Removal and burial of the Shroud. Eve of the Feast of the Annunciation
Good Friday, which falls on April 26 in 2019, is a day of suffering and sorrow. Worship that takes place in Orthodox churches, is entirely dedicated to the memory of tragic events which occurred about two thousand years ago.
To emphasize the peculiarity of this day, liturgy is not served in churches: it is believed that it has already been performed by Christ on the Cross. Instead they are performed Royal Clock– in the church, in front of the Cross, psalms and Gospels about the passion of Christ are read.
In churches three times - at Matins, at the Great Hours and at Great Vespers - the story of the life and death of Jesus is read. At services Good Friday the clergy are dressed in black vestments.
Removal of the Shroud on Good Friday of Holy Week
At Vespers, which begins earlier than usual on this day, the canon “On the Crucifixion of the Lord” is sung, then on Good Friday follows the removal of the shroud through the Royal Doors. Before lifting the shroud from the throne, the clergyman bows to the ground three times. This ritual is performed at the third hour of the day, at the hour of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross.
The shroud is a plat (piece of fabric) on which is depicted full height Jesus Christ lying in the tomb.
The Most Holy Theotokos is also depicted falling at the tomb, standing next to Her are John the Theologian, the myrrh-bearing women and the secret disciples of Christ - Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea.
Along the edges of the shroud the text of the troparion of Great Saturday is embroidered or written: “The noble Joseph took down your most pure body from the tree, wrapped it in a clean shroud and covered it with fragrances in a new tomb, and laid it.”
The shroud is placed on a special elevation in the center of the temple. The “coffin” is decorated with flowers as a sign of sorrow for Jesus Christ and the place is anointed with incense. The Gospel is placed in the center of the shroud.
The shroud in this service is assigned a role that in other cases is performed by the icon of the holiday. The removal of the shroud on Good Friday completes the cycle of services for that day.
On Friday evening, Matins is celebrated, which already refers to the day of Holy Saturday. On church service funeral troparia are sung and incense is performed.
Then a procession of the cross takes place around the temple with the shroud, which is carried by the clergy or senior parishioners to the four corners. Believers sing “Holy God.”
The removal of the shroud is accompanied by the ringing of funeral bells. At the end of the burial ceremony, she is brought to the Royal Doors, and then returned to her place in the middle of the temple.
On Good Friday, before the removal of the shroud, believers observe strict fasting, completely abstaining from food. After this, drinking water and bread in small quantities is allowed.
After the ritual of removing the shroud, at the end of Great Vespers, Little Compline is held. Then believers can venerate the shroud.
This shrine is considered miraculous: there is a belief that if you venerate it, you can be cured of many diseases. She remains lying in the center of the temple for three incomplete days (until Easter). Then she is brought back into the altar.
There is no Liturgy on Good Friday, because on this day the Lord Himself sacrificed Himself, - the Royal Hours are celebrated with special psalms, parimies, reading of the Apostle and GospelI.
8:00 - Royal hours.
There is no Liturgy on Good Friday, because on this day the Lord Himself sacrificed Himself.
14:00 - The rite of removing the Shroud of our Lord Jesus Christ.
16:30 - The rite of burial of our Lord Jesus Christ. Procession. Worship of St. Shroud.
On this day:
(1 Cor 1, 18-2,2 2. Matt. 27, 1-38. Luke 23, 39-43. Matt. 27, 39-54. John 19, 31-37. Matt. 27, 55- 61)
Memories of the arrest, trial, beating, desecration, execution and death on the cross of the Savior.
Good Friday is the scariest day in human history. On this day, it seemed, the ultimate triumph of evil, human envy and ingratitude took place: Christ, the incarnate Creator of the world, the Messiah awaited for so many centuries, was rejected by His people, subjected to terrible mockery, unjustly condemned and betrayed to the most painful and shameful thing that has ever been existed, executions.
stills from the film "The Passion of the Christ"
Then, on a hard, rough wooden cross, after many hours of suffering, the incarnate Son of God died in the flesh. Then, from that cross, the disciples, who had previously been secret, but now, in the face of what had happened, opened up without fear, Joseph and Nicodemus took down the body. It was too late for the funeral: the body was taken to a nearby cave in the Garden of Gethsemane, laid on a slab, as was customary then, wrapped in a shroud, covering the face with a scarf, and the entrance to the cave was blocked with a stone - and that was as if that was all. But there was more darkness and horror around this death than we can imagine. The earth shook, the sun darkened, the whole creation was shaken by the death of the Creator. And for the disciples, for the women who were not afraid to stand at a distance during the crucifixion and dying of the Savior, for the Mother of God this day was darker and more terrible than death itself. Then Friday was the last day. Nothing is visible behind this day, the next day was supposed to be the same as the previous one, and therefore the darkness and gloom and horror of this Friday will never be experienced by anyone, will never be comprehended by anyone as they were for the Virgin Mary and for the disciples of Christ . Endless days began.
I cannot convey anything to you if you don’t feel it yourself, if you yourself don’t stand, if you yourself don’t put aside all everyday concerns and listen and participate. Such a grace-filled thing happens in the church with people: when the Gospel is read, the Lord gives those listening real participation in these great holy events.
I just want to read the dismissal, that is, the last words of the priest when he bows to his parishioners, such wonderful words
Term "shroud" appeared in Russian liturgical books in late XVI century. The Shroud is an icon depicting the Savior lying in the tomb. Usually this is a large cloth (piece of fabric) on which the image of the Savior laid in the tomb is written or embroidered.Removal of the Shroud and Funeral Rite - these are the two most important services that take place on Good Friday Holy Week. Good Friday
At Vespers Good Friday The reading of the book of Job ends. The service of this day is permeated with a kind of contemplative numbness, a deliberate restraint of feelings and images. We don’t ask for anything, we don’t shed tears from ourselves, we don’t lament about our own. Today everything is about Him, everything is His, everything is by Him.
Long-suffering Job, who sued God for his misfortunes, finally received
In the morning the Royal Hours are read. They are so named because at each Hour there is a…
Vespers begins as usual. However, the chants and lyrics we hear seem to burn. In my opinion, there are no more poignant texts in Orthodox worship than the texts of these days. I remember that when I watched the sensational film “The Passion of the Christ” I caught myself thinking: the intensity of the experience
Given over to execution, Christ suffered a lot before execution. The Savior was mocked, beaten and ridiculed by the Roman soldiers who were to accompany Him to the place of execution. Having placed a crown of thorns on the Lord’s head, its thorns digging into the flesh, and giving Him a heavy cross - an instrument of execution, they set out on the path to Golgotha. Golgotha or the place of execution was a hill to the west of Jerusalem, which could be reached through the city's Gate of Judgment. This is the path the Savior took, eventually passing it for all people.
Such executions sometimes lasted several days. To speed it up, the person was not simply tied to the cross, as in most cases, but was nailed. Forged faceted nails were driven between the radial bones of the arm, next to the wrist. On its way, the nail met a nerve ganglion, through which the nerve endings go to the hand and control it. The nail interrupts this nerve node. In itself, touching an exposed nerve is a terrible pain, but here all these nerves are broken
I saw you off today
To Golgotha, to the cross...
She stood quietly under the fig tree -
There were no places nearby.
I tried to touch you
For You to heal.
I came with the Samaritan woman to the well,
So that you can give me something to drink.
I stretched out my dry soul,
May she come to life.
Waiting with Zacchaeus for dinner,
I paid off all my debts.
And now You have given me wounds
Kiss and cry
With the Virgin Mary and John
Stand on Golgotha.
I buried you today -
You let me...
There is nothing more terrible than Your grave
Among all the graves.
All human flesh fell silent -
The Lord himself is silent.
But hope is like a thin candle
It's burning in my heart.
I'll come here early tomorrow
Carrying aromas,
With myrrh-bearing wives
Not fearing, but loving.
You will illuminate me with light
And the sadness will melt away.
I will follow you at dawn -
I don't feel sorry for myself.
You will teach me humility and holy love,
So that we won't be separated again
Never with you.
(Galina Kremenova, Kherson)
Christ's death on the cross took place according to the Gospel at 9 o'clock (about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, our time). Therefore, in the afternoon in churches, when the troparion is sung: “Blessed Joseph, from the tree I took down Your most pure Body...”, the clergy lift the Shroud (i.e., the image of Christ lying in the tomb) from the Throne, as if from Golgotha, and carry it out her from the altar to the middle of the temple in the presentation of lamps (all those praying stand with lighted candles) and with incense. The shroud is placed on a specially prepared table (tomb), which will be located in the middle of the temple for three (incomplete) days, thereby reminiscent of the three-day stay of Jesus Christ in the tomb.
Then, at the ceremony of removing the Shroud, the canon “Lamentation” is read Mother of God". "Woe is me, my child, woe is me, my dear those are mine,” the Church mournfully exclaims on behalf of Holy Mother of God, contemplating the horror of the Holy Days.
The charter prescribes that it should be done privately, so those who did not get into the service, be sure to read this canon, amazing in depth.
“Eternal life, how do you die?” 
- the Ever-Virgin asks His Son and God in bewilderment. Thousands, thousands of mothers can recognize this cry - but Her cry is more terrible than any cry: She buried not only Her Son, but every hope for the victory of God, every hope for eternal life. Many, probably, looked at Christ, many, probably, were ashamed and afraid and did not look into the face of the Mother. With what horror in our souls should we stand in the face of the Mother, Whom we have deprived by murder... Stand before Her face, stand and look into the eyes of the Virgin Mary!.. Listen, listen to this cry! Say: Mother, I am guilty - albeit among others - of the death of Your Son; I am guilty - You intercede. If You forgive, no one will judge us or destroy us... But if You do not forgive, then Your word will be stronger than any word in our defense...
Then the clergy and all those praying bow before the Shroud and kiss the wounds of the Lord depicted on it - His pierced ribs, arms and legs. And in this remaining a short time Let us delve into this death with our souls, because all this horror is based on one thing: SIN, and each of us is responsible for this terrible Good Friday. Therefore, when we venerate the sacred Shroud, we will do it with trepidation. He died for you alone: let everyone understand this! - and let us listen to this Cry, the cry of the whole earth, the cry of hope that has been torn, and thank God for the salvation that is given to us so easily and which we pass by so indifferently, while it was given at such a terrible price to God, and the Mother of God, and the disciples .
Every person who truly lives the life of the Church knows the horror and homelessness of this day. This day is also terrible because it mercilessly poses the question to everyone: Where would I be then, on that terrible night? And the answer to it is disappointing: even the apostles, who said that they were ready to die for Christ, and really thought that they would die for Him, all fled, even Peter, the most firm and zealous among them, three times in the face of, if you look at, the most insignificant danger, he denied from your Teacher.
The path to death is terrible for every person, and Jesus was truly a man, but, moreover, for Christ it was especially difficult. We must think about this: it always - or often - seems to us that it was easy for Him to give His life, being God who became man. But our Savior Christ dies as a man: not with His immortal Divinity, but with His human, living, truly human body!”
“The sun saw something it had never seen,” says Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov), “and, unable to bear what it saw, it hid its rays, just as a man closes his eyes at a sight unbearable to him: it was clothed in deep darkness, expressing with darkness a sadness as deep as death is bitter.” ". The earth shook and shook under the event that took place on it. The Old Testament Church tore its magnificent veil to pieces; so the most precious clothes are tormented and not spared in an inevitable, decisive disaster. And all the people who had gathered to see this spectacle, seeing what was happening, returned, beating their chests "
Then the temple is plunged into darkness. The sounds of repentance grow and engulf those praying. Everyone is presented in this harsh darkness to the judgment of his conscience, left alone with it, and the voice of the repentant lines either condemns what he has done, or bitterly reproaches him for it. All ages of people stand in the dark before God 
eternal life; freezes, suddenly hearing the sounds of eternal truth, youth. The whole church stands and confesses to God in silence, and outside the window, the reflections of the green lights of the lamps go off into the deep darkness of the sky, as if there, in the firmament, they find their firm presence. This is all that was experienced the day before - the repentant singing, and the darkness of the temple, and the green lights trembling outside the window in the darkness of the sky - all this fills with an unprecedented breadth of experiences. There is no liturgy on Good Friday, since on this day the Lord Himself sacrificed Himself, and the Royal Hours are celebrated. This is a special day strict fasting. There is a pious tradition of not eating any food on Good Friday until the end of the rite of removing the Shroud (that is, until approximately three o’clock in the afternoon), and then eating only bread and water. (read 1 Cor 1, 18-2,2 2. Matt. 27, 1-38. Luke 23, 39-43. Matt. 27, 39-54. John 19, 31-37. Matt. 27, 55 -61)
And on Friday evening, Matins of Great Saturday is celebrated (the day according to the church calendar begins in the evening) with the rite of burial of the Shroud. The evening service is of a funeral nature. This is the burial of Christ Himself. Like at a funeral service, everyone in the church stands with lit candles. At the beginning of Matins, the seventeenth kathisma is read - part of the Psalter, which is usually read during funeral services for the dead or at memorial services.
“The original hymn, I will sing a funeral hymn to You; by Your burial I opened the doors of my life, and put death to death and hell,” - this is how the canon of Holy Saturday begins. This is also a cry for the buried Christ, but it sounds more and more powerfully new topic- anticipation of the Resurrection, anticipation of Easter. “Don’t cry for Me, Mother, see me in the grave... I will rise and be glorified,” the choir sings. And they read the Sunday Gospel about the appearance of angels at the burial place of the Crucified Christ, about how the myrrh-bearing women did not find Jesus where he was buried. There is just over a day left until Easter...
Matins of Great Saturday ends with a quiet religious procession with the Shroud and candles. When the procession goes around the temple, everyone sings the funeral song “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us...” And only a few hours separate this procession from the next one, which takes place on Sunday midnight, already Easter.
Or Week Vai. On these days, the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is served, which means that fasting for the service on these days is postponed (although bodily abstinence is not abolished and is even intensified) and non-fasting ringings are performed, in accordance with the regulations of the days celebrated.
At Matins and Liturgy - the bell sounds on the weekday bell.
K – bells for the twelve holidays, that is, bells and holiday bells.
Starting from , the rules of worship change noticeably. The first three days - on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday - the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is celebrated, and on Thursday and Saturday - the Liturgy of Basil the Great (there is no liturgy on Friday). At the 3rd, 6th and 9th hour from Monday to Wednesday the Tetroevangelium is read.
These days, changes in the charters of services do not entail changes in the order of calls made. In the Typikon about the bells of the hour there is an indication: “At the hour of the 3rd day the paraecclesiarch strikes the bell, as there is a custom(emphasis mine. – N.Z.), and having gathered in church, we sing the 3rd hour with kathisma and bows.” . The hours on Tuesday and Wednesday follow the same pattern. The ringing here remains the same as during the period of Pentecost, that is, the hourly ringing and double ringing are performed before Vespers for the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts.
At the end of the reading of the Tetroevangelium as the final stage, the rite of forgiveness is performed, after which it is served in last time this year is the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, and from that moment on, prostrations to the ground are no longer performed in the church. There will be no more Lenten ringings, since from the next morning the festive bells will begin ringing.
Toward morning, “at the 7th hour of the night the paraecclesiarch slanderes.”
In the Charter of the Moscow Kremlin, for this service it was prescribed to ring the “Reut” (at that time it was the Sunday and polyeleos bell), and in the Official of the Novgorod St. Sophia Cathedral - the large bell. IN modern practice This is the bell of the polyeleos bell.
To the clock in “at the hour of the 3rd day the paraecclesiarch strikes the bell, and we sing the hours together of the 3rd, 6th and 9th...” (the 1st hour is celebrated as part of Matins). For the liturgy in conjunction with Vespers, “at the 8th hour of the day the paraecclesiarch strikes, and having gathered in the church, having blessed the priest, we begin Vespers.”
Currently, the hours, vespers and liturgy are performed together, and it is advisable to ring only before the hours in the form of a bell ringing on a polyeleos bell.
On the same day in the evening, matins is served in churches with the reading of the 12 Gospels. It is called “Following the holy and saving passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The Typikon states: “At the 2nd hour of the night the paraecclesiarch slanderes.” Following the example of the Kremlin and Novgorod charters, on this day, before the start of the service, the bell is ringing on a festive bell. In addition, the festive bell is struck before the start of each reading of the Gospel as many times as the Gospel being read is: before the first reading - one blow, before the second - two blows, and so on until the twelfth. “After reading the 12th Gospel, after 12 blows, the ringing immediately,” is stated in the Educational Charter of Archpriest Konstantin Nikolsky.
There are no bells ringing at the end of the service, but in many churches there are ringing ringings, as worshipers carry the so-called “Thursday fire” to their homes. Whether or not to perform trezvon in this place should be checked with the rector of the temple.
In the Typikon for the royal clock it is prescribed: “The ringing of two is one long.” In the Moscow Kremlin they rang the “Reut” for this service, in Optina Pustyn they rang the polyeleos bell, and in the Novgorod St. Sophia Cathedral they rang the “prayer service.” In the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior, both old and modern, a rare gospel service is performed at the Sunday bell.
In this case, it is also advisable for bell ringers to discuss the type of ringing for the clock with the rector of the temple.
At Vespers, at which the Shroud is taken out, the gospel is announced with a rare ringing of the festive bell. At the moment the Shroud is taken out of the altar, each bell, from large to small, is rung once. Upon placing the Shroud in the middle of the temple, a short peal is rung.
The Typikon states: “At the 10th hour of the day he slanders great things, and having gathered in church, we begin Vespers.” It should be noted here that in the Typikon the removal of the Shroud is described in the rite of Saturday Matins, moreover, there is no talk at all about the chime, therefore we can find instructions regarding the chimes only in more modern rites, where the rite of the removal of the Shroud is performed at Vespers. For example, in the Educational Charter of Archpriest Konstantin Nikolsky it is stated: “Each bell is struck once especially... on Good Friday before the carrying of the Shroud, during the singing of “The One Clotheing You” and at Matins on Holy Saturday during the singing of the Great Doxology before the carrying of the Shroud near the church.”
In the evening service (Matins of Holy Saturday), when the funeral rite is performed, ending with a procession with the Shroud around the church, the good news is also rung before the start of the service in a large bell and then at the procession - ringing once in each bell from large to small. Upon placing the Shroud in the center of the temple, a peal is rung.
From this moment, according to the currently established tradition, it is not customary to ring any bells until the Midnight Office, that is, until the bell ringing for the Easter service - “Let all human flesh be silent...”
Nevertheless, we consider it appropriate to quote from the Typikon regarding ringing.
“To the holy and. At the 7th hour of the night the paraecclesiarch strikes the heavy and great one, and having gathered in church, we sing Matins according to custom.
On Holy and Great Saturday evening. About the hour of the 10th day he slanders great things.”
Before the Midnight Office (in fact, before the night Easter service): “And I take the blessing from the abbot, and so it goes out and hits the beat.”
Currently, there is a rare ringing of the gospel on the holiday bell.
, (morning and afternoon): The bells are the same as on Lent.
: at matins (actually on Wednesday evening) - the bell rings the polyeleos bell.
: for the hours, vespers and liturgy - the bell rings the polyeleos bell.
To follow the Passion of the Lord, the gospel is sounded on the festive bell; in the Gospels, the festive bell is struck before the beginning of the readings. After reading the 12th Gospel, the ringing bell rings. At the end of the service, the trezvon rings (if the abbot blesses).
: to the royal clock - a rare gospel signal on the Sunday bell.
For Vespers (removal of the Shroud) the bell rings with a rare ringing of the festive bell. During the removal of the Shroud, a single stroke of each bell is rung from large to small. Upon placing the Shroud, there is a short peal.
At matins the big bell rings the bell. During the procession with the Shroud around the church there is a chime (the same as during the day). Upon placing the Shroud, there is a short peal.
: In the morning and afternoon, according to established tradition, no bells are made.
For the Midnight Office (around 11:00–11:30 p.m.) there is a rare ringing of the gospel bell.
On April 6, 2018, on Good Friday of Holy Week, vespers was served in the temporary church of the icon of the Mother of God “Inexhaustible Chalice” at the Butovo station, at which the Removal of the Holy Shroud was performed - depicting the Savior lying in the tomb. On this day we remember the suffering of the Cross and the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. The service was performed by the rector of the temple, Priest Maxim Glukhikh and Deacon Sergius Ong.
Also in the evening, Matins was performed with the rite of burial of the Holy Shroud, combined with a service in honor of the Feast of the Annunciation, which takes place on Holy Saturday!
What is the removal of the Shroud
The term “shroud” appeared in Russian liturgical books at the end of the 16th century. The Shroud is an icon depicting the Savior lying in the tomb. Usually this is a large cloth (piece of fabric) on which the image of the Savior laid in the tomb is written or embroidered. The removal of the Shroud and the Rite of Burial are two of the most important services that take place on Good Friday of Holy Week. Good Friday is the saddest day in church calendar for Christians all over the world. On this day we remember the suffering of the Cross and the death of Jesus Christ.
Removal of the Shroud
It is performed on Friday afternoon at Vespers on Holy Saturday, at the third hour of Good Friday - at the hour of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross (i.e. the service usually begins at 14.00). The shroud is taken out of the altar and placed in the center of the temple - in the “coffin” - a raised platform decorated with flowers and anointed with incense as a sign of grief over the death of Christ. The Gospel is placed in the middle of the Shroud.
Liturgical features of the burial rite
Matins of Great Saturday with the Rite of Burial is usually served on Friday evening. The shroud in this service is given the role that in other cases the icon of the holiday has.
Matins begins as a funeral service. Funeral troparia are sung and incense is performed. After the singing of the 118th Psalm and the glorification of the Holy Trinity, the temple is illuminated, then the news of the myrrh-bearing women who came to the tomb is proclaimed. This is the first, still quiet, because the Savior is still in the tomb - the good news of the Resurrection of Christ.
During the service, believers make a procession of the cross - they carry the Shroud around the temple and sing “Holy God.” The religious procession is accompanied by the ringing of funeral bells.
At the end of the burial ceremony, the Shroud is brought to the royal doors, and then returned to its place in the middle of the temple so that all the clergy and parishioners can bow to it. There she remains until late evening on Holy Saturday.
Only before Easter Matins, during the Midnight Office, is the Shroud taken to the altar and placed on the throne, where it remains until Easter is celebrated.
Iconography of the Shroud
The Shroud is a plate on which the Savior is depicted lying in the tomb. This icon (the Shroud is considered an icon) has traditional iconography.
In the central part of the composition of the Shroud the icon “Position in the Tomb” is depicted. The entire body or just the body of the buried Christ.
The “Position in the Tomb” icon describes the gospel scene of the burial of the crucified Jesus Christ. The body was taken from the cross and wrapped in a shroud, that is, burial shrouds soaked in incense. Then the Savior was placed in a coffin carved into the rock, and a large stone was rolled at the entrance to the cave.
The shroud is performed in different techniques. Most often, velvet fabric is used as a basis. For example, Shrouds of the XV-XVII centuries. were made using the facial sewing technique. In the XVIII-XIX centuries. craftsmen combined gold embroidery or relief applique of fabrics with painting. The face and body of Christ were painted using painting techniques. There were also completely picturesque Shrouds.
Along the perimeter of the Shroud, the text of the troparion of Great Saturday is usually embroidered or written: “The noble Joseph took down Your most pure body from the tree, wrapped it in a clean shroud and covered it with odors (option: fragrant scents) in a new tomb, and laid it.”
Traditions of removing the Shroud
In some temples after procession The clergy carrying the Shroud stop at the entrance to the temple and raise the Shroud high.
And the believers following them, one after another, go to the temple under the Shroud. A small liturgical cover is usually placed in the middle of the shroud, along with the Gospel. Sometimes the face of Christ depicted on the Shroud is covered with a shroud - in imitation of the rite of priestly burial, which prescribes covering the face of the clergyman lying in the coffin with air (air is a large quadrangular cover that symbolically depicts the shroud with which the body of Christ was entwined).
On Friday morning the Royal Hours of Great and Holy Friday are celebrated. Liturgy is not served on this day, and it is also not recommended to eat food on this day, at least until sunset or until the end of Matins with the Removal of the Shroud.
It is appropriate to know this, as we are in Palestine, on this holy day of Great Heel, not to perform the Pre-Sacred, below perfect Liturgy, but below we set a meal, below we eat on this day of the crucifixion. If anyone is very weak, or is old, and cannot continue to fast, bread and water are given to him after the sun has set. Sitsa received from the holy commandments of the saints the Apostle, not to eat on Great Friday. For it is the word of the Lord that the Lord spoke to the Pharisees: for when the Bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days. Here the most blessed apostles perceived and discovered this in the apostolic traditions, carefully passing through this. But the correct message of His Holiness Archbishop Dionysius of Alexandria clearly demonstrates this.
Holy and Great Friday (Royal Hours)
Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. Beginning at 8.00 Holy Cross Church, Refectory Church (find out the exact start time of the service in your church)
Meaning
The order of following the Hours is very ancient. Since apostolic times, monuments of that era point to the 3rd, 6th and 9th hours as the hours at which Christians gathered for prayer. With the onset of the day, in its very first hour, they turned to God singing psalms, which served to establish the 1st hour. At the third hour (in our opinion, at 9 a.m.) they remembered the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and called on His grace. The sixth hour was dedicated to the memory of the Crucifixion of the Savior, which took place at the same time. The ninth hour - in remembrance of His death on the cross. The service of each hour consists of 3 psalms, troparions and some prayers. The reading of the Gospel and prophecies is also added to the Royal Hours.
At the 1st hour, the Evangelist Matthew narrates how all the Bishops held a council against Jesus to put Him to death and, having bound Him, handed Him over to Pontius Pilate, the governor (Matthew 27). At the 3rd hour the Gospel of Mark is read about the torment of Christ in Pilate’s praetorium. The 6th hour remembers the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9th hour - His death.
This combination of hours into one whole realizes the main idea of establishing hours as a prayerful glorification of sacred times and dates that marked and sanctified the work of our salvation.
Thus, just as the Liturgy of Maundy Thursday is the Liturgy of all Liturgies, so the Royal Hours of Good Friday can be called the Hours of the Hours.
Vespers and Removal of the Shroud
Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. Beginning at 14:00 - Assumption Cathedral, Refectory Church
Meaning
In the first centuries of Christianity, Holy and Great Friday was called Easter of the Crucifixion or Easter of the Cross, according to the words of the Apostle Paul: “Our Easter is Christ sacrificed for us” (1 Cor. 5:7). Only from the 2nd century did the Easter of the Resurrection, the Easter of common triumph and joy, begin to separate from this Easter.
Good Friday has always been a day of the strictest fasting and sadness, “a day of sorrow on which we fast.” Apostolic Epistles They command those who are able to spend this day in complete fasting without food. Therefore, on Good Friday, after hours, as a sign of sadness, the Liturgy is not served, but solemn Vespers is celebrated. The beginning of Vespers is timed between 12 and 3 o'clock in the afternoon (that is, between 6 and 9 o'clock, when the crucifixion and death of the Lord Jesus Christ took place). In the middle of the church there is a cross - a crucifix, to which worshipers come to venerate. The very first hymns of Vespers take us to the great and terrible moments that took place at Golgotha. What the succession of the Passion was leading to on Friday night is now being fulfilled: “We see a terrible and extraordinary mystery now happening: the Intangible is held; He who freed Adam from the curse is contacted; He who examines (sees through) the hearts and wombs (innermost thoughts) is subjected to an unrighteous test (interrogation); He who shut the abyss shuts himself in prison; Pilate faces the One Who stands before him with trembling Heavenly powers; by the hand of creation the Creator receives a slap in the face; on the tree (on death on the cross) He who judges the living and the dead is condemned; in the tomb lies the Destroyer (Conqueror) of hell” (the last stichera on the Lord I cried).
The last dying cry of the Son of God, dying on the cross, pierces our hearts with unbearable pain: My God, be aware of Me, the one you have forsaken Me. The betrayal of Judas, the denial of Peter, the humiliation before Caiaphas, the trial by Pilate and the abandonment of the disciples did not end the suffering of the Son of God. Nailed to the cross, crucified and dying a painful death, He was abandoned by His Heavenly Father. No human word can express this thought: the abandonment of the Only Begotten of the Father by the Son of God. “Without being separated from humanity, the Divine was so hidden in the soul of the Crucified God-Man that His humanity was given over to all the horrors of helpless sorrow” (Archbishop Innocent). True, remaining omnipresent, He was in the grave carnally (flesh), in hell with the soul like God, in paradise with the thief and on the Throne you were, Christ, with the Father and the Spirit, filling everything (filling everything) Indescribable (Unlimited, Ubiquitous). But, despite His omnipresence, His abandonment by God is full of great tragedy, for He, the One of the Holy Trinity, was given the opportunity to experience to the end the entire depth of the underworld and the severity of hellish torment.
The day is approaching evening and approaching sunset earthly life God-man. The entrance is made with the Gospel and somehow the quiet evening song of the Quiet Light (lit. from Greek - pleasant, joyful) is heard in these moments in a particularly comforting way. This Quiet Light, which illuminated the world during Its short earthly life, is now setting. This Quiet Light is the same ineffable light of the Divine that the prophet Moses was privileged to see at Sinai; that unbearable light, after which he had to put a veil over his face, for it shone with rays of glory because God spoke to him. The reading of Exodus speaks of this vision of glory, and the reading of Job that follows again shows the image of Christ in the long-suffering Job, glorified by the Lord for his patience. In the 3rd proverb, the prophet Isaiah prophesies about Christ and gives an image of Him as “a Youth who had neither form nor greatness. His appearance is diminished more than all the sons of men. This one bears our sins and suffers for us. He was wounded for our sins and tortured for our iniquities, the punishment for (the whole) our world was upon Him, and through His suffering we were healed. He is brought to the slaughter like a sheep and like a silent lamb before the shearer, so He does not open His mouth.” Moses and Isaiah enter, as it were, into a spiritual debate, contrasting one with the unspeakable glory, the other with the unspeakable humiliation of the Lord. Both of these extremes are lost in the immensity of the infinite being of God, for the limited human mind is equally incomprehensible as the state of the Lord’s humiliation and His glory.
The Apostle's Prokeimenon proclaims David's prophecy about the death of the Lord and the abandonment of Him by the Father: I have laid Me in the pit of the grave, in the dark places and the shadow of death. And the message of the Apostle Paul is read, resolving the mysterious bewilderment of both prophets and reconciling the glory and dishonor of the Lord with his word about the cross, which is foolishness for those who are perishing, but for... those who are being saved, it is the power of God... because the foolish things of God are wiser than men, and The weakness of God is stronger than men.
Before reading the Gospel, candles are lit and remain lit until the end of the service. The Gospel tells us about the death and burial of the Savior, and the stichera that follows tells about Joseph of Arimathea, who came to wrap a shroud around His most pure Body. And immediately after this, as if news brought from the heavenly world, the verse is heard: The Lord reigns, clothed in beauty. The Lord reigns, although he dies; The Lord reigns, although he descends into hell; The Lord reigns and all-mocking hell (mocking everything) (the next stichera) is horrified at the sight of Him: its shutters are broken, its gates are broken, the tombs are opened and the dead rise, rejoicing. The 2nd and 3rd stichera are dedicated to this mysterious descent of the Lord into hell and His glorification. The last stichera from the highest heights and from the hellish underworld leads us again to the tomb of our Savior. Joseph took him down from the tree with Nicodemus, dressed in light like a robe, and, seeing the dead naked woman unburied, we will accept the compassionate cry, sobbing with the words: Alas for me, sweetest Jesus, Whom the sun, seeing hanging on the cross, was covered with darkness, and the earth shook with fear, and the veil of the church was torn. And now I see You, willingly accepting death for my sake. How will I bury You, my God, and with what shroud will I wrap my arms? With what hands will I touch Your incorruptible body, what songs will I sing to Your exodus, O Generous One? I magnify Your Passion, I will sing songs and Your burial with the Resurrection, crying out: Lord, glory to You; After this song, the clergyman, accompanied by the laity (depicting Joseph with Nicodemus), lifts the Shroud from the Throne and carries it to the middle of the church. During the carrying out of the Shroud, the choir sings the troparion: The noble Joseph took down Your Most Pure Body from the tree, entwining the Shroud with a clean one; and cover the coffin with stinks. At the end of this chant, the Shroud is kissed, around which the breath of angelic wings can already be seen: an Angel appeared to the myrrh-bearing women standing at the tomb, warning them about the incorruption of the Most Pure Body of Christ.
At Compline on Good Friday, which immediately follows Vespers and the Removal of the Shroud, the canon for the Lamentation of the Virgin Mary is read or sung. In it, the Church illuminates the hidden, inner meaning of what the people expressed in the famous folk tale “The Virgin’s Walk through Torment.” In wondrous words, the Church reveals to us that the abandonment of the Son of God by the Father and His descent into hell was shared with Him by His Most Pure Mother. And if history was silent about this and people passed by the Lamb of God, who was ripening the slaughter of Her Lamb, then church poetry today brings to the One whose heart was now pierced by a sharp weapon, the wondrous gift of her songs, a pearl necklace of tears. Troparion of Song 7 says, as if on behalf of the Mother of God: “Take Me now with You, My Son and My God, so that I too may go with You into hell, Master, do not leave Me alone.” “Joy will never touch Me from now on” (troparia of the 9th canto), the Immaculate One said sobbingly. “My light and my joy went into the grave; but not
I’ll leave Him alone, I’ll die here and be buried with Him.” “Heal my spiritual ulcer now, My Child,” the Most Pure One cried with tears. “Resurrect and quench My sorrow - you can do whatever you want, Lord, and do, although you were buried voluntarily.” The Mother of God, who was present with her Son at the wedding in Cana of Galilee and begged Him to turn water into wine, even then believed that Her Divine could create everything
Son, for she said to the servants: “Whatever He tells you, do it.” And now, seeing Him already dead, She knew about the Resurrection of the One about Whom the Archangel Gabriel announced to Her on the day of the Bright Annunciation. And in response to Her faith, “The Lord secretly said to the Mother: “Desiring to save My creation, I wanted to die, but I will rise again and glorify You as the God of heaven and earth.” The canon ends with this mysterious conversation between the Son and Mother.
Burial of the Shroud
Vespers of Good Friday is the eve of Matins of Great Saturday, during which the Church performs the ritual of the Burial of the Lord Jesus Christ. Matins usually begins late on Saturday night. But it also happens that it takes place in the evening (check with your churches).
Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. Beginning at 17:00 - Refectory Church. 23:00 - Assumption Cathedral
After the Six Psalms and the Great Litany, the three troparions with which the Vespers Heel ended are repeated again: Most Blessed Joseph, When Thou Descended to Death, the Immortal Belly, the Myrrh-Bearing Women, and the singing of the Immaculate Ones begins. These Immaculate Ones represent a special verse of the 118th Psalm. The Jews had a custom during the Passover Supper and at the end of it to sing psalms and mainly Psalm 118, dedicated to their exodus from Egypt. According to the Gospel story, Christ and his disciples left the house where the supper was being celebrated, while singing a psalm, in all likelihood, precisely the 118th: And having chanted, they went to the Mount of Olives. With the verse Blessed art thou, Lord, teach me by Thy justification the Lord, Who is coming to suffering and death, buried Himself; This verse, from now on, is always sung by the Church at the burial of the dead. In the Immaculates, divided into three articles or divisions, the Old and New Testament mysteriously call to each other; There is, as it were, some kind of dialogue between Christ and the Church. How are you dying, asks the Church, and Christ answers with the words of the 118th Psalm, which is a prophecy about Himself. He is the One Who did not violate a single note of the Law of the Lord, Who completely fulfilled everything that was predicted about Him, Who loved the Commandments of God with all his heart, loved them more than gold and all the treasures of the world. The Church responds to each verse of the psalm with “praises” to Christ God and the magnification of His suffering and burial. The verses of the psalm - Immaculate - are usually sung, and the Praise is proclaimed by the priest or reader. The praise ends with an appeal to the Holy Trinity for mercy on the world and a petition to the Mother of God: To see Your Son's resurrection, O Virgin, grant Thy servants. In these words, the Sunday motif appears for the first time and the rising dawn of the resurrection is already visible. The choir joyfully sings the Sunday troparia (the Council of Angels was surprised in vain by imputing You as the dead, etc.) with the chorus Blessed art thou, Lord, proclaiming that the time of weeping is over, for a shining Angel is already flying to the tomb of the Life-Giver to announce to the myrrh-bearers about the Resurrection of the Savior. But the stone has not yet been rolled away from the tomb, and the Gospel, usually read at Matins about the Resurrection, is not read on this Matins of Holy Saturday and, at the end of the “Praises,” omitting the Gospel reading, the canon, exceptional in its beauty, is sung by the Wave of the Sea. The Irmos of the first song of this canon says that the descendants of the Jews who were once saved while crossing the Red Sea are hiding underground (burying) the One who once hid with a wave of the sea their persecutor and tormentor - Pharaoh. This canon is a funeral hymn to Him who opened the “gates of life” for us through His burial. Numerous images of the prophecies of Habakkuk, Isaiah, Jonah about the resurrection of the dead and the uprising of those in the tombs and the joy of all earthly ones appear in this canon as inspired insights of the faith of ancient people who saw from the darkness of centuries Old Testament the non-evening light of Epiphany and the Resurrection of Christ.
Adam’s sin was “homicide, but not deicide”... Therefore, Christ the God, having clothed himself in human flesh, gave the earthly being of the flesh to suffering and death, so that by His Divinity he could transform the corruptible into the incorruptible and thereby save the human race from death and give people eternal Sunday. This is the last act of God's love - placing Himself in the grave, in fulfillment of the words of Christ about wheat grain which, having fallen into the ground, must die in order to come to life, is the final act of the Incarnation of God and, as it were, a new creation of the world. The Old Adam is buried and the New Adam rises. “This Saturday is most blessed, on it the Lord rested from all His works,” says the canon. In the first peacemaking, the Lord, having completed all His works, and on the 6th day created man, rested on the 7th day from all His works and called it “Saturday” (which means the day of rest). Having completed " smart world work,” and on the 6th day, restoring human nature, corrupted by sin, and renewing it with His saving cross and death, the Lord, on the present 7th day, rested in the sleep of repose. “The Word of God descends with the flesh into the grave, and descends into hell with His incorruptible and divine soul, separated by death from the body.” “But His soul is not kept in hell”: “Hell reigns, but not forever... for You laid Yourself in the tomb, O Sovereign, and with Your life-giving hand you dissolved the keys of death and preached true deliverance there to those sleeping from eternity, Having Himself become the firstborn from the dead " The canon ends with a wondrous song: Do not weep for Me, Mother, seeing in the tomb, Who in your womb without seed conceived the Son: for I will rise and be glorified and exalt with glory, unceasingly (endlessly) like God, magnifying You with faith and love. The church hymn then answers for this promise with grateful love:
Let every breath praise the Lord. The words of the stichera sound with joyful hope: “Rise up, O God, who judges the earth, for You reign forever.” But the day of the Sabbath has not yet ended and the words of the last stichera, full of dogmatic meaning, remind us of this: Moses typified the secretly great day, saying: and God bless the seventh day, for this is the blessed Saturday, this is the day of rest, from all His works the Only Begotten has rested. The Son of God, looking at death (predestined for death), became a sabbath in the flesh: and in the hedgehog returned by resurrection, he gave us eternal life, for he is the only one who is good and loves mankind. After this, the Church glorifies the One to whom we owe our salvation: Most blessed art thou, O Virgin Mother of God... Glory to Thee, who showed us the light, - the priest proclaims, and the Great Doxology is sung. This song - Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth, good will towards men - once sung by the Angels at the cave of the Savior born into the world, here, at His tomb, sounds especially solemn. While singing, the Holy God, the priest, dressed in all sacred clothes, censes the Shroud three times and carries It around the temple to the funeral ringing of bells. This rite is the Burial of Christ. Upon the return of the procession, the troparion Noble Joseph is sung, and then, full of deep and reverent meaning, the paremia, Ezekiel’s reading, preceded by the prokeme: Rise, Lord, help us, and deliver us for Thy name’s sake.
And the hand of the Lord was upon me... and he set me in the midst of a field full of human bones, and they were very dry. And the Lord said to me: Son of man, will these bones live? And I said: Lord God, You weigh this. And the Lord commanded the prophet to prophesy to the bones: “Thus says the Lord: Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Behold, I will bring the spirit of life into you, and I will give you sinews, and I will bring flesh upon you, and I will cover you with skin, and I will give My spirit to you, and you will live and know that I am the Lord.” And when the prophet spoke, there was noise and movement, and the bones began to come closer together: bone to bone, each to its own composition. And flesh grew on them, and skin covered them, but there was no spirit in them. And the Lord commanded: “Prophesy about the Spirit, son of man, and say to the Spirit: Come the Spirit from the four winds and blow into these dead, that they may live.” And the prophet uttered a prophecy, and the spirit entered into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet - the council was very successful. And the Lord spoke through the prophet, turning
as 6s to the whole human race: “Behold, I will open your graves and bring you out of your graves, My people, and I will give My Spirit to you, and you will live, and I will establish you in your land, and you will know that I am the Lord: I have spoken and will do.” “In this, full of strength and power, description of the general resurrection in the flesh of the human race, the trumpet of the Archangel can already be heard, heralding the onset of a new life of the next century. Old Testament aspirations and premonitions are being fulfilled. Sighs were heard. And the word of the Apostle sounds solemnly: Christ redeemed us from the curse (curse) of the law, having become himself a curse in our place (as it is written: Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree), so that the blessing given to Abraham, through Christ Jesus, might spread to the Gentiles (to all nations). ), so that we
through faith to receive the promised Spirit.
The subsequent Gospel again reminds us of the tomb standing before us, of the seal attached to the stone and the guards guarding it. The kissing of the Shroud is performed again, and the Church blesses Joseph of blessed memory, who came to Pilate at night and asked to give him this Wanderer, Who has no place to lay his head. Together with Joseph, who gave his final earthly rest to the Lord, believers worship the Passion of Christ, and with this worship the Matins of Great Saturday ends.