Great and Holy Thursday is one of the most profound and sacred days of Holy Week. After Great and Holy Wednesday, where we saw the sinful woman approach Christ with repentance and Judas enter upon the path of betrayal, we now arrive at the night when everything deepens. Christ gathers His disciples for the last supper, teaches them by word and deed, delivers to them the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist, prays in Gethsemane, and soon after is delivered into the hands of those who came to arrest Him.
The Sacred Washing of the Feet: The Ministry of Humility
Before the supper, the Lord performs an act that astonishes the disciples. He rises, girds Himself with a towel, pours water into a basin, and begins to wash the feet of His disciples. When Peter protests out of reverence, Christ answers that unless He washes him, he can have no part with Him.
The washing of the feet is not merely a detail of humility or a simple act of hospitality. It is the revelation of the very ethos of Christ. He who is Teacher and Lord becomes the servant of His disciples, showing that in the Church greatness is not seen in authority, but in ministry. This is the first great lesson of the day.
The Mystical Supper: The Institution of the Holy Eucharist
Then comes the Mystical Supper. There, in the upper room in Jerusalem, Christ sits at table with the Twelve and delivers to His disciples the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist. He takes bread and wine, blesses them, and offers them as His Body and Blood. He blesses the bread, saying, “Take, eat, this is My Body,” and the cup, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is My Blood.”
With these words, the Lord establishes His abiding presence within the Church. Holy Communion is not a symbolic act only, but the real union of the believer with Christ. The Mystical Supper is the table of the New Covenant, where God offers Himself as food that man may live eternally.
The Passage (Luke 22:19-20)
“And He took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying: This is My body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of Me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying: This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.”
Translation
After taking the bread and giving thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My Body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” Likewise He took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My Blood, which is shed for you.”
Read & listen to the excerpt from the Holy Gospel here →
The Prayer in Gethsemane and the Arrest
After the supper, the Lord withdraws to the garden of Gethsemane. There, in anguish so deep that His sweat falls like drops of blood upon the earth, He prays to the Father. His human nature trembles before the cup of death, yet His divine will remains in perfect obedience: “Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”
Then Judas arrives. The night that began with the washing of the feet and the Supper ends in the kiss of betrayal. This is one of the most painful moments of Great and Holy Thursday. Christ offers Himself, washes the feet of His disciples, gives them His Body and Blood, and one of them delivers Him up. The Lord is arrested, the disciples scatter, and the path begins toward the judgment before Annas and Caiaphas, the mockery, and the scourging.
Thus this day places before us together the utter humility of God and the hardness of the human heart.
The Hymnography of Great and Holy Thursday
The central hymn of the day replaces the Cherubic Hymn in the Divine Liturgy and gathers up the meaning of our participation in the Mystery.
The Hymn of the Mystical Supper
“Of Thy Mystical Supper, O Son of God, accept me today as a communicant. For I will not speak of Thy Mystery to Thine enemies, neither will I give Thee a kiss as did Judas. But like the thief I confess Thee: Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom.”
Translation and Meaning
At Thy Mystical Supper receive me today, O Son of God, as a partaker. For I will not reveal the Mystery to Thine enemies, nor give Thee the kiss of betrayal as did Judas. But like the thief upon the cross I confess Thee: Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom. The believer asks to approach the Cup of Life with the purity and confession of the thief, rejecting the hypocrisy of Judas.
Theological Meaning and Experience
Great and Holy Thursday is the day of the Eucharist. The Church teaches us that Christ is not an idea or a moral teacher of the past, but the living God who offers Himself for food and drink.
The Sacred Washing of the Feet reminds us that before we approach the Table of the Lord, we must first have washed the soul of pride. Great and Holy Thursday calls us to understand that the Christian life is a continual sacrifice of love. On the evening of this day, at the Service of the Holy Passion, we hear the Twelve Gospel readings and see the Lord lifted up upon the Cross, reminding us that the Mystical Supper reaches its fullness in the sacrifice of Golgotha.
The participation of the faithful | Great and Holy Thursday: Partaking of the Mystery
- In the morning: The Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great is celebrated. It is the day on which we partake of the Holy Mysteries in remembrance of the Mystical Supper.
- In the evening: The Service of the Holy Passion, the Twelve Gospels. After the Fifth Gospel, the Precious Cross is brought forth. The faithful kneel and venerate the Crucified Lord.
- Fasting: Strict fasting.
You can find Monastic Fasting Recipes here → - At home: The red eggs are dyed, as a sign of sacrifice and Resurrection.
