Royal Maundy "Maundy", and the Royal Maundy service evolved from Jesus' command to his disciples. By the fourth or fifth century a ceremony had been developed following Holy Communion on Maundy Thursday, in which high Church leaders washed the feet of the poor. The ceremony, known as the "pedilavium", was performed daily in some monasteries; in 992, Bishop Oswald of Worcester died during its performance. The first English monarch to be recorded as distributing alms at a Maundy service was John, who on 15 April 1210 donated garments, forks, food, and other gifts to the poor of Knaresborough, Yorkshire. John is also
Holy Week most notably, "The Pilgrimage of Etheria" (also known as "The Pilgrimage of Egeria"), which details the whole observance of Holy Week at that time. Today, in the Western Christian Church, among Lutherans, Anglicans, Methodists, Presbyterians and Catholics, the liturgies used for Holy Week are nearly identical. In the Moravian Church, the Holy Week services (Passion Week) are extensive, as the Congregation follows the life of Christ through His final week in daily services dedicated to readings from a harmony of the Gospel stories, responding to the actions in hymns, prayers and litanies, beginning on the eve of Palm Sunday and