Consistent Reading of the Gospel During the Lent and the Passion Week

Abstract

The present article is dedicated to the study of the liturgical features of the consistent reading of the Gospel in the first three days of the Passion Week and during the Lent. As a rule, they are connected by a transfer of a part of the prescribed reading from the Passion Week to the preceding days of the Lent. The article analyzes the main liturgical sources of the secular and regular liturgical rites. A hypothesis based on this analysis about the origin of the practice of the complete reading of the Gospel in the first days of Passion Week is put forward by the author. The custom of transferring some parts of the reading of the Gospel from Passion Week to other days of Great Lent is being considered in accordance to some Greek and Slavonic liturgical sources. In addition, the “Lenten Gospels” are analyzed as a monument fixing the consistent reading of the Gospel during the Lent. The problems and prospects for further research of this issue and hypotheses for future study are also indicated in the present article.