Friday of Passion Week #
Great Friday is the day of the saving sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, offered for the salvation of the world. Seized by the Jerusalem guard at the command of the high priests, condemned by the Sanhedrin and handed over to Roman authority, the Eternal Son of God—the incarnate Word, the One of the Holy Trinity—was subjected to mockery and torment, and then to a painful execution on the Cross.
The central part of the liturgical service on this day is the Office of the Holy Passions of Our Lord Jesus Christ, celebrated during Matins. It includes twelve Gospel readings that recount the events of the night from Thursday to Friday and the day that followed, interspersed with the chanting of sorrowful antiphonal troparia. During the Gospel readings, the faithful light candles, imitating the wise servants in the parable, in accordance with the words: “Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching” (Luke 12:35–37). This same spirit is echoed in the troparion of Passion Week: “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh at midnight, and blessed is the servant whom He shall find watching; but unworthy is he whom He shall find slothful. Beware therefore, O my soul, lest thou be weighed down with sleep…” Unceasing vigilance and the concentration of the soul, always necessary for a believer, must be especially heightened in these days of the Lord’s Passion. One who loves the Lord ought in mind to be present at all that occurred and to share in the suffering of Him Who bore the Cross for us.
After the Paschal Supper, the Lord spent part of the night speaking with His disciples, announcing to them the coming descent of the Holy Spirit and giving instructions about the necessity of preserving peace, brotherly love, and unity among themselves. He ended His words with a prayer on behalf of the disciples and of all those who would believe in Him through their word—that is, for the universal Church which He founded: “Holy Father! Keep through Thine own name those whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as We are […] Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth. As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them […]. I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me […] Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world. […] And I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:11; 17:22–24, 26).
After these words, the Lord left the house where He had held the Paschal Supper and went with His disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane. There, withdrawing a little from them, He devoted Himself to prayer. “Father,” He cried to the Heavenly Father, “if Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me: nevertheless not My will, but Thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). The Evangelist Luke notes that, being fully human, Jesus experienced fear before death and “was in agony.” Yet this natural weakness could not overcome His obedience to the Father’s will. Seeking strength from the Father, Jesus “prayed more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44). But His disciples were overcome with sleep and found no strength to pray in that dreadful and ominous hour.
Meanwhile, armed guards and a crowd with torches entered the garden, led by Judas. Coming up to Jesus and kissing Him, Judas gave the soldiers a signal so they would not mistake Him in the darkness of night and would seize Jesus Himself. The Lord was arrested and taken to the courtyard of the high priest Caiaphas, where a council was assembled that accused Jesus of blasphemy.
Since Roman authority had stripped the local Jewish courts of the right to pronounce capital punishment, Jesus was brought before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate and there slandered—accused of teaching the people not to pay tribute to the Romans and of declaring Himself a king. As the Evangelist Mark notes, Pilate “knew that the chief priests had delivered Him for envy” (Mark 15:10) and wanted to release Jesus. Following the custom of the Passover feast, he offered the crowd a choice to release one of the condemned prisoners—either Jesus or the robber Barabbas. But the people, incited by the elders, cried out in unison, demanding that Barabbas be released and Christ be crucified. Pilate yielded to their will.
The condemned was handed over to the soldiers for abuse. The Gospels describe how the idle soldiers, accustomed to cruelty and violence, subjected our Lord to mockery and humiliation. They scourged Him with whips, and then, to mock Him as a king, clothed Him in a purple robe, placed a reed in His hand in place of a scepter, and crowned His head—not with gold, but with a crown of thorns, whose sharp points pierced His head. They spat on Him and struck Him on the head with the reed.
At the third hour of the day (i.e., nine o’clock in the morning by our reckoning), Christ was crucified outside the city, on the hill of Golgotha, alongside two thieves. According to the Evangelist Luke, “One of the malefactors who were hanged railed on Him, saying, ‘If Thou be Christ, save Thyself and us.’ But the other answering rebuked him, saying, ‘Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.’ And he said unto Jesus, ‘Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.’ And Jesus said unto him, ‘Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with Me in paradise’” (Luke 23:39–43). At the foot of the Cross, the soldiers cast lots for the seamless garment taken from the Lord.
Many of the torments inflicted upon the Lord by human cruelty had been foretold by the ancient prophets, who foresaw from afar what would befall the Anointed One of God on earth. An example is the Psalm of David, spoken in the voice of the Messiah: “All they that see Me laugh Me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, ‘He trusted on the Lord that He would deliver Him: let Him deliver Him, seeing He delighted in Him.’ […] They pierced My hands and My feet… They part My garments among them, and cast lots upon My vesture” (Psalm 21 [22]:7–8, 16, 18).
At the ninth hour of the day (three o’clock in the afternoon by our reckoning), Jesus, suffering greatly from thirst on the Cross, asked for something to drink, and one of the soldiers raised to His lips a sponge soaked in vinegar mixed with gall, thus fulfilling the words of the psalm: “They gave Me also gall for My meat; and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink” (Psalm 68 [69]:21). Even the cry of extreme, superhuman suffering—“My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”—was a direct quotation of the first verse of Psalm 21 [22], confirming the Lord’s own statement: “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me” (John 5:39). “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, ‘It is finished,’ and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost” (John 19:30).
But even after death, the tormented body of the Lord was not left in peace. The Jewish elders, thinking themselves pious and anxious not to defile the Passover with the sight of bodies writhing on the cross, asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified broken, to hasten death. Pilate agreed. The soldiers came and broke the legs of the two thieves who were still alive, but when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, “and immediately there came out blood and water,” as testified by the Evangelist John (John 19:31–37). He alone of the disciples stood at the foot of the Cross, together with the Mother of Christ and a few women. The other apostles, overcome by fear and confusion, had fled and hidden wherever they could.
That evening, one of the most noble men in Jerusalem, Joseph of Arimathea—who had been a secret disciple of Jesus—approached Pilate and asked for the body of the Crucified, so that he might bury Him. Having received permission, Joseph, together with another secret disciple of Christ, Nicodemus, took the Lord down from the Cross. The women, together with the God-bearer (Mother of God), mourned Jesus, and according to Jewish custom, anointed His body with fragrant spices, wrapped it in burial cloths, and laid it in a tomb which Joseph had once prepared for himself, but now offered for the burial of the Master.
The high priests and scribes, learning of this, again came to Pilate, saying: “Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while He was yet alive, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ Command therefore that the sepulchre be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say unto the people, ‘He is risen from the dead.’ So the last deception shall be worse than the first” (Matthew 27:63–64). Pilate gave them leave to seal the tomb and place a guard by it.
Before our very eyes, an unthinkable crime has taken place; yet without these sufferings, without this shameful death, the purpose of the Lord’s Incarnation would not have been fulfilled. Amid the horror and pain—described with such unflinching truth in the Gospels—the redemption of the sins of mankind is accomplished, and in a secret, mystical way, a new creation begins. From the old Adam on Golgotha, the New Adam is formed. Having taken upon Himself all the attributes of human nature except sin, and having passed through the full course of human life from birth to death, Christ restores human nature, which had been corrupted by sin. From now on, to every believer, cleansed in the waters of baptism and sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit, is given the grace-filled power “to put off the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind… and put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:22–24). From among these new men is formed “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light” (1 Peter 2:9).
Kondak, Tone 8 #
Come, let us all sing praises to the One Who was crucified for our sake, for Mary beheld Him upon the tree and cried out: Though Thou dost endure the Crucifixion, Thou art my Son and my God.
Ikos #
Beholding her Lamb being led to the slaughter, the ewe-lamb Mary followed, loosing her hair along with the other women, crying aloud in this wise: Whither goest Thou, O Child? Why makest Thou such swift progress? Is there again a wedding feast in Cana of Galilee, and now dost Thou hasten there to change water into wine? Shall I go with Thee, my Child, or shall I wait for Thee? Give me a word, O Word, and pass me not by in silence— Thou who didst keep me pure. For Thou art my Son and my God.
Stikhera at the Praises (Tone 3) #
Today the Master and Lord of all creation stands before Pilate, and the Maker of all is given over to crucifixion. As a lamb, He is led willingly to the slaughter; He is nailed with spikes, pierced in His side, and given gall to drink— He who rained down manna. He is struck upon the cheek— the Redeemer of the world— and mocked by His own servants, the Maker of all things. O the Lord’s love for mankind! For even as He was being crucified, He prayed to His Father: “Father, forgive them this sin, for the lawless know not what they do.”