Good Friday

mczlatko (52)Friendin Steem Schools • 3 years ago

Source: https://vistina.com.mk

The decision to execute Christ on Holy Wednesday was made by the Jewish ecclesiastical assembly (the Sanhedrin). Jesus Christ was found and arrested at the Garden of Gethsemane after the Last Supper on the night between Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. That night, Christ was tortured and flogged before being brought before Pontius Pilate, the Roman viceroy. He first declares that he finds no guilt for which he can condemn Christ. But the Pharisees, seeing that Jesus could be set free, slander him for proclaiming himself king, and thus rise up against Rome and the emperor. For such a sin the Romans had to punish the perpetrator. Since it was the Passover, the greatest Jewish holiday for which a prisoner was usually released, Pilate asked the assembled people who wanted to be released. Jesus or Barabbas, a robber who killed several Roman soldiers. The assembled people again stirred up the Pharisees and demanded that Barabbas be released. When Pilate asked what to do with Jesus, the people shouted, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" Therefore, after pronouncing the verdict, Pontius Pilate washed his hands and addressed the gathered people with the words: "I am not guilty of the death of this righteous man."
Christ was given a crown of thorns on his head and a heavy cross on his shoulders, which he carried to the hill of Golgotha, where he was crucified. Along the way he was spat upon and insulted by the majority of the people. But there was also a good man named Simon of Cyrene who had compassion and helped Jesus to carry the cross. Even today, 2,000 years later, the path he took is known as the path of pain. Three crosses were placed on Golgotha. The cross of Jesus was in the middle and two robbers were crucified on the sides. Even on the cross, Jesus asked God for forgiveness for his executioners, shouting, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." When he surrendered his soul to God at about three o'clock in the afternoon, the sun went down, graves were opened, the earth shook, the curtain in the temple split in half, and the rocks cracked with a terrible sound. This confirmed Jesus' words that "even dead stones shall bear witness of the living God." Beside the cross remained the Mother of God, the Apostle John, Mary Magdalene and several other women. No, petrified by pain, the Mother of God saw the lifeless body of her son. Joseph of Arimathea went to Pilate and asked for permission to take Jesus' body off the cross and bury it. Because the next day was a Sabbath (when nothing was done), so that the body would not stand on the cross for three days, Pilate gave permission for his burial. They wrapped Jesus' body in cloth and carried it to a new tomb that Joseph had prepared for himself. The tomb was carved into a rock, at the entrance of which the Romans placed a huge stone and guards, fearing that someone might steal the body.

Source: https://mk.wikipedia.org

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Good Friday is also celebrated with holy liturgies and the offering of bloodless sacrifices, with the reading of excerpts from the Gospels from the passage describing the week of the sufferings of the Son of God. Then the church is surrounded three times with the cover that symbolizes the burial of Jesus accompanied by the sounds of knocking.
The Orthodox canon for Good Friday provides for a strict fast with water, and many believers do not drink or eat on that day until sunset. For this day the Church prescribes the strictest fast, the day to pass without eating and drinking as a sign of sad remembrance of the events of that time. Apart from fasting, on the day of Christian mourning there is no work at home or in the field.

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