Good Friday: A Day Like No Other

Good Friday is unlike any other day in the Christian calendar, the most solemn day of Holy Week; in fact, the most solemn day of the Church year.

On Good Friday, there is no celebration of Holy Eucharist. The bread consecrated the previous night, called the “Reserved Sacrament,” is distributed for Holy Communion. The altar is stripped bare of any covering or adornment and the focus is on the cross, instrument of Jesus’s execution.

The Liturgy of Good Friday is the second service of the Triduum, the three holy days leading up to Easter, which began with the observance of Maundy Thursday. On Good Friday, the Solemn Collects are said as prayers, the only day of the Church year that they are used. The Passion of Jesus is read from the Gospel according to John, an account that includes Jesus’s betrayal, trial, crucifixion, and burial. In place of a sermon, there is a “reflection.” At Trinity’s Good Friday liturgy, which begins at 12:05pm on April 15, the music will include anthems by John Blow, Anton Bruckner, Antonio Caldara, and Orlando Gibbons.

Trinity’s service includes Veneration of the Cross, a practice that occurred as early as the fourth century in Jerusalem, and was later adopted throughout Western Christianity. Veneration of the Cross will continue in Trinity Church until 3pm and will end with 33 tolls of the bells of the church, signifying the number of years in Jesus’s life. Following the tolling of the bells, the church and churchyards will be closed.  

The Liturgy of Good Friday is open to in-person attendance in Trinity Church, will be live-streamed at trinitywallstreet.org, and is also available live on Facebook and on YouTube.