Tenebrae (Latin, for “darkness” or “shadows”) is the term that has been used since the 12^th century to refer to the ancient monastic early morning services or “offices” (Matins and Lauds, similar to the Morning Prayer that we celebrated at St. Bartholomew’s in Lent) of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. During Holy Week, the daily monastic routines of celebrating Matins and Lauds in the middle of the night and early morning, at approximately 3:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m., were often set aside to accommodate greater lay attendance. Tenebrae, uniting both of these morning services on the last days in Holy Week, thus was celebrated in the late afternoon or evening of the previous day.

Each day’s office in its psalms, antiphons, readings, and responses had its own particular theme: Thursday’s Tenebrae concerned betrayal; Friday’s focused on Jesus’s crucifixion, passion, and death; sustaining patience and hope for the resurrection was the emphasis for Saturday — with all of these days’ services celebrated on their preceding eve.

Our service on the Wednesday of Holy Week, the traditional time for Thursday Tenebrae, draws from each of these three offices of Tenebrae. In this form the service provides an extended meditation upon—as well as a prelude to—the events in the life of Jesus Christ between the Last Supper and the Resurrection.

Apart from the singing of the Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah, the most conspicuous feature of this service is the gradual extinguishing of candles and other lights in the church until just a single candle, a symbol of Christ, remains. Near the end of the service, this candle is hidden from view of the people, typifying the apparent victory of the forces of evil. To conclude the service, a strepitus (Latin, for “a loud noise”) is made, symbolizing the great 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.

Notes taken from the Book of Occasional Services and In the Shadows of Holy Week: The Office of Tenebrae

See St. Bart's Holy Week schedule.