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Good Friday

Good Friday is a Christian holy day observing the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum. It is also known as Black Friday, Holy Friday, Great Friday, Good Friday of the Passion of the Lord, Great and Holy Friday (also Holy and Great Friday).[1][2]

This article is about the holiday. For other uses, see Good Friday (disambiguation).

Good Friday

Christian

Commemoration of the crucifixion and the death of Jesus Christ

Celebration of the Passion of the Lord

Worship services, prayer and vigil services, fasting, almsgiving

The Friday immediately preceding Easter Sunday

  • April 7 (Western)
  • April 14 (Eastern)

  • March 29 (Western)
  • May 3 (Eastern)

  • April 18 (Western)
  • April 18 (Eastern)

  • April 3 (Western)
  • April 10 (Eastern)

Passover, Christmas (which celebrates the birth of Jesus), Septuagesima, Quinquagesima, Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, Lent, Palm Sunday, Holy Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, and Holy Saturday which lead up to Easter, Easter Sunday (primarily), Divine Mercy Sunday, Ascension, Pentecost, Whit Monday, Trinity Sunday, Corpus Christi and Feast of the Sacred Heart which follow it. It is related to the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, which focuses on the benefits, graces, and merits of the Cross, rather than Jesus Christ's death.

Members of many Christian denominations, including the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist, Oriental Orthodox, United Protestant and some Reformed traditions (including certain Continental Reformed, Presbyterian and Congregationalist churches), observe Good Friday with fasting and church services.[3][4][5] In many Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and Methodist churches, the Service of the Great Three Hours' Agony is held from noon until 3 p.m.—the hours the Bible records darkness covering the land until Jesus' death on the cross.[6] Communicants of the Moravian Church have a Good Friday tradition of cleaning gravestones in Moravian cemeteries.[7]


The date of Good Friday varies from one year to the next in both the Gregorian and Julian calendars. Eastern and Western Christianity disagree over the computation of the date of Easter and therefore of Good Friday. Good Friday is a widely instituted legal holiday around the world, including in most Western countries and 12 U.S. states.[8] Some predominantly Christian countries, such as Germany, have laws prohibiting certain acts—public dancing, horse racing—in remembrance of the somber nature of Good Friday.[9][10]

Etymology[edit]

The term Good Friday comes from the sense 'pious, holy' of the word good.[11] Less common examples of expressions based on this obsolete sense of good include 'the good book" for the Bible, 'good tide' for Christmas or Shrovetide, and Good Wednesday for the Wednesday in Holy Week.[12] A common folk etymology incorrectly analyzes Good Friday as a corruption of God Friday, similar to the linguistically correct description of goodbye as a contraction of 'God be with ye'.[13] In Old English, the day was called Long Friday (langa frigedæg [ˈlɑŋɡɑ ˈfriːjedæj]), and equivalents of this term are still used in Scandinavian languages and Finnish.[14]

Exodus 33:11-23 - God shows Moses His glory

The second Prokimenon is from Psalm 34 (35): 'Judge them, O Lord, that wrong Me: fight against them that fight against Me.'

Job 42:12-20 - God restores Job's wealth (note that verses 18-20 are found only in the Septuagint)

Isaiah 52:13-54:1 - The fourth

Suffering Servant song

The third Prokimenon is from Psalm 87 (88): 'They laid me in the lowest pit: in dark places and in the shadow of death.'

1 Corinthians 1:18-2:2 - St. Paul places Christ crucified as the centre of the Christian life

The Liturgy of the Word consists of the clergy and assisting ministers entering in complete silence, without any singing. They then silently make a full . This signifies the abasement (the fall) of (earthly) humans.[76] It also symbolizes the grief and sorrow of the Church.[77] Then follows the Collect prayer, and the reading or chanting of Isaiah 52:13–53:12, Hebrews 4:14–16, Hebrews 5:7–9, and the Passion account from the Gospel of John, traditionally divided between three deacons,[78] yet usually read by the celebrant and two other readers. In the older form of the Mass known as the Tridentine Mass the readings for Good Friday are taken from Exodus 12:1-11 and the Gospel according to St. John (John 18:1-40); (John 19:1-42).

prostration

The Great Intercessions also known as orationes sollemnes immediately follows the Liturgy of the Word and consists of a series of prayers for the Church, the Pope, the clergy and laity of the Church, those preparing for baptism, the unity of Christians, the Jews, those who do not believe in Christ, those who do not believe in God, those in public office, and those in special need. After each prayer intention, the deacon calls the faithful to kneel for a short period of private prayer; the celebrant then sums up the prayer intention with a Collect-style prayer. As part of the pre-1955 Holy Week Liturgy, the kneeling was omitted only for the prayer for the Jews.[80]

[79]

The Adoration of the Cross has a , not necessarily the one that is normally on or near the altar at other times of the year, solemnly unveiled and displayed to the congregation, and then venerated by them, individually if possible and usually by kissing the wood of the cross, while hymns and the Improperia ("Reproaches") with the Trisagion hymn are chanted.[81]

crucifix

Holy Communion is bestowed according to a rite based on that of the final part of Mass, beginning with the , but omitting the ceremony of "Breaking of the Bread" and its related acclamation, the Agnus Dei. The Eucharist, consecrated at the Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday, is distributed at this service.[82] Before the Holy Week reforms of Pope Pius XII in 1955, only the priest received Communion in the framework of what was called the Mass of the Presanctified, which included the usual Offertory prayers, with the placing of wine in the chalice, but which omitted the Canon of the Mass.[80] The priest and people then depart in silence, and the altar cloth is removed, leaving the altar bare except for the crucifix and two or four candlesticks.[83]

Lord's Prayer

Cultural references[edit]

Good Friday assumes a particular importance in the plot of Richard Wagner's music drama Parsifal, which contains an orchestral interlude known as the "Good Friday Music".[164]

Memoration on Wednesday of the Holy Week[edit]

Some Baptist congregations,[165] the Philadelphia Church of God,[166] and some non-denominational churches oppose the observance of Good Friday, regarding it as a so-called "papist" tradition, and instead observe the Crucifixion of Jesus on Wednesday to coincide with the Jewish sacrifice of the Passover Lamb (which some/many Christians believe is an Old Testament pointer to Jesus Christ). A Wednesday Crucifixion of Jesus allows for him to be in the tomb ("heart of the earth") for three days and three nights as he told the Pharisees he would be (Matthew 12:40), rather than two nights and a day (by inclusive counting, as was the norm at that time) if he had died on a Friday.[167][168]

(1902). "Good Friday: The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ." . Sermons from the Latins. Benziger Brothers.

Bellarmine, Robert

Gilmartin, Thomas Patrick (1909). . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

"Good Friday" 

(archived 7 June 2011)

The Eastern Orthodox commemoration of Holy Friday

instructions from S. V. Bulgakov's Handbook for Church Servers (Russian Orthodox Church) (archived 3 March 2016)

Great Friday

Episcopal Good Friday Service

Who, What, Why: Why is Good Friday called Good Friday?

Good Friday