Holy Passion today for Orthodoxy, Good Friday

Today is Good Friday of Holy and Great Easter. According to the Hebrew custom, the “Royal Hours,” four in number, are read at this time. These services, based on the Orthodox liturgy, consist of hymns, psalms, and readings from the Old and New Testaments, all related prophetically and ethically to the Person of Christ.
In some churches, the “Hours” are read in the afternoon, before the Vesper services.

Tis’ during this service that we hear the sublime “…Father, forgive them for they know not what they do…”

The Vespers of Friday afternoon are a continuation of the Royal Hours. During this service, the removal of the Body of Christ from the Cross is commemorated, with a sense of mourning for the terrible events which took place. Once more, excerpts from the Old Testament are read together with hymns, and again the entire story is related, followed by the removal from the Cross and the wrapping of the Body of Christ with a white sheet, as did Joseph of Arimathea.

During the evening service, at the Lamentation, we hear “…Do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves…”

The service is the Matins of Saturday morning, sung by anticipation, on Friday evening.

Christians observe Good Friday with fasting, prayer, cleanliness, self-examination, confession, and good works, in humility and repentance so that the Grace of the Cross might descend upon them.

You may follow the holy Easter services on the pages of the Orthodoxia News Agency. The services are live-streamed on a daily basis from the St. Nicholas chapel at the lagoon of Porto Lagos, in northeast Greece, a glebe of the Holy and Great Monastery of Vatopedi.

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