Comments on the Main Themes
On Great Friday the Church remembers the ineffable mystery of Christ’s death. Death -tormenting, indiscriminate, universal – casts its cruel shadow over all creation. It is the silent companion of life. It is present in everything, ready to stifle and impose limits upon all things. The fear of death causes anguish and despair. It shackles us to the appearances of life and makes rebellion and sin erupt in us (Heb 2.14-15).
The Scriptures assure us that “God did not make death, and He does not delight in the death of the living, for He created all things that they might exist … But through the devil’s envy death entered the world” (Wisdom 1.13-14; 2.24). The same divinely inspired author also writes, “God created man for incorruption and made him in the image of His own eternity- . But ungodly men by their words and deeds summoned death” (Wisdom 2.23; 1.16).
Death is an abomination, the final indignity, the ultimate enemy. It is not of God but of men. Death is the natural fruit of the old Adam who alienated himself from the source of life and made death a universal destiny, whose very fear perpetuates the agony of sin. “It was through one man that sin entered the world and through sin death, and thus death pervaded the whole human race” (Rom 5.12).
The day of Christ’s death is the day of sin. The sin which polluted God’s creation from the breaking dawn of time reached its frightful climax on the hill of Golgotha. There sin and evil, destruction and death came into their own. Ungodly men had Him nailed to the cross, in order to destroy Him. However, His death condemned irrevocably the fallen world by revealing its true and abnormal nature.
In Christ, who is the New Adam, there is no sin. And, therefore, there is no death. He accepted death because He assumed the whole tragedy of our life. He chose to pour His life into death, in order to destroy it; and in order to break the hold of evil. His death is the final and ultimate revelation of His perfect obedience and love. He suffered for us the excruciating pain of absolute solitude and alienation – “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me!” (Mk 15.34). Then, He accepted the ultimate horror of death with the agonizing cry, “It is finished” (Jn 19.30). His cry was at one and the same time an indication that He was in control of His death and that His work of redemption was accomplished, finished, fulfilled. How strange! While our death is radical unfulfillment, His is total fulfillment.
Jesus did not come to meet death with an array of philosophical theories, empty prouncements or vague hopes. He met death in person, face to face. He broke the iron grip of this ancient enemy by the awesome business of dying and living again. He chased away its oppressive darkness and cruel shadows by penetrating the bottomless abysses of hell. He cracked the fortress of death and led its captives to the limitless expanses of true life.
Millenia ago Job, a just and noble man who suffered untold misery, asked this question: “If a man dies, shall he live again?” (Job 14.14). Ages passed before this fundamental question received an authentic answer. Many offered theories, but no one spoke with authority. The answer came from the One who stood by the still bodies of two young people – Jairus’ daughter and the widow’s only son -and raised them from the dead (Lk 8.41 and 7.11). The answer came from the One who approached the tomb of His friend Lazaros who had been dead for four days and called him from death to life (Jn 11). The answer came from Jesus, who was Himself on route to His own ugly death on the Cross and who rose on the third day.
The day of Christ’s death has become our true birthday. “Within the mystery of Christ dead and resurrected, death acquires positive value. Even if physical, biological death still appears to reign, it is no longer the final stage in a long destructive process. It has become the indispensable doorway, as well as the sure sign of our ultimate Pascha, our passage from death to life, rather than from life to death.
From the beginning the Church observed an annual commemoration of the decisive and crucial three days of sacred history, i.e., Great Friday, Great Saturday and Pascha. Great Friday and Saturday have been observed as days of deep sorrow and strict fast from Christian antiquity.
Great Friday and Saturday direct our attention to the trial, crucifixion, death and burial of Christ. We are placed within the awesome mystery of the extreme humility of our suffering God. Therefore, these days are at once days of deep gloom as well as watchful expectation. The Author of life is at work transforming death into life: “Come, let us see our Life lying in the tomb, that he may give life to those that in their tombs lie dead” (Sticheron of Great Saturday Orthros).
Liturgically, the profound and awesome event of the death and burial of God in the flesh is marked by a particular kind of silence, i.e. by the absence of a eucharistic celebration. Great Friday and Great Saturday are the only two days of the year when no eucharistic assembly is held. However, before the twelfth century it was the custom to celebrate the Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts on Great Friday.
The focus of Great Friday is on the passion, death and burial of our Lord Jesus Christ. The commentary (ipomnima) in the Triodion records it thusly: “On the Great and Holy Friday we commemorate the holy, saving and awesome sufferings of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ: the spitting, the striking, the scourging, the cursing, the mockery; the crown of thorns, the purple cloak, the rod, the sponge, the vinegar and gall, the nails, the spear; and above all the cross and the death, which He voluntarily endured for us. Also we commemorate the saving confession of the grateful thief who was crucified with Him.” Because of this emphasis on the passion of the Lord, the service of the Orthros of Great Friday is often referred to in the liturgical books as the Service of the Holy Sufferings or Passion – `H ‘Akolouthia ton ‘Agion Pathon. The hymns of this particular service are especially inspiring, rich and powerful.
The divine services of Great Friday with the richness of their ample Scripture lessons, superb hymnography and vivid liturgical actions bring the passion of Christ and its cosmic significance into sharp focus. The following hymns from the Orthros, Hours and Vespers help us to see how the Church understands and celebrates the awesome mystery of Christ’s passion and death.
Today He who hung the earth upon the waters is hung upon the Cross. He who is King of the angels is arrayed in a crown of thorns. He who wraps the heavens in clouds is wrapped in the purple of mockery. He who in Jordan set Adam free receives blows upon His face. The Bridegroom of the Church is transfixed with nails. The Son of the Virgin is pierced with a spear. We venerate Thy Passion, O Christ. Show us also Thy glorious Resurrection. (Fifteenth Antiphon)
When the transgressors nailed Thee, O Lord of glory, to the Cross, Thou hast cried aloud to them: ‘How have I grieved you? Or wherein have I angered you? Before me, who delivered you from tribulation? And how do ye now repay me? Ye have given me evil for good: in return for the pillar of fire, ye have nailed me to the Cross; in return for the cloud, ye have dug a grave for me. Instead of manna, ye have given me gall; instead of water, ye have given me vinegar to drink. Henceforth I shall call the Gentiles, and they shall glorify me with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Ninth Hour
A dread and marvelous mystery we see come to pass this day. He whom none may touch is seized; He who looses Adam from the curse is bound. He who tries the hearts and inner thoughts of man is unjustly brought to trial. He who closed the abyss is shut in prison. He before whom the powers of heaven stand with trembling, stands before Pilate; the Creator is struck by the hand of His creature. He who comes to judge the living and the dead is condemned to the Cross; the Destroyer of hell is enclosed in a tomb. O Thou who dost endure all these things in Thy tender love, who hast saved all men from the curse, O long-suffering Lord, glory to Thee.
Sticheron of Vespers
In the flesh Thou wast of Thine own will enclosed within the tomb, yet in Thy divine nature Thou dost remain Uncircumscribed and limitless. Thou hast shut up the treasury of hell, O Christ, and emptied all his palaces. Thou hast honored this Sabbath with Thy divine blessing, with Thy glory and Thy radiance.
Apostichon of Vespers General Observations
In modern liturgical practice the Church celebrates three divine services on Great Friday: the Orthros, the Great Hours and the Great Vespers.
~Reverend Alkiviadis Calivas, Great Friday, “Great Lent, Holy Week & Pascha,” Website of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America: http://lent.goarch.org/articles/lent_friday.asp.
