Holy Friday in EO

[crazylikeafox]

I wanted to attend a Holy Friday service at an Orthodox church -- the one nearby has a service starting at 3pm, I believe. I am not Orthodox, I've just been exploring it a bit, and I've only attended Divine Liturgy once. I was just wondering what to expect from the Holy Friday service. I have a little one, so I was curious how long it would be & what the ceremony is like.

Thank you for all your help!

 

[choirfiend]

At 3pm, I believe the service is the Vespers of Holy Friday. Its perhaps one of the shorter services all week. Vespers is the evening prayer service, psalms and hymns for the day to come are prominent. At this Vespers, there is also the "unnailing from the Cross" where the icon of Christ which was on a cross is taken down and carried to the "tomb" in the middle of the church. It's extremely solemn.

Its hard to say for sure without showing us the church calendar, but that' what is likely. Our Unnailing is at 4pm, and our Lamentations service is at 7pm. Does the church also list a Lamentations?

 

[-Kyriaki-]

I'd guess that that's what it is too. The gospel readings are telling the story (briefly) from the trial before Pilate through to the Burial of Christ. The big icon of Christ is un-nailed (actually bolted, normally) from the Cross at the front of the Church and placed on a funeral bier/tomb, usually heavily decorated with flowers. It's rather beautiful, and quite short. At the end, everyone goes up to kiss the icon of Christ in the tomb, you don't have to do this if you don't feel comfortable though. If your little one knows the story of Easter, it will probably be a good experience for her since it's an acting out of the story.

 

[crazylikeafox]

Thank you all for the info you provided. It was the "Passion Vespers" at three, then the schedule says "Lamentations" at seven. Unfortunately I couldn't attend, because my young lady (just barely a year old) had her doctor visit run long. She has two ear infections and is so congested, we have to give her breathing treatments (every four to six hours she has to have a face mask on that allows her to breath in meds). >.< Poor baby.

I'm disappointed to miss the vespers, as it sounded like a very meaningful & beautiful ceremony. I will be looking forward to attending next year!

 

[choirfiend]

sorry to hear baby is sick! Mine is 15 months and she's quite the character at church. We spend a lot of time in the Narthex. Maybe you can make it to a Pascha service? And if not, there might be Vespers each night during teh next week for Bright Week. Those will actually be only 45 min or so and are a beautiful way to continue celebrating the Resurrection.