The Weekly Festal Cycle
Preparation Day (Paraskevi-Friday)
By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou
By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou
If every day of the week has its particularity from a liturgical point of view, because it has its special celebratory significance, the day of Friday is a very important day, because it reminds us of Great Friday, on which Christ was crucified, died according to His human nature and He was entombed. Just as every Sunday we remember and celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and it is characterized as the weekly Pascha, so every Friday reminds us of the day of Great Friday, on which Christ was crucified and died on the Cross.
We all know from the narratives of the Evangelists, as quoted in the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and as taught by our Orthodox Tradition, that on Thursday night Christ gave His Disciples the Secret Supper, the Divine Eucharist, and then in Gethsemane He made the Great Prayer to His Father, saying "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me, not as I will, but as You will" (Matt. 26:39). And then He was arrested by the mob, after the betrayal of Judas. The decision made on Wednesday was implemented on Thursday night to be completed on Friday, therefore Wednesday and Friday are two fasting days.
However, the whole night from Thursday night until Friday morning they carried Christ from Annas to Caiaphas, and in the morning the High Priests, the Scribes and the Elders of the people took Him to their Council for questioning and then led Him to Pilate, and he, after an interrogation, led him to Herod and from there he was referred to Pilate, who, after an unjust process, issued the death sentence, approximately at 9 o'clock in the morning. Throughout the night from Thursday to Friday, Christ faced the wickedness of people, their fallen state.
From that time, at 9 in the morning, they led Christ to Golgotha, where they crucified him between two criminals. On Friday, from 12 o'clock until 3 o'clock in the afternoon, there was darkness over the whole earth and then Christ, after saying seven phrases on the Cross, died, according to His human nature. Then followed the removal and burial of Christ's body, which remained in the tomb together with the Divinity, while His soul together with the Divinity descended into Hades and freed all the righteous of the Old Testament.
The day of Friday is permeated with sorrow and joy, it is the so-called joyful-sorrow, as written in the patristic texts and the troparia that speak of sorrow because of sin and joy because of salvation.
The Apostle Paul in his epistle to the Colossians writes that Christ abolished the manuscript with the provisions of the law that were against us and lifted it from us, nailing it to the Cross. And he continues: "Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it," that is, Christ removed the power of the demonic principalities and powers and cast them out, defeating them on the Cross (Col. 2:14-15).
Also, in his first epistle to the Corinthians he writes: "For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Cor. 1:23-24). In other words, the Jews consider that preaching about the Cross is a scandal, and the Greek philosophers consider it nonsense, while for us Christ crucified is the power and wisdom of God.
This means that Christ on the Cross defeated sin, the devil and death, therefore the Cross is the strength and beauty of the Church, as we chant in the Church: "Your Cross, Lord, is the life and resurrection of Your people." And the Exapostelarion which has been determined to be chanted every Wednesday and Friday is: "O Cross, you are the guardian of the whole world. O Cross, you are the height of the Church’s beauty. O Cross, you are what strengthened the Emperors. O Cross, the believers’ firm support. O Cross, the glory of Angels and the defeat of the demons."
However, on Friday we remember this triumph of Christ and the defeat of the devil, but also the fall of the people, who "crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Cor. 2:8). The Jews were constantly reading the books of the Old Testament, the prophecies of the holy Prophets about the incarnation of the Son and Word of God and they did not understand Christ when He became human. This is a big delusion. This can also happen to us Orthodox, who cannot understand the power of the mystery of the Cross, which is the basis of all ascetic, hesychastic life and is inspired by the mystery of the Resurrection.
Thus, the day of Friday is a day of sorrow for sin and joy for salvation. That is why the Church determined this day to be a strict fast and to participate in the Cross of Christ and to express our sorrow for the people of our time, but also so that we do not reach the point of crucifying Christ, while we are members of the Church.
The Apostle Paul in his epistle to the Hebrews refers to the Christians who through Baptism and Chrismation were illuminated and tasted the gift of God and the graces of the Holy Spirit and all that is connected with the future age, the Kingdom of God, and all these are "crucifying again for themselves the Son of God" (Heb. 6:4-6). One crucifies Christ again with their passions and sins.
Therefore, every Friday we fast strictly in order to bring to our memory the events that took place on that day, but also so that we do not come to crucify Christ again with our sins and our impenitence, because according to Saint Maximus the Confessor, either we are crucified together with Christ or we will crucify Christ again with our sins and passions.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
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