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GOOD FRIDAY (probably " God's Friday ")

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 238 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GOOD See also:FRIDAY (probably " See also:God's Friday ")  , the See also:English name for the See also:Friday before See also:Easter, kept as the anniversary of the Crucifixion . In the See also:Greek See also:Church it has been or is known as iraaxa [vravpcov~µov], srapaaKevr7, aapaaKevi7 ,ueyar7 or ayia, awrfp(a or ra awri7Pta, iaipa rob' aravpob', while among the Latins the names of most frequent occurrence are Pascha Crucis, See also:Dies Dominicae Passionis, Parasceve, Feria Sexta Paschae, Feria Sexta See also:Major in Hierusalem, Dies Absolutionis . It was called See also:Long Friday by the Anglo-See also:Saxons' and Danes, possibly in allusion to the length of the services which marked the See also:day . In See also:Germany it is sometimes designated Stiller Freitag (compare Greek, E/3So,uas aapaKror; Latin, hebdomas inqfficiosa, non laboriosa), but more commonly Charfreitag . The See also:etymology of this last name has been much disputed, but there seems now to be little doubt that it is derived from the Old High See also:German chara, meaning suffering or See also:mourning . - - The origin of the See also:custom of a yearly See also:commemoration of the Crucifixion is somewhat obscure . It may be regarded as certain that among Jewish Christians it almost imperceptibly See also:grew out of the old See also:habit of annually celebrating the See also:Passover on the 14th of Nisan, and of observing the " days of unleavened See also:bread " from the 15th to the 21st of that See also:month . In the See also:Gentile churches, on the other See also:hand, it seems to be well established that originally ,no yearly See also:cycle of festivals was known at all . (See EASTER.) From its earliest observance, the day was marked by a specially rigorous fast, and also, on the whole, by a tendency to greater simplicity in the services of the church . See also:Prior to the 4th See also:century there is no See also:evidence of non-celebration of the See also:eucharist on See also:Good Friday; but after that date the See also:prohibition of communion 1 See See also:Johnson's Collection of Ecclesiastical See also:Laws (vol. i., See also:anno 957) : " See also:Housel ought not to be hallowed on Long Friday, because See also:Christ suffered for us on that day." became See also:common . In See also:Spain, indeed, it became customary to See also:close the churches altogether as a sign of mourning; but this practice was condemned by the See also:council of See also:Toledo (633) . In the See also:Roman See also:Catholic Church the Good Friday See also:ritual at See also:present observed is marked by many See also:special features, most of which can be traced back to a date at least prior to the close of the 8th century (see the Ordo See also:Romanus in See also:Muratori's Liturg .

Rom . See also:

Vet.) . The See also:altar and officiating See also:clergy are draped in See also:black, this being the only day on which that See also:colour is permitted . Instead of the See also:epistle, sundry passages from See also:Hosea, See also:Habakkuk, See also:Exodus and the See also:Psalms are read . The See also:gospel for the day consists of the See also:history of the See also:Passion as recorded by St See also:John . This is often sung in See also:plain-chaunt by three priests, one representing the " narrator," the other two the various characters of the See also:story . The singing of this is followed by bidding prayers for the See also:peace and unity of the church, for the See also:pope, the clergy, all ranks and conditions of men, the See also:sovereign, for catechumens, the sick and afflicted, heretics and schismatics, See also:Jews and See also:heathen . Then follows the " See also:adoration of the See also:cross " (a ceremony derived from the church of See also:Jerusalem and said to date back to near the See also:time of See also:Helena's " invention of the cross ") ; the See also:hymns Pange lingua and Vexilla regis are sung, and then follows the " See also:Mass of the Presanctified." The name is derived from the fact that it is celebrated with elements consecrated the 'day before, the See also:liturgy being omitted on this day . The See also:priest merely places the See also:Sacrament on the altar, censes it, elevates and breaks the See also:host, and communicates, the prayers and responses interspersed being See also:peculiar to the day . This again is followed by See also:vespers, with a special See also:anthem; after which the altar is stripped in silence . In many Roman Catholic countries—in Spain, for example—it is usual for the faithful to spend much time in the churches in meditation on the " seven last words" of the Saviour; no carriages are driven through the streets; the bells and See also:organs are silent; and in every possible way it is sought to deepen the impression of a profound and universal grief . In the Greek Church also the Good Friday fast is excessively strict; as in the Roman Church, the Passion history is read and the cross adored; towards evening a dramatic See also:representation of the entombment takes See also:place, amid open demonstrations of contempt for Judas and the Jews .

In Lutheran churches the See also:

organ is silent on this day, and altar, See also:font and See also:pulpit are draped in black, as indeed throughout See also:Holy See also:Week . In the Church of See also:England the history of the Passion from the gospel according to John is also read; the collects for the day are based upon the bidding prayers which are found in the Ordo Romanus . The " three See also:hours " service, borrowed from Roman Catholic usage and consisting of prayers, addresses on the " seven last words from the cross " and intervals for meditation and silent See also:prayer, has become very popular in the See also:Anglican Church, and the observance of the day is more marked than formerly among See also:Nonconformist bodies, even in See also:Scotland .

End of Article: GOOD FRIDAY (probably " God's Friday ")
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