Bonovox

GREAT AND HOLY FRIDAY

The services of Passion Week reach their climax on Holy Friday, when the
faithful are called to assemble at three points. The first time calls us to the
Morning Service, with its twelve Passion Gospels, often held on Holy Thursday
evening, since at 1:00 AM -- the time prescribed by the Typikon -- we will
probably still be ‘dragged down by sleep’.

We come together a second time at midmorning to read the Royal Hours, so called
because (as at Nativity and Theophany) the Roman emperor (basileus in Greek)
would serve as psalmreader, or at least be present. This practice was often
observed by orthodox monarchs in other countries long after the fall of the
Roman Empire in 1453. Now there is no king but One Whose ‘reign is not of this
world’ (JN 18:33-38).

So, at the ‘third hour’, about nine in the morning, at the same time (MK 15:25)
as Jesus was lifted up on the cross, we begin to read the Royal Hours with a
very different royalty in mind as we contemplate the King of Glory nailed to the
tree.


On this most somber day of the liturgical year, the holy Church directs our
attention to the awful and awesome sufferings which the immortal Son of God
endured for our sake. ‘The One Who is without passions now comes to His
voluntary passion’ (Triodion). ‘When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw
everyone to Myself’ (JN 12:32).

‘Lifting up’ was a Roman euphemism for crucifixion, a hideous form of torture to
death, and humiliation even after death, from which they spared their own
citizens, but savagely inflicted on their unruly slaves and rebellious subject
peoples. This is why (according to ancient tradition) St Peter was crucified,
but St Paul beheaded (ACTS 22:22-29). ‘Today, the One Who suspended the heavens
is suspended between Heaven and Earth’ (Triodion).

What can we say as we behold this incredible sight? The Son of God is hanged,
naked and tortured on a shameful gibbet; He endures it, although the very
elements protest (MT 27:45, 51-52; MK 15:33; LK 23:44-45). In His awesome
suffering, He speaks but a very few words. He has already said everything He had
to say; now He fulfills the destiny He accepted when He accepted a human body
and soul for our sake (JN 18:37).When Jesus says ‘It is finished.’ (JN 19:30),
He means that the redemption of the human race has been accomplished, and that
His work is over. His obedience, even to the point of death on the cross (PHLP
2:7-8), annulled the effects of Adam’s -- and our own -- disobedience, if only
we will claim that annulment. No human being could perfectly fulfill the laws of
the Old Covenant, which the rabbis say were imposed on Israel as a result of
their sin of idolatry at Sinai (EX 32), and which were regarded as a curse from
which Christ ransomed us (GAL 3:13), since only He, by His perfect obedience as
the Son of God and Son of Man in one person, could observe the Old Law perfectly
(MT 5:17).

The Old Law is finished, and we are now free to become by grace what Christ is
by nature: by His death and resurrection, the only Son of God made it possible
for us to become adopted children of God, and His royal heirs along with Christ
(ROM 1:17).

Naturally, this is cause for our great joy. But, at the same time, we must also
accuse ourselves of the sins which made it necessary for so great a Savior to
save us, and we would be much worse off for ignoring and despising the Savior
than if He had never come at all (HEB 2:1-3). Oh, how Christ loves us! What can
we do to return such great love? He tells us: ‘If you love Me, you will obey My
commandments’ (JN 14:15).



The last service on Holy Friday is actually the first service of Holy Saturday.
This is the Evening Service, sometimes called the ‘Un-nailing’ or ‘The Descent
from the Cross’, not only because of the late afternoon time of this service in
our commemoration of the Lord's death and burial, but also because, in many
places, there is a liturgical reenactment of the event: the image of the dead
Christ is removed from the cross, and the shroud depicting His body in repose is
solemnly brought out for veneration and placed in the ‘tomb’ at the center of
the nave.

As affecting as these rites are, we would do well to note that they are of
relatively recent origin, as is the outdoor procession with the shroud,
certainly not more than two centuries or so in general usage. This is important
as a brake on our native conservatism in liturgical practice: what we seek to
conserve may not be all that old -- it's just that it's what we, personally, are
used to, but we might want to consider restoring ancient practices or developing
new ones even now.


There is an ancient tradition describing St James, the Brother of God, serving
the Divine Liturgy on a table covered with the original shroud of Christ, and
this may be the origin of the image usually found on the antimension, not to
mention the epitaphion itself, and possibly even the ‘Image Not Made by Hands’;
the ‘Holy Shroud’ still preserved at Torino presents a prototype of all of
these: the full-length figure of a crucified man reclining in death, hands
crossed over the abdomen. Notice that the right hand is placed over the left,
the right hand which we venerate with our kisses. This is just the opposite of
how we place our hands on our breasts as we approach the Holy Cup, when we place
the right hand over the heart and the left hand over the right.


There is a very loud silence, a palpable emptiness, which palls the holy Church
on the evening of Holy Friday. As we struggle to comprehend the horror of the
suffering and death of the very Son of God, each of us stands ashamed and
wonders: Since He was crucified for me, since my sins went far beyond my poor
ability to atone for them, it is I who crucified Christ. More than Judas, more
than the Jews, more than the Romans, I crucified Christ. How can I escape the
wrath of God for putting His Son to death like this? How can creation itself
endure it? Even ‘the sun goes dark, unable to bear the sight of God outraged’
(Triodion).

But it is the very death of Christ which ‘tramples Death’, since He rises from
the dead and liberates us from death as well, allowing us to escape the ultimate
punishment we deserve for our sins. This is why we describe God's mercy as
‘great’; this is the very definition of ‘grace’. This is the divine forgiveness
and reconciliation with God for which we hope and pray, and which is ours for
the asking if only we will return His love by accepting the salvation He offers
us uniquely through His Son, our Lord and God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

‘We adore Your passion, O Christ! Also show us Your holy resurrection!’
(Triodion).