Great and Holy Friday is the fifth and most solemn day of Great and Holy Week. On this day, we commemorate the crucifixion, death, and burial of our Lord, God, and Savior, Jesus Christ. Because the events of this day gained salvation for us, and re-opened to us the gates of heaven, this day is sometimes called Good Friday.

At the evening service of Vespers, the first part of the service (the hymns of Lamp-lighting) recalls to our minds the events of this day:

All creation is transformed with fear when it beheld you hanging on the Cross, O Christ. The sun was darkened and the foundations of the earth trembled. All creation suffered with the One who created all things. O Lord, who willingly suffered for us, glory to you. Throughout the day, the Plaščanitsa has rested on the holy table in the sanctuary. It is incensed from all four times as the aposticha hymns of Vespers are sung.

At the end of the service of Vespers, the burial shroud is carried around the church in procession on the back of the priest, who thus re-enacts the role of Joseph of Arimathea in taking our Lord's body to be placed in the Arimathean's own, unused tomb. During the procession, troparia and sung, slowly and solemnly, by the people.

But these events are still in the future, from our vantage point on Great and Holy Friday. As the service of Vespers draw to a close, the faithful come forward to the tomb to venerate the cloth which represents the body of our crucified Lord and Savior.

The Lord will descend to Hades, in search of those who were lost, while his body rests in the tomb; on Great and Holy Saturday, we will commemorate these events. But this night, it is traditional for the faithful to keep private vigil before the tomb of the Lord, in church, or in the home—in repentance, in thanksgiving, and in prayer for our salvation and that of the whole world.

Great and Holy Friday Procession

One of the most impressive rituals of Great and Holy Week in the Byzantine Rite is the Ritual of the Holy Shroud (Plaščanitsa) which is taken during the Vespers of Great Friday. The ceremony reflects an ancient liturgical tradition of the Byzantine Rite. Symbolically, the ritual commemorates the removal of the Body of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ from the cross, together with His burial, which followed immediately after His redeeming death.

Cross processions are a traditional and important part of our Byzantine Rite. The tradition dates back to the Byzantine empire in 400 AD when saints organized night processions around Constantinople to help protect the city from the heretics of the day.

On this Great Friday, the priest carries the Plaščanitsa draped over his back, imitating the noble Joseph who took down Christ's most pure body from the Cross. He is flanked in procession by dutiful faithful carrying the cross, candles, rapidia, the Gospel, and ikons, and the faithful who have emptied the church, symbolizing the empty tomb of Christ. As they faithful process around the church, we sing the Good Friday Vespers Troparion, “The noble Joseph took down your most pure body from the Cross. He wrapped it in a clean shroud, and with fragrant spices laid it in burial in a new tomb.” In Slavonic, “Blahoobráznyj Jósif, s dréva sném prečístoje Ťílo Tvojé, plaščaníceju čístoju obvív I voňámi, v hróbi nóvi pokrýv položí.”

The faithful, with great devotion and compunction in their hearts, approach the Holy Shroud on their knees (symbolizing their sorrow) and ”moved by their love” they kiss the saving wounds of our Savior.