Great and Holy Friday is the day of the culmination of the divine drama. The Church stands before the Holy Passion: the spittings, the blows, the mockery, the insults, the purple robe, the crown of thorns, and finally the Crucifixion and Death of the Giver of Life. It is the day on which all creation is shaken as it beholds its Creator hanging upon the Tree.
The Way to Golgotha: The Utter Humility of Christ
After the night of questioning before Annas, Caiaphas, and Pilate, Christ, having been mocked and scourged, is condemned to death. Bearing His Cross, He goes forth to the place called Golgotha, the Place of the Skull. He who healed, raised the dead, taught, and loved without measure, now goes forth like a condemned man to death.
On Golgotha He is crucified between two thieves. And yet, even upon the Cross, enduring not only bodily pain but also the mockery of the chief priests and of the crowd, His word remains a word of love and forgiveness. He receives the repentance of the one thief and prays for His executioners, saying, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” This forgiveness is the greatest victory over evil at the very hour when evil appears to triumph.
The Death and the Taking Down from the Cross
The Passage (John 19:30)
“When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said: It is finished. And He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost.”
Translation
When Jesus had received the vinegar, He said, “It is accomplished.” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
Read & listen to the excerpt from the Holy Gospel here →
At about the ninth hour, the Lord gives up His spirit with the words, “It is accomplished.” The sun is darkened, the earth quakes, and the veil of the Temple is rent in two. The death of Christ is not a defeat, but the fulfillment of the divine dispensation for the salvation of man.
Joseph of Arimathea, an honorable counselor, together with Nicodemus, asks Pilate for the Body of Jesus. With reverence they take Him down from the Cross, wrap Him in a clean winding sheet with spices, and place Him in a new tomb. The scene of the taking down from the Cross and the lamentation before the Tomb is among the most moving moments in Orthodox iconography and worship.
Great and Holy Friday is the day on which the Church beholds in the Cross not defeat, but the voluntary sacrifice of Christ. The Lord does not die because He was unable to avoid death. He dies of His own will, offering Himself for the life of the world. For this reason the hymnography of the day always speaks with awe. It does not merely lament the unjustly crucified Righteous One. It confesses that upon the Cross hangs the very Creator of life.
The Hymnography of Great and Holy Friday
The hymns of the day are full of theological wonder: how the immortal God accepts death as man.
The Antiphon of Matins, The Twelve Gospels
“Today He who hung the earth upon the waters is hung upon the Tree. He who is King of the Angels is arrayed in a crown of thorns. He who wraps the heavens in clouds is wrapped in the purple of mockery...”
Translation and Meaning
Today He who hung the earth upon the waters is hung upon the wood of the Cross. The King of the Angels wears a crown of thorns. He who clothes the heavens with clouds is clothed in a false purple robe. The hymn sets forth the contrast between divine omnipotence and the voluntary humiliation of Christ. God accepts dishonor in order to free man from the dishonor of sin.
The Lamentations at the Tomb
“O Life, how canst Thou die? How canst Thou dwell within a tomb? Yet by Thy death Thou destroyest the kingdom of death, and raisest the dead from Hades.”
Translation and Meaning
O Thou who art Life itself, how dost Thou die? How dost Thou dwell in a tomb? Yet by Thy death Thou destroyest the kingdom of death and raisest the dead from Hades. The Lamentations are not mere mourning, but a hymn already filled with hope. Life enters the tomb in order to overthrow it from within.
Theological Meaning and Experience
Great and Holy Friday is a day of strict fasting and recollection. We do not simply mourn a good man who was put to death unjustly. We enter into the mystery of the sacrifice of the God-Man. The Cross is the weapon of peace and the Tree of Life.
Great and Holy Friday teaches us that pain and death no longer have the final word in human life, for Christ has turned them into gates of eternity. On the evening of this day, at the procession of the Epitaphios, the Church stands in grief, yet already with the hidden hope of the Resurrection.
The participation of the faithful | Great and Holy Friday: The Lamentation at the Tomb
- In the morning: The Royal Hours and the Vespers of the Taking Down from the Cross. The faithful venerate the Epitaphios and, in many places, pass beneath it asking the Lord’s blessing.
- In the evening: Matins for Great and Holy Saturday, the Lamentations, and the procession of the Epitaphios. We follow the procession with lighted candles in a spirit of deep recollection.
- Fasting: The strictest day of the year. Many abstain even from oil, and in some places there is the custom of tasting a little vinegar in remembrance of the vinegar offered to Christ.
You can find Monastic Fasting & Oil-free Recipes here →
