=The Ascension=: in the Greek Kalendar, and frequently in Greek writers, with a different connotation, ‘the Taking up,’ ‘Assumption’ (ἀνάληψις)[66], was celebrated forty days after Easter, as the actual Ascension took place forty days after the Resurrection; it is obviously a festival of the constructive period. There is no mention of it in the earliest Christian writings; but, without here going into details of evidence, it may be stated that the festival was observed, possibly early in, and certainly before, the close of the fourth century. It is noticed by ‘Silvia’ (though the name Ascensa is not given to it) as a day on which at Bethlehem, where the vigil was kept, the bishop of Jerusalem and the presbyters preached, but it does not appear that the Eucharist was celebrated. There was a procession back to Jerusalem in the evening. Augustine classes the day with the Passion, the Resurrection, and the advent of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost), as observed ‘anniversaria solemnitate[67].’ In the Sacramentary of Leo many masses _in Ascensa_ (= _Ascensione_) _Domini_ are to be found. Both in the East and in some parts of the West it was customary to celebrate the festival outside the cities,—a practice suggested doubtless by Luke xxiv. 50. It may be remarked that many old English writers, both before and after the Reformation, use the term ‘Holy Thursday’ for this day. =The Transfiguration= (Aug. 6 in the Byzantine[68], Ethiopic, and later mediaeval and modern Roman Kalendars: on the 7th Sunday after Pentecost in the Armenian) is of late appearance. If a certain canon (or prose hymn) on the Transfiguration attributed to John of Damascus be really his, it would point to the probable observance of the day in the eighth century in the East. In the West the festival appears much later; but the evidence indicates its having had a partial and local observance long before it was enjoined by Pope Calixtus III for the Church generally in A.D. 1457. This Pope appointed an office for the day, which was afterwards somewhat altered by Pius V. The action of Calixtus was prompted by thankfulness for a victory over the Turks at Belgrade. Among the Greeks the Transfiguration is a day of great solemnity. It is preceded by a ‘proheortia’ and affects the following eight days. The Armenians observe a preparatory fast for a week[69].