Today is the most mournful day for the Orthodox believers. Arrested Jesus Christ was convoyed to the procurator Pontius Pilate in the early Friday morning. At the beginning, Pilate wanted to help the Savior avoid the capital punishment substituting it with beating, but the crowd protested and Pilate gave up. Jesus Christ was put to death on the cross together with other sinners at the Golgotha Mountain near Jerusalem.
Bishop Tikhon of Moscow Stetensky Monastery said in his interview to RIA Novosti that hatred of the people to Christ was huge – the history of religion does not know any other examples of such a strong denial. The essence of this hatred is mere human envy.
Important church services are delivered on the Holy Friday, such as taking out the Holy Shroud of Christ and the ceremony of Christ’s burial. The solemn procession together with the Holy Shroud is moving around the church listening to the bells’ chiming. The Believers come to the church to worship and pray.
Many believers spend this day quietly in a family circle without any preparation to Easter. “How can we serve the table when we are burying the closest friend? And what if this friend is God, who died for our sins?” a member of the congregation commented to the journalists.
Russkiy Mir
