The Six Hour of Good Friday: the Crucifixion
After that they forced Him to carry His weapon of execution, the Cross, under which He fell three times on His way to Calvary. “And He bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha” (John 19:17). Here is another symbolism in old Testament similar to the story: “So Abraham {symbol of God the Father] took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac [symbol of Christ] his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” [Gen. 22: 6-8].
The Cross was so heavy that they forced a man called Simon the Cyrene to carry it the rest of the way to the Gologota. When Christ reached there, they took His robe and the rest of His Clothes, which left Him completely naked. The one who covered the nakedness of Adam and Eve when they sinned, become necked, with no fault of His own. He allowed this because nakedness was a sign and punishment of sin. It showed the state of humankind.
Then they pierce and drove huge nails into His hands and leg using a heavy hummer. It is beyond imaginable to think how much suffering He endured at those moments. Then they rose the Cross and put it in the hole they dug for it in the ground. As they do this, the Body is pulled down, and its whole weight pushes on the three spots where the nails are. This produces tremendous pain.
At the 6th Hour (the Hour of the Crucifixion), before the Gospel readings, the priest sings:
“We prostrate in front of Your Cross, O Master, and all of us, we glorify Your holy Resurrection, now and forever).
Deacon chants: They pierced My hands and My feet; I can count all My bones.They look and stare at Me. [Psalm 22:16-17]. which is repeated by the people.
When the mother of God saw this, she wept bitterly, saying, “My child, what unjust death and no one suffer with you. Peter doesn’t accompany You-- he said to You, ““Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” [Mt. 26:33]. Tomas has left You-- he said, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.” [11:16]. “a sward has gone through my heart, O Son,” said the Virgin in her grief, as she beheld Christ her son and Master hanging on the tree, “and my heart is sorely rent, O Master, from my grief, as Symon once told me of old. But do you now arise, O Word. And i Pray Thee, O Immortal one, do you glorify your mother and and maid with this.” [Lamentation of St Mary] One saint said, “the pain which, in ways surpassing nature, your mother did not undergo at Your birth, she suffered at you holy Passion. For she was filled with agony when she saw You nailed of Your own will by the Jews upon the Cross, O you who has set the earth upon the foundation of the waters”.
On Christ’s suffering and death, St. Cyril of Alexandria said, “God, who is beyond suffering, suffered in His own flesh as a human being. In becoming man, though God, in no way did He cease being God; ..being master according to His divinity, He “took upon Him the form of servant” [Phil. 2:7] yet He still has the inseparable dignity of a Master; being the Only-Begotten, He become “the firstborn among many brethren”[Rom. 8:30]. So the all-wise Paul says that Christ Jesus, who, being “in the form of God [Phil. 2:6] and equal to God the Father, ‘became obedient unto death, even the death at the Cross’”[Phil. 2:8].
The Ninth Hour: Death.
Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. The Church recreates this eclipse by turning off all the light in the church. The three huge wounds of the hands and the feet bleed profusely; and the internal organs are under physical stress and began to deteriorate because of the diminished amount of blood getting into them. While on the cross Jesus Christ spoke seven times. Seven is one of the numbers that means perfection, and in this particular case meant that Jesus’ mission was perfectly completed. The whole body is dehydrated. Finally the vital organs began to stop functioning, and when the heart stops, He died before the two thieves who were crucified with Him.
At the 9th hour, before the Gospel reading, three priests sit down in front of the picture of Crucifixion (as if in front of the Cross itself); a large black cloth is put on their heads (symbolizing people coming to mourn in front of the Cross), and they say three times: «Amnestiti moukyria enti fassilia sou» (distortion of Greek «mnestiti mou kyrie en ti vassilai sou»), «Lord remember me in your Kingdom»
.At the 9th Hour (the Hour of Christ’s death), (while pulling at the censer) the three priests sing in turn: «He tasted death in His Flesh», three times and faithful will repeat it and prostate.
Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.” But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? ... Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” [Lk 23:39]
“The thief, whose hand were defiled with blood
Thou did accept as thy fellow-traveler
With him, number us also, O lord
For Thou are good and lovest mankind
But we, imitate the righteous thief, cry out in faith
Remember us also, O savior, in thy kingdom”
With St. Mary, mother of God, at the time of crucifixion was St. John the disciple. He alone among the disciple did not abandoned the Lord. He remained faithful to the very end, and was present to accept Jesus’ last command. “Woman, behold your son!” 27 Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home. The mother of God experience agony:-
“Today the blameless virgin
Saw Thee suspending upon the Cross, O ward,
She mourned within herself and was sorely pierced in her heart
She groaned in agony from depth of her soul”
After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine,
Deacon: They also gave me gall for my food, And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. [Psalm 69:21]
He said, “It is finished!”And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.Then, the soldiers broke their legs of the two thieves to hasten their death, but when they came to Jesus they found that He was already dead. Then one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, diagonally ending in the heart. This was a prophecy mentioned in Psalm: “ my heart is wounded” [109:21]. Immediately blood and water came out from His side. As Moses struck the rock in the desert, and water poured out that saved the life of the people of Israel, when the soldier pierced the side of our Saviour on the Cross, blood and water came out. It is now up to us to satisfy our thirst from the water of life. The soldier who thrust this spear was named Longinus, after this majestic events, he confessed Christianity and become himself a martyr.
Eleventh Hour : Taking down from the Cross
After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took the body of Jesus.“When the holy Joseph and Nicodemus were taking down/burying the body of our Lord, doubts entered their minds concerning His Divinity. Suddenly, a choir of angels appeared to them singing defiantly, “Holy God, Holy mighty, Holy immortal.” and at the words “Holy Immortal One,” Christ opened His eyes in their face; then the two righteous men, realizing their error, joined in the singing, and then as if to confess their sin and to ask for mercy and forgiveness, they added to the angelic hymn the phrase, “O Thou Who was crucified for us have mercy on us”. The Church later adopted this hymn, adding a verse concerning the Virgin birth of our Lord and another concerning His resurrection and ascension.” This prayer is called The Trisagion [KIDAN - Prayer of the Covenant], which we use it on daily bases in our Church whenever there is a service.
At the 11th Hour, all the objects and Crosses (in front of the sanctuary) will be taken away, and the clergy will carry the picture of the Crucifixion or the representation of Christ’s ‘body’ into the sanctuary, and pray: «Christ have mercy upon us», 400 times (a hundred times each toward the four cardinal points); and the people will respond: «Christ have mercy upon us» («Egzio maharane Krestos»; this prayer is therefore called egziota.
Then, at the place called Qine-Mahlet, another ritual unique to the tradition takes place: the cursing of Judas and his generation. Several Mergetas form a circle, with one person standing in the middle holding a stick (maqwamia) with a candle (twaf) at its tip, which is a symbol of the devil and Judas. At the end of the last verse of Psalm I, when «But the way of the ungodly will perish » is said, all the clergy strike the stick in the middle to extinguish the light of its twaf , and ‘destroy’ it, as through Christ’s death the Devil has lost his power and Judas is cursed and destroyed because of his betrayal.
Immediately after, the clergy with sistra and beating of sticks and drums used for the first time since Palm Sunday, and all sing: «Sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously» (Ex.15:21)
After that faithful will come to the priest who will give them (gentle) strokes (tibtaba) on their back, with olive branches, to commemorate the Flagellation of Christ, and as an absolution. At the same time, as confession is due on that day, the faithful will rapidly confess their sins to the priest.
Twelfth Hour: Burial
And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews’ Preparation Day, for the tomb was nearby.[Jn 19:38]
I lay down and slept [Psalm 3:5]
God Bless!
Dn. Medhanie
