Good Friday

The Good Friday ( Old High German kara, action ',' grief ',' sorrow ') is the Friday before Easter. He follows the Maundy Thursday and precedes the Holy Saturday. Christians commemorate on this day of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Good Friday is also called "silent " or " High Friday". In the Catholic Church, he is a strict fast and Abstinenztag. The term " Good Friday" goes back to Martin Luther. Including the Maundy Thursday evening of Good Friday is the first day of the Paschal three- day celebration ( Triduum Sacrum Triduum or paschale ), which is the most important festival of the church year as a whole in all Christian denominations and is celebrated as a single service.

Importance in Christianity

Good Friday is associated with Easter for Christians one of the holiest days. In him, the Church of the death of Jesus Christ in anticipation of his resurrection does. After their faith suffered and died Jesus as "God's servant " and took the cross of voluntary original sin and guilt of all people to himself. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus to all people only the remission of sins, and thus salvation from death and eternal life is given. At the same time, the Catholic theology emphasizes increasing the consistency of his divine sonship, does not take the message of the grant of the Creator God to the people of violence and death their limits.

The Good Friday event is to be considered not in isolation but is in line with Easter, Ascension and Pentecost Christ. Not the sacrifice of Jesus is to be alone so that the great, but the victory over hell, death and the grave.

Good Friday liturgy

Especially for the liturgy is the Good Friday liturgy of the various Christian denominations of great interest because true to her the principle: " The oldest tradition are most likely to receive high-quality liturgical time" ( Anton Baumstark ). Good Friday is a liturgical quality time, and among his oldest traditional rites here the waiver of the liturgical opening, the reading of the Passion, the use of wooden clappers instead of bells and altar bells, the cheers ratio, which Improperia and the typical Roman Fürbittweise, namely the great intercessions. As early as 500 took over the Roman Catholic Church under Pope Gelasius I, the Kyrie Litany of the Orthodox Church, in whose liturgy until today, many early church rites are preserved.

The celebration

In the Roman Catholic Church

Good Friday is involved in the " three-day celebration of the suffering and death of the Grabesruhe and resurrection of the Lord," called the Triduum Sacrum, also called " Paschal Triduum ." It begins on Holy Thursday with the Mass of the Lord's Supper and culminates in the celebration of the Easter Vigil. As part of the Osterfastens Good Friday is a strict fast and Abstinenztag in the Roman Catholic Church. The tradition of not eating meat on Fridays, is due to the Good Friday events.

As since the early Christianity church tradition, all lines with festive joy sacraments will be celebrated on Good Friday ( " Ecclesia ... sacramenta penitus non celebrat " ), hence not the Eucharist. Especially in cathedral churches solemnly sung Karmetten be celebrated with the community on Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday.

Main service of the liturgy of the Latin Church on Good Friday is the Celebration of the Passion and death of Christ. It consists of three parts with different liturgy historical background:

• Liturgy of the Word with the presentation of the Passion and the Great Intercessions ( Roman tradition )
• Collection and veneration of the Holy Cross ( taken from Jerusalem )
• Communion ceremony ( the traditional way of Constantinople, known since the 7th century in Rome).

Local joins a celebration of the " Entombment of Christ ".

The service usually starts by 15 clock, the traditional time of death of Jesus. The liturgical color is different since the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council is no longer black, but red red stands here as a sign of the in the suffering and death of Jesus blood.

The Liturgy of the Word of Good Friday is the old and the very heart of the " Celebration of the Passion and death of Christ ." He begins by silent feeder with a silent prayer of all, during which the officiating priest ( and locally even the liturgical services) thrust out as a sign of extreme humility on the ground ( Prost Ratio), kneel the other celebrants. The silent prayer includes ( without a " Let us pray ") with the Oration of the head and the " Amen " of the community.

This is followed biblical readings from Isaiah 52.14 to 53.12 and Heb 4:14-16 EU; 5:7-9 EU, between the singing of Psalm 31 EU. Highlight the word celebration is the proclamation of the gospel of Christ suffering ( Passion) by St. John the Evangelist, which is usually assigned roles (Evangelist, Jesus' words, words, other individuals) is (Jn 18.1 to 19.42 EU).

Then, if appropriate, followed by a short sermon and always the great intercessions, which carry the concerns of the Church, the world and the needy before God. Each of the ten intercessions consists of four parts:

• Prayer invitation with the names of the concern
• Silent prayer on their knees
• Summary Oration of the head
• "Amen" as an expression of affirmation of Please by all believers

The Jews intercession dates back to the early Middle Ages and was established in 1570. You could be perceived as derogatory to the 20th century used text and is now formulated in a version that brings the appreciation of the people of Israel expressed and the determination of the Jewish people leaves open: "Let us also pray for the Jews, to which God, our Lord first spoke He preserve them in faithfulness to his covenant, in the love of his name in order to achieve the goal to which his counsel wants to lead they were " Summorum Pontificum with the papal letter in 2007 extended. exceptions are possible (eg for religious communities, smaller groups within a community or for personal parishes ) to the pre-conciliar liturgy of Good Friday worship after the 1962 celebration. After protests against the related basic equality of the old prayer " For the conversion of the Jews " led Pope Benedict XVI. 2008, a new compromise formulation. This came inside and outside the Catholic Church in part to criticism.

The Cross worship ( Adoratio crucis ), a sacramental, forms the second part of the celebration. A cross with or without representation of the crucified Christ is the celebrants shown aloft ( " Exaltation " ) and the priest invites all sung with a call to worship the cross. This traditional call to prayer is " Ecce lignum crucis, in quo salus mundi pependit. Venite adoremus " - " Behold the cross on which hung the Christ, the Saviour of the world. Come, let us adore him! "

Either a veiled cross is brought into the sanctuary, there revealed and shown in three steps. Or an undisguised cross is carried in procession from the church entrance to the chancel and made ​​during the procession three times the Exaltation of the Cross with the call for cross worship. After that, all present acclaim occur procession as the cross and venerate it by the classic signs of knee flexion and the kiss. Increasingly common are also other forms of cross worship as the laying down of flowers. From the unveiling of the cross on it will be honored until the Easter Vigil at the pre- stepping through a double or single squat, as otherwise the exposed Blessed Sacrament.

Various chants accompany the cross worship, in the first place an acquired from the Eastern Churches responsory that reveals the paschal character, Good Friday celebration: "Your Cross, O Lord, adore us, and praise your holy resurrection and praise we: For behold, by the wood of the Cross was joy in all the world. " Common chants are also the Improperia, " Heilges Cross, was hochverehret ", " O Sacred Head, Now Wounded " and the hymn Pange lingua gloriosi Proelium Venantius Fortunatus certaminis. Is sung a cappella, that is, not accompanied by instruments.

The following simple communion celebration is initiated with the Lord's Prayer and ending with a prayer of thanksgiving after Communion. Since the Good Friday there is no Eucharist, enough communion wafers from the show are kept of the Last Supper on Holy Thursday for Communion. The celebration of communion with " vorgeheiligten functions" ( Praesanctificata ) belongs since the 8th century laid the Good Friday liturgy of the Western Church, the reception of Holy Communion, but was limited since the high Middle Ages ( in Germany from the 16th century) to the clergy, in smaller communities to the priest ( laymen were to desire the communion outside of the celebration ). Pope Pius XII. initiated in 1955 a reform of the Holy Week liturgy and placed the original order of the Communion celebration for the whole community, clergy and laity, restores. The German-speaking in some places has become customary omission of Communion celebration on Good Friday is not foreseen in the current ecclesiastical order. The spiritual sense of the reception of Communion on Good Friday is the intimate sacramental union of the faithful with the suffering and dying Christ. The Celebration of the Passion and death of Christ ends with a prayer of blessing over the people.

In some dioceses, so in Trier, the " celebration of the Entombment " joins. The Trier diocese tradition thus adds the three parts of the afternoon of Good Friday worship added a fourth. After communion celebration, the priest recalls the decrease in the body of Jesus from the cross and his burial. The ceremony of burial is divided into four liturgical elements:

• Gospel of Jesus' burial
• Transition to the Holy grave
• Entombment
• Prayer of blessing and final

The priest reads the ambo the conclusion of the St. John Passion (Jn 19.38-42 ). Due to the celebration of the burial history of suffering ends after John already with the words: " They shall look on him whom they have pierced ." ( Jn 19:37 EU). After preaching the gospel of the burial of Jesus an acolyte places the cross the priest on the pursed over both arms chasuble. This it contributes to the Holy grave made-up in the church. He is accompanied by two candlestick makers. The Thuriferar leads the procession, followed by the altar with him the rattling, those who exercise a particular ministry and possibly the rest of the faithful. During the transmission of the Cross, the responsory " Jerusalem luge " or the song " O sadness, o Herzeleid" are sung. At the place of burial, the priest lays down the cross. He incenses it and covered it with a linen cloth. Meanwhile, the chorus, the responsory " Ecce quomodo Moritur justus " or " Sepulto Domino " sing. There follows a period of silence. At the end of the ceremony the priest says the prayer of blessing. Then he can sing the verse: "He is preparing a place in peace. His dwelling in Zion will be ". The priest goes to the liturgical services directly to the sacristy. The faithful leave the church in silence.

At the appropriate time the altar is completely bare. Altar cloth and corporals that were required in the communion celebration will be removed. The Holy grave with the laid down therein Cross, the image of the rest in the grave Christ is supposed to be the day of the Holy Sepulchre rest of the Lord, the faithful accessible on the evening of Good Friday and Holy Saturday.

The condition laid down in the Church Cross (or which is in the Holy grave ) is revered up in celebration of the Easter Vigil by a squat.

In addition to the Celebration of the Passion and death of Christ, the Way of the Cross devotion, the solemn mourning Mette, and the " worship of the seven words ( Jesus on the cross ) " widespread forms of piety on Good Friday. Regional and Good Friday processions are common, as in Lohr am Main, in Menden (Sauerland), in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt and in Bensheim on the mountain road. Very widespread they are in southern Italy and Sicily, in Spain - especially in Andalusia - and in Guatemala. Of national importance, the Good Friday processions in Jerusalem ( the Via Dolorosa ) and designed with the participation of the Pope Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum in Rome.

In Catholic churches remain silent in the old tradition, the organ and the church bells after the Gloria of the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday. In place of the bells and bells occur in many places Ratchets and rattle with which the worshipers are called according to ancient tradition, the church, the Liturgy of the Hours and the Angelus in many Catholic tracts of land.

On Good Friday and Holy Saturday the eternal light does not burn, and the liturgy is celebrated on a bare of any adornment altar. Candles burn only when temporary storage place of the Blessed Sacrament. Other chandeliers are often wrapped in black tulle, if they can not be removed from the church. Since the reorganization of the liturgy of Holy Week no Inzens with incense is more made ​​on Good Friday.

In the Protestant churches

The concentration of evangelical preaching the importance of the redemptive work of Christ ( Solus Christus ) and the theology of the cross of Good Friday developed in the period of Lutheran Orthodoxy to the most important holiday in the Protestant churches - a meaning which he of until the second half 20th century maintained. In the center of the celebration here was the consideration of the Passion story through preaching, prayer and songs. In the written by Johannes Bugenhagen North German church orders was determined that the compiled by him Passion harmony is to be read on Good Friday. Another important element of the observing realization was the church music in the form of Passion chorales as O Sacred Head, Now Wounded by Paul Gerhardt. From the passion music that connected the responsorisch put forward Passion story with a didactic introduction ( exordium ) and a meditative closing, the Passion Oratorio ( St. John Passion, St. Matthew Passion, St. Luke Passion ) developed.

After mainly retained the Lutheran churches until the 18th century, the pre-Reformation liturgical practice - adjusted by some perceived as abuses pieces - this changed with the rise of influence of rationalistic and pietistic theology and piety, have led to the interpretation of Holy Communion as sacrament greatly declined in importance. This meant that in the 19th and early 20th century, now was the Good Friday one of the few days where in almost all evangelical churches the Lord's Supper was celebrated. Even today, in some communities, the reception of Holy Communion on this day an important part of spirituality. In other parishes of Good Friday is celebrated in altkirchlicher tradition without supper. As a liturgical color is true black, alternatively, purple, even if it is often waives any vestments. Also, flowers and candles are rather uncommon on Good Friday. On Good Friday - as well as on Holy Saturday - mention some places in accordance with the Catholic tradition, the bell, it rings or only the largest bell ( bell pulse ).

The readings are verses from Psalm 22 (Ps 22 LUT), the Servant Song of Isaiah ( 53.1 to 12 LUT), a passage from the second letter to the Corinthians (2 Cor 5:19-21 LUT) as well as a summary of the Epistle Passion story from John's Gospel (Jn 19.16-30 LUT) as gospel. It can also be the entire Passion story according to John (Jn 18-19 LUT ) can be read. The prayers usually be designed according to the pattern of the Great Intercessions or as a litany under the cross ( which comes from the tradition of Berneuchener movement).

In some Protestant churches found next to the main church in the morning or instead a Liturgical celebration of the death of Jesus by 15 hour clock (Mark 15:25 LUT) or a performance of the St. John Passion Passion or other worship music in a frame instead. Also in the tradition of many Protestant families of the Good Friday plays a particular role through common church and often by eating fish.

In the Eastern Churches of Byzantine and Slavic tradition

The Good Friday celebration in the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches of Byzantine and Slavic tradition usually starts on Thursday evening with the morning service ( Orthros / Utrenja ). This service - often popularly called simply " The Twelve Gospels " - is governed by twelve Gospel readings. Its official name is " Akoluthia the holy suffering." In the service the Passion texts from the four Gospels are sung, also fifteen partly patristic antiphons and Kathismen. The canon of this service comes from Kosmas of Majuma and is a prime example from the time of the second golden age of Byzantine church seal in 7/8 Century. In the Greek, but also in the Romanian tradition of the church has a particularly dramatic climax with the song of the 15th antiphon. Here's a crucifix from the north door of the iconostasis is carried into the midst of the Church and fastened there. This is followed by the veneration of the cross connects through the community. The text of the first verse of the 15th antiphon is:

"Today, hangs on a tree that has hung the earth in the water. With a crown of thorns is wound round the King of Angels. Lies detention is covered with purple, which veils the sky with clouds. Proposals received that freed Adam in the Jordan. With nails was fastened the Bridegroom of the Church. With a lance pierced the son of the Virgin. We honor your sufferings, Christ. Show us also your glorious Resurrection! "

The next services that are celebrated on Friday morning, the " royal hours ". For them, the figure of Christ from the crucifix, which was set up earlier in the church in the evening, will be removed and wrapped in a white cloth in the Greek tradition.

In the subsequent interpretation of the solemn vespers grave Shroud ( Epitaph / plaschtschanica ) in the church takes place. This cloth remains there until the Easter festival as a place where the faithful worship the risen Christ in the grave.

On the evening of Good Friday the procession of the Epitaph ( plaschtschanica ) takes place. In the Eastern Church Good Friday hymns numerous anticipations refer to the resurrection.

As a special sign of silence in the face of death, no Eucharist is celebrated on Good Friday. The tradition of Constantinople belonging karfreitägliche Communion ceremony ( liturgy of the vorgeheiligten shares) disappeared in the 15th century, locally somewhat earlier.

The only case in which a full liturgy is celebrated on Good Friday, when it coincides with the Annunciation on 25 March; for this case there is a special liturgy united the two parties. Unlike the Latin tradition the Eastern Churches have no apportionment of holidays.

Good Friday is strict fasting in the Orthodox churches. If eaten at all, so the limited to the simplest non-fat plant-based foods.

In the Old Catholic Church

The day of the suffering and death of the Lord is celebrated in the Old Catholic Church with a prayer service for the hour of death of Jesus.

The opening and dismissal are simple and unadorned:

• While the feeder is not sung
• The altar service prostrates himself before the bare altar or kneels before
• After silent prayer daily prayer follows
• After the prayer at the end, all left in silence the worship space

The Liturgy of the Word consists of the following parts:

• Not Protestant reading ( s)
• Reading of the Passion
• Sermon
• Large intercessions
• Cross devotion with Improperia
• In some places: Communion

The Cross worship may also follow immediately after the Passion or after the sermon. The Great prayers are performed after this procedure revealed before the cross and concluded with the Lord's Prayer.

Three -hour prayer

In the 18th century the Jesuit Alonso Messia Bedoya Lima developed in a non- liturgical prayer form. It consisted of readings and observations of the seven last words of Jesus, coupled with songs and prayers. About Rome, this prayer form spread in Europe; Joseph Haydn composed with The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross her best-known musical version. In English-speaking acquired the celebration, which lasted 12 to 15 clock and is therefore also called the Three- hours service, in the late 19th and the first half of the 20th century both in the Catholic Church as well as in various Protestant denominations great popularity.

Date

The earliest possible date for Good Friday is 20 March ( last it was in 1818, in the 21st century there is this early date is not ), the latest possible April 23 (will be in 2038 ). Date of Good Friday in the coming years:

State law

In Germany and most of the cantons of Switzerland, Good Friday is a public holiday. The exceptions are the two Catholic cantons of Valais and Ticino.

Since it is a "silent day " or "quiet holiday " apply to the Good Friday special restrictions such as the ban on dancing. It prohibits various public events such as sporting events, such in rooms with dispensing operation, and all other public events for entertainment, " except when they serve the intellectual and spiritual elevation or a higher interest in art, science or popular education and to the serious character take the day into consideration. "Even theaters and operas need to consider in their game plan Good Friday. In Bremen, the traditional " Easter meadow ", a funfair with rides etc. remains closed on Good Friday, also in Hamburg the " Frühlingsdom ".

In Austria and Luxembourg, Good Friday is not a public holiday for the general public. Only Protestant Christians, Old Catholics and Methodists have a day off in Austria on this day.