At the sixth hour, noon, the service proceeded in the following manner. The people assembled in the open court between the chapel of the Holy Cross and the Church of the Anastasis; the bishop took his seat on the throne, and then lections from the Scriptures were read continuously, until the ninth hour. These related to the passion, and were taken from the Old Testament, from the psalms and prophets, as well as from the New Testament. At the ninth hour, the passage from St John xix. 30, which speaks of the death of Jesus, was read and the assembly was dismissed. The service was then immediately resumed in the chief church (the _Martyrium_), and continued until the reading of the passage (St John xix. 38), describing the descent from the Cross, and then again a prayer was recited and the blessing of the catechumens took place. With this, the service for the day concluded and the people were dismissed. The younger clerics, however, remained throughout the night watching in the church. With regard to the liturgy for Good Friday, the pilgrim found that the ceremonies she saw in Jerusalem differed not at all from what she was familiar with in her own country. She only observes that the baptised children were conducted by the bishop first to the Church of the Resurrection and then to the principal church (the _Martyrium_).[128] This is the earliest complete description of the ceremonies of Holy Week which we possess. We now pass to the usages of a later date. PALM SUNDAY The Sunday next before Easter is commonly called Palm Sunday (_Dominica in ramis palmarum_, Gr. κυριακὴ τῶν βαΐον). At an earlier date it was also called _Dominica competentium_, because on it catechumens requested baptism. In some sacramentaries it is called _in capitilavio_,[129] from the washing and shaving of the head in preparation for baptism. Among the characteristic ceremonies of this day, is the procession, at which branches of palm, or of some other similar tree, are carried. In the Middle Ages, this was fairly common; not so, however, the blessing of the palms.[130] In the Roman ritual, this blessing is performed with much ceremony. It resembles in form the _ordo missæ_, consisting of an introit, collect, epistle, gospel, another prayer and a preface, followed by the actual blessing comprising five more prayers, sprinkling with holy water and incensation. Upon this, the procession starts, which passes out of the church, the doors of which are then closed. They are reopened when the deacon has knocked with the staff of the processional cross, and the procession enters, recalling the entry of our Lord through the gates of Jerusalem. In the Mass which follows, the Passion according to St Matthew is read or sung.