Good Friday Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Protestant== ===Lutheran Church=== [[File:Chancel of Grace Lutheran Church on Good Friday.jpg|thumb|upright|The [[chancel]] of this Lutheran church is adorned with black [[parament]]s on Good Friday, the liturgical colour associated with Good Friday in the Lutheran Churches.]] In [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] tradition from the 16th to the 20th century, Good Friday was the most important religious holiday, and abstention from all worldly works was expected. During that time, Lutheranism had no restrictions on the celebration of the Eucharist on Good Friday; on the contrary, it was a prime day on which to receive the Eucharist, and services were often accentuated by special music such as the ''[[St Matthew Passion]]'' by [[Johann Sebastian Bach]].<ref name="GassmannOldenburg2011"/> [[File: 2014-04-18 Apostelkirche Hannover, Karfreitag-Gottesdienst, (005) Johannespassion, William-Byrd-Ensemble, Apostelchor, Andreas Schmidt-Adolf, Erwin Schütterle.jpg|thumb|left|Good Friday service in a Lutheran church in [[Hanover]], Germany, 2014.]] More recently, Lutheran liturgical practice has recaptured Good Friday as part of the larger sweep of the great Three Days: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Vigil of Easter. The three days remain one liturgy which celebrates the death and resurrection of Jesus. As part of the liturgy of the three days, Lutherans generally fast from the Eucharist on Good Friday. Rather, it is celebrated in remembrance of the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday and at the [[Vigil of Easter]]. One practice among Lutheran churches is to celebrate a [[Tenebrae#Lutheran practice|tenebrae]] service on Good Friday, typically conducted in candlelight and consisting of a collection of passion accounts from the four gospels. While being called "Tenebrae" it holds little resemblance to the now-suppressed Catholic monastic rite of the same name.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historiclectionary.com/2010/03/a-word-about-tenebrae |title=A Word About Tenebrae | |publisher=Historiclectionary.com |date=22 March 2010 |access-date=23 April 2014 |archive-date=6 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006232713/http://www.historiclectionary.com/2010/03/a-word-about-tenebrae/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The Good Friday liturgy appointed in ''[[Evangelical Lutheran Worship]]'', the worship book of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, specifies a liturgy similar to the revised Roman Catholic liturgy. A rite for adoration of the crucified Christ includes the optional singing of the [[Improperia#Lutheranism|Solemn Reproaches]] in an updated and revised translation which eliminates some of the [[Jewish deicide|anti-Jewish overtones]] in previous versions. Many Lutheran churches have Good Friday services, such as the [[Three Hours' Agony]] centered on the remembrance of the "Seven Last Words," sayings of Jesus assembled from the four gospels, while others hold a liturgy that places an emphasis on the triumph of the cross, and a singular biblical account of the Passion narrative from the Gospel of John.{{citation needed|date=April 2017}} Along with observing a general Lenten fast,<ref name="GassmannOldenburg2011">{{cite book|last1=Gassmann|first1=Günther|last2=Oldenburg|first2=Mark W.|title=Historical Dictionary of Lutheranism|year=2011|publisher=Scarecrow Press|language=en|isbn=978-0810874824|page=229|quote=In many Lutheran churches, the Sundays during the Lenten season are called by the first word of their respective Latin Introitus (with the exception of Palm/Passion Sunday): Invocavit, Reminiscere, Oculi, Laetare, and Judica. Many Lutheran church orders of the 16th century retained the observation of the Lenten fast, and Lutherans have observed this season with a serene, earnest attitude. Special days of eucharistic communion were set aside on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.}}</ref> many Lutherans emphasize the importance of Good Friday as a day of fasting within the calendar.<ref name="Pfatteicher1990">{{cite book|last=Pfatteicher|first=Philip H.|title=Commentary on the Lutheran Book of Worship: Lutheran Liturgy in Its Ecumenical Context|year=1990|publisher=Augsburg Fortress Publishers|language=en |isbn=978-0800603922|pages=223–244, 260|quote=The Good Friday fast became the principal fast in the calendar, and even after the Reformation in Germany many Lutherans who observed no other fast scrupulously kept Good Friday with strict fasting.}}</ref><ref name="JacobsHaas1899">{{cite book|last1=Jacobs|first1=Henry Eyster|last2=Haas|first2=John Augustus William|title=The Lutheran Cyclopedia|year=1899|publisher=Scribner|language=en|page=110|quote=By many Lutherans Good Friday is observed as a strict fast. The lessons on Ash Wednesday emphasize the proper idea of the fast. The Sundays in Lent receive their names from the first words of their Introits in the Latin service, Invocavit, Reminiscere, Oculi, Lcetare, Judica.}}</ref> ''A Handbook for the Discipline of Lent'' recommends the Lutheran guideline to "Fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday with only one simple meal during the day, usually without meat".<ref name="ELCA1978">{{cite web|url=http://www.ststephenlutheranchurch.org/pdf/Disciplines%20of%20Lent-%20Handbook.pdf|title=A Handbook for the Discipline of Lent|last=Weitzel|first=Thomas L.|year=1978|publisher=Evangelical Lutheran Church in America|language=en|access-date=17 March 2018|archive-date=17 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317164940/http://www.ststephenlutheranchurch.org/pdf/Disciplines%20of%20Lent-%20Handbook.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> ===Anglican Communion=== In the Anglican Communion, the [[Black Fast]] has been historically observed by devout believers.<ref name="Armentrout2000">{{cite book|last=Armentrout|first=Don S.|title=An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church|date=1 January 2000|publisher=Church Publishing, Inc.|language=en|isbn=9780898697018|page=139}}</ref> The Black Fast was especially popular during the 19th century as it sought to imitate "the fasting of the ancient church."<ref name="Armentrout2000"/> The [[Book of Common Prayer (1662)|1662 ''Book of Common Prayer'']] did not specify a particular rite to be observed on Good Friday but local custom came to mandate an assortment of services, including the Seven Last Words from the Cross and a three-hour service consisting of Matins, Ante-communion (using the [[Reserved Sacrament]] in [[high church]] parishes) and [[Evening Prayer (Book of Common Prayer)|Evensong]]. In recent times,{{When|date=April 2017}} revised editions of the Prayer Book and [[Common Worship]] have re-introduced pre-[[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] forms of observance of Good Friday corresponding to those in today's Roman Catholic Church, with special nods to the rites that had been observed in the Church of England prior to the [[English Reformation|Henrican, Edwardian and Elizabethan reforms]], including Creeping to the Cross.{{citation needed|date=April 2017}} ===Methodist Church=== [[File:Minister prostrates at the start of United Methodist Good Friday liturgy.jpg|thumb|A United Methodist minister [[Prostration|prostrates]] at the start of the Good Friday liturgy at Holy Family Church, in accordance with the rubrics in the [[The United Methodist Book of Worship (1992)|Book of Worship]]. The [[processional cross]] is veiled in black, the liturgical colour associated with Good Friday in Methodist Churches.]] [[File:Chancel of Houston Memorial UMC on Good Friday.jpg|thumb|left|[[Stripping of the Altar|Altar and cross veiled]] in a Methodist church on Maundy Thursday in preparation for Good Friday.]] Many [[Methodism|Methodist denominations]] commemorate Good Friday with fasting,<ref name="RipleyDana1883"/><ref name="BaysWacker2010">{{cite book|last1=Bays|first1=Daniel H|last2=Wacker|first2=Grant|title=The Foreign Missionary Enterprise at Home: Explorations in North American Cultural History|year=2010|publisher=University of Alabama Press|isbn=978-0817356408|page=277}}</ref> as well as a [[service of worship]] based on the Seven Last Words from the Cross; this liturgy is known as the [[Three Hours' Agony|Three Hours Devotion]] as it starts at noon and concludes at 3 pm, the latter being the time that Jesus died on the cross.<ref>{{cite book |title=The United Methodist Book of Worship: Regular Edition Black |date=2016 |publisher=United Methodist Publishing House |isbn=978-1426735004 |page=365 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Reflector-Good Friday">{{cite web|url=http://www.reflector.com/local/content/news/stories/2008/03/21/GoodFriday.html |title=Christians mark Good Friday |publisher=The Daily Reflector |access-date=21 March 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080330184414/http://www.reflector.com/local/content/news/stories/2008/03/21/GoodFriday.html |archive-date=30 March 2008 }}</ref> On Maundy Thursday, the altar and the cross [[Stripping of the Altar|are usually veiled]] in black for Good Friday, as black is the liturgical colour for Good Friday in the United Methodist Church. A wooden cross may sit in front of the bare chancel.<ref>{{cite book |title=The United Methodist Book of Worship: Regular Edition Black |date=2016 |publisher=United Methodist Publishing House |isbn=978-1426735004 |page=363 |language=en|quote=...a plain wooden cross may now be brought into the church and placed in the sight of the people. ... During Silent Meditation and The Reproaches, persons may be invited to come forward informally to kneel briefly before the cross or touch it.}}</ref> ===Moravian Church=== [[Moravian Church|Moravians]] hold a [[Lovefeast]] on Good Friday as they receive Holy Communion on Maundy Thursday. Communicants of the Moravian Church practice the Good Friday tradition of cleaning [[God's Acre|gravestones in Moravian cemeteries]].<ref name="WSJ2020">{{cite web |title=PHOTOS: Cleaning Moravian gravestones, a Good Friday tradition |url=https://www.journalnow.com/news/local/photos-cleaning-moravian-gravestones-a-good-friday-tradition |publisher=[[Winston-Salem Journal]] |access-date=11 April 2020 |language=en |date=10 April 2020 }}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> ===Reformed Churches=== In the [[Reformed tradition|Reformed]] tradition, Good Friday is one of the [[evangelical feast]]s and is thus widely observed with [[church service]]s, which feature the Solemn Reproaches in the pattern of [[Psalm 78]], towards the end of the liturgy.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rca.org/resources/good-friday|title=Good Friday|publisher=[[Reformed Church in America]]|access-date=8 March 2018|archive-date=19 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170619233420/https://www.rca.org/resources/good-friday|url-status=live}}</ref> ===Other Christian traditions=== Many [[Protestant]] churches hold an [[Interdenominational]] [[Church service|service]] with [[Lord's Supper]]. <ref> Britannica, ''Encyclopedia of World Religions'', Encyclopaedia Britannica, USA, 2008, p. 309</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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