What’s a Gesima? The Church Prepares for Lent
In the traditional liturgical Church Year, this Sunday and the two following are known as “gesima” Sundays, and the three Sunday period we are now in, is known as pre-Lent. What is the meaning of “gesima” and why a three week “pre-Lent.” Here’s a great article by my friend Terry Maher explaining what’s going on at this point in the historic Church Year.
There’s been some joyous events these last few weeks — the birth of Jesus, his naming and circumcision, the first Gentiles to find him, and his baptism. On various dates and combinations from place to place through the ages, the Christian Church has offered its members celebrations of these things in its church year.
But a change is coming, one already present amid the joy. We know as we celebrate his birth that he was born for us so he could die for us. We know as his blood was spilled in circumcision, putting him under the Law, his blood would be spilled on the Cross, to redeem us from under the Law. We saw that the Gentiles who found him had to return by a different way, as the way of all who find him is different afterward. And after his baptism, Jesus will spend forty days in the desert before beginning his public ministry, wherein he will be tempted to make himself into the various false Messiahs into which Man makes him anyway so often. We will soon imitate those forty days for our own devotion with the season of Lent, on the way to the Cross, without which Easter is but another metaphor or myth. A change is coming.
So the church provides a transitional time between the first and second of its three great seasons, as the joyous events from preparing for his birth to his baptism, Advent-Christmas-Circumcision-Naming-Manifestation-Baptism, now turn to the literally deadly serious reason why they happened, sin and our redemption from sin. Just like with the Christmas related season, this has taken various forms in various places and times but within the same general pattern, and the universal practice of the Christian Church since ancient times (well, until 1960s Rome messed with it, but we’ll get to that) has been to provide a transition from the beginnings of Jesus’ earthly life to the end of it.
So, Septuagesima is 70 Days, Sexagesima is 60 Days, Quinqagesima is 50 Days. Simple. Right? Sure…but…what are all these “gesimas” about, pronounced “jeh-see-mah,” emphasis on first syllable. Glad you asked.
Septuagesima is simply another word for Seventy Days, that’s all. The modern English word is derived from Middle English in turn from Old French in turn from the actual Late Latin word septuagesima meaning seventieth day. The septua- part is the same prefix for seven or multiples by ten of seven seen in other English words — septet, an ensemble of seven; septuagenarian, someone in his 70s; the Septuagint, the translation into Greek of the Hebrew Scriptures by seventy scholars — and the -gesima part derives from the Latin for days, dies.
With the Seventieth Day, or Septuagesima, the change is apparent on various levels. The white vestments of Christmastime joy give way to purple or violet of repentance; the joyful exclamation Alleluia and other joyful expressions like the Te Deum and the Gloria (there ain’t no This Is The Feast) are not used, and the readings, especially if one follows the hours of prayer, the Divine Office, begin their way through the sorry history of Man from his creation and fall on, which the Holy Saturday liturgy will recapitulate.
On Septuagesima itself, the Gospel reading is Matthew 20:1-16, the story of the workers in the vineyard, wherein we see Man the same as from the start in Eden, trying to impose his ideas of what is right on to God’s, this time arguing over whether the same wage is fair for those who worked all day, those hired at the last, and everyone in between, as if we deserved anything from God and it were not his to give and not ours to presume or demand anyway. So we argue with God and each other over the denarius rather than taking in in gratitude from him who owed us nothing! Kind of the whole problem in a nutshell.
The Eastern Church uses the following on its five Sundays in the Pre Lenten Season: 1) the story of Zacchaeus, 2) the Publican and the Pharisee, 3) the Prodigal Son, 4) the Last Judgement, and 5) the Sunday of Forgiveness.
The world, which has ever had its early Spring celebrations, has in many lands timed them on Lent, so pre-Lent attains a nature as opposite from its Christian meaning as Advent has become the gift buying and partying season before Christmas. At the beginning of Lent, fasting in some form is observed, usually involving abstaining from meat, and the most likely origin of the the name for the worldly face of all this, carnival, is a farewell to meat (flesh), from the Latin root carne- for meat or flesh (as in carnivore) and vale, good-bye (as in valedictory). In most but not all places, Septuagesima is the start of carnival season, to end just before Lent starts on Ash Wednesday. As the church prepares for the penitential season of Lent the world enjoys the flesh, in all senses of the word.
In the Western Church, in most denominations that follow a liturgical calendar, the transitional pre-Lenten period has been abolished altogether! And not only is this important transition dropped, the period of time it formerly took is simply counted as Ordinary Time. That would be bad enough if ordinary here meant what ordinary ordinarily means. Ordinary here means the literal meaning of ordinary, which is, something that has no particular name or identity but is simply numbered. So in the novus ordo and the various adaptations of it, this significant time of transition from the Christmas cyle to the Easter cyle simply ceases to exist, in numbered anonymity, in the face of nearly two millennia of Christian observance in varying forms, and the continuing observance of those who do not follow suit. Well, when you’re the Whore of Babylon, you do stuff like that, maybe even have to do stuff like that. Not a lead for the church of Christ to follow.
Actually, at first in English Lent itself followed the Gesima pattern and was called Quadragesima, meaning forty days, the duration of Lent in the West, which was also the name of the first Sunday in Lent, a word that then just meant Spring. This still survives in other languages. For example in Spanish the word is Cuaresma for Lent. No word yet on whether Rome can get languages like Spanish to quit calling Lent after a pattern it has abolished. The world, though, seems securely attached to its traditions; Carnival season will endure though Pre-Lent is done in. Who knows? Maybe the next council can get Ash Wednesday moved to the Sunday before Ash Wednesday, for “pastoral reasons” of course, like they jacked around the date of Epiphany, or move it to the Monday after and call it reclaiming our ancient Greek roots.
The Eastern Church still has its Pre Lenten Season.
In the Western Church, the earliest Septuagesima can fall is 18 January and the latest 22 February. This year, 2009, it’s 8 February. Join the Christian Church, East or West, in this transition, whatever your church body may have chosen to do, as we turn to the preparation for Lent, the observance of that for which he whose birth we recently celebrated came to die and then rise again, and the Easter and Pentecost joy to follow in anticipation of the eternal joy of heaven!
We start with learning from the workers in the vineyard not to haggle over the denarius but understand whose it is and that it is a gift, or, from the call of Jesus to Zacchaeus, who collected taxes for the foreign oppressors, that he doesn’t have to climb a tree to see him, that he is coming to his very house — which btw produced more grumbling about what is right and just — after which Zacchaeus repented and made restitution to his brethren. The Son of Man has indeed come to seek and save the lost — don’t worry about being seeker-sensitive, HE is the seeker — whether that be those who cast aside their own people for power or those who are idle because they are not hired, as we all seek our own gain first by nature and are all “unemployable” before the justice of God, who shows us mercy instead in Christ Whom He has sent.
Here are the readings for the three Sundays of Gesimatide. It has been noted that the three correspond with the three “solas” of the Lutheran Reformation.
Septuagesima Sunday, “70 Days”.
Introit.
Psalm 18:5,6,7. Verse Psalm 18:2,3.
Collect.
O Lord, we beseech Thee favourably to hear the prayers of Thy people that we, who are justly punished for our offences, may be mercifully delivered by The goodness, for the glory of Thy name, through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Our Saviour, who liveth etc.
Epistle.
1 Cor 9:24 – 10:5.
Gospel.
Matthew 20:1-16. The Workers in the Vinyard. Sola gratia, by grace alone.
Sexagesima Sunday, “60 Days”.
Introit.
Psalm 44:23-26. Verse Psalm 44:2.
Collect.
O God, who seest that we put not our trust in anything that we do, mercifully grant that by Thy power we may be defended against all adversity, through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Our Lord, who liveth etc.
Epistle.
2 Cor 11:19 – 12.9
Gospel.
Luke 8:4-15. The Sower and the Seed. Sola scriptura, by scripture alone.
Quinquagesima Sunday, “50 Days”.
Introit.
Psalm 31:3,4. Verse Psalm 31:1.
Collect.
O Lord, we beseech Thee, mercifully hear our prayers and, having set us free from the bonds of sin, defend us from all evil, through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Our Lord, who liveth etc.
Epistle.
1 Cor 13:1-13.
Gospel.
Luke 18:31-43. Healing the Blind Man. Sola fide, by faith alone.
I was considering asking my congregation to try switching back to the One year series at least for a while so they could have Gesimatide. But I had to go on temporary disability leave and resign, so that’s not going to happen. I used to obsess about needing to stay “in sync” the folks in my church around this time in the church year, but for this round I think I’ll observe Gesimatide when I pray the Daily Office.
I am your normal garden-variety layman, who thinks Lent is solemn enough, and lasts six weeks. Why do we need another solemn period in the calendar? I need to get a crucifix, and reflect on the sacrifice Christ gave for us. I think of the portrait by one of the Classic painters on Ash Wednesday, when one of the pious people in dark clothes meets the drunk arising from his stupor after Mardi Gras. Is there a moderate way? I don’t know the answer, since Christ isn’t moderate in His grace for us.
A wonderful, informative article. Please correct the dates in the second sentence of the third to last paragraph.
I recently began attending, and will be joining an LC-MS congregation in the Minneapolis, MN area. I had been used to the 3 year lectionary cycle, and was glad that this congregation uses the 1 year cycle.
The closest analogue to the -gesima ending in Latin would be the -tieth ending in English: septuagesima = seventieth, sexagesima = sixtieth, quinquagesima = fiftieth. These are feminine ordinal numbers. The etymology is not tied to the Latin word “dies” for days; that’s simply implied by the context. So, septuagesima simply means seventieth, implying seventieth day. Likewise for the others.
While I appreciated the information in this article, except the errors, some of the arguments made are precisely why I have not switched to the 1-year cycle. It seems that so many who use the 1-yr think they are so much more “holy” than those of us who do not. Oh, they don’t come right out and say so, but making such comments as, “if one follows the lead of the Great Whore, Rome” make it clear enough. If I use the 3-year series and do not celebrate the Gesimatide, I am following the Great Whore of Babylon, and therefore not as pious as those 1-year types. So I continue to be less pious and use the 3-year series, confident that I am saved by grace, and not by which lectionary series I use.
Col. 2:16
Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath (or a lectionary series or a tide).
Now, I have seen many good reasons to use the 1-year series, and would have considered switching, but I just do not want to be associated with that crowd. They have no idea how much damage they do. And I kind of agree with the statement of Ted above. We have 5 1/2 weeks of singing somber songs, leaving off with “Alleluia”, and hearing sermons that are heavy on law and light on grace, do we really need another three weeks of that? Epiphany Tide has some really good readings in it that are not read at any other time in the church year. I have really enjoyed preaching straight through the Sermon on the Mount, something that never happens in the 1-year cycle, and, as we get closer to the end of it, it is certainly preparing us for Lent, without “Gessima” Sundays, as it shows us again and again that we cannot be saved by our own works, but are saved by the righteousness of Christ.
I’ve always loved the -gesima Sundays, especially because in the Lutheran church the gospels lend themselves to the following themes (in order) which was not my idea but given to me by Pastor Alexander Ring: grace alone (parable of the laborers in the vineyard), Scripture alone (parable of the sower), faith alone (healing of the blind man).
And while it is a transition into Lent, it isn’t really somber. Those gospel lessons, I wouldn’t want to do without them! And the epistle for Quinquagesima is the beautiful 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians. On Sexagesima, the O.T. is the “My word shall accomplish that for which I send it” promise from Isaiah 55. We sing “Salvation Unto Us Is Come” or “By Grace I’m Saved” on the 1st Sunday, hymns about the Word on the 2nd Sunday, and hymns such as “Let Us Ever Walk With Jesus” on the 3rd Sunday. It’ really a neat “twilight season,” as some have called it.
Also, I think it helps to remember that the numbers referred to in the names of the Sundays have reference not to Lent, but to Easter: 70 days approximately until the Resurrection, etc. Perhaps we who observe these Sundays could be better at bringing this out!
Todd Peperkorn has a great bulletin insert that explains all this, which is probably available on historiclectionary.com.
Pastor Jerry Gernander (ELS)
The etymology I gave is a Latin one: how one gets from say “seventy”, septuaginta, to “seventieth”, septugesimus -a -um. I read it somewhere sometime. TMaybe the -gesimus -a -um comes by way of “dies” originating in the counting of days, maybe not. I’d ask Nietzsche but he’s dead. The point — that these strange sounding names are really not so strange after a simple explanation — is the same whether that explanation involves “day” etymologically or contextually.
Now, a comment such as “if one follows the lead of the Great Whore, Rome” makes clear is that Rome is the Great Whore that the promulgation of its novus ordo in its rite, lectionary and calendar is the lead which later adaptations follow, and that wrt Gesimatide it disappears altogether after hundreds of years of use by the church including post-Reformation.
The “therefore” is that it is not a good idea to follow that lead and a better idea is to follow the lead of the church in general and our Lutheran predecessors in particular prior to Rome’s last council. A “therefore” about the piety or salvation of those who follow a not so good idea is entirely unwarranted — either on the part of one who advocates something as the better idea, or on the part of one who does something else and reads that into the advocate’s words insisting that is what he REALLY said when he did not say it.
The latter have no idea how much damage they do.
Now, I have seen many good reasons to use the 1-year series, and would have considered switching, but I just do not want to be associated with that crowd.
As a veteran of the novus ordo liturgical wars I would submit that the changes that were made to the historic western liturgy at the Second Vatican Council should not be taken lightly by Lutherans. I don’t see that the 3-year lectionary has accomplished what Rome set out to do, the goal having been to make the laity more Biblically literate. The liturgy is not supposed to function as a “Bible study”, but an unfolding of the history of salvation connected to the readings. Lutherans, blessed with a tradition of solid preaching from the texts do not need to imitate Roman practice in this regard
Replacing the Feast of the Circumcision with the “Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God” (as if there weren’t enough Marian observances) has begun to morph into a universal celebration of “world peace” with little connection to the only One who is the bearer of God’s authentic peace. Moving Epiphany from its historic observance on January 6 to Sundays in order to “connect the feasts of the Lord” to the Sunday liturgical observance has not resulted in the increased Mass attendance that the American bishops hoped for. Having suppressed Gesimatide with “ordinary” time has accomplished just that and not in a positive sense.
It is even more ironic that Rome has issued a new translation of the Roman Missal with language more “faithful” to the Latin texts, the result being that some of the liturgical prayers will now sound like the ones that Confessional Lutherans have been using all along in fidelity to the authentic catholic and evangelical tradition of the Western Church.
Nothing at all to do with being “holier than thou.”
@Ted Badje
Ted, Christ is not moderate in His call to be changed in our mindset, either. It is sad that metanoia has been translated as repentance, for this word from the Latin does not carry the same meaning. Contrition is only part of what is meant, the least important part. A better translation would be “reversed” or “about-faced.” This is the call of God to sinners. It completely permeates the Church’s message and life. Every season of the Church year has this as its focus, not by what we are to do for ourselves, but what God works in us through the preaching of the Word and the administration of the Sacraments.
As was mentioned, the dropping of the Pre-Lent season was initially done by Vatican 2. As I look at this season, again as was mentioned in the comments, the overall theme is “justification by grace through faith,” a theme that is not understood by Rome. If you don’t understand justification, you don’t understand this season. My theory is that without understanding what this season was about, Rome eliminated it, and the Lutherans and others followed, unfortunately.
In the West it was Gregory I (the Great) who initiated the -gesima season. He did it because, what with the raids of the barbarians on Rome, the destructions of the aqueducts, the resultant increases in disease and the consequent death-toll, he felt that the people of Rome needed to mourn their sinfulness all the more before the Lord so that he would see the sincerity of their repentance and would bring their suffering to an end. He had the people of Rome march about for days in mourning until he saw an angel appear over the tomb of St. Peter, which seemed to coincide with the end of the plagues. Gregory was given to superstition and to using it to extort “godly” reactions from people. The -gesima season may have existed in the East (which isn’t lacking in its own problems) and Gregory may have gotten the idea of it from the East when he served as an ambassador to Constantinople, but his reason for initiating it in the West was hardly connected to justification by faith. The commentary he wrote on Job while in Constantinople does not reflect a proper understanding of suffering in the hands of God as a means of turning us to Christ for our hope of salvation. Turning to the -gesima season just because it is older than Vatican II does not mean that you are taking a stand against the Whore of Babylon. Luther may have sought to cleanse it (as he did a lot of things), but its origins could hardly be called gospel-oriented. I have used several pericopes in my ministry, including the historic, and have sometimes used the -gesima season, but I cannot say that it was all that beneficial. I wondered, actually, if it undermined everything I hoped to highlight in Lent.
I do not advocate Gesimatide just because it is older than Vatican II, or at all because it is older than Vatican II. Any more than I advocate Gesimatide as something someone sat down and figured out as a way to preach the solae before Lent. Any more than Gesimatide protests the Whore of Babylon, which itself kept it until 1970 — though indeed without the emphasis the Lutheran Reformation found in Gesimatide of the solae.
@Terry Maher (Past Elder)
My honest question on the 1-year lectionary is: How do we square competing lectionaries w/ the Apology XV’s “for love’s sake we do not refuse to observe adiaphora with others, even though they should have some disadvantage; but we have judged that such public harmony as could indeed be produced without offense to consciences ought to be preferred to all other advantages.”? It looks as though you are defining “other advantages” to the one-year lectionary that you are “preferring” to “public harmony.” When the CoWo folks do that we cut them off at the knees (rightly in my opinion, and in good Christian love.) Why is this different? Wasn’t the Whore of Babylon part of the “others” that AP XV was willing “to observe Adiaphora with” for the sake of “public harmony”? I love the one year lectionary, but is there a point at which it becomes sectarian? Again, a question, not a statement.
Pax Christi+,
-Matt Mills
The other Matt’s right about the etymology; Septuagesima is just the ordinal number between 69th and 71st in Latin. (And the soft-j “jesima” is the Whore of Babylon’s Medieval Jive Latin pronunciation; Augustine would have used a hard g!)
This is a legitimate example of adiaphora and all the warnings in the BOC about how best to handle it are perfectly in order. The lectionary is something neither commanded, nor forbidden, in Holy Scripture. The LCMS recognizes the use of both the historic one year lectionary and a three year lectionary. Frankly, any pastor or layperson who gets themselves wrapped around the axle over these issues really has things far out of focus.