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Good Friday The day of our Lord’s passion is universally regarded as a day of mourning and sadness. There is scarcely any other point on which much perfect agreement exists in all lands and all periods of Christian history. In the Middle Ages, however, a discussion arose over the question as to why the days of saints’ deaths were kept as feast days, but Good Friday was a day of mourning. The answer is obvious. Christ, unlike the saints, attained a yet higher degree of glory through his resurrection. He died not his His own sake, but our sake. On Good Friday, the church strives to express her mourning over the passion and the death of Jesus in every possible way. She even goes so far as to forbid the Liturgy of the Presanctified. Because matins have already been performed Thursday evening, the morning’s Daily Hours are altered. They are somewhat expanded with sticheras, and readings from the Old and New Testaments. They are called “Royal Hours” because usually the emperor (or king) attended them. During these, the Church asks us to read once again the history of Christ’s suffering and death as described by the four evangelists. During the Royal Hours, the psalms, readings and hymns refer to the passion of Christ. At the First Hour, we ask God, in the words of Psalm 5, to bless the good and punish the wicked. In Psalm 2, the Psalmist asserts the foolishness of those who oppose Christ, for He is the real King of kings and if we want to be saved we must bow before Him and acknowledge Him as our King also. In Psalm 21, the suffering of Christ asks God not to forsake Him. The prophet Zachary then foretells the betrayal of Christ and how He was sold for thirty pieces of silver (Za. 11). The Epistle (Gal. 6:14-18)) urges the renewal of mankind in Christ and the Gospel (Mt. 27:1-56) describes the passion of Christ, beginning with His appearance before Pilate. At the Third Hour the suffering Messias beseeches God to help Him against His enemies: “Take hold of shield and buckler and rise up to help me” (Ps. 34). In Psalm 108, He predicts for Judas his well deserved punishment and His own glory; then in Psalm 50, He asks God to restore Him to His glory. The readings from the prophet Isaias (Is. 50; 4-11) extol the patience of the future Messias. The Epistle (Rom. 5:4-11) blames us because we are weak, which is why Christ had to die for us. In the Gospel (Mk. 15:1-41) we hear of the suffering and the crucifixion or our Lord. At the Sixth Hour, Psalm 53 is recited. Here the Psalmist beseeches God for help against his enemies. In Psalm 139, he also, asks God “to rescue him the unjust man,” for “venom and asps are under their lips.” But in Psalm 90, he expresses confidences and satisfaction-the man who lives under the protection of God is always safe. The prophet Isaias (Is. 52) then prophesies Christ’s humiliation as vividly as if he had been an eye witness to it. St. Paul (Heb. 2:11-18) speaks or our sanctification in the redemption which is to be accomplished through Christ our Lord, and St. Luke (Lk. 23:32-49) describes the crucifixion of Christ between the two robbers. At the Ninth Hour, Psalm 68 is recited. Christ, through the Psalmist, tells of His many sufferings and praises God for His help. The follows Psalm 69, in which the Psalmist asks divine help for himself and for all who truly praise God, but for sinners, humiliation and punishment. Finally, Psalm 85 predicts that all the nations of the earth will bow down before Christ. The paramia is provided by the Prophet Jeremias (Jer. 11), who speaks of the wickedness of Judas and of the patience of Christ. The paramia is a reading fro the Old Testament usually on vespers before greater feasts. The Epistle (Heb. 10:19-30) exhorts us to be charitable and to avoid all sin. Finally, the Gospel (Jn. 18:28-19:37) describes vividly the final sufferings of Christ and His glorious death. In the evening, solemn vespers are performed. At the end of vespers, the priest, vested in full priestly vestments, makes a procession around the church, carrying the plashchanitsa and places it in the tomb made ready to receive it. The plashchanitsa is a winding sheet with a picture of Christ’s body lying dead in the tomb. In English it may be called the “Holy Shroud.” During the procession the people sing the following troparion: “The venerable Joseph, having taken from the cross your most pure body, wrapped it with pure linen and anointed it with fragrant scents, placed it in a new tomb.” The plashchanitsia then remains in the grave until the Resurrection Service. As mentioned already, there is no Divine Liturgy on Good Friday. If however, the feast of the Annunciation should fall on the same day, then the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is celebrated before the service just described. Basil Shereghy |