Good Friday
- On Good Friday, Christians recall the passion and crucifixion of Jesus.
- In the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Anglo-Catholic rites, a cross or crucifix (not necessarily the one that stands on or near the altar on other days of the year) is ceremonially unveiled. (In pre-1955 services, other crucifixes were to be unveiled, without ceremony, after the Good Friday service.)
- In Roman Catholicism, the clergy traditionally begin the service prostrate in front of the altar. Mass is not celebrated on Good Friday and the communion distributed at the Celebration of the Lord's Passion is consecrated on Holy Thursday, hence the pre-1955 name "Mass of the Presanctified". In Anglican/Episcopal churches, there is no prayer of consecration on Good Friday, and the Reserved Sacrament is distributed at services on that day.
- Also in Roman Catholicism, images of saints may, in accordance with local custom, be veiled throughout the last two weeks of Lent. Votive lights before these images are not lit. Crucifixes that are movable are hidden, while those that are not movable are veiled until after the Good Friday service.
- Roman Catholic faithful typically venerate the crucifix by kissing the feet of the corpus. Veneration of a simple wooden cross is common in Anglican/Episcopal worship, with the faithful touching and or kissing it.
- Colors of vestments (and hangings, if kept) vary: no color, red, or black are used in different traditions. The Roman Catholic Church uses red vestments, symbolic of the blood of Jesus Christ, but in the pre-1970 form of the Roman Missal the priest wears black, changing to violet for the communion part of the service. In Anglican/Episcopal services, black vestments are sometimes used. In The United Methodist Church, black is the liturgical colour used on Good Friday.
Read more about this topic: Paschal Triduum
Famous quotes containing the word friday:
“The dripping blood our only drink,
The bloody flesh our only food:
In spite of which we like to think
That we are sound, substantial flesh and blood—
Again, in spite of that, we call this Friday good.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“His [O.J. Simpson’s] supporters lined the freeway to cheer him on Friday and commentators talked about his tragedy. Did those people see the photographs of the crime scene and the great blackening pools of blood seeping into the sidewalk? Did battered women watch all this on television and realize more vividly than ever before that their lives were cheap and their pain inconsequential?”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)