According to this document a procession from Jerusalem to Bethlehem took place on the eve, returning in the early morning. After a time for rest, the service commenced about the second hour of the day in the great church on Golgotha, which was richly decorated. At the conclusion of the function the faithful proceeded to the church of the Anastasis, and, about the sixth hour, or twelve o’clock, the festival was at an end. In the evening vespers (_lucernare_) were sung. On the second and third days service was held in the same church, on the fourth day in the church called Eleona on the Mount of Olives, on the fifth day in the _Lazarium_, the grave of Lazarus in Bethania, on the sixth day in Sion, on the seventh day in the church of the Anastasis, on the eighth day in the church of the Holy Cross. Thus both in Jerusalem and in Bethlehem the feast lasted eight days—a kind of octave. In the Eastern Churches the day is further distinguished by the solemn blessing of the water, mentioned by Chrysostom and intended to recall the miracle at Cana. This is a very popular festival, but in many places has been stripped of its religious character; it is performed by the clergy going in procession to the sea or to a river, reciting a prayer, and then throwing a crucifix into the water which is fetched out again by swimmers and takes place on the 18th January (old style). With regard to the antiquity and spread of the feast, it was unknown in North Africa during the third century, for Tertullian makes no reference to it, and even in the time of St Augustine it was rejected by the Donatists as an Oriental novelty.[385] In Origen’s time, at least, it was not generally observed as a festival in Alexandria, since he does not reckon it as such. For Rome, evidence is wanting for the earliest times, but since the daughter Church of North Africa knew nothing of the festival at first, it may be inferred that originally it was not kept at Rome but was introduced there in the course of time. In Spain, it was a feast-day in 380, in Gaul, in 361, and there is evidence of its existence in Thrace as early as 304.[386] In the East it generally held the place of Christmas as our Lord’s birth-day,[387] and as such it had already, as early as the first half of the third century, become domiciled in the Church, as is shown by the recently published _Testamentum Jesu Christi_, where it is twice named as a high festival along with Easter and Pentecost.[388] In the Roman Empire, as early as A.D. 400, Epiphany was one of the days on which games in the circus were forbidden by law. Not until Justinian’s[389] time were the law courts closed[390] on this day also. 5. _The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary_ (CANDLEMAS)