sequences) or in prose (Bible texts), and the participation of a choir gave to the Nuremberg Easter celebration of the thirteenth cen- tury the character of a short chanted drama. Such celebrations, however, remained parts of the liturgy as late as the eighteenth century. They were inserted between Matins and Lauds, and served for the in- struction of the people, whose hearts and minds were
