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! ===Matins of Holy and Great Saturday=== [[File:Epitaphios Peleka.jpg|thumb|left|The Epitaphios being carried in [[procession]] in a church in Greece.]] On Friday night, the Matins of [[Holy and Great Saturday]], a unique service known as ''The Lamentation at the Tomb''<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2_zMVTcdpg |title=The Lamentation at the Tomb |website=[[YouTube]] |access-date=30 April 2019 |archive-date=5 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005142107/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2_zMVTcdpg |url-status=live }}</ref> ''(Epitáphios Thrēnos)'' is celebrated. This service is also sometimes called ''Jerusalem Matins''. Much of the service takes place around the tomb of Christ in the center of the nave.<ref>{{Cite web|title=History of Good Friday – Good Friday Story, Eastergoodfriday.com|url=http://www.eastergoodfriday.com/history-of-good-friday.html|website=www.eastergoodfriday.com|access-date=2020-05-27|archive-date=3 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211003004835/http://www.eastergoodfriday.com/history-of-good-friday.html|url-status=live}}</ref> [[File:Epitaphios.jpg|thumb|Epitaphios adorned for veneration, Church of Saints Constantine and Helen, Hippodromion Sq., Thessaloniki, Greece]] A unique feature of the service is the chanting of the Lamentations or Praises (''[[Encomium|Enkōmia]]''), which consist of verses chanted by the clergy interspersed between the verses of [[Psalm 119]] (which is, by far, the longest [[psalm]] in the Bible). The ''Enkōmia'' are the best-loved hymns of Byzantine hymnography, both their poetry and their music being uniquely suited to each other and to the spirit of the day.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Maunder |first=Chris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NgulDwAAQBAJ&dq=good+friday+possibly+before+the+time+of+St.+Romanos+the+Melodist.&pg=PA159 |title=The Oxford Handbook of Mary |date=2019-08-07 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-879255-0 |language=en}}</ref> They consist of 185 [[tercet]] [[antiphon]]s arranged in three parts (''stáseis'' or "stops"), which are interjected with the verses of Psalm 119, and nine short ''doxastiká'' ("[[Gloria in excelsis Deo|Gloriae]]") and ''Theotókia'' (invocations to the Virgin Mary). The three ''stáseis'' are each set to its own music, and are commonly known by their initial antiphons: {{lang|grc|Ἡ ζωὴ ἐν τάφῳ}}, "Life in a grave", {{lang|grc|Ἄξιον ἐστί}}, "Worthy it is", and {{lang|grc|Αἱ γενεαὶ πᾶσαι}}, "All the generations". Musically they can be classified as [[strophic]], with 75, 62, and 48 tercet [[stanza]]s each, respectively.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Maunder |first=Chris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NgulDwAAQBAJ&dq=good+friday+possibly+before+the+time+of+St.+Romanos+the+Melodist.&pg=PA159 |title=The Oxford Handbook of Mary |date=2019-08-07 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-879255-0 |language=en}}</ref> The climax of the ''Enkōmia'' comes during the third ''stásis'', with the antiphon "Ω γλυκύ μου ἔαρ", a lamentation of the Virgin for her dead Child ("O, my sweet spring, my sweetest child, where has your beauty gone?"). Later, during a different antiphon of that stasis ("Early in the morning the myrrh-bearers came to Thee and sprinkled myrrh upon Thy tomb"), young girls of the parish place flowers on the Epitaphios and the priest sprinkles it with rose-water. The author(s) and date of the ''Enkōmia'' are unknown. Their High Attic linguistic style suggests a dating around the 6th century, possibly before the time of [[St. Romanos the Melodist]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Maunder |first=Chris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NgulDwAAQBAJ&dq=good+friday+possibly+before+the+time+of+St.+Romanos+the+Melodist.&pg=PA159 |title=The Oxford Handbook of Mary |date=2019-08-07 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-879255-0 |language=en}}</ref> [[File:Epitaph Adelaide.jpg|thumb|The Epitaphios mounted upon return of procession, at an Orthodox Church in Adelaide, Australia.]] The Evlogitaria (Benedictions) of the Resurrection are sung as on Sunday, since they refer to the conversation between the myrrh-bearers and the angel in the tomb, followed by kathismata about the burial of Christ. Psalm 50 (51) is then immediately read, and then followed by a much loved-canon, written by Mark the Monk, Bishop of Hydrous and Kosmas of the Holy City, with irmoi by Kassiani the Nun. The high-point of the much-loved Canon is Ode 9, which takes the form of a dialogue between Christ and the Theotokos, with Christ promising His Mother the hope of the Resurrection. This Canon will be sung again the following night at the Midnight Office.{{cn|date=March 2024}} Lauds follows, and its stichera take the form of a funeral lament, while always preserving the hope of the Resurrection. The doxasticon links Christ's rest in the tomb with His rest on the seventh day of creation, and the theotokion ("Most blessed art thou, O Virgin Theotokos...) is the same as is used on Sundays.{{cn|date=March 2024}} At the end of the [[Great Doxology]], while the [[Trisagion]] is sung, the epitaphios is taken in [[crucession|procession]] around the outside the church, and is then returned to the tomb. Some churches observe the practice of holding the epitaphios at the door, above waist level, so the faithful most bow down under it as they come back into the church, symbolizing their entering into the death and resurrection of Christ. The epitaphios will lay in the tomb until the Paschal Service early Sunday morning. In some churches, the epitaphios is never left alone, but is accompanied 24 hours a day by a reader chanting from the Psalter.{{Citation needed|date=March 2011}} When the procession has returned to the church, a troparion is read, similar to hthe ones read at the Sixth Hour throughout Lent, focusing on the purpose of Christ's burial. A series of prokimena and readings are then said: * The first prokimenon is from Psalm 43 (44): 'Arise, Lord, and help us: and deliver us for Thy Name's sake.' * Ezekiel 37:1-14 - God tells Ezekiel to command bones to come to life. * The second prokimenon is from Psalm 9 (9-10), and is based on the verses sung at the kathismata and Lauds on Sundays: 'Arise, O Lord my God, lift up Thine hand: forget not Thy poor forever.' * 1 Corinthians 5:6-8; Galatians 3:13-14 - St. Paul celebrates the Passion of Christ and explains its role in the life of Gentile Christians. * The Alleluia verses are from Psalm 67 (68), and are based on the Paschal verses: 'Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered.' * Matthew 27:62-66 - The Pharisees ask Pilate to set a watch at the tomb. At the end of the service, a final hymn is sung as the faithful come to venerate the Epitaphios.{{cn|date=March 2024}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page