The Friday of Holy Week is accompanied by special services. This is the day of the judgment and death of Jesus Christ.
After the Last Supper, late at night, Christ went with his disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane. Arriving there, He told them: "Sit here, and I will go and pray." Moving away a little, He fell to the ground and began to pray: “Father, if possible, let your cup pass from me. However, not as I want, but as You."
At this time, Judas entered the garden with many soldiers holding swords and spears. Judas gave a sign to the soldiers and quietly said: "The one I kiss is the one." He approached Jesus and exclaimed, "Hail, Master," and then kissed Christ. “Friend, why did you come here? Christ asked him. "Do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?"
At that moment, the soldiers seized Jesus. They took Him to the courtyard of the Jewish high priests, who were to judge Christ. They tried for a long time to find some kind of guilt in order to condemn Christ to death, and did not find it. In the end, two false witnesses were found who accused Jesus of blasphemy. The crowd began to torment Christ, spit in His face, beat on the cheeks, and mock Him.
In the morning, Christ was brought before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, who alone had the right to condemn to death. But even the fierce pagan Pontius Pilate tried to persuade the high priests not to commit atrocities. He assured them that he found no fault in Jesus. But it was all in vain.
Then Pilate turned to the people: “You have a custom - to release someone from the condemned on Easter. Do you want me to release the King of the Jews for you? " But the people, who believed the high priests, cried out: "No, not His, but Barabbas" (Barabbas was a robber). Then Pilate ordered to beat Christ. The soldiers weaved a wreath of thorns and laid it on the head of Christ, dressed him in a purple robe, and beat him again, repeating: "Hail, King of the Jews!"
Seeing Jesus Christ - beaten, bleeding, but not broken in spirit, Pilate uttered words of respect and admiration: "Behold a Man!"
Finally, a heavy cross was laid on Christ, which He had to carry to the place of execution.
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With all the leaden weight
Heaven lay in the courtyards
The Pharisees were looking for evidence
Julia before Him, like a fox …
And a whisper crawled in the neighborhood
And rumors from many quarters.
And flight to Egypt and childhood
Already recalled as a dream.
(B. Pasternak)
Jesus was brought to Golgotha, to the place of execution. Two robbers were to be crucified together with Him. Christ prayed for his tormentors, saying: "Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing." One of the crucified robbers cursed and reviled Christ. The other calmed the first and said: “Or are you not afraid of God? We are justly judged. He didn’t do anything wrong.” And, turning to Christ, he asked: "Remember me, Lord, when you come into your kingdom." Jesus replied, "Today you will be with Me in Paradise."
When Christ died, His disciple Joseph of Arimathea came to Pilate and asked him to allow him to remove the body of Christ from the cross. Pilate allowed. Joseph wrapped a clean shroud with incense around the Body and put it in the coffin, which was carved into the rock, and rolled a large stone against the door of the coffin.
The great choir of angels glorified us, And the heavens melted in fire.
He said to his father: "Why did he leave me!"
And to the Mother: "Oh, don't cry for Me …"
Magdalene struggled and sobbed.
The beloved disciple turned to stone.
And to where Mother stood silently, So no one dared to look.
(A. Akhmatova)
On Good Friday, Holy Week, a shroud is brought out in the middle of the church - the image of the Savior. This is a reminder of the shroud in which the body of Jesus was wrapped after death, and on which at the moment of the Resurrection His image not made by hands was forever imprinted.
Greatest relic of the millennia
The Shroud of Turin is one of the greatest Christian relics that amazed the world of modern science. The Shroud is a fabric on the canvas of which a kind of “photographic” double-sided imprint of the face and body of the Savior has been preserved. Nineteen centuries before the discovery of the photograph, an imprint (negative) appeared on a linen cloth (4.36 x 1.10 m), in which the body of Jesus was wrapped before burial. This is a kind of "photograph" of the body of a deceased person.
The analysis of the fabric fibers convincingly proves that its age is 2000 years. And as a result of many years of research on the shroud, information was obtained that tells about the appearance of Christ. He was about 180 cm tall, weighed about 65 kg, had a beard, long hair and was right-handed. Researchers say that Jesus' torture on the cross was much worse than we could have imagined. The cheekbones swollen from the beatings and deep wounds on the face indicate spear marks. There is a gaping wound on the right cheek. Traces of hair pulling out of the head and beard were found. There are more than 50 wounds on the head, including those from the needles of the crown of thorns.
There are more than 120 wounds on the body from flogging with a whip. Obviously, he was beaten by two - on the right and on the left, pieces of metal and bone were attached to the ends of the whips.
When Jesus carried the cross to Calvary, which consisted of two beams, one hand was tied to the crossbar. Falling, He broke his face in blood.
Jesus' terrible agony on the cross lasted about three hours. Most likely, death came from a ruptured heart.
On the closed eyelids of Jesus, traces of coins were found. Such coins were minted in Judea under Pontius Pilate between 30 and 32 AD. e. Traces of wounds were found on the chest, palms and feet, as well as blood stains. Scientists have found more than 600 different wounds on the body of the deceased.
Today, the shroud is kept in Turin as a living testimony of the Resurrection of the Lord.
The quietest day of the year is Great Saturday, the day when the Savior was in the tomb. On this day, a great event took place. While the body of Christ was lying in the tomb, His soul descended into hell. Before the coming of the Savior to earth, the souls of all dead people, even the souls of saints and righteous ones, as well as the souls of the prophets, went to hell after death, because the world had not yet been forgiven. The soul of the Savior, having accepted suffering on the cross, entered hell in such power and glory that everyone who was there immediately recognized God in Him. All the barriers that covered hell were crumbling. Christ commanded to bind Satan and turned to Adam and other people: “Come with Me, all of you who were imprisoned here from the beginning of the world. I set you free by the power of my cross. And he brought all the righteous out of hell.
In memory of this descent of the Savior into hell and His victory over death on the night before Great Saturday, a procession with a shroud is performed around the church in the church.
100 great holidays. Elena Olegovna Chekulaeva
