Tenebrae

The name Tenebrae is the Latin word for "darkness" or "shadows," and has for centuries been applied to the ancient monastic night and early morning services of the last three days of Holy Week, which in medieval times came to be celebrated on the preceding evenings.

This service is marked by a reading from the book of Lamentations and the gradual extinguishing of candles and other lights until a single candle, considered a symbol of the Lord, remains. Towards the end of the service, this candle is hidden, typifying the apparent victory of the forces of evil. At the very end, a loud noise is made, symbolizing the earthquake at the time of the resurrection (Matthew 28:2), the hidden candle is restored to its place and by its light all depart in silence.

The service which follows is designed for the evening of Wednesday of Holy Week, but it could also be used in the early morning hours (before dawn) on either Thursday, Friday or Saturday. It could also be used as an extra devotion on Thursday or Friday evening before retiring.

The lights are dim and seven candles are lit in the area of worship. Enter the space in silence and allow the dim light and silence to settle in before beginning.

The psalms which constitute the heart of this office may be chanted or read aloud.

Psalm 69:1-23

Save me, O God,*
 for the waters have risen up to my neck.
I am sinking in deep mire,*
 and there is no firm ground for my feet.
I have come into deep waters,*
 and the torrent washes over me.
I have grown weary with my crying;
   my throat is inflamed;*
 my eyes have failed from looking for my God.
Those who hate me without a cause
   are more than the hairs of my head;
   my lying foes who would destroy me are mighty.*
 Must I then give back what I never stole?
O God, you know my foolishness,*
 and my faults are not hidden from you.
Let not those who hope in you
   be put to shame through me, Lord God of hosts;*
 let not those who seek you be disgraced because of me,
   O God of Israel.
Surely, for your sake have I suffered reproach,*
 and shame has covered my face.
I have become a stranger to my own kindred,*
 an alien to my mother’s children.
Zeal for your house has eaten me up;*
 the scorn of those who scorn you has fallen upon me.
I humbled myself with fasting,*
 but that was turned to my reproach.
I put on sack-cloth also,*
 and became a byword among them.
Those who sit at the gate murmur against me,*
 and the drunkards make songs about me.
But as for me, this is my prayer to you,*
 at the time you have set, O Lord:
‘In your great mercy, O God,*
 answer me with your unfailing help.
‘Save me from the mire; do not let me sink;*
 let me be rescued from those who hate me
   and out of the deep waters.
‘Let not the torrent of waters wash over me,
   neither let the deep swallow me up;*
 do not let the Pit shut its mouth upon me.
‘Answer me, O Lord, for your love is kind;*
 in your great compassion, turn to me.
‘Hide not your face from your servant;*
 be swift and answer me, for I am in distress.
‘Draw near to me and redeem me;*
 because of my enemies deliver me.
‘You know my reproach, my shame and my dishonour;*
 my adversaries are all in your sight.’
Reproach has broken my heart and it cannot be healed;*
 I looked for sympathy, but there was none,
   for comforters, but I could find no one.
They gave me gall to eat,*
 and when I was thirsty, they gave me vinegar to drink.

The first candle is extinguished.

Psalm 70

Be pleased, O God, to deliver me;*
 O Lord, make haste to help me.
Let those who seek my life
   be ashamed and altogether dismayed;*
 let those who take pleasure in my misfortune
   draw back and be disgraced.
Let those who say to me ‘Aha!’
   and gloat over me turn back,*
 because they are ashamed.
Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you;*
 let those who love your salvation say for ever,
   ‘Great is the Lord!’
But as for me, I am poor and needy;*
 come to me speedily, O God.
You are my helper and my deliverer;*
 O Lord, do not tarry.

The second candle is extinguished.

Psalm 74

O God, why have you utterly cast us off?*
 why is your wrath so hot
   against the sheep of your pasture?
Remember your congregation that you purchased long ago,*
 the tribe you redeemed to be your inheritance,
   and Mount Zion where you dwell.
Turn your steps towards the endless ruins;*
 the enemy has laid waste everything in your sanctuary.
Your adversaries roared in your holy place;*
 they set up their banners as tokens of victory.
They were like men coming up with axes
   to a grove of trees;*
 they broke down all your carved work
   with hatchets and hammers.
They set fire to your holy place;*
 they defiled the dwelling-place of your name
   and razed it to the ground.
They said to themselves, ‘Let us destroy them altogether.’*
 They burned down all the meeting-places of God
   in the land.
There are no signs for us to see;
   there is no prophet left;*
 there is not one among us who knows how long.
How long, O God, will the adversary scoff?*
 will the enemy blaspheme your name for ever?
Why do you draw back your hand?*
 why is your right hand hidden in your bosom?
Yet God is my king from ancient times,*
 victorious in the midst of the earth.
You divided the sea by your might*
 and shattered the heads of the dragons upon the waters;
You crushed the heads of Leviathan*
 and gave him to the people of the desert for food.
You split open spring and torrent;*
 you dried up ever-flowing rivers.
Yours is the day, yours also the night;*
 you established the moon and the sun.
You fixed all the boundaries of the earth;*
 you made both summer and winter.
Remember, O Lord, how the enemy scoffed,*
 how a foolish people despised your name.
Do not hand over the life of your dove to wild beasts;*
 never forget the lives of your poor.
Look upon your covenant;*
 the dark places of the earth are haunts of violence.
Let not the oppressed turn away ashamed;*
 let the poor and needy praise your name.
Arise, O God, maintain your cause;*
 remember how fools revile you all day long.
Forget not the clamour of your adversaries,*
 the unending tumult of those who rise up against you.

The third candle is extinguished.

Then is said:

Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked:
From the clutches of the evildoer and the oppressor.

After a period of silence, the reading from Lamentations (1:1-14) is begun. You may want to listen to a recording of the responsories by Gesualdo, Victoria or Willan instead of, or in addition to, using the text below. Read this text slowly and deliberately or chant it.

A Reading from the Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah.

How lonely sits the city
that once was full of people!
How like a widow she has become,
she that was great among the nations!
She that was a princess among the provinces
has become a vassal.

She weeps bitterly in the night,
with tears on her cheeks;
among all her lovers
she has no one to comfort her;
all her friends have dealt treacherously with her,
they have become her enemies.

Judah has gone into exile with suffering
and hard servitude;
she lives now among the nations,
and finds no resting place;
her pursuers have all overtaken her
in the midst of her distress.

The roads to Zion mourn,
for no one comes to the festivals;
all her gates are desolate,
her priests groan;
her young girls grieve,
and her lot is bitter.

Her foes have become the masters,
her enemies prosper,
because the LORD has made her suffer
for the multitude of her transgressions;
her children have gone away,
captives before the foe.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, return to the Lord your God!

After a period of silence, this responsory is said or sung:

On the mount of Olives, Jesus prayed to the Father:
Father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me.
The spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak.
Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation.
The spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak.

After a period of silence, the reading continues:

From daughter Zion has departed
all her majesty.
Her princes have become like stags
that find no pasture;
they fled without strength
before the pursuer.

Jerusalem remembers,
in the days of her affliction and wandering,
all the precious things
that were hers in days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the foe,
and there was no one to help her,
the foe looked on mocking
over her downfall.

Jerusalem sinned grievously,
so she has become a mockery;
all who honored her despise her,
for they have seen her nakedness;
she herself groans,
and turns her face away.

Her uncleanness was in her skirts;
she took no thought of her future;
her downfall was appalling,
with none to comfort her.
"O LORD, look at my affliction,
for the enemy has triumphed!"

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, return to the Lord your God!

After a period of silence, this responsory is said or sung:

My soul is very sorrowful, even to the point of death;
remain here, and watch with me.
Now you will see the crowd who will surround me;
you will flee, and I will go to be offered up for you.
Behold, the hour is at hand,

and the Son of Man is betrayed
into the hands of sinners.
You will flee, and I will go to be offered up for you.

After a period of silence, the reading continues:

Enemies have stretched out their hands
over all her precious things;
she has even seen the nations
invade her sanctuary,
those whom you forbade
to enter your congregation.

All her people groan
as they search for bread;
they trade their treasures for food
to revive their strength.
Look, O LORD, and see
how worthless I have become.

Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
Look and see
if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
which was brought upon me,
which the LORD inflicted
on the day of his fierce anger.

From on high he sent fire;
it went deep into my bones;
he spread a net for my feet;
he turned me back;
he has left me stunned,
faint all day long.

My transgressions were bound into a yoke;
by his hand they were fastened together;
they weigh on my neck,
sapping my strength;
the Lord handed me over
to those whom I cannot withstand.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, return to the Lord your God!

After a period of silence, this responsory is said or sung:

Lo, we have seen him without beauty or majesty,
with no looks to attract our eyes.
He bore our sins and grieved for us,
he was wounded for our transgressions,
and by his scourging we are healed.
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows.
And by his scourging we are healed.

After a period of silence, the service continues with this psalm:

Psalm 63:1-8

O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you;*
 my soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you,
   as in a barren and dry land where there is no water;
Therefore I have gazed upon you in your holy place,*
 that I might behold your power and your glory.
For your loving-kindness is better than life itself;*
 my lips shall give you praise.
So will I bless you as long as I live*
 and lift up my hands in your name.
My soul is content, as with marrow and fatness,*
 and my mouth praises you with joyful lips,
When I remember you upon my bed,*
 and meditate on you in the night watches.
For you have been my helper,*
 and under the shadow of your wings I will rejoice.
My soul clings to you;*
 your right hand holds me fast.

The fourth candle is extinguished. Then follows this Canticle by Hezekiah (Isaiah 38:10- 20)

I said: In the noontide of my days
I must depart;
I am consigned to the gates of Sheol
for the rest of my years.

I said, I shall not see the LORD
in the land of the living;
I shall look upon mortals no more
among the inhabitants of the world.

My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me
like a shepherd's tent;
like a weaver I have rolled up my life;
he cuts me off from the loom;
from day to night you bring me to an end;

I cry for help until morning;
like a lion he breaks all my bones;
from day to night you bring me to an end.

Like a swallow or a crane I clamor,
I moan like a dove.

My eyes are weary with looking upward.
O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security!

But what can I say? For he has spoken to me,
and he himself has done it.

All my sleep has fled
because of the bitterness of my soul.

O Lord, by these things people live,
and in all these is the life of my spirit.

Oh, restore me to health and make me live!
Surely it was for my welfare
that I had great bitterness;
but you have held back my life
from the pit of destruction,
for you have cast all my sins
behind your back.

For Sheol cannot thank you,
death cannot praise you;
those who go down to the Pit cannot hope
for your faithfulness.

The living, the living, they thank you,
as I do this day;
fathers make known to children
your faithfulness.

The LORD will save me,
and we will sing to stringed instruments
all the days of our lives,
at the house of the LORD.

The fifth candle is extinguished. Then follows this psalm.

Psalm 150

   Praise God in his holy temple;*
 praise him in the firmament of his power.
Praise him for his mighty acts;*
 praise him for his excellent greatness.
Praise him with the blast of the ram’s-horn;*
 praise him with lyre and harp.
Praise him with timbrel and dance;*
 praise him with strings and pipe.
Praise him with resounding cymbals;*
 praise him with loud-clanging cymbals.
Let everything that has breath*
 praise the Lord.

The sixth candle is extinguished. Then is said:

My flesh also shall rest in hope:
You will not let your Holy One see corruption.

Now all other lights except for the single remaining candle are turned off or turned down. The Canticle of Zechariah is then sung or said.

Blessèd be the Lord, the God of Israel,*
for he has come to his people and set them free.

He has raised up for us a mighty Saviour,*
born of the house of his servant, David.

Through his holy prophets, he promised of old*
that he would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all that hate us;

He promised to show mercy to our forebears,*
and to remember his holy covenant.

This was the oath he swore to our father, Abraham,*
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,

Free to worship him without fear,*
holy and righteous in his sight,
all the days of our life.

You, my 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 all 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.

After the canticle, the remaining candle is hidden (in another room perhaps) or extinguished, if necessary. Kneel, if you can, for the following:

Christ for our sake
became obedient unto death,
even death upon a cross;
therefore God has highly exalted him
and bestowed on him the Name
which is above every name.

A brief silence is observed. The following psalm is then said quietly.

Psalm 51

Have mercy on me, O God,
   according to your loving-kindness;*
 in your great compassion blot out my offences.
Wash me through and through from my wickedness*
 and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,*
 and my sin is ever before me.
Against you only have I sinned*
 and done what is evil in your sight.
And so you are justified when you speak*
 and upright in your judgement.
Indeed, I have been wicked from my birth,*
 a sinner from my mother’s womb.
For behold, you look for truth deep within me,*
 and will make me understand wisdom secretly.
Purge me from my sin and I shall be pure;*
 wash me and I shall be clean indeed.
Make me hear of joy and gladness,*
 that the body you have broken may rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins*
 and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,*
 and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence*
 and take not your holy Spirit from me.
Give me the joy of your saving help again*
 and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.
I shall teach your ways to the wicked,*
 and sinners shall return to you.
Deliver me from death, O God,*
 and my tongue shall sing of your righteousness,
   O God of my salvation.
Open my lips, O Lord,*
 and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Had you desired it, I would have offered sacrifice,*
 but you take no delight in burnt-offerings.
The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit;*
 a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Be favourable and gracious to Zion,*
 and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
Then you will be pleased with the appointed sacrifices,
   with burnt-offerings and oblations;*
 then shall they offer young bullocks upon your altar.

Then this prayer is said:

Almighty God,
we pray you graciously to behold
this your family,
for whom our Lord Jesus Christ
was willing to be betrayed,
and given into the hands of sinners,
and to suffer death upon the cross.

Nothing further is said; but a loud noise may be made, and the remaining candle is brought from its hiding place and returned to the worship area. By its light, all depart.


Material for this service compiled from:
The Book of Occasional Services, 1979, Episcopal Church;
and Celebrating Common Prayer, Society of St. Francis.