An Introduction To Good Friday Worship

This article traces the most ancient traditions of Good Friday worship. With these in mind, the reader and worship planner will be able to put into context the articles and resources that follow.

In the ancient church, the paschal celebration from Thursday of Holy Week through the great vigil of Saturday night (which ended on Sunday morning) was one ongoing service with occasional breaks. On the morning of Good Friday, the people paid tribute to the wood of the cross, the instrument upon which our salvation was attained. A casket containing a cross was often placed on a table covered with a linen cloth. The bishop stood behind the table as the people filed by touching and kissing the cross and sometimes bowing before it or lying prostrate in front of it. This was not a worship of the cross but a worship of God, who sent his Son to die on the cross for the salvation of the world. At noon the people gathered until three o'clock to hear Scripture readings about the passion of our Lord. Scripture readings were taken from the Psalms, the prophets, the Epistles, Acts, and the Gospels. In between these readings, there were prayers and sermons to help guide the devotion of people as they observed the hours when Jesus hung on the cross. At three o'clock the passage from John's Gospel regarding the death of Christ was read. In the evening, the Christians gathered again to hear the story of the burial of Christ read. Usually a great crowd remained there in vigil all night long. While these practices are not observed today in the same way they were in the ancient traditions, a new emphasis has emerged stressing the importance of Good Friday as a day of worship. Three services in particular are observed today in various traditions: the Veneration of the Cross; the Way of the Cross; and the Three Hours' Devotion.