The Passion Service - Orthros of Holy Friday

The Orthros of Great Friday is celebrated in anticipation on the evening of Great Thursday.

This service is the longest of all the divine services currently in use by the Church. Structurally, it is a modified fast day orthros with several distinctive and unique features which give it its own special identity and character.

The first outstanding and unique feature of this service is that it contains a series of twelve Passion readings. Because of this, the Orthros is known in popular piety as the Service of the Twelve Gospels ('Akolouthia ton Thodeka Evagelion) The twelve pericopes are read at various intervals throughout the lengthy service. The first pericope, from the Gospel of John (13.21-18.1), relates the account of the Lord's discourse with the disciples at the Mystical Supper. The next ten pericopes deal with accounts of the Lord's sufferings as they are told in the Gospels. The last pericope gives an account of the Lord's burial and the sealing of the Tomb. The response after each lection is a variation of the usual one: "Thoxa ti makarothimia sou, Kiriek, thoxa soi-Glory to Your longsuffering, Lord, Glory to You." The focus of our praise is the forbearance of our God. This distinct liturgical formula signifies the deep reverence with which we approach the awesomeness of the divine condescension.

Another striking feature of this service is the solemn procession with the large Cross of the sanctuary, known in the liturgical language as the Estavromenos - The Crucified One. After the fifth Gospel, at the fifteenth antiphon, the priest brings the Cross out of the sanctuary in a solemn procession and places it in the middle of the Church. This rite is relatively new. It originated in the Church of Antioch and was introduced into the Church of Constantinople in the year 1864 during the patriarchal reign of Sophronios. From there it found its way to all Greek-speaking churches. The practice was authenticated and formalized by its inclusion in the Typicon of 1888. The rite is rooted in an ancient liturgical practice of the Church of Jerusalem. We are told by documents of the late fourth century that it was the custom in Jerusalem to display the relic of the true Cross at the Church of the Anastasis on Great Friday. The procession of the Cross has become the focal point of the service. Hence in popular language the service is often referred to as the Service of the Crucified One - 'H 'Akolouthia tou 'Estavromenou. More will be said about the procession below.

Another characteristic of this Orthros Service is the inclusion of a group of fifteen antiphons, i.e. a set of hymns that were once used as responses to a corresponding number of Psalms. The Psalms have long since been suppressed. Only the troparia of the antiphons have remained in use. The most celebrated hymn of the Orthros service is the hymn. of the fifteenth antiphon, "Simeron krepatai epi xilou ...-Today He who hung the earth upon the waters is hung upon the Tree (Cross) ..."

Still another feature of this service is the inclusion of the Beatitudes (Makarismoi). They are chanted after the sixth Gospel. Hymns are interpolated between the verses of the Beatitudes.