“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” — today is Red Friday

Today is Red Friday — the most solemn day of Holy Week. The Orthodox Church commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, His taking down from the cross, and His burial.

Great Friday, also known as Red Friday, was established by the Christian Church to mark the day of the Savior’s crucifixion. Red Friday is the most severe day of Great Lent. During the Matins service, the Twelve Passion Gospels are read. Each part of the day’s services vividly reflects different aspects of the Savior’s Passion — beginning with His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, where His sweat became like drops of blood, and ending with His death on the cross at Golgotha. Every hymn and reading is filled with repentance and is deeply moving.

On Great Friday, due to the Passion of the Savior, the bloodless sacrifice — the Divine Liturgy — is not celebrated, as a sign that the Lord Himself was the final blood sacrifice in the divine plan for humanity’s salvation.

The evening service of Great Friday is dedicated to the taking down of the Savior from the cross and His burial.

Before the service begins, in the center of the church, an elevated stand adorned with flowers — the “tomb” — is prepared. In the sanctuary, upon the Holy Table, is placed the “epitaphios,” a specially decorated large cloth depicting the Savior laid in the tomb. The hymns chanted at this time reflect the Passion and crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

On this day, believers dye eggs red. They also bake Easter bread (paska), since, according to the Gospel, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ took place during the Jewish Passover.