19. The Office of Tenebrae

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VERSION: 9 April 2002

THE OFFICE OF TENEBRAE

NOTES

Tenebrae (Latin for 'darkness') is an old form of Matins and Lauds used during the last three days of Holy Week, offering a prolonged meditation on the events of these days. In this form, Matins and Lauds, which were usually celebrated very early in the morning, were observed on the night before to allow easier participation by the people. Thus, the Tenebrae of Maundy Thursday was celebrated on Wednesday night, of Good Friday on Thursday night, and of Holy Saturday on the night of Good Friday.

The form of Matins and Lauds preserved in the Tenebrae celebration is very primitive. There are no hymns or introductory verses, and the 'Glory to the Father' is not said at the end of the psalms. The first part, the office of Matins, consists of three 'nocturns' of three psalms and three readings, each reading interspersed with a response. Lauds, which follows directly after the office of Matins, consists of five psalms and a canticle.

This otherwise stark celebration has reached a certain amount of popularity because of the visual symbol that accompanies the singing of the psalms. A triangular candelabra holding 15 candles stands in the sanctuary. At the beginning of Tenebrae, each candle is lit. After each psalm one candle is extinguished, beginning from the candle on the extreme right, then the candle on the extreme left, and so on. At the end of the psalms only the uppermost candle in the centre remains lit. This candle represents Christ - the other candles represent Christ's disciples who all forsook him. (Do not worry that there are in fact 14 other candles rather than 12. Such things did not bother the ancients!) The dramatic ceremony at the end of the office represents Christ's death, burial, and resurrection.

The traditional psalms, readings, and responses are given at the end of this rite. A selection may be made from these.

Note that this celebration can be led entirely by laypeople. A choir and a cantor will also be prominent participants. The service may be adapted according to local requirements.

THE OFFICE OF TENEBRAE

MATINS

First nocturn

Second nocturn

Third nocturn

LAUDS

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,

who has come to his people and set them free.

The Lord has raised up for us a mighty Saviour,

born of the house of his servant David.

Through the holy prophets, God promised of old

to save us from our enemies,

from the hands of all who hate us,

to show mercy to our forebears,

and to remember his holy covenant.

This was the oath God swore to our father Abraham:

to set us free from the hands of our enemies,

free to worship him without fear,

holy and righteous before him,

all the days of our life.

And you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High,

for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,

to give his people knowledge of salvation

by the forgiveness of their sins.

In the tender compassion of our God

the dawn from on high shall break upon us,

to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,

and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

(Translation prepared by the

English Language Liturgical Consultation

(ELLC), 1988)

He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death,

even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him,

and gave him the name that is above every name.

Almighty God,

look mercifully on your family,

for whom our Lord Jesus Christ

was willing to be betrayed

and given up into the hands of sinners,

and to suffer death on the cross.

APPENDIX: Traditional components of the Tenebrae rite

WEDNESDAY NIGHT (TEXTS FOR MAUNDY THURSDAY)

Matins: First nocturn

Psalms: 69, 70, 71

Readings and responses:

First reading: Lamentations 1:1-5.

(At the end of the reading the reader adds: 'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, return to the Lord your God.')

On the Mount of Olives, Jesus prayed to his Father:

My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Stay awake and pray that you may not come into temptation.

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Second reading: Lamentations 1:6-9

(At the end of the reading the reader adds: 'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, return to the Lord your God.')

I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.

You will all become deserters because of me this night.

See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

You will all become deserters because of me this night.

Third reading: Lamentations 1:10-14

(At the end of the reading the reader adds: 'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, return to the Lord your God.')

He had no dignity or beauty to make us take notice of him.

There was nothing attractive about him, nothing that would draw us to him.

He endured the suffering that should have been ours, the pain that we should have borne. We are made whole by the blows he received.

Because of our sins he was wounded, beaten because of the evil we did.

He endured the suffering that should have been ours, the pain that we should have borne. We are made whole by the blows he received.

Matins: Second nocturn

Psalms: 72, 73, 74

Readings and responses: From St Augustine, Treatise on the Psalms (Psalm 55)

First reading:

'Give ear to my prayer, O God; do not hide yourself from my supplication. Attend to me, and answer me; I am troubled in my complaint. I am distraught.' These are the words of a man who is disquieted, in trouble and anxiety. He prays under much suffering, desiring to be delivered from evil. Let us now see under what evil he lies; and when he begins to speak, let us place ourselves beside him, so that, by sharing his tribulation, we may also join in his prayer. 'I am troubled in my complaint', he says, 'I am distraught.' When is he troubled? When is he distraught? He says 'In my complaint.' Do not think that the evil people are in the world for no purpose, and that God makes no good use of them. All wicked people live either that they may be corrected, or that through them the righteous may be tried and tested.

My own friend has betrayed me with a kiss. The one I will kiss is the man, arrest him.

This is the sign he gave, with a kiss he brought about my death.

Throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed; and he went and hanged himself.

This is the sign he gave, with a kiss he brought about my death.

Second reading:

Would that those who now test us were converted and tried with us; yet though they continue to try us, let us not hate them, for we do not know whether any of them will persist to the end in their evil ways. And most of the time, when you think you are hating your enemy, you are hating your brother or sister without knowing it. Only the devil and his angels are shown to us in the holy Scriptures as doomed to eternal fire. It is only their amendment that is hopeless, and against them we wage a hidden battle. For this battle the Apostle arms us, saying, 'We are not contending against flesh and blood', that is, not against human beings whom we see, 'but against the principalities, against the rulers of the darkness of this world.' So that you may not think that demons are the rulers of heaven and earth, he says, 'of the darkness of this world.' He says, 'of the world', meaning the lovers of the world - of the 'world', meaning the ungodly and wicked - the 'world' of which the gospel says, 'And the world knew him not.'

Judas, the traitor, betrayed the Lord with a kiss.

Like an innocent lamb, he did not refuse the kiss of Judas.

For thirty silver coins, he delivered Christ to those who wanted to kill him.

Like an innocent lamb, he did not refuse the kiss of Judas.

Third reading:

'For I see unrighteousness and strife in the city.' See the glory of the cross itself. On the brow of kings that cross is now placed, the cross which enemies once mocked. Its power is shown in the result. He has conquered the world, not by steel, but by wood. The wood of the cross seemed a fitting object of scorn to his enemies, and standing before that wood they shook their heads, saying, 'If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.' He stretched out his hands to an unbelieving and rebellious people. If one is just who lives by faith, one who does not have faith is unrighteous. Therefore, when he says 'unrighteousness', understand that it is unbelief. The Lord then saw unrighteousness and strife in the city, and stretched out his hands to an unbelieving and rebellious people. And yet, looking upon them, he said, 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.'

Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me. Woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.

It would have been better for that one not to have been born.

The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me.

It would have been better for that one not to have been born.

Matins: Third nocturn

Psalms: 75, 76, 77

Readings and responses:

First reading: 1 Corinthians 11:17-22

Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.

By a perversion of justice he was taken away, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

So he did not open his mouth.

Second reading: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping:

Could you not stay awake with me one hour?

Get up, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand.

While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived.

Get up, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand.

Third reading: 1 Corinthians 11:27-33

The chief priests and the elders of the people conspired to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him.

Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a bandit?

Then they seized him, and led him away, bringing him into the high priest's house.

Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a bandit?

Lauds

Psalms: 51, 90, 36, Song of Moses (Exod 15:1-18), 147

THURDAY NIGHT (TEXTS FOR GOOD FRIDAY)

Matins: First nocturn

Psalms: 2, 22, 27

Readings and responses:

First reading: Lamentations 2:8-11

(At the end of the reading the reader adds: 'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, return to the Lord your God.')

My friends and companions stand aloof from my affliction, and my neighbours stand far off.

Insults have broken my heart and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

Those who seek my life lay their snares, those who seek to hurt me speak of ruin.

Insults have broken my heart and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

Second reading: Lamentations 2:12-15

(At the end of the reading the reader adds: 'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, return to the Lord your God.')

The curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

The earth shook and the rocks were split.

One of the criminals said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

The earth shook and the rocks were split.

Third reading: Lamentations 3:1-9

(At the end of the reading the reader adds: 'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, return to the Lord your God.')

My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill, and planted it with choice vines.

How could you yield wild grapes, that you should crucify me and release Barabbas?

He dug it and cleared it of stones, he built a watchtower in the midst of it.

How could you yield wild grapes, that you should crucify me and release Barabbas?

Matins: Second nocturn

Psalms: 38, 40, 54

Readings and responses: St Augustine, Treatise on the Psalms (Psalm 64)

First reading:

'Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the scheming of evildoers.' Let us now contemplate our Head himself. Many martyrs suffered such things, but nothing is so radiant as the Head of the martyrs: in him we see more clearly what they underwent. He was hidden from the plots of the wicked, that is, God hid himself; as Son of God and as Son of Man, in the human nature which he had assumed, he hid his own body. He is the Son of God by reason of his divine nature, Son of Man by reason of the servant-nature which he has taken on. But he has the power to lay down his life and to take it up again. What could his enemies do to him? They killed his body, but they did not kill his soul. Note well. It would have been of little value for the Lord to encourage the martyrs by word if he had not given the strength of example.

Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a bandit?

Day after day, I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not arrest me.

But all this has taken place that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.

Day after day, I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not arrest me.

Second reading:

You know what the 'plots of the wicked and the scheming of evildoers' was. What evil? The evil of making the decision to put our Lord Jesus Christ to death. 'I have shown you so many good works,' he said; 'for which of these do you want to put me to death?' He put up with all those who were weak among them; he cured all their sick; he proclaimed the kingdom of heaven. He did not pass over their sins, and so they should have become dissatisfied with these sins, rather than the Physician who was curing them. But devoid of gratitude for all his healing remedies, they raged against the Physician who had come to heal them, as if maddened by great fever. And they thought up a plan for destroying him. It is as if they wished to prove thereby whether he was truly human, and could die, or whether he was something superior to humans and would not permit himself to die. 'Let us condemn him,' they said, 'to shameful death. Let us put him to the test; for according to his own words, God will take care of him. If he is really God's son, let God deliver him.'

From noon on, darkness came over the whole land. And about three o'clock, Jesus cried with a loud voice, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Third reading:

'They whet their tongues like swords.' Let not those who wanted to kill Jesus say, 'We did not put Christ to death.' Of course, it was just for this reason that they handed him over to Pilate for judgment - so that they might not seem implicated in his death. For when Pilate told them, 'You yourselves put him to death,' they answered, 'It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.' They wanted to have the evil of their crime flung back on the human judge. But the divine Judge - did they really think they were deceiving him? Pilate, by the fact that he acted, shared to some degree in what was done; but compared to them he was far less guilty. For he persisted in trying to free Christ from their clutches, as far as he was able. This is why Pilate had our Lord scourged and brought him out for them to see - not out of cruelty, but hoping to allay their rage, so that when they saw him scourged they might even soften and abandon their desire to put him to death. This attempt Pilate made. Yet when they were adamant you know how he washed his hands and said that it was not his doing, that he was innocent of his death. Still, he did have Christ put to death. But if he is guilty for what he did, even though he did it unwillingly, can those who force him to do it be guiltless? By no means! Pilate pronounced the sentence against Jesus and ordered him to be crucified; as it were, he himself killed him. But you too, leaders of the people, have killed him. How did you do it? With the sword of your tongues. And when else did you strike him, if not when you cried 'Crucify him, crucify him.'

I have given the people I love into the power of their enemies. My chosen people have turned against me, like a lion in the forest.

Foreign rulers have turned my lovely land into a desert.

My people have lifted their voice against me; so gather all the wild animals, bring them to devour.

Foreign rulers have turned my lovely land into a desert.

Matins: Third nocturn

Psalms: 59, 88, 94

Readings and responses:

First reading: Hebrews 4:11-15

He gives me up to the ungodly and casts me into the hands of the wicked.

He bursts upon me again and again, he rushes at me like a warrior.

For the insolent have risen against me, the ruthless seek my life.

He bursts upon me again and again, he rushes at me like a warrior.

Second reading: Hebrews 4:16 - 5:3

A young man was following him, wearing nothing but a linen cloth. They caught hold of him, but he left the linen cloth and ran off naked.

But Peter was following him at a distance, in order to see how this would end.

They took Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes were assembled.

But Peter was following him at a distance, in order to see how this would end.

Third reading: Hebrews 5:4-10

My face is red with weeping, and deep darkness is on my eyelids.

Look and see: is there any sorrow like my sorrow?

Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?

Look and see: is there any sorrow like my sorrow?

Lauds

Psalms: 51, 143, 85, Song of Habakkuk (Hab 3:2-19), 147:12-20

FRIDAY NIGHT (TEXTS FOR HOLY SATURDAY)

Matins: First nocturn

Psalms: 4, 15, 16

Readings and responses:

First reading: Lamentations 3:22-30

(At the end of the reading the reader adds: 'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, return to the Lord your God.')

Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, he was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth.

He took the place of many sinners and prayed that they might be forgiven.

He poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors.

He took the place of many sinners and prayed that they might be forgiven.

Second reading: Lamentations 4:1-6

(At the end of the reading the reader adds: 'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, return to the Lord your God.')

The elders of Zion have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth.

For in Zion has the Saviour of Israel been slain.

Let tears stream down like a torrent day and night; give yourself no rest, your eyes no respite.

For in Zion has the Saviour of Israel been slain.

Third reading: Lamentation 5:1-11

(At the end of the reading the reader adds: 'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, return to the Lord your God.')

Lament like a virgin dressed in sackcloth; wail, you shepherds, and cry out,

for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near; a day of darkness and gloom.

Put on sackcloth and lament, you priests; wail, you ministers of the altar,

for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near; a day of darkness and gloom.

Matins: Second nocturn

Psalms: 24, 27, 30

Readings and responses: St Augustine, Treatise on the Psalms (Psalm 64)

First reading:

'Human beings have said: Who can see us? Who can search out our crimes? We have thought out a cunningly conceived plot. For the human heart and mind are deep.' But they failed in their evil plans. The human Christ came upon those very plans; he allowed himself to be seized as a human being. He could not be seized if he were not a human being, nor could he be seen, or struck, or crucified, nor could he die, if he were not human. And so the human Christ came to all these sufferings, sufferings which would have no effect on him, were he not a human being. Yet if he were not a human being, human beings would not be set free. The human Christ came upon a cunningly conceived plot, presenting his humanity to human sight, while within preserving his Godhead; concealing the form of God, in which he is equal to the Father; presenting the form of a servant, in which he is less than the Father.

Our Shepherd, the fountain of living waters, is gone. At his passing, the sun was darkened.

Today our Saviour has broken the bars and the very gates of death.

Yes, he has destroyed the prisons of hell and overthrown the power of the devil.

Today our Saviour has broken the bars and the very gates of death.

Second reading:

How far did they push these plottings of theirs, which failed at the finish? Why, even with our Lord dead and laid to rest, they would have a guard set at the sepulchre. They told Pilate: That deceiver - this was what the Lord Jesus Christ was called, for the consolation of his servants when they are called deceivers - That deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Give orders therefore that the sepulchre be guarded until the third day, or else his disciples may come and steal him away, and say to the people, He has risen from the dead; and the last deception will be worse than the first. Pilate said to them, You have a guard, go, guard it as well as you know how. So they went and made the sepulchre secure, sealing the stone, and setting the guard.

Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?

Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow.

Look, O Lord, and see how worthless I have become.

Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow.

Third reading:

They stationed soldiers to guard the sepulchre. The earth trembled, and the Lord arose. Such wonders were done there by the sepulchre that even those soldiers who had come as guards could have become witnesses, had they decided to report the truth. But that same greediness that took captive the disciple who was Christ's companion also took captive the soldiers who guarded the sepulchre. 'Here is the money for you,' they were told. 'Say that while you were sleeping his disciples came and made off with him.' Surely they have failed in their plottings! What is it you have said, O clumsy shrewdness? Do you so far disregard the light of the counsel of goodness and sink to the depths of deceit as to advise, 'Say that while you were sleeping his disciples came and made off with him'? You summon sleeping men as witnesses! Really, shrewdness itself has fallen asleep when its search comes up with no better plot than this.

See how the righteous one dies, and no one takes it to heart; the righteous are taken away and no one gives it a thought.

The righteous one, the Lord's servant, shall make many righteous.

Like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

The righteous one, the Lord's servant, shall make many righteous.

Matins: Third nocturn

Psalms: 54, 76, 88

Readings and responses:

First reading: Hebrews 9:11-14

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together

against the Lord and his Anointed.

Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain

against the Lord and his Anointed?

Second reading: Hebrews 9:15-18

I am counted among those who go down to the pit.

I have become like those who have no help, like the slain that lie in the grave.

You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep.

I have become like those who have no help, like the slain that lie in the grave.

Third reading: Hebrews 9:19-22

After the Lord was laid in the sepulchre, the tomb was sealed. A stone was rolled to the entrance of the tomb,

and soldiers were set to guard him.

The chief priests approached Pilate with their petition.

And soldiers were set to guard him.

Lauds

Psalms: 51, 92, 64, Canticle of Hezekiah (Isa 38:10-20), 150