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Good FridayGood Friday is a special day celebrated by Christians on the Friday before Easter or Pascha. It commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Special prayer services are often held on this day with readings from the Gospel accounts of the events leading up to the crucifixion. Mainstream Christian churches view Christ's crucifixion as a voluntary and vicarious act, and one by which, along with his resurrection on the third day, death itself was conquered.
In Early Modern English, good had a meaning of "holy". A "good tide" is, for example, Christmas or Shrove Tuesday. Catholic and Orthodox Christians treat this day as a fast day. Orthodox Christians spend all this day in fasting from all food, to the extent that their health permits. Catholics also refrain from more than one normal meal, though they may add up to two small meals as required for good health. This day is also the one day that the Divine Liturgy or Mass is not celebrated in those churches. Catholics, however, can still receive the Eucharist consecrated the previous day at the Holy Thursday Mass. Instead of the Divine Liturgy, the Orthodox meet up to three times during the day for prayer: in the forenoon, to pray the Royal Hours appointed for that day; in the afternoon, the Vespers of Holy Friday; and in the evening, the Matins of Holy Saturday. The people relive the events of the day through public reading of the Psalms, Gospels, and singing the hymns about Christ's death. Visual imagery and symbolism is also often used: in the morning, a large cross is moved to the front or center of the nave (where the congregation gathers), and a two dimensional painted body of Christ or corpus is placed on it. During the afternoon prayers, it is removed from the cross and taken to the altar in the sanctuary, and an epitaphion is brought down to a low table in the nave representing the tomb; it is often decorated with an abundance of flowers. The epitaphion itself represents the body of Jesus wrapped in a burial shroud, and is a roughly full-size cloth icon of the body of Christ. During the evening prayers, the shroud is part of a procession outside the church, and is then returned to the tomb. During this reliving of Christ's death, the hymns do not forget the coming resurrection. Holding both events in tension, the following troparion (type of hymn) is sung during the afternoon prayers while the shroud is being carried to the tomb:
Catholic Good Friday services include readings from Scripture, including a reading of the Passion account from St. John, which is often read dramatically, with the priest, one or more readers, and the congregation all taking part. A crucifix is presented, with the people given an opportunity to venerate it. The services also include a long series of formal intercessions known as the Good Friday Prayer. Many Protestant churches hold special services on this day as well. In many historically Christian countries, Good Friday is celebrated with the eating of hot cross buns, the withdrawal of advertising from television and radio, and the closure of most shops for the day. It is not a federal holiday in the United States, although many states observe it as a state holiday.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia and from ShiningRise.com
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