Vigil: the Day of the Lord
Full disclosure; I have taken two courses at Notre Dame from Father Robert Taft. S.J a world class liturgist from the Byzantine tradition; so this presentation is very influenced by him The Lord's Day is the primal liturgical feast; Easter is an outstanding Lord's day rather than the Sunday being a little Easter. The East maintains the Byzantine and Jewish conception of the liturgical day. The Lord's Day begins with sunset on Saturday (and ends with Sunset on Sunday). The West has remnants of this ideal in the Easter Vigil (and other vigils) and First Vespers on large feasts, and since Vatican II celebration of Mass on Saturday evening. Otherwise the West has operated mostly on midnight to midnight modern day often emphasizing as in the Anglican tradition Morning Prayer, Eucharist, Evensong rather than the Vespers, Matins, Divine Liturgy pattern of the East. Below is a list of links to worship services and websites that focus on the celebration of the Lord's...
