12 Gospels of Saints. Evening service on Maundy Thursday at Sretensky Monastery

The text of the Gospel readings is given in synodal translation for a better understanding of the service and is provided with detailed patristic and theological exegetical interpretations, which will help you better understand the meaning and significance of the Consequence of the Holy and Saving Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, also called the service of the “Twelve Gospels of the Holy Passion of Christ.”

During Great Lent on Holy Week, on the evening of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday Matins, or the service of the 12 Gospels, as this service is usually called, is celebrated. This entire service is dedicated to the reverent remembrance of the saving suffering and death on the cross of the God-Man. Every hour of this day there is a new deed of the Savior, and the echo of these deeds is heard in every word of the service.

In it, the Church reveals to believers the full picture of the Lord’s suffering, starting from the bloody sweat in the Garden of Gethsemane to the Calvary crucifixion. The Passion Gospels are a sequence of passages selected from all the Evangelists and divided into twelve readings, according to the number of hours of the night, which indicates that believers should spend the whole night listening to the Gospels, like the apostles who accompanied their Teacher the Lord to the Garden of Gethsemane. Taking us mentally through past centuries, the Church, as it were, brings us to the very foot of the cross of Christ and makes us reverent spectators of all the torment of the Savior. Believers listen to the Gospel stories with lighted candles in their hands, lighting them before reading each Gospel text, and after each reading through the mouths of the singers they thank the Lord with the words: “Glory to Your long-suffering, Lord!” After each reading of the Gospel, the bell is struck accordingly. John Chrysostom already mentions the reading of the Passion Gospels on this day.

Order of the Passion Gospels

John 13:31-18:1 (Farewell conversation of the Savior with the disciples and His high priestly prayer for them).
John 18:1-28 (The capture of the Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane and His suffering at the hands of the High Priest Anna).
Matt. 26:57-75 (The Savior’s suffering at the hands of the high priest Caiaphas and the denial of Peter).
John 18:28-40, 19:1-16 (The Lord's suffering at Pilate's trial).
Matt. 27:3-32 (The despair of Judas, the new suffering of the Lord under Pilate and His condemnation to crucifixion).
Mar. 15:16-32 (Leading the Lord to Golgotha and His Passion on the Cross).
Matt. 27:34-54 (Continuation of the story of the Lord’s suffering on the cross, the miraculous signs that accompanied His death).
Onion. 23:32-49 (Prayer of the Savior on the Cross for enemies and repentance of a prudent thief).
John 19:25-37 (The Savior’s words from the cross to the Mother of God and the Apostle John and repetition of the legend about His death and perforation).
Mar. 15:43-47 (Removal of the Lord's body from the Cross).
John 19:38-42 (Participation of Nicodemus and Joseph in the burial of the Savior).
Matt. 27:62-66 (Attaching guards to the tomb of the Savior and sealing the tomb).

We see that this reading is compiled from the texts of all four evangelists. The chants of 15 antiphons in the intervals between readings only complement and explain the course of the Gospel events. The entire service, except the Gospel readings, is sung as a sign of great spiritual triumph. The Gospel readings were chosen to highlight the suffering of the Savior from different angles and to present their successive stages.

“Before us passes a picture of what happened to the Savior out of love for us; He could have avoided all this if only he had retreated, if only he had wanted to save Himself and not complete the work for which He came!.. Of course, then He would not have been Who He really was; He would not be Divine love incarnate, He would not be our Savior; but at what price does love cost!

Christ spends one terrible night face to face with coming death; and He fights this death, which comes at Him inexorably, just as a man fights before death. But usually a person simply dies helplessly; something more tragic was happening here.

Christ had previously said to his disciples: No one takes life from me - I give it freely... And so He freely, but with what horror, gave it away... The first time He prayed to the Father: Father! If this can pass me by, yes, a blowjob!.. and I struggled. And the second time He prayed: Father! If this cup cannot pass Me by, let it be... And only for the third time, after new struggle, He could say: Thy will be done...

We must think about this: it always - or often - seems to us that it was easy for Him to give His life, being God who became man: but He, our Savior, Christ, dies as a Man: not by His immortal Divinity, but by His humanity , a living, truly human body...

And then we see the crucifixion: how He was killed with a slow death and how He, without one word of reproach, surrendered to torment. The only words He addressed to the Father about the tormentors were: Father, forgive them - they do not know what they are doing...

This is what we must learn: in the face of persecution, in the face of humiliation, in the face of insults - in the face of a thousand things that are far, far removed from the very thought of death, we must look at the person who offends us, humiliates us, wants to destroy us, and turn around soul to God and say: Father, forgive them: they don’t know what they are doing, they don’t understand the meaning of things...”

“But before showing Christ bloodied, naked, crucified and buried, which we see in the rite of the removal and burial of the Shroud, the Holy Church shows us the image of the God-man in all His greatness and beauty. Believers must know Who is being sacrificed, Who will endure “spitting, and beating, and strangulation, and the cross, and death”: Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him...(John 13:31). To comprehend the depth of Christ’s humiliation, one must understand, as far as this is possible for a mortal man, His height and His Divinity. The First Gospel of the Holy Passion is therefore, as it were, a verbal icon of God the Word reclining at the “Easter of the Crucifixion” and ready to die. Seeing the immeasurable humiliation of her Lord and Savior, the Church at the same time beholds His glory.”

1st. In., 46 credits, 13, 31 - 17, 1
Gospel of John
Chapter 13

When he went out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him.”

If God was glorified in Him, then God will glorify Him in Himself, and will soon glorify Him.

Children! I won't be with you for long. You will seek Me, and just as I told the Jews that where I go you cannot come, so I tell you now.

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, let you also love one another.

By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.

Simon Peter said to Him: Lord! where are you going? Jesus answered him: Where I am going, you cannot follow Me now, but later you will follow Me.

Peter said to Him: Lord! Why can’t I follow You now? I will lay down my soul for You.

Jesus answered him, “Will you lay down your life for Me?” Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow until you have denied Me three times.

Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, and believe in Me.

In My Father's house there are many mansions. But if it were not so, I would have told you: I am going to prepare a place for you.

And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself, so that where I am you also may be.

And where I am going, you know, and you know the way.

Thomas said to Him: Lord! we don’t know where you’re going; and how can we know the way?

Jesus said to him: I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.

If you knew Me, you would also know My Father. And from now on you know Him and have seen Him.

Philip said to Him: Lord! show us the Father, and it is enough for us.

Jesus said to him: I have been with you so long, and you do not know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how do you say, show us the Father?

Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you, I do not speak from Myself; The Father abiding in Me, He does the works.

Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me; but if not so, then believe Me by the very works.

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me will do the works that I do, and greater works than these will he do, because I go to My Father.

And if you ask the Father anything in My name, I will do it, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

If you love Me, keep My commandments.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, that he may be with you forever,

the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; and you know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you.

I will not leave you orphans; I'll come to you.

A little more and the world will no longer see Me; and you will see Me, for I live, and you will live.

On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.

He who has My commandments and keeps them, he loves Me; and whoever loves Me will be loved by My Father; and I will love him and appear to him Myself.

Judas - not Iscariot - says to Him: Lord! What is it that You want to reveal Yourself to us and not to the world?

Jesus answered and said to him, “Whoever loves Me will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our abode with him.

He who does not love Me does not keep My words; The word that you hear is not Mine, but the Father who sent Me.

I told you these things while I was with you.

The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you everything and remind you of everything that I have told you.

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

You have heard that I said to you: I am leaving you and will come to you. If you loved Me, you would rejoice that I said: I am going to the Father; for My Father is greater than Me.

And behold, I told you about it before it happened, so that you might believe when it happens.

It’s not long for me to talk to you; For the prince of this world comes and has nothing in Me.

But so that the world may know that I love the Father and, as the Father commanded Me, so I do: get up, let’s go from here.

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.

Every branch of Me that does not bear fruit He cuts off; and every one that bears fruit he cleanses, that it may bear more fruit.

You have already been cleansed through the word that I preached to you.

Abide in Me, and I in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it is in the vine, so neither can you unless you are in Me.

I am the vine, and you are the branches; He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

Whoever does not abide in Me will be cast out like a branch and wither; and such branches are collected and thrown into the fire, and they burn.

If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

By this My Father will be glorified, if you bear much fruit and become My disciples.

As the Father has loved Me, I have loved you; abide in My love.

If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

I have spoken these things to you, so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

You are My friends if you do what I command you.

I no longer call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have told you everything that I have heard from My Father.

You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give it to you.

I command you this, that you love one another.

If the world hates you, know that it hated Me first.

If you were of the world, the world would love its own; But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Remember the word that I said to you: a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you too; If they have kept my word, they will also keep yours.

But they will do all these things to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.

He who hates Me also hates My Father.

If I had not done among them works that no one else had done, they would not have had sin; but now they have seen and hated both Me and My Father.

But let the word that is written in their law be fulfilled: They have hated Me without cause.

When the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me;

and you also will testify, because you were with Me from the beginning.

I told you these things so that you would not be tempted.

They will drive you out of the synagogues; the time even comes when everyone who kills you will think that he is serving God.

They will do this because they have not known either the Father or Me.

But I told you this so that when that time comes, you will remember what I told you about this; I didn’t tell you this at first, because I was with you.

And now I go to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me: Where are you going?

But because I told you this, your heart was filled with sorrow.

But I tell you the truth: it is better for you that I go; for if I do not go, the Comforter will not come to you; and if I go, I will send Him to you,

and He, having come, will convict the world about sin and about righteousness and about judgment:

about sin, that they do not believe in Me;

about the truth that I go to My Father, and you will no longer see Me;

about judgment, that the prince of this world is condemned.

I still have a lot to tell you; but now you cannot contain it.

When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth: for He will not speak from Himself, but He will speak whatever He hears, and He will tell you the future.

He will glorify Me, because He will take of Mine and proclaim it to you.

All that the Father has is Mine; therefore I said that he will take from Mine and tell it to you.

Soon you will not see Me, and again soon you will see Me, for I am going to the Father.

Then some of His disciples said to one another, “What is it that He says to us: Soon you will not see Me, and again soon you will see Me, and: I am going to the Father?”

So they said: What does He say: “soon”? We don't know what he says.

Jesus, realizing that they wanted to ask Him, said to them: Are you asking one another about this, that I said: A little while later you will not see Me, and again a short time later you will see Me?

Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sad, but your sorrow will turn into joy.

When a woman gives birth, she suffers sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to a baby, she no longer remembers the sorrow for joy, because a man was born into the world.

So now you also have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you;

and on that day you will not ask Me anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you.

Until now you have asked nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.

Hitherto I have spoken to you in parables; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in parables, but will tell you directly about the Father.

In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you:

for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and believed that I came from God.

I came from the Father and came into the world; and again I leave the world and go to the Father.

His disciples said to Him: Behold, now You speak plainly, and do not speak any parables.

Now we see that You know everything and have no need for anyone to question You. Therefore we believe that You came from God.

Jesus answered them: Do you believe now?

Behold, the hour is coming, and has already come, that you will scatter, each in his own direction, and leave Me alone; but I am not alone, for the Father is with Me.

I have spoken these things to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but take heart: I have overcome the world.

After these words, Jesus raised His eyes to heaven and said: Father! the hour has come, glorify Your Son, that Your Son also will glorify You.

(…) First Gospel begins with the words of the Savior about His glorification: Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. This glory, like a kind of light-like cloud, envelops the exalted Cross now standing before us. Like once Mount Sinai and the ancient tabernacle, it surrounds Golgotha. And the stronger the sorrow that the gospel story tells about, the stronger the glorification of Christ sounds in hymns.

The essence of God is love, therefore it is glorified even in the suffering of the Savior. The glory of love is its sacrifice. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends(In. 15 , 13). Christ lays down His soul for His friends and calls them: You are my friends(In. 15 , 14). The Lord brought people complete knowledge. The fullness of the Divine living in Him bodily through the unity of those who love in Him reveals knowledge about the most important and valuable thing - about God. Loving friend friends in Christ receive a revelation of the essence of God. For, abiding in Christ's love, they thereby abide in the Trinitarian Godhead. He who loves Me will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our abode with him(In. 14 , 23). With the coming of the Father the Holy Spirit is sent down, which comes from the Father and testifies of the Son (cf.: Jn. 15 , 26).

However, it is impossible to love when you are alone. Therefore, the image of God is reflected in human society- in the Church of Christ. The chants call us to common prayer and to the general glorification of the Lord in order to receive together “the burning Easter, sacred in us”: “Let us hear all the faithful, convening with high preaching, the uncreated and natural wisdom of God, crying out: taste and understand, like Christ, cry out: gloriously Christ our God be glorified." (TP. L. 424). “Christ established the world, Heavenly and Divine Bread. Come, lovers of Christ, with mortal lips and pure hearts, let us faithfully celebrate Easter, which is celebrated in us” (TP. L. 423).

So, the unity of God is reflected in the unity of the Church, and vice versa. Jesus Christ prays for him in His bishop’s prayer: That they all may be one: as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us; and the world also has faith, because You sent Me. And I have given the glory to Me, I have given it to them, that they may be one, as We are one. I am in them, and You are in Me: that they may be perfect in one, and that the world may understand that You sent Me and loved them as You loved Me.(In. 17 , 21–23). What meaning does the Church give to the reading of this Gospel? This text leads us to the recognition of the internal connection of the doctrine of the personality of Christ as the God-man, of the Church as the body of the God-man, and of the nature of the Divinity as the consubstantial (omousia) of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In addition, the above prayer is a prayer for salvation, for to abide in the Father and the Son means to be saved.

Emphasizing the importance of the Gospels read and the entire worship service Holy Week, church chants encourage us to be especially attentive and focused, leaving at least for a while cares of life: “Let us present our pure feelings to Christ, and as His friends, let us devour our souls for His sake, and not be oppressed by the cares of this world, like Judas, but in our cages let us cry out: Our Father, who is in heaven, deliver us from the evil one” (TP. L. 436).

Having prompted us to pay special attention, the Holy Church again in her hymns glorifies the wife who anointed the Lord with chrism, and cites as an example the betrayal of the wicked money-lover Judas, reminding us that the root of all evil is the love of money(1 Tim. 6 , 10): “Let us serve the mercy of God, like Mary at the supper, and not acquire the love of money, like Judas: that we may always be with Christ our God.

With thirty pieces of silver, Lord, and with a flattering kiss, I ask the Jews to kill Thee. But the lawless Judas did not want to understand” (TP. L. 436).

In the following antiphons, the lesson of humility is again heard, the washing of the Savior’s feet is again recalled: “In Thy washing, O Christ God, Thou hast commanded Thy disciples: do this very thing as thou seest. But the lawless Judas did not want to understand” (TP. L. 437). Further, the need to stay awake is again spoken of: “Watch and pray, so that you do not fall into misfortune, as you said to your disciple, Christ our God. But the lawless Judas did not want to understand” (TP. L. 437), since in the next Gospel we will read about the treacherous taking of the Savior into custody. The topic of spiritual wakefulness is very important. Directly these words of the Savior are addressed to His disciples, but through them - to all Christians. Since Peter turned out to be too bold in his words, as well as the other disciples, Christ exposes their instability as people who spoke rashly, and especially turns his speech to Peter, saying that it will be difficult to remain faithful to the Lord for those who could not stay awake for even one hour . But, having denounced him, he again calms them down, because they dozed off not out of inattention to Him, but out of weakness. And if we see our weakness, we will pray so as not to fall into temptation. All Christians are called to this constant spiritual vigilance; without this constant bearing of their Cross there can be no salvation, for Through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God(Acts 14 , 22). That’s why we hear again: “Having laid down thirty pieces of silver, the price of the One Who was Priced, He was valued by the children of Israel. Watch and pray, so that you do not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak: for this reason, watch” (TP. L. 439).

But the reading of the second Passion Gospel, which tells about the taking of the Savior into custody, is approaching. The solemn procession of ancient Christians spending Holy Week in the Holy Land was at that moment approaching the Garden of Gethsemane, where the betrayal took place. Therefore, in order to remind those praying that the Lord suffers for our sake and that everything happened according to the ineffable Providence of God, the Holy Church sings: “At the supper the disciples fed, and knew the pretense of tradition, at which you exposed Judas, who was therefore uncorrected for this: know it Although you have given yourself over to everyone by your will, you may snatch the world away from the alien: long-suffering, glory to You” (TP. L. 437).

Priest Gennady Orlov. Hymns of Holy Week.

This wonderfully touching conversation of the Lord with the disciples is given in full only by one fourth evangelist, St. John, a short excerpt from it is given by St. Luke, and the first two evangelists speak only about the Lord’s prediction of Peter’s denial and about the meeting with the disciples after the resurrection in Galilee. This entire speech is extremely lengthy and takes up several chapters. Together with the so-called following it. With the “High Sacred Prayer” of the Lord, it is read in its entirety during divine services on the evening of Maundy Thursday as the first Gospel of the Holy Passion.

According to St. The Lord Jesus Christ began this conversation with John immediately after Judas left with the words: Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him... We must assume, however, that this conversation was begun by the Lord with these words not only after the departure of Judas, but also after the Lord established the sacrament of Communion, about which St. John is silent, as only completing the narratives of the first three Evangelists. Having taught His Body and Blood to the disciples and seeing the mystery of redemption as if it had already been accomplished, since if He had already been sacrificed and victory had been achieved over all hostile forces, the Lord exclaimed these victorious words: Now is the Son of Man glorified..."Now", i.e. on this mysterious and terrible night came the glorification of the Son of Man, which at the same time is the glorification of God the Father, who was pleased to give His Only Begotten Son as a sacrifice for the salvation of people, and this earthly glorification of His Son is the beginning of His future heavenly glorification as the conqueror of death and hell. Wanting to lead His disciples out of that depressed mood of spirit in which they were influenced by the thought of the betrayal of one of them, the Lord turns their thoughts to His Divine glory, which will be revealed both in His upcoming suffering and in His resurrection and ascension to heaven. “Soon he will glorify”, i.e. His humiliation will not last long, but His visible glorification will soon begin. Children, I haven’t been with you much yet- “children” or “little children” - this extremely unclear address of the Lord to the disciples is not found anywhere else in the Gospel: it resulted from a deep feeling of impending separation under such difficult and tempting circumstances for their faith. As I spoke before to the Jews, so now I say to you that I am leaving you on a path in which you cannot now follow Me. Leaving you in peace to continue My work, I give you a new commandment, that you love one another as you have loved... Out of love for people, I lay down My life for them and you should imitate Me in this. The commandment to love one’s neighbors was also given in the Law of Moses, but Christ gave this commandment a new character, unknown before - about love even for one’s enemies, even to the point of self-sacrifice in the Name of Christ. Such pure, unselfish and selfless love is a sign of true Christianity. St. Peter then asks a question full of fear and sadness: Lord, where are you going? The Lord confirms to him that now he cannot follow Him, but immediately predicts to him that in the future he will follow Him along the same path of martyrdom. What follows is the prediction of Peter’s threefold renunciation, which is narrated by all four Evangelists. Warning Peter against arrogance, when he began to assure that he would lay down his soul for the Lord, the Lord, according to St. Luke said to him: Simone, Simone, behold, Satan asks you to sow you like wheat...

It is characteristic that the Lord here calls him not Peter, but Simon, for by denying the Lord, Peter showed that he had ceased to be a “stone.” By this “sowing” we mean the temptation from Satan, which the Apostles were actually subjected to during the hours of suffering of their Divine Teacher, when their faith in Him was ready to be shaken. This request of Satan is reminiscent of his request regarding Job the Long-Suffering, whom the Lord allowed to be subjected to such a grave temptation. With His all-powerful prayer, the Lord protected His disciples, and especially Peter, from complete fall; He allowed Peter to fall temporarily, so that he would be stronger and firmer later and thereby strengthen his brothers. Prayed for you- although danger from Satan threatened everyone, the Lord prayed especially for Peter, for he, as the more ardent and decisive one, was also threatened greatest danger. Once you have turned, strengthen your brethren- this indicates that Peter, having repented after his denial of Christ, will be for everyone a model of true repentance and an example of firmness. To this, Peter, in all four Evangelists, begins to assure the Lord of his unshakable loyalty to Him, of his readiness to follow him into prison and to death. How, however, was Peter’s denial possible if the Lord prayed for him so that his faith would not fail? But Peter’s faith did not diminish: he denied in a fit of cowardly fear and immediately, as we see, surrendered to the deepest repentance. According to all four evangelists, Christ predicts to Peter that he will deny Him on the coming night three times before the rooster crows, and according to Mark, before the rooster crows twice. This great accuracy of St. Mark is explained, of course, by the fact that he wrote his Gospel under the leadership of the Apostle Peter himself. The first rooster crow occurs around midnight, the second - before morning; therefore, the meaning of this is that even before morning comes, Peter will deny his Teacher and Lord three times. Apparently, the Lord predicted Peter’s denial twice: the first time at the evening, as St. Luke and St. John, and the second time - after leaving the supper, on the road to Gethsemane, as reported by St. Matthew and St. Mark. To the prediction of Peter's denial, according to St. Luke, the Lord added a prediction about what kind of need and struggle awaited His disciples in the future. When you were sent without a vagina, and without fur, and without boots, did you eat anything faster?... - just as before the apostles did not need to worry about anything, for they everywhere found food and everything they needed while they walked and preached during the life of the Lord in Judea and Samaria, so now other times are coming when the anger of people against their Teacher will spread and on them. All further speech of the Lord about taking the vagina and fur and buying a knife (or sword), of course, must be understood not in a literal sense, but in a symbolic one. The Lord simply warns them that an extremely difficult period of life is coming for them, and they must prepare for it themselves, that hunger, thirst, disasters, and enmity from people await them; if their Teacher Himself is considered a villain in the eyes of these people, then what good can they expect? The apostles, out of naivety, understood everything that the Lord said literally, and say: there are two knives here. Seeing that they did not understand Him, the Lord stopped this conversation with the words: enough to eat.

Let not your heart be troubled- the thought of the Lord’s imminent departure from them should not confuse the disciples, because this departure is only a means of bringing them into constant, already eternal communion with Him: the Lord promises them, when the time comes for that, to take them to Himself in the eternal abodes of His Father Heavenly. Still clouded by false ideas about the earthly kingdom of the Messiah, the disciples do not understand these words of the Lord, and therefore Thomas says: Lord, we don’t know where you are going... In the answer, the Lord explains that He Himself is the path by which they must go to the Father in order to settle in the eternal abodes awaiting them. No one will come to the Father except Me- since Christ is the Redeemer and only through faith in the work of redemption of mankind accomplished by Him is salvation possible. If they knew Me more quickly, then they knew My Father more quickly, - for in Christ is the full revelation of God, as He previously said to the Jews: Az and the Father are one(John 10:30). And the disciples of the Lord, knowing Christ, should also know the Father. True, they did not know Christ well, but they gradually approached this knowledge, which the Lord gave them especially at the Last Supper through the washing of their feet, the communion of His Body and Blood, and through His edifying conversations. Similar in character to Thomas and just like him, distinguished by rationality, Philip then said to the Lord: “Show us the Father, and it will be sufficient for us,” meaning, of course, by this a sensory vision, which, for example, the prophets were awarded. The Lord expresses, as it were, regret for Philip’s lack of understanding and inspires in him the uselessness of his request, since in Him - through His deeds, through His teaching, through His very God-human personality - they should have known the Father long ago. Continuing to further console the disciples, the Lord promises to endow them with the power of miracles, fulfilling everything that they ask of Him in prayer: prayer in the Name of the Lord the Redeemer will work miracles. Provided that the disciples, loving the Lord, will keep His commandments, the Lord promises to send them a Comforter who will abide with them forever, the Spirit of Truth, who will, as it were, replace the name of Christ and thanks to whom they will have constant mysterious communication with Christ. The “world” as the totality of those who do not believe in the Lord and people hostile to Him, alien in everything and contrary to the Comforter Spirit, cannot accept Him, but He remained with the Apostles thanks to their communication with the Lord during His earthly life, and He will remain in them to remain with them forever, when it comes upon them on the day of Pentecost. “I will not leave you, sires: I will come to you,” and visibly after the resurrection and mysteriously through spiritual communication in the sacrament of communion, through the mediation of the Holy Spirit. “And you will live” in unity with Me, as the source of eternal life, while the world, spiritually dead, will not see the Lord. "On that day", i.e. on the day of Pentecost, “you will understand that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you,” you will understand the essence of spiritual communion with God in Christ. The condition for this communion with God is love for the Lord and keeping His commandments. Judas, not Iscariot, called Levway or Thaddeus, who apparently did not part with the favorite thought of the Jews about the sensory kingdom of the Messiah, understanding the words of the Lord in the literal sense that He would appear in a sensory-corporeal form to those who love Him and keep His commandments, expressed bewilderment why The Lord wants to appear only to them, and not to the whole world, as the founder of the glorious worldwide kingdom of the Messiah. The Lord explains that He speaks about His mysterious spiritual manifestation to His followers, repeating the previous thought about the need for this to love Him and fulfill His commandments. The world, which does not love Him and does not fulfill His commandments, is incapable of such spiritual communication with the Lord. The commandments of Christ are at the same time the commandments of the Father. All this may now be unclear to the disciples, but when the Comforter comes, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in the name of Christ, He will instruct the Apostles - He will teach them everything and remind them of everything that Christ taught them: He will reveal to them the secret of spiritual life, life in Christ.

At the end of the Easter supper, the head of the family said to those present: “Peace be with you,” and then the supper concluded with the singing of psalms. The Lord, intending to leave the Easter room and having in mind that he would soon depart from His disciples, following custom, also taught them peace, but upper world, in comparison with what the world usually gives, lying in evil: “my peace I give to you” - this is a peace that perfectly balances all the forces of the human spirit, brings complete harmony to the inner mood of a person, calms all confusion and indignation, this is the one precisely the peace that the Angels sang about on Christmas night. Therefore, the Apostles should not be embarrassed or afraid of anything.

The supper is over. The time was coming to leave the Zion upper room where it took place. Outside there was the darkness of the unknown, the fear of separation from Christ and helplessness in a hostile world. Therefore, Christ again consoles the disciples with the promise to come to them and says that they should rejoice in the fact that He is going to the Father, “for My Father is in pain” - more, of course, as the First Cause (the Son, being born from the Father, borrows from Him His being), more like God, in comparison with Christ - the God-man. Everything must happen, according to what is written, just as the Lord warned the disciples before: through the fulfillment of what was predicted, the disciples will be convinced of the truth of Christ’s words. “To whom I speak a little with you,” only a few hours remained until the moment when Judas and the soldiers were to take the Lord. The Lord with His spiritual gaze sees the approach of His enemy “the prince of this world” - Satan in the person of Judas with the spira and in the Garden of Gethsemane, when the devil attacked the Lord, tempting Him with the fear of torment and the hour of death - the last attempt to deviate the Lord from His redemptive work. feat for the salvation of humanity. The Lord says at the same time that the devil is in Him have nothing to do with, i.e., due to the sinlessness of Christ, he cannot find anything in Him over which he could dominate. This is proof of the Lord’s complete moral freedom, with which He, solely out of His love, gives His life for the salvation of the world, to fulfill the will of the Father. Get up, let's get out of here- let's go to meet the approaching enemy, the prince of this world in the person of Judas the traitor.

Many interpreters are inclined to believe that after these words one should read the words of ev. Matthew, coinciding with the same words of St. Brand: and singing, she went up to the Mount of Olives Then the Lord talks about himself as a vine. On the road to the Mount of Olives and on its slopes there were many vineyards, looking at which the Lord used this visual and living image.

It is believed that by passing through the vineyards and pointing to the grapes to the Apostles, the Lord borrows from the vine an image of the spiritual relationship between Him and those who believe in Him: I am the true vine, and My Father is the worker. The Father is a vinedresser, as the owner of the grapes, cultivating them himself and through others: He sent down His Son to the earth, planting Him like a fruitful Vine, so that the wild and barren branches of humanity, merging with this Vine, would receive new juices from Him and themselves would become fruitful. Branches that do not bear fruit are cut off: those who do not prove faith by their deeds are cast out from the community of believers, sometimes even in this life, and finally on the day of Judgment; those who believe and bear fruit are cleansed by the power and action of the Holy Spirit, through temptations of various kinds and suffering, in order to be even more perfect in their moral life. The apostles of Christ have already purified themselves by listening to the teaching of the Lord, but in order to maintain and perfect this purity, they must constantly take care to be one with Christ. Only those who are in constant spiritual communion with Christ can bear the fruits of Christian perfection. Without Me you can't do anything. Branches that bear no fruit are collected and thrown into the fire, and they burn. The time when the Lord said this was the time of clearing the vineyards and, perhaps, before the eyes of the Lord and the disciples there were fires on which the dry branches of the vines were burning. It was an expressive image of spiritually withered people who future life the fire of Gehenna is prepared. Further, the Lord promises the disciples that if they remain in constant spiritual communion with Him, all their prayers, of course, in accordance with the will of God, will be fulfilled. But for this they need to constantly abide in the love of Christ and fulfill His commandments. The expression of the disciples’ stay in the love of Christ is their mutual love for each other, which should extend to the readiness to give their lives for their neighbor. You are my friends, and if you do, I command you- mutual love between the disciples makes them friends with each other, and since the union of this mutual love of them is in Christ, Who loved them with the same love, then they, becoming friends to each other, become friends of Christ. Because of this love, the Lord revealed to them the whole will of God: this is proof that they are not slaves, but friends of Christ. Having fully depicted His love for the Apostles, which was reflected in the fact that He chose them for great service, the Lord ends this entire part of His conversation (John 15:12-17) again with an admonition: I command you this, that you love one another. Further, the Lord (John 15, 18-27 and 16, 1-3) warns the disciples at length about the persecution that awaits them from the world hostile to Christ. They should not be embarrassed by this hatred of the world, knowing that their Divine Teacher was the first to be subjected to this hatred: this hatred is understandable, because the Lord singled out disciples from a world that loves only what belongs to it, which corresponds to its spirit of all sin, malice and wickedness . When persecuted by the world, disciples must console themselves with the thought that they are no greater than their Lord and Teacher. However, the Sin of the world is inexcusable, since the Son of God Himself came to it preaching repentance, and the world, seeing His glorious deeds, did not repent, but also hated Him: to hate the Son means to hate the Father. Encouraging the disciples in the sorrows awaiting them, the Lord again reminds them of the impending sending down to them of the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father, who through the Apostles will testify to the world about Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ will send the Comforter, according to the right of His redemptive merits, but He will send not from Himself, but from the Father, for the eternal origin of the Holy Spirit is not from the Son, but from the Father: who comes from the Father(John 15, 26). This verse completely refutes the false teaching of the Roman Catholics about the procession of the Holy Spirit not only from the Father, but also from the Son. Further, the Lord predicts that the Apostles will testify about Him in the world, as those who saw His glory and were the first to receive His grace and truth.

All this verbs to you, do not be tempted, that is, so that your faith will not be shaken in the persecution awaiting you. These persecutions will go so far that they will excommunicate you from the synagogues and even consider it a godly act to kill you. Jewish fanaticism has indeed reached such a degree of blindness. The Jews were convinced that “he who sheds the blood of the wicked does the same as he who makes a sacrifice.” So St. fell victim to this fanaticism. First Martyr Stephen. The persecutor Saul, who later became ap. Paul, also thought that by participating in the murder of Christians, he was doing what was pleasing to God (Acts 8:1; 22:20; 26:9-11; Gal. 1:13-14). Apparently, from these words of Christ, the disciples were plunged into such deep sadness that the Lord, to console them, began to explain to them how important His departure was for them and for the whole world, for only in this case would the Comforter come to them, who would convict the world about sin, about truth and justice. “Reprove” is used here in the sense: will bring out, bring to consciousness wrongness, crime, sin(cf. John 3:20; 8:9; 8:46; 1 Cor. 14:24; Tit. 1:9; Matt. 18:15; Luke 3:19). This conviction is the same as a moral judgment of the world. The consequence of this judgment can be one of two things: either turning to Christ through repentance, or complete spiritual blindness and bitterness (Acts 24:25; Rom. 11:7). This conviction of the world by the Holy Spirit must be accomplished through the preaching of the Apostles and their successors and all believers in general who have received the Holy Spirit into themselves and become His organs. The first subject of reproof is the sin of unbelief in the Lord as the Messiah, the most significant and most serious sin, for it rejects the Redeemer and Savior of mankind; the second subject - “about righteousness, as I go to My Father” - that Christ really is the Son of God, whose righteousness, completely different from the imaginary righteousness of the Pharisees, is witnessed by God by the fact that He has seated Him at His right hand (Eph. 2:6 ). The third subject is the judgment of the prince of this world - the devil, to which judgment and condemnation all unrepentant and hardened like the devil are subject. Thus, with the help of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles will win a great moral victory over this world, lying in evil, although it will persecute and persecute them. This prophecy of the Lord was fulfilled when the formerly timid and fearful disciples, who fled in different directions when the Lord was taken and then sat fear for the sake of the Jews in a locked upper room, after the descent of the Holy Spirit upon them, they courageously and undauntedly preached about Christ in front of thousands of crowds of people, testified about Him all over the world and were no longer afraid of anything, even being known before the kings and lords of the world(Matt. 10:18).

“The imam still has many words to say to you, but you cannot bear it now” - here the Lord tells the disciples that until they are illuminated by the grace of the Holy Spirit, they are unable to properly understand and assimilate everything that He has to tell them, but the Holy Spirit, when he comes, “instructs them to all truth," i.e. will guide them into areas of Christian truth that are difficult for them to comprehend now. All these revelations of the Holy Spirit will be drawn from the same source of Divine wisdom as the teaching of Jesus Christ: He will speak, like Christ, what he “heard from the Father” (John 3:32; 5:30; 12:49 -50), as from the Primary Source of Divine truth. By these actions of the Holy Spirit Christ will be glorified, because He will teach the same things that Christ taught and thus, as it were, will justify the whole work of Christ in the world. “He will receive from Mine,” because the Son and the Father are one, and everything that the Spirit says belongs equally to both the Father and the Son. In the distance, and whoever you don’t see Me- The Lord again turns to the thought of His departure from the disciples, but immediately consoles them with the hope of a new meeting with Him, obviously both during the Lord’s appearances after the resurrection and in spiritual, mysterious communication with Him. These words of the Lord seemed mysterious to some of the disciples, which again revealed the imperfection of their spiritual understanding. The entire further course of the conversations is devoted to explaining these words of the Lord. The basis of the disciples’ bewilderment again lies in their same prejudice about the earthly kingdom of the Messiah. If the Lord wants to establish His kingdom on earth, then why does He leave? And if He does not want to establish such a kingdom, then why does He promise to come again?

The Lord answers them: “You are a little, and you do not see Me” - this means that you will “weep and weep”, since the world will fulfill its murderous plans - the Lord’s hidden indication of the suffering and death soon to come to Him. “A little while, and again you will see Me” - this means that “your sorrow will be turned into joy,” just as the sorrow of a wife giving birth is transformed into joy. Here we mean the joy of the disciples that they experienced when they saw the Lord risen - a joy that did not leave them later throughout their lives: “and no one will take your joy from you.” "On that day", i.e. the descent of the Holy Spirit, from which day the Apostles will enter into constant spiritual communion with Christ, all Divine mysteries will become clear to them, and every prayer will be fulfilled, to complete the fullness of their joy.

“As I go to the Father” - this means: “I departed from the Father and came into the world, and again I leave the world and go to the Father” - so, for Christ to go to the Father means to return to the state in which He was before incarnation as the Hypostatic Word. These words struck the disciples with their clarity; They noted with particular satisfaction that the Lord was now speaking to them directly, without using hidden, indirect speech, and expressed their ardent faith in Him as the true Messiah. It was sincere and deep faith, but the gaze of the Lord saw the imperfection of this faith, not yet illuminated by the Holy Spirit. “Do you believe now?” - He asks: “no, your present faith is still imperfect, it will not withstand the very first test, which soon, in a few hours, it will have to be subjected to, when you “dissolve each into your own, and leave Me alone.” “All this is me.” “I told you,” the Lord ends His farewell conversation, so that you “have peace in Me,” so that you do not lose heart in the hours of trials ahead of you, remembering that I warned you about all this in advance. In spiritual communion with Me you will find the necessary peace of Spirit."

“In the world” - a society of people hostile to Me and my cause, you will be sorrowful; but do not lose courage, remembering, “for I have conquered the world” - I conquered by accomplishing the great work of redeeming mankind with His death, defeated the spirit of pride and malice dominating the world with His humility and self-abasement even to the point of death, and laid the foundation for the transformation of this world from the kingdom of Satan to the Kingdom God's.

Averky (Taushev), archbishop. A Guide to Studying the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament. Four Gospels.

According to the Orthodox liturgical books, the service of the 12 Gospels, performed on the evening of Maundy Thursday, that is, on the eve of Good Friday, is called in a very special way: “Following the holy and saving passions of our Lord Jesus Christ.” It is noteworthy that the liturgical books do not call this service “Matins,” although its modern order is based on the rite of Matins. This is not an accident - the service of the 12 Gospels is the only matins of the year that is not celebrated at its usual time (the usual time of matins, according to the charter, is the pre-dawn part of the night). The service of the 12 Gospels should begin in the evening; The Typikon adopted in the Russian Church defines the time of its beginning as “2nd one o'clock in the morning", that is, approximately 20.00. Such an unusual – from the point of view of the charter (and not the common practice of serving Matins in the evening) – time of the beginning of the service is determined by the fact that the service of the 12 Gospels is in fact not Matins, but a vigil. It goes back to the practice of the Jerusalem Church IV and subsequent centuries to spend the night from Maundy Thursday to Friday in a vigil, consisting of prayers, chants, readings of the Gospel stories on various places The Holy City, associated with the Passion of the Lord, and processions from one such place to another.

According to the traditional rite, the service of the 12 Gospels has the following order:

1) two psalms;

2) six psalms;

3) peaceful litany;

4) singing the fast morning alleluia, and then the troparion of Maundy Thursday, When the Glory of the Disciple,

5) small litany and 1st Gospel - John 13. 31-18. 1 (contents: Farewell Discourse and High Priestly Prayer of Christ)

6) a cycle of 15 antiphons, 5 sedals and 5 Gospels:

a. antiphons 1-3;

b. small litany;

c. sedalny;

d. 2nd Gospel - John 18. 1-28 (contents: betrayal of Judas, taking Christ into custody and bringing Him to Anna, denial of Apostle Peter);

a. antiphons 4-6;

b. small litany;

c. sedalny;

d. 3rd Gospel – Matthew 26.57-75 (contents: the Lord Jesus before Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin, renunciation and repentance of the Apostle Peter);

a. antiphons 7-9;

b. small litany;

c. sedalny;

d. 4th Gospel – John 18. 28-19. 16 (content: the Lord before the court of Pilate, the scourging and reproach of the Lord);

a. antiphons 10-12;

b. small litany;

c. sedalny;

d. 5th Gospel – Matthew 27.3-32 (contents: suicide of Judas, the Lord before the court of Pilate, the scourging and desecration of the Lord, the Way of the Cross);

a. antiphons 13-15;

b. small litany;

c. sedalny;

d. 6th Gospel – Mark 15. 16-32 (contents: desecration of the Lord, Way of the Cross, Crucifixion);

7) blessed;

8) prokeimenon “I divided my garments for myself” (Ps 21.18; verse – Ps 21.1b) and the 7th Gospel – Matthew 27.33-54 (contents: Crucifixion and Death on the Cross of Christ);

9) patristic reading (from the works of St. John Chrysostom or St. Ephraim the Syrian; usually omitted);

10) Psalm 50;

11) 8th Gospel – Luke 23. 32-49 (contents: repentance of the prudent thief and Christ’s death on the Cross);

12) the Three Song of St. Kosma Maiumsky;

a. according to the 5th canticle of the Trisong – small litany, kontakion with ikos, synaxarium (usually omitted);

b. according to the 9th song of the three song - the small litany and the luminaries of the prudent Thief three times;

13) 9th Gospel – John 19. 25-37 (contents: Holy Mother of God at the Cross, Christ’s death on the Cross, piercing His rib, removal from the Cross);

14) psalms of praise (according to the Typikon - in a festive way, starting with “Every breath”) and stichera;

15) 10th Gospel – Mark 15. 43-47 (contents: the removal from the Cross and burial of the Savior’s body);

16) morning doxology (in the daily version) and “Vouchsafe, Lord”;

17) litany of supplication and supplication;

18) 11th Gospel – John 19. 38-42 (contents: the removal from the Cross and burial of the Savior’s body);

19) stichera on verse;

20) 12th Gospel - Matthew 27. 62-66 (contents: sealing of the Holy Sepulcher);

21) There is good;

22) The Trisagion, according to the “Our Father” - the troparion of Good Friday. Thou hast redeemed us from the legal oath;

23) special litany;

24) release: Christ who endured spitting, and beating, and strangulation, and the cross, and death for the salvation of the world...

All points of this scheme, with the exception of No. 5 - 8, 11, 13, 15, 18, 20, belong to the usual rite of fasting or daily matins. Thus, from the point of view of the rite scheme, the service of the 12 Gospels differs from ordinary Matins in the presence in it, firstly, of the Gospels themselves, and secondly, of a 5-fold cycle of 3 antiphons and sedalna, as well as blessed. It can also be noted that the rite begins with the troparion of Thursday, and ends with the troparion of Friday - this again confirms what was said above that the service of the 12 Gospels is not matins in the strict sense of the word, but a vigil from evening until morning.

Good Friday Matins Gospels

Egeria, a Western pilgrim of the 4th century, whose pen contains the most ancient evidence of the Jerusalem vigil on the night of Good Friday, mentions only 5 stops in the rite of this vigil. But already in the Armenian translation of the Jerusalem Lectionary of the 5th century. it talks about 7 stops and the 7 Gospel readings corresponding to them. But how did 7 readings become the modern 12? If we compare the selection of readings in the Armenian and Georgian translations of the Jerusalem Lectionary[i], then we can notice that in the modern rite only the first 4 correspond to the 7 ancient readings. These Gospel openings tell about the events of the night of the Passion, but not yet about the Crucifixion of the Lord, which is fully consistent Another special observance, the daylight service of Good Friday, was dedicated to the content of the ancient Jerusalem vigil - the remembrance of the Crucifixion, Death on the Cross and Burial of the Lord in the Holy City (elements of this service were included in the familiar rite of the Good Friday hours). And it was precisely from this succession of the daytime standing of Good Friday that 4 more readings moved into the service of the 12 Gospels, one of which was divided into two parts - these are the four stories of the evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John about the Crucifixion and Death on the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, corresponding in service of the 12 Gospels readings No. 5+7, 6, 8 and 9.

A system of 9 readings that formed at some point (probably this happened outside the tradition of Jerusalem - for example, in Constantinople - when the Jerusalem night vigil became widespread outside the Holy City and Palestine) was supplemented by two more, telling about the Burial of the Savior (No. 10 and 11), and in this form is already widely represented in Byzantine manuscripts. The final stage of development was the transformation of the cycle of 11 Gospels into a cycle of 12 - obviously, for good measure. At the same time, for example, in modern Greek practice, the memory of the surplus nature of the 12th Gospel is preserved to this day - it is read not by a priest, like the other 11, but by a deacon.

Antiphons and Sedal Matins of Good Friday

Many of the Good Friday Matins Gospels are simply included in general order Matins at one time or another during the usual sequence of this service. But Gospels 2 through 6 are out of this pattern. They are framed by completely unique chants, which have no analogues in any other liturgical sequence. church year– antiphons of Good Friday. The prototypes of these antiphons are already described in the Armenian and Georgian translations of the ancient Jerusalem Lectionary. In the era of their creation, that great Byzantine hymnography of Holy Week, which now constitutes one of the peaks of the liturgical heritage Orthodox Church, was just beginning to develop, and the Good Friday vigil was still filled, first of all, with Old Testament hymnography - psalms. Armenian translation the Jerusalem Lectionary mentions the singing of 15 psalms at the beginning of the vigil; the psalms were sung with a chorus - an "antiphon" - which was not any Christian composition, but simply one of the verses of the same psalms (these 15 psalms are grouped into 5 cycles of 3 psalms and one antiphon: 1) Ps 2-4 [antiphon : Ps 2.2]; 2) Ps 40-42 [antiphon: Ps 40.9]; 3) Ps 58-60 [antiphon: Ps 58.2]; 4) Ps 78-80 [antiphon: Ps 87.6 and 78.13]; 5) Ps 108-110 [antiphon: Ps 108. 3]). In addition, the translation mentions other psalms with similar “antiphons”, performed upon arrival at the places of certain stops.

***

Holy Week:

Iconography of Holy Week- Pravoslavie.Ru
General composition of the services of Holy Week- Priest Mikhail Zheltov
How does Holy Week work?- Ilya Krasovitsky
About Holy Week- Hegumen Siluan Tumanov
Holy Week: how to combine work, services and preparation for Easter...- Archpriest Alexander Ilyashenko
How to spend Holy Week- Archpriest Igor Pchelintsev
Holy Wednesday: Only two barriers can stand between God and us
Holy Week: Christ and Me- Olga Bogdanova
Holy Thursday: Let's not rely on our own exploits- Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh
Maundy Thursday: The Last Supper and the Garden of Gethsemane- Tatyana Sopova
Composition of the service of the 12 Gospels (Good Friday Matins)- Priest Mikhail Zheltov
Why does the Church curse Judas?- Archimandrite Iannuariy Ivliev
Easter vigil. Contents of the rites of Vespers and the Liturgy of Great Saturday and Bright Matins- Priest Mikhail Zheltov
"Word on Holy Saturday"- Patriarch Photius of Constantinople
Canons of Holy Saturday- Priest Mikhail Zheltov
Fifteen steps to Easter(about the meaning of fifteen pre-Easter parimations) - Andrey Desnitsky

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In the Georgian translation of the Jerusalem Lectionary, the 15 psalms at the beginning of the vigil are no longer mentioned, but the psalm with the “verse” (i.e., “antiphon”) here still opens the prayer at each of the stops (this is Ps 2 [verse: Ps 2 2]; Ps 40 [verse: Ps 40. 9]; Ps 40 [with non-biblical verse]; Ps 108 [with non-biblical verse]; Ps 58. 2 [with non-biblical verse]; Ps 34. 1 [with non-biblical verse] ; Ps 21 [with non-biblical verse]). It is easy to see that the Georgian translation of the Jerusalem Lectionary, completed later than the Armenian one, reflects the stage of gradual displacement of Old Testament hymnography at the expense of new, Christian one - in most psalms the chorus is no longer a biblical verse, but a Christian composition. In addition, in the Georgian translation of the Lectionary, each of the mentioned psalms ends with one or two ipakoi (troparion), more extensive than the refrain of the psalm. The analogue of these ipakoi in the later rite of the 12 Gospels are sedalnas, closing the cycles of 3 antiphons, and performed, according to the charter, in a special way (with repetitions, with censing, and listening to them necessarily while standing).

Further development of hymnographic refrains to the psalms of the vigil of Good Friday, inclusion in their number of hymns from other sources - in particular, 12 troparions of the ancient rite of the daily standing of Good Friday (from which the modern 12th antiphon is completely composed; they are also included in the 7th and 15th th) - and the addition of the Mother of God to the antiphons led to the gradual displacement of the original basis of these antiphons, that is, the psalms. In the modern rite of the 12 Gospels, there is only one psalm verse left - this is the first line of the 1st antiphon (Princes of mankind...), which is a paraphrase of Ps 2. 2. Thus, the antiphons - that is, by their origin, choruses - were left without those texts to which they should sing. However, in some Byzantine and Old Russian manuscripts, instructions have been preserved on how the verses of the psalms should be combined with the antiphons of the service of the 12 Gospels in their modern (i.e., later) form. These guidelines may vary somewhat, but overall they are fairly consistent. The psalms to the antiphons were not chosen by chance - these are the verses of the Psalter that contain the most vivid prophecies about Christ’s death on the Cross. Below is a possible distribution of verses for the 15 antiphons of Good Friday in their modern edition (without taking into account the double repetition of antiphons):

1st antiphon:

1st troparion (= paraphrase of Ps 2.2) – 2nd troparion

Ps 2.4 – 3rd troparion

Glory, and now - the Mother of God.

2nd antiphon:

Ps 35.2 – 1st troparion

Ps 35.3 – 2nd troparion

Glory, and now - the Mother of God.

3rd antiphon:

Ps 34. 1 – 1st troparion

Ps 34.4 – 2nd troparion

Ps 34.5 – 3rd troparion

Ps 34.8 – 4th troparion

Ps 34.11 – 5th troparion

Ps 34. 12 – 6th troparion

Glory, and now - the Mother of God.

4th antiphon:

Ps 15.4a – 1st troparion

Ps 15.4b – 2nd troparion

Ps 15.10 – 3rd troparion

Glory, and now - the Mother of God.

5th Antiphon:

Ps 16. 1 – 1st troparion

Ps 16.3 – 2nd troparion

Glory, and now - the Mother of God.

6th Antiphon:

Ps 51.3 – 1st troparion

Ps 51.4 – 2nd troparion

Ps 51.6a – 3rd Troparion

Glory, and now - the Mother of God.

7th Antiphon:

Ps 7.2 – 1st troparion

Ps 7.7a – 2nd troparion

Glory, and now - the Mother of God.

8th Antiphon:

Ps 58.2 – 1st troparion

Ps 58.4 – 2nd troparion

Glory, and now - the Mother of God.

9th Antiphon:

Ps 68.2 – 1st troparion

Ps 68.3 – 2nd troparion

Glory, and now - the Mother of God.

10th Antiphon:

Ps 52. 1 – 1st troparion

Ps 52.4 – 2nd troparion

Glory, and now - the Mother of God.

11th Antiphon:

Ps 87.2 – 1st troparion

Ps 87.4 – 2nd troparion

Ps 87.19 – 3rd troparion

Glory, and now - the Mother of God.

12th Antiphon:

Ps 53.3 – 1st troparion

Ps 53.4 – 2nd troparion

Ps 53.15 – 3rd troparion

Glory, and now - the Mother of God.

13th Antiphon:

Ps 142.19 – 1st troparion

Ps 142.3a – 2nd troparion

Glory, and now - the Mother of God.

14th Antiphon:

Ps 98. 1 – 1st troparion

Ps 98.2 – 2nd troparion

Glory, and now - the Mother of God.

15th Antiphon:

Ps 21.2 – 1st troparion

Ps 21.8 – 2nd troparion

Ps 21.18 – 3rd troparion

Glory, and now - the Mother of God.

In conclusion, it should be emphasized once again that the hymnography of Holy Week (primarily Good Friday and Holy Saturday) and Easter is the indisputable pinnacle of Byzantine church poetry. The depth of its content and the beauty of its forms make it an important part of the church's heritage.

References

1. It may vary slightly in specific manuscripts; for more details see: Janeras S. Le Vendredi-Saint dans la tradition liturgique byzantine: structure et histoire de ses offices. R., 1988. (SA. 99 = Analecta Liturgica. 12). P. 51-113.

2. These troparia are contained in the rite of the hours of Good Friday - 3 on each of the hours - and even their modern text generally coincides with the text of the ancient Jerusalem monuments.

His Eminence was co-served by the clergy of the temple in honor of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God in the city of Alatyr.

The Service of the Twelve Gospels is a Lenten service held on the evening of Holy Thursday.

Its content is the gospel of the suffering and death of the Savior, selected from all the evangelists and divided into twelve readings, according to the number of hours of the night, which indicates that believers should spend the whole night listening to the Gospels, like the apostles who accompanied the Lord to the Garden of Gethsemane.

The reading of the Passion Gospels has some peculiarities: it is preceded and accompanied by singing corresponding to their content: “Glory to your long-suffering, Lord,” announced by the gospel, listened to by believers with lit candles.

On the evening of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday Matins, or the service of the 12 Gospels, as this service is usually called, is celebrated. This entire service is dedicated to the reverent remembrance of the saving suffering and death on the cross of the God-Man. Every hour of this day there is a new deed of the Savior, and the echo of these deeds is heard in every word of the service. In him The Church reveals to believers the full picture of the Lord’s suffering, starting from the bloody sweat in the Garden of Gethsemane to the Calvary crucifixion. Taking us mentally through past centuries, the Church, as it were, brings us to the very foot of the cross of Christ and makes us reverent spectators of all the torment of the Savior.

Believers listen to the Gospel stories with lighted candles in their hands, and after each reading through the mouths of the singers they thank the Lord with the words: “Glory to Your long-suffering, Lord!” After each reading of the Gospel, the bell is struck accordingly.

In between the Gospels, antiphons are sung that express indignation at the betrayal of Judas, the lawlessness of the Jewish leaders and the spiritual blindness of the crowd.

The chants of 15 antiphons in the intervals between readings only complement and explain the course of the Gospel events. The entire service, except the Gospel readings, is sung as a sign of great spiritual triumph. The Gospel readings were chosen to highlight the suffering of the Savior from different angles and to present their successive stages.

Before showing Christ bloodied, naked, crucified and buried, the Holy Church shows us the image of the God-man in all His greatness and beauty. Believers must know Who is being sacrificed, Who will endure “spitting, and beating, and strangulation, and the cross, and death”: Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him... (John 13:31). To comprehend the depth of Christ’s humiliation, one must understand, as far as this is possible for a mortal man, His height and His Divinity.

First Gospel of the Holy Passion- there is therefore, as it were, a verbal icon of God the Word, reclining on the “Easter of the crucifixion” and ready to die. Seeing the immeasurable humiliation of her Lord and Savior, the Church at the same time beholds His glory. Already the first Gospel begins with the words of the Savior about His glorification: Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him. This glory, like a kind of light-like cloud, envelops the exalted Cross now standing before us. Like once Mount Sinai and the ancient tabernacle, it surrounds Golgotha. And the stronger the sorrow that the gospel story tells about, the stronger the glorification of Christ sounds in hymns.

The essence of God is love, therefore she is glorified even in the suffering of the Savior. The glory of love is its sacrifice. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. Christ lays down His life for His friends and calls them: You are My friends (John 15:14). The Lord brought people complete knowledge. The fullness of the Divine dwelling in Him bodily through the unity of those who love in Him reveals knowledge about the most important and valuable thing - about God. Those who love one another in Christ receive a revelation of the essence of God. For, abiding in Christ's love, they thereby abide in the Trinitarian Godhead. He who loves Me will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our abode with him (John 14:23). With the coming of the Father, the Holy Spirit is sent down, who proceeds from the Father and bears witness to the Son (cf. John 15:26).

However, it is impossible to love when you are alone. Therefore o the image of God is reflected in human society - in the Church of Christ. The hymns call us to common prayer and to the general glorification of the Lord in order to perceive together “the Holy Passover, which is sacred in us”: “Let us hear all the faithful, convening with high preaching, the uncreated and natural wisdom of God, crying out: taste and understand, as Christ I, cry: gloriously glorified is Christ our God.” “Christ established the world, Heavenly and Divine Bread. Come, lovers of Christ, with mortal lips and pure hearts, let us faithfully celebrate Easter, which is celebrated in us.”

So, the unity of God is reflected in the unity of the Church, and vice versa. Jesus Christ prays about this in His hierarchal prayer: That they may all be one: as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us; and the world also has faith, because You sent Me. And I have given the glory to Me, I have given it to them, that they may be one, as We are one. I am in them, and You are in Me: that they may be perfect in one, and that the world may understand that You sent Me and loved them as You loved Me (John 17:21-23). What meaning does the Church give to the reading of this Gospel? This text leads us to the recognition of the internal connection of the doctrine of the personality of Christ as the God-man, of the Church as the body of the God-man, and of the nature of the Divinity as the consubstantial (omousia) of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In addition, the above prayer is a prayer for salvation, for to abide in the Father and the Son means to be saved.

Emphasizing the importance of the read Gospels and the entire service of Holy Week, church hymns encourage us to be especially attentive and focused, leaving at least for a while the cares of everyday life: “Let us present our pure feelings to Christ, and as His friends, let us devour our souls for His sake, and not by the cares of everyday life.” We are oppressed like Judas, but in our cages we cry out: Our Father who is in heaven, deliver us from the evil one.”

Having prompted us to pay special attention, the Holy Church again in her hymns glorifies the wife who anointed the Lord with chrism, and cites as an example the betrayal of the wicked money-lover Judas, reminding us that the root of all evil is the love of money(1 Tim. 6:10): “Let us serve the mercy of God, like Mary at the supper, and let us not acquire the love of money, like Judas: that we may always be with Christ our God. With thirty pieces of silver, Lord, and with a flattering kiss, I ask the Jews to kill Thee. But the lawless Judas did not want to understand.”

Since Peter turned out to be too bold in his words, as well as the other disciples, Christ exposes their instability as people who spoke rashly, and especially turns his speech to Peter, saying that it will be difficult to remain faithful to the Lord for those who could not stay awake for even one hour . But, having denounced him, he again calms them down, because they dozed off not out of inattention to Him, but out of weakness. And if we see our weakness, we will pray so as not to fall into temptation. All Christians are called to this constant spiritual vigilance; without this constant carrying of our Cross there can be no salvation, for through many sorrows we must enter the Kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). That’s why we hear again: “Having laid down thirty pieces of silver, the price of the One Who was Priced, He was valued by the children of Israel. Watch and pray, so that you do not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak: for this reason, watch” (TP. L. 439).

But it's getting closer reading of the second Passion Gospel, which tells about the taking into custody of the Savior. The solemn procession of ancient Christians spending Holy Week in the Holy Land was at that moment approaching the Garden of Gethsemane, where the betrayal took place. Therefore, in order to remind those praying that the Lord suffers for our sake and that everything happened according to the ineffable Providence of God, the Holy Church sings: “At the supper the disciples fed, and knew the pretense of tradition, at which you exposed Judas, who was therefore uncorrected for this: know it Although you have given yourself over to everyone by your will, you may snatch the world away from the alien: long-suffering, glory to You.”

Having thus prepared those praying for a correct understanding of what is being read, the Church brings to our attention the second Passion Gospel, which speaks of the capture of the Savior by the soldiers of the high priest under the leadership of Judas the traitor, the denial of Peter, the strangulation of Jesus in the courtyard of Caiaphas and His imprisonment in the praetorium of Pontius Pilate.

The antiphons following the reading of the Gospel again dwell on the fall of Judas: “Today Judas leaves the Teacher, and accepts the devil, is blinded by the passion of the love of money, the darkened Light falls away: how can you see, Selling the luminary for thirty pieces of silver; but to us the One who suffered for peace has risen. Let us cry out to the Unman: you who have suffered and have compassion, O Lord, glory to Thee.” It is obvious that it is no coincidence that so much attention is paid to the vice of the love of money and the act of Judas. The Holy Fathers speak very decisively on this matter. “Whoever began to serve mammon has already abandoned serving Christ.”

That is why this topic arises again and again: “Today Judas feigns piety, and his talents are alienated, this disciple becomes a traitor: flattery covers up in ordinary kisses, and he prefers the Master to love, it is senseless to work for the love of money, a teacher who was a teacher of a lawless congregation; But we who have the salvation of Christ, let us glorify him.”

In contrast to the act of Judas, Christ’s faithful followers are called to virtues that are opposite to his sinful illness: “Let us acquire brotherly love as brethren in Christ, and not as an unmerciful hedgehog towards our neighbors: lest we be condemned as an unmerciful servant, for the sake of penalties, and like Judas, having repented, we take advantage of nothing.” "

Turning the Savior's speech to His disciples, the Holy Church in the following antiphons again encourages and strengthens the followers of Christ in this difficult time; But we, separated from the events described in the Gospel for centuries, are moved to patience and perseverance in temptations: “Today the Creator of heaven and earth said to His disciple: The hour is approaching, and Judas will betray Me, so that no one will deny Me, seeing Me on the cross in the midst of two thiefs.” : For I suffer as a man, and I will save as a Lover of Mankind, those who believe in Me... Lord, having come to free passion, You cried out to Your disciple: Even if you were not able to watch with Me for a single hour, since you promised to die for My sake; See how Judas is not sleeping, but is trying to betray Me to the lawless. Arise, pray, so that no one will deny Me, in vain I am on the cross, long-suffering, glory to You.”

The third Passion Gospel is read, telling about how the Savior in the courtyard of the high priest Caiaphas Himself testifies of Himself as the Son of God and accepts being strangled and spat on for this testimony. The renunciation of the Apostle Peter and his repentance are also depicted here. The antiphons that follow the Gospel emphasize that the Divine Sufferer endures these torments voluntarily - for the sake of saving His creation: “When you ate the lawless, while you endured thee, you cried out to the Lord: if you also smite the Shepherd, and scatter twelve sheep, my disciples, you can imagine greater things than twelve legions.” angels. But I will endure long, that what My prophets have revealed to you, unknown and secret, may be fulfilled: Lord, glory to Thee.”

The seventh antiphon says about the Apostle Peter: “Peter denied three times what was spoken to him in his mind, but bring to You tears of repentance: God, cleanse me and save me.” Here we briefly talk about events that have a very deep, enduring moral significance. Obsessed with fear, Peter forgot about his promises to the Teacher and submitted to human weakness. But there is also a higher meaning in this event: Peter is convicted of a servant, that is, of human weakness, this little slave. The rooster means the word of Jesus, which does not allow us to sleep. The awakened Peter came out of the bishop's courtyard, that is, from a state of blinded mind, and began to cry. While he was in the courtyard of the blinded mind, he did not cry because he had no feeling; but as soon as he came out of it, he came to his senses.

The topic of repentance is very important, and in the hymns of Holy Week it is revealed as clearly as nowhere else. According to the holy fathers, if even the evil Judas could fall before the Cross of Christ and bring sincere repentance for betrayal, he would hear from the most pure lips of the Lord: “Your sins are forgiven.” However, “lawless Judas did not want to understand” God’s mercy. He did not turn, like the Apostle Peter, to the good and merciful Lord. The traitor came to the Pharisees, but did not find sympathy from them. Throwing them pieces of silver, he went and hanged himself - a terrible end!

What lesson can be learned Orthodox Christian from the denial of the Apostle Peter? Many probably asked the question: how could he renounce the Savior? And how do we renounce every minute in word and deed?.. Love of sin keeps us from following Christ and makes our soul dead, not knowing Christ.

In the eighth antiphon, the stiff-necked Jews are reproached for not recognizing in Christ their Messiah and Lawgiver: “Cry out the iniquity that you hear from our Savior; shall not lay down the law, and the prophetic teaching; How could you think of betraying Pilate, who is from God, God the Word, and the deliverer of our souls.” Those to whom the Law and the Prophets were given, those who saw so many miracles, did not recognize their Savior and their Messiah: “Let those who continually enjoy the cry of Thy gifts be crucified, and let the evildoer instead of the benefactor be accepted to the benefactor, the murderers of the righteous: but Christ art thou who was silent, enduring their severity, to suffer even though they save us, as a Lover of Mankind.”

Coming reading time of the fourth Passion Gospel. It describes the dialogue between the Savior and Pilate, the scourging of the Lord, His clothing with a crown of thorns and scarlet robe, the mad cries of the crowd: “Crucify, crucify Him!” and handing Him over to be crucified. Once again, already at the threshold of death, He testifies of Himself as the Truth, to which unbelieving skepticism in the person of Pilate replies: “What is truth?” - and betrays Christ to torture and abuse.

What is striking in this Gospel passage is the cry of the crowd, thirsting for the death of their Creator: “Let those who continually enjoy the cry of Thy gifts be crucified, and let the evildoer be accepted instead of the benefactor, the murderers of the righteous.” The Lord performed so many miracles throughout the history of the Israeli people, and the majority of these people did not accept Him: “This says the Lord to the Jews: My people, what have I done to you? or why do you feel cold; I enlightened your blind, cleansed your lepers, raised your living husband on his bed. My people, what have I done to you, and what will you repay Me; for manna gall: for water tsets: for the hedgehog love Me, nail Me to the cross!..”

And if only he had not accepted... His blood be on us and on our children (Matthew 27:25)... What scary words!.. And with what insane frivolity the people pronounce them. The Blood of the Righteous One, which he took upon himself, burned the cities with fire, delivered the Israelites into the hands of their enemies and finally scattered them across the face of the earth... But we accept this same Blood in the Sacrament of Holy Communion, for us it is the source of immortality and Eternal Life... But His Blood will be on us and on our children for condemnation and destruction, if even after we have been renewed by this most holy Blood we continue to commit the same sins.

But then, in the midst of terrible sorrow, the words of church hymn are heard put into the mouth of the Savior: “To those who cannot endure anything else, I will call on My tongues, and they will glorify Me with the Father and the Spirit: and I will give them eternal life.” This speaks of the Holy Church of Christ, which will also be gathered from sheep that are not of this fold. But you too must be brought to Me, and My voice will be heard, and there will be one flock and one Shepherd (John 10:16).

The next, tenth and eleventh, antiphons mention the terrible natural phenomena that accompanied the suffering of Christ. If people turn out to be insensitive, then inanimate nature cannot help but sympathize with his Creator: “Dress yourself in light like a robe, standing naked in judgment, and on your cheeks receive the emphasis from the hands that created them: but lawless people nailed the Lord of glory on the cross: then the veil of the church was torn, the sun darkened, unable to bear the sight of God vexed, He who trembles in every way, Let us worship Him.

Below is the earth as if it shook, below is the stone as if it became gray, admonishing the Jews, below is the church veil, below is the resurrection of the dead. But grant them, Lord, according to their deeds, for they have learned from You in vain.

Today the church veil for exposing the lawless is torn, and the sun hides its rays, the Lord is being crucified in vain.”

Fifth Passion Gospel tells about the death of the traitor Judas, about the interrogation of the Lord in the praetorium of Pilate and about His condemnation to death. The thirteenth antiphon speaks of the robber-murderer Barabbas, whom the maddened crowd preferred to the Savior: “The assembly of the Jews asked Pilate to crucify You, O Lord: for You did not find guilt in You, who freed Barabbas to blame, and You righteously condemned the sin that inherited the foul murder.” And again the Church reminds us that the Savior suffers for us: “Everyone is terrified and trembles, and every tongue sings, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, struck the priests on the cheek, and gave Him gall: and you will suffer all, even if you save us from our iniquities by His Blood, as a Lover of Mankind.”

Suddenly, amid the sorrow and greatness of this day, a weak human cry is heard. This is the cry of the thief, crucified at the right hand of Christ and comprehending the Divinity of the God-Man crucified with him and compassionate with him. “The thief uttered a small voice on the cross, you gained great faith, you were saved in a single moment, and the first gates of heaven opened below, who accepted repentance, Lord, glory to You.”

Like a heartfelt sigh from the whole world, the Church takes it up, and in the hearts of its faithful it grows into a whole song about the prudent thief, sung three times before the 9th Gospel: “The prudent thief, in one hour you have made heaven worthy, and enlighten me with the tree of the cross, and save me."

The words of the last antiphon are imbued with special power: “Today the King like the angels, like the angels, hangs on a tree; he dresses himself in false scarlet, covering the sky with clouds; the strangulation was accepted, like the freed Adam in the Jordan; The Church Bridegroom is nailed down with nails; a copy of the Son of the Virgin. We worship Christ with Your passion; We worship Christ with Your passion; We worship Your passion, Christ, show us Your glorious resurrection.” And here, among the sufferings darkening the consciousness, like a thin ray of light, a mention appears of what all this suffering is for: “show us your glorious resurrection!”

Having thus strengthened those praying, the Church offers reading of the sixth Passion Gospel, which talks about the crucifixion itself. In the hymns that follow this Gospel and immediately precede it, the saving meaning of the suffering of the God-Man is revealed: “Your cross, O Lord, is life and intercession for your people, and in hope we sing to you of our crucified God, have mercy on us.”

In the hymns one can hear: “Thou hast redeemed us from the legal oath, with Thy venerable Blood, having been nailed to the cross, and pierced with a spear, Thou hast extinguished immortality as a man, Our Savior, glory to Thee.” The Lord redeemed us, did everything for our salvation, but this salvation can only be found in the Church of Christ. Therefore, immediately after reading the Gospel story about the crucifixion, we hear comforting words about the Church, filling the whole world with Divine grace: “Thy life-giving ribs, like a fountain flowing from Eden, Thy Church, O Christ, like a verbal one, waters paradise, from here dividing like into the beginning, into the four Gospels, watering the world, making the creation joyful, and faithfully teaching the tongues to worship Your Kingdom.” Only in the Church, as in the ark of salvation, can one find peace and salvation from eternal death.

But peace and salvation can only be obtained by following Christ: “Thou hast been crucified for my sake, that thou hast pierced my ribs, that thou hast emptied the drops of life: thou hast been nailed with nails, that by the depth of Thy passions we assure the height of Thy power , I call Ty: Life-giving Christ, glory to the Savior Cross and Thy passion.” Only those who fulfill gospel commandment: If anyone wants to follow Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and come after Me.(Matt. 16:24).

What else can be added, what else can be usefully extracted from the proposed chants? “Thou hast torn to pieces our handwriting on the cross, O Lord, and having been counted among the dead, Thou hast bound the tormentor there, delivering all from the bonds of death by Thy resurrection, through which we have been enlightened, O Lord of mankind, and we cry unto Thee: remember us also, O Saviour, in Thy Kingdom.”

Seventh and Eighth Passion Gospels repeat the events of the Savior's crucifixion, supplementing them with some details. After the eighth Gospel, the three-canticle of Cosmas of Maium is read, which, in particular, again speaks of the disciples of Christ. The eighth song of this three-song contains an important idea that to those who are stronger, a stronger temptation is sent: “From the disciples of all times now, shake off the sleep that thou hast said, O Christ, and watch in prayer, lest ye enter into adversity, and especially Simone: the strongest temptation. Understand Me Peter: He will bless all creation, glorifying Him forever.”

We are further reminded that you can never rely on yourself, since only with the help of God can we do something good: “You have not experienced all the depth of Divine wisdom and reason, but you have not comprehended the abyss of My destinies as a human being, the Lord speaks. Do not boast in your poor flesh, for you have denied Me three times, Whom He will bless all creation, glorifying Him forever.” Moreover, Peter was afraid not of the soldiers, but of the maids: “You deny to Simone Peter that you will quickly do as you have said, and one young woman will come to You and frighten You, the Lord has spoken. The mountaineer shed tears, and found Me both merciful and blessed by all creation, glorifying Him forever.”

The Exapostilary of the Trisong, sung just before the reading of the ninth Gospel, depicts the prudent thief who came to the knowledge of the Truth at the eleventh hour. This teaches a lesson that it is never too late to repent and come to Christ the Savior: “The prudent thief, in one hour you have made heaven worthy, and enlighten me with the tree of the cross, and save me.” Jesus receives everyone, giving the same denarius to those workers who came around the eleventh hour. Amen, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise (Luke 23:43).

The ninth Passion Gospel is read, which speaks of the Savior’s dying concerns about His Mother and His death. The Lord, hanging on the cross, adopts His Mother as a son to His beloved disciple. “This was a response to Her boundless sorrow, the spectacle of which was one of the sharpest thorns of the Savior’s martyr’s crown.”

And now - “it is finished.” The Lord, Creator of heaven and earth, hanging on the cross, gave up his ghost. “My cloaks fell on the wounds, but I did not turn away My face from the spitting, I stood before Pilate’s judgment, and endured the cross for the salvation of the world.” The work of redemption of the human race through His suffering on the cross was completed, in everything in accordance with the Old Testament prophecies and foreshadowings. Even inanimate nature could not remain indifferent to the death of its Creator. In the midst of the darkness, a strong underground rumble was heard, and the earth began to shake: “All creation, changing with fear, beholding Thee hanging on the cross of Christ: the sun was darkened, and the foundations of the earth shook, all to the compassion of the Creator of all. You endured the will of us for our sake, O Lord, glory to Thee.”

The menacing natural phenomena have ceased. Golgotha is empty. Terrible rumors began to spread throughout the city that the earthquake had damaged the temple, and the curtain separating the Holy of Holies from the Sanctuary was torn from top to bottom. This event marked the end Old Testament and the establishment of a new relationship between man and God.

In the tenth and eleventh Passion Gospels tells about the burial of the Savior. The secret disciples of Christ - Joseph of Arimathea, the “good adviser”, and Nicodemus - no longer hiding, give their last honors to their Teacher. These Gospels, like the twelfth, relate to the events of Holy Saturday, therefore church hymns are already imbued with undisguised joy and expectation of the Bright Christ's Resurrection: “People teach wickedness and lawlessness in vain; condemned everyone to death to death; “It is a great miracle that the Creator of the world is betrayed into the hands of the wicked, and the Lover of Mankind is exalted on the tree, so that even in hell he will free the captives who call: long-suffering Lord, glory to Thee.”

Lord, as You ascended the cross, fear and trembling attacked the creation, and you forbade the earth to swallow up those who crucified You, but you commanded hell to release the prisoners, for the renewal of men, the Judge of the living and the dead, you came to give life, not death: Lover of mankind, glory to You."

Twelfth Passion Gospel ends the story of the saving Passion of Christ. It talks about how the Jews, fearing deception from the disciples of the Lord, sealed the Tomb and placed a guard at it.

The last Passion Gospel has been read, the Lord has been laid in the tomb, Christ’s disciples have dispersed... The continuation of the holy and saving Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ ends, and with lighted candles Christians leave the church, grieving from what they have experienced, but in the depths of their souls already expecting the Resurrection.

Passion Gospels:

1) John 13:31-18:1 (The Savior’s farewell conversation with his disciples and His high priestly prayer for them).

2) John 18:1-28. (The capture of the Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane and His suffering at the hands of the High Priest Anna).

3) Matthew 26:57-75. (The Savior’s suffering at the hands of the high priest Caiaphas and the denial of Peter).

4) John 18:28-40,19:1-16. (The Lord's suffering at Pilate's trial).

5) Matthew 27:3-32. (The despair of Judas, the new suffering of the Lord under Pilate and His condemnation to crucifixion).

6) Mark 15:16-32. (Leading the Lord to Golgotha and His Passion on the Cross).

7) Matthew 27:34-54. (Continuation of the story of the Lord’s suffering on the cross, the miraculous signs that accompanied His death).

8) Luke 23:32-49. (Prayer of the Savior on the Cross for enemies and repentance of a prudent thief).

9) John 19:25-37. (The Savior’s words from the cross to the Mother of God and the Apostle John and repetition of the legend about His death and perforation).

10) Mark 15:43-47. (Removal of the Lord's body from the Cross).

11) John 19:38-42. (Participation of Nicodemus and Joseph in the burial of the Savior).

12) Matthew 27:62-66. (Attaching guards to the tomb of the Savior and sealing the tomb).

M hi to you, dear visitors of the Orthodox website “Family and Faith”!

IN Maundy Thursday, or as it is popularly called - Maundy Thursday, Vespers is celebrated with the reading of the 12 Passion Gospels. In pre-revolutionary Russia, Easter eggs were painted on this day (they are painted in modern Russia even now), and young and old also prepared for the evening service. Adults and children made lanterns in which, after the service, they would need to bring a lit candle and paint the ceiling at the entrance, as well as the beams above the windows, with black crosses.

R Russian writer Vasily Nikiforov-Volgin wrote a wonderful memoir from childhood dedicated to Maundy Thursday.

WITH holy week. Maundy Thursday. Before the bell rang for the reading of the twelve Gospels, I was making a lantern from red paper in which I would carry a candle from the church from the passion of Christ. With this candle we will light the lamp and maintain an unquenchable fire in it until the Ascension.

“The Gospel fire,” the mother assured, “delivers from sorrow and spiritual darkness!”

My flashlight turned out so well that I couldn’t bear to run to Grishka and show it. He looked at him vigilantly and said:

- Wow, but I’m better!

At the same time, he showed his own, bound in tin and with colored glass.

“Such a lantern,” Grishka convinced, “will not go out in the most furious windy weather, but yours will not stand it!”

I became confused: will I really not bring the holy light to the house?

He told his mother his fears. She reassured.

“It’s not clever to convey it in a lantern, but try to convey it our way, the village way, in your hands.” Your grandmother used to carry the Thursday fire two miles away, in the very wind, and across the field!

The eve of Maundy Thursday was showered with a golden dawn. The ground grew cold, and the puddles were covered with crispy ice. And there was such silence that I heard a jackdaw, who wanted to drink from a puddle, break the thin frost with its beak.

- How quiet! - remarked to his mother.

She thought about it and sighed:

– On such days it is always... It is the earth that sympathizes with the suffering of the Heavenly King!..

It was impossible not to shudder when the round-sounding sound of the cathedral bell rang across the quiet land. It was joined by the silver, chest-like ringing of the Church of the Sign; the Assumption Church responded with a murmuring splash, the Vladimir Church with a pitiful groan and the Resurrection Church with a thick cooing wave.

From the sliding ringing of bells, the city seemed to float through the blue twilight, like a large ship, and the twilight swayed like curtains in the wind - now in one direction, then in the other.

The reading of the twelve Gospels began. In the middle of the church stood a tall Crucifix. In front of him is a lectern. I stood near the cross, and the head of the Savior in the crown of thorns seemed especially tormented. I read the Slavic writings at the foot of the cross: “He was ulcerated for our sins and tormented for our iniquities.”

I remembered how He blessed the children, how He saved a woman from being stoned, how I cried in the Garden of Gethsemane, abandoned by everyone - and my eyes grew gloomy, and I so wanted to go to a monastery...

After the litany, in which the words touched: “For those who sail, travel, are sick and suffer to the Lord, let us pray to the Lord,” - in the choir they sang, as if with one sob: “When the glorious disciples were enlightened at the prayer of the supper...”

Everyone’s candles were lit, and people’s faces became like icons in the lamplight—luminous and merciful.

From the altar, along the wide, sad spills of the Thursday troparion, they carried out the Gospel, heavy in black velvet, and placed it on the lectern in front of the Crucifixion. Everything became hidden and listening. The twilight outside the windows became bluer and more thoughtful.

With unquenchable sorrow, the “beginning” of the reading of the first Gospel was laid: “Glory to Thy passion, O Lord”...

The Gospel is long, long, but you listen to it without burden, deeply breathing into yourself the breath and sorrow of Christ’s words. The candle in your hand becomes warm and tender. Her light is also alive and alert.

During the incense, the words were read, as if in the name of Christ Himself: “My people, what have I done to you or what has caused you the cold: I have enlightened your blind, I have cleansed your lepers, I have raised up the man who is on his bed. My people, what have I done to you, and what will you repay me? For manna - gall, for water - otset, for a hedgehog to love me, nail me to the cross”...

That evening, to the point of shudder, I saw closely how the soldiers took Him, how they tried, scourged, crucified, and how He said goodbye to His Mother.

“Glory to Your long-suffering, O Lord”...

After the Eighth Gospel, the three best singers in our city stood in elegant blue caftans in front of the Crucifixion and sang “luminaries”: “The prudent thief in one hour hast thou vouchsafed to heaven; and enlighten and save me with the Tree of the Cross.”

With the lights of candles they left the church into the night. There are also lights coming towards us: they are coming from other churches. The ice crunches under your feet, the special pre-Easter wind is humming, all the churches are ringing, icy crackling sounds are heard from the river, and in the black sky, so spacious and divinely powerful, there are many stars.

On Thursday evening, Great Heel Matins is celebrated with the reading of the 12 Gospels of the Holy Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1) (Holy Gospel of John 13:1-38)

1. Before the Feast of Passover, Jesus, knowing that His hour had come to pass from this world to the Father, showed by deed that, having loved His who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
2. And during the supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Simon Iscariot to betray Him,
3. Jesus, knowing that the Father has given all things into His hands, and that He came from God and is going to God,
4. got up from supper and took off outerwear and, taking a towel, girded himself.
5. Then he poured water into the washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel with which he was girded.
6. He approaches Simon Peter, and he says to Him: Lord! Should you wash my feet?
7. Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not know now, but you will understand later.”
8. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him: If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.
9. Simon Peter says to Him: Lord! not only my feet, but also my hands and head.
10. Jesus says to him: He who has been washed only needs to wash his feet, because he is all clean; and you are clean, but not all.
11. For He knew His betrayer, therefore He said: You are not all pure.
12. When he had washed their feet and put on his clothes, he lay down again and said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you?”
13. You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you speak correctly, for I am exactly that.
14. So, if I, the Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, then you should also wash one another’s feet.
15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do the same as I have done to you.
16. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, and a messenger is not greater than the one who sent him.
17. If you know this, blessed are you when you do it.
18. I’m not talking about all of you; I know whom I chose. But let the Scripture be fulfilled: He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me.
19. Now I tell you before it comes to pass, so that when it comes to pass, you may believe that it is I.
20. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives him whom I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.
21 Having said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.”
22. Then the disciples looked around at each other, wondering who He was talking about.
23 Now one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at Jesus’ breast.
24. Simon Peter made a sign to him and asked who it was that he was talking about.
25. He fell to the chest of Jesus and said to Him: Lord! who is this?
26. Jesus answered: he to whom I dip a piece of bread and give it. And, having dipped the piece, he gave it to Judas Simon Iscariot.
27. And after this piece Satan entered into him. Then Jesus said to him, “Whatever you are doing, do it quickly.”
28. But none of those reclining understood why He told him this.
29. And since Judas had a box, some thought that Jesus was saying to him: buy what we need for the holiday, or to give something to the poor.
30. Having accepted the piece, he immediately went out; and it was night.
31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him.”
32. If God was glorified in Him, then God will glorify Him in Himself, and will soon glorify Him.
33. Children! I won't be with you for long. You will seek Me, and just as I told the Jews that where I go you cannot come, so I tell you now.
34. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, let you also love one another.
35. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.
36. Simon Peter said to Him: Lord! where are you going? Jesus answered him: Where I am going, you cannot follow Me now, but later you will follow Me.
37. Peter said to Him: Lord! Why can’t I follow You now? I will lay down my soul for You.
38. Jesus answered him, “Will you lay down your life for Me?” Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow until you have denied Me three times.

2) (Holy Gospel of John 18:1-28)

1. Having said this, Jesus went out with His disciples beyond the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, into which He and His disciples entered.
2. And Judas, His betrayer, also knew this place, because Jesus often gathered there with His disciples.
3. So Judas, having taken a detachment of soldiers and ministers from the chief priests and Pharisees, comes there with lanterns and torches and weapons.
4. Jesus, knowing everything that would happen to Him, went out and said to them, “Whom are you looking for?”
5. They answered: Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said to them: It is I. And Judas, His betrayer, stood with them.
6. And when he said to them, “It is I,” they retreated back and fell to the ground.
7. He asked them again: Who are you looking for? They said: Jesus of Nazareth.
8. Jesus answered: I told you that it was I; So, if you are looking for Me, leave them, let them go, -
9. That the word He spoke might be fulfilled: “Of those whom You gave Me, I have not destroyed any.”
10. Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it, and struck the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus.
11 But Jesus said to Peter, Sheathe your sword; Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?
12 Then the soldiers and the captain and the officers of the Jews took Jesus and bound him,
13. And they took Him first to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.
14. It was Caiaphas who gave advice to the Jews that it was better for one man to die for the people.
15. Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus; This disciple was known to the high priest and entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest.
16. And Peter stood outside the doors. Then another disciple, who was known to the high priest, came out and spoke to the doorkeeper and brought Peter in.
17. Then the servant servant said to Peter: “Are you not one of this man’s disciples?” He said no.
18. Meanwhile, the slaves and servants, having lit a fire, because it was cold, stood and warmed themselves. Peter also stood with them and warmed himself.
19. The high priest asked Jesus about His disciples and about His teaching.
20. Jesus answered him: I have spoken openly to the world; I always taught in the synagogue and in the temple, where Jews always meet, and I did not say anything secretly.
21. Why are you asking Me? ask those who heard what I said to them; behold, they know that I have spoken.
22. When He had said this, one of the servants who was standing close struck Jesus on the cheek, saying, “Is this the answer you give to the high priest?”
23. Jesus answered him: If I have said something bad, show me what is bad; What if it’s good that you beat Me?
24. Annas sent Him bound to the high priest Caiaphas.
25. Simon Peter stood and warmed himself. Then they said to him, “Aren’t you also one of His disciples?” He denied and said: no.
26. One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the one whose ear Peter cut off, said: Didn’t I see you with Him in the garden?
27. Peter denied again; and immediately the rooster crowed.
28. They took Jesus from Caiaphas to the praetorium. It was morning; and they did not enter the praetorium, so as not to be defiled, but so that they could eat the Passover.

3) (Holy Gospel of Matthew 26:57-75)

57. And those who took Jesus took Him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and elders were assembled.
58. Peter followed Him at a distance, to the courtyard of the high priest; and going inside, he sat down with the servants to see the end.
59. The chief priests and elders and the whole Sanhedrin sought false testimony against Jesus in order to put Him to death,
60. and were not found; and, although many false witnesses came, they were not found. But finally two false witnesses came
61. And they said: He said: I can destroy the temple of God and build it in three days.
62. And the high priest stood up and said to Him: Why don’t you answer? What do they testify against You?
63. Jesus was silent. And the high priest said to Him: I adjure You by the living God, tell us, Are You the Christ, the Son of God?
64. Jesus says to him: You said; I even say to you: from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.
65. Then the high priest tore his clothes and said: He is blaspheming! What more need do we need witnesses? Behold, now you have heard His blasphemy!
66. what do you think? They answered and said: He is guilty of death.
67. Then they spat in His face and buffeted Him; others struck Him on the cheeks
68. And they said: Prophesy to us, O Christ, who struck You?
69. Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. And a certain maid came to him and said, “You too were with Jesus the Galilean.”
70. But he denied it before everyone, saying, “I don’t know what you are saying.”
71. And as he went out of the gate, another saw him, and said to those who were there, “This one also was with Jesus of Nazareth.”
72. And he again denied with an oath that he did not know this Man.
73. A little later those standing there came and said to Peter, “Surely you are one of them, for your speech also convicts you.”
74. Then he began to swear and swear that he did not know this Man. And suddenly the rooster crowed.
75. And Peter remembered the word that Jesus had spoken to him: Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times. And going out, he wept bitterly.

4) (Holy Gospel of John 18:28-40)

28. They took Jesus from Caiaphas to the praetorium. It was morning; and they did not enter the praetorium, so as not to be defiled, but so that they could eat the Passover.
29. Pilate came out to them and said, “What do you accuse this man of?”
30. They answered him: If He had not been an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him to you.
31. Pilate said to them: Take Him, and judge Him according to your law. The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,”
32. That the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which He spoke, indicating by what kind of death He would die.
33. Then Pilate again entered the praetorium, and called Jesus, and said to Him: Are you the King of the Jews?
34. Jesus answered him, “Are you saying this of your own accord, or have others told you about Me?”
35. Pilate answered: Am I a Jew? Your people and the chief priests delivered You up to me; what did you do?
36. Jesus answered: My kingdom is not of this world; If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would fight for Me, so that I would not be betrayed to the Jews; but now my kingdom is not from here.
37. Pilate said to Him: So are You a King? Jesus answered: You say that I am a King. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I came into the world, to testify to the truth; everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.
38. Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And having said this, he again went out to the Jews and said to them: I find no guilt in Him.
39. You have a custom that I give you one for Easter; Do you want me to release the King of the Jews to you?
40. Then they all shouted again, saying, “Not Him, but Barabbas.” Barabbas was a robber.

5) (Holy Gospel of Matthew 27:3-32)

3. Then Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He was condemned, and, repenting, returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
4. saying: I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. They said to him: What is that to us? take a look yourself.
5. And throwing away the pieces of silver in the temple, he went out, went and hanged himself.
6. The high priests, taking the pieces of silver, said: It is not permissible to put them in the church treasury, because this is the price of blood.
7. Having taken counsel, they bought a potter's land with them for the burial of strangers;
8. Therefore that land is called “the land of blood” to this day.
9. Then was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, who says: And they took thirty pieces of silver, the price of the One who was valued, whom the children of Israel valued,
10 And they gave them for the potter's land, as the Lord said to me.
11. Jesus stood before the governor. And the ruler asked Him: Are you the King of the Jews? Jesus said to him: You speak.
12 And when the chief priests and elders accused Him, He answered nothing.
13. Then Pilate said to Him: Do you not hear how many testify against You?
14. And he did not answer a single word, so that the ruler was greatly amazed.
15. On the holiday of Easter, the ruler had the custom of releasing to the people one prisoner whom they wanted.
16. At that time they had a famous prisoner called Barabbas;
17 So, when they were gathered, Pilate said to them: whom do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus, who is called Christ?
18. For he knew that they had betrayed Him out of envy.
19. While he was sitting in the judgment seat, his wife sent him to say: Do not do anything to the Righteous One, because today in a dream I suffered a lot for Him.
20. But the chief priests and elders stirred up the people to ask Barabbas and to destroy Jesus.
21. Then the governor asked them: Which of the two do you want me to release to you? They said: Barabbas.
22. Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do to Jesus, who is called Christ? Everyone tells him: let him be crucified.
23. The ruler said: What evil has He done? But they shouted even more loudly: let him be crucified.
24. Pilate, seeing that nothing helped, but the confusion was increasing, took water and washed his hands before the people, and said: I am innocent of the blood of this Righteous One; look you.
25 And all the people answered and said, His blood be on us and on our children.
26. Then he released Barabbas to them, and beat Jesus and handed him over to be crucified.
27. Then the soldiers of the governor, taking Jesus to the praetorium, gathered the whole regiment against Him
28. And having undressed Him, they put purple robe on Him;
29. And having woven a crown of thorns, they placed it on His head and gave it to Him right hand cane; and, kneeling before Him, they mocked Him, saying: Hail, King of the Jews!
30. And they spat on Him and, taking a reed, beat Him on the head.
31. And when they had mocked Him, they took off His scarlet robe, and clothed Him with His own garments, and led Him away to be crucified.
32. As they went out, they met a certain Cyrene man named Simon; this one was forced to bear His cross.

6) (Holy Gospel of Mark 15:16-32)

16. And the soldiers took Him inside the courtyard, that is, to the praetorium, and gathered the whole regiment,
17. And they clothed Him in scarlet, and plaited a crown of thorns, and laid it on Him;
18. And they began to greet Him: Hail, King of the Jews!
19. And they beat Him on the head with a reed, and spat on Him, and kneeling down they bowed down to Him.
20. When they had mocked Him, they took off His scarlet robe, clothed Him in His own garments, and led Him out to crucify Him.
21. And they forced a certain Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, who was coming from the field, to carry His cross.
22. And they brought Him to the place of Golgotha, which means: Place of Execution.
23. And they gave Him wine and myrrh to drink; but He did not accept.
24. Those who crucified Him divided His garments, casting lots as to who should take what.
25. It was the third hour, and they crucified Him.
26. And the inscription of His guilt was: King of the Jews.
27. Two thieves were crucified with Him, one on the right and the other on left side His.
28. And the word of the Scripture was fulfilled: He was numbered among the evildoers.
29. Those passing by cursed Him, nodding their heads and saying: Eh! destroying the temple, and building in three days!
30. Save Yourself and come down from the cross.
31. Likewise, the high priests and the scribes mocked each other and said to each other, “He saved others, but he cannot save himself.”
32. Let Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe. And those crucified with Him reviled Him.

7) (Holy Gospel of Matthew 27:34-54)

34. They gave Him vinegar mixed with gall to drink; and, having tasted it, did not want to drink.
35. And those who crucified Him divided His garments, casting lots;
36. And they sat and watched Him there;
37. And they placed an inscription over His head, signifying His guilt: This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.
38. Then two thieves were crucified with Him: one right side, and the other on the left.
39. Those who passed by cursed Him, shaking their heads.
40. and saying: He who destroys the temple and in three days He who builds it up! save yourself; if you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.
41. Likewise the chief priests, with the scribes and elders and Pharisees, mockingly said:
42. He saved others, but he cannot save himself; if He is the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him;
43. trusted in God; Let him deliver Him now, if He pleases Him. For He said: I am the Son of God.
44. Also the thieves who were crucified with Him reviled Him.
45. From the sixth hour there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour;
46. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice: Either, Or! Lama Savakhthani? that is: My God, My God! Why have you forsaken me?
47. Some of those standing there, hearing this, said, “He is calling Elijah.”
48. And immediately one of them ran, took a sponge, filled it with vinegar, and putting it on a reed, gave Him to drink;
49. And others said, “Wait, let’s see if Elijah will come to save Him.”
50. Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and gave up the ghost.
51. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom; and the earth shook; and the stones dissipated;
52. And the tombs were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were resurrected
53. And coming out of the tombs after His resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many.
54. The centurion and those who were with him guarding Jesus, seeing the earthquake and everything that happened, were greatly afraid and said: Truly this was the Son of God.

8) (Holy Gospel of Luke 23:23-49)

23.But they continued with great shouting to demand that He be crucified; and the cry prevailed over them and the chief priests.
24. And Pilate decided to be at their request,
25.And he released to them the man who had been imprisoned for rebellion and murder, whom they asked for; and he gave Jesus over to their will.
26. And when they led Him away, they captured one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the field, and laid a cross on him to carry after Jesus.
27. And a great multitude of people and women followed Him, weeping and lamenting for Him.
28.Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem!” do not weep for Me, but weep for yourself and for your children,
29. For the days are coming in which they will say: Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that have not given birth, and the breasts that have not nursed!
30.Then they will begin to say to the mountains: fall on us! and the hills: cover us!
31. For if they do this to a green tree, what will happen to a dry tree?
32. They led two evildoers with Him to death.
33.And when they came to the place called Skull, there they crucified Him and the evildoers, one on the right and the other on the left.
34. Jesus said: Father! forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. And they divided His garments by casting lots.
35.And the people stood and watched. The leaders also mocked them, saying: He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ, God's chosen one.
36.The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up and offering Him vinegar
37. And saying: if You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself.
38. And there was an inscription over Him, written in Greek, Roman and Hebrew words: This is the King of the Jews.
39. One of the hanged villains slandered Him and said: if You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.
40. The other, on the contrary, calmed him down and said: Or are you not afraid of God, when you yourself are condemned to the same thing?
41.And we are condemned justly, because we accepted what was worthy of our deeds, but He did nothing bad.
42.And he said to Jesus: Remember me, Lord, when you come into your kingdom!
43.And Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
44. Now it was about the sixth hour of the day, and darkness fell over all the land until the ninth hour:
45.And the sun was darkened, and the curtain of the temple was torn in the middle.
46.Jesus cried out with a loud voice and said: Father! I commit My spirit into Your hands. And having said this, he gave up the ghost.
47. The centurion, seeing what was happening, glorified God and said: Truly this man was a righteous man.
48. And all the people who had gathered to see this spectacle, seeing what was happening, returned, beating their chests.
49. And all those who knew Him, and the women who followed Him from Galilee, stood afar off and beheld this.

9)John 19:25-37

25. Standing at the cross of Jesus were His Mother and His Mother’s sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.
26. Jesus, seeing the Mother and the disciple standing there, whom he loved, said to His Mother: Je’no! Behold, Your son.
27.Then he says to the disciple: Behold, your Mother! And from that time on, this disciple took Her to himself.
28.After this Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst.”
29.There stood a vessel full of vinegar. The soldiers filled a sponge with vinegar and put it on hyssop and brought it to His lips.
30.When Jesus tasted the vinegar, he said, “It is done!” And, bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.
31. But since it was Friday, the Jews, in order not to leave the bodies on the cross on Saturday - for that Saturday was a great day - asked Pilate to break their legs and take them off.
32. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who was crucified with Him.
33. But when they came to Jesus, when they saw Him already dead, they did not break His legs,
34. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out.
35.And he who saw it bore witness, and his testimony is true; he knows that he speaks the truth so that you may believe.
36. For this happened, that the Scripture might be fulfilled: Let not His bone be broken.
37. Also in another place the Scripture says: They will look at Him whom they have pierced.

10) Mark 15:43-47 (The Descent of the Lord's Body from the Cross)

43. Joseph came from Arimathea, a famous member of the council, who himself expected the Kingdom of God, dared to enter Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus.
44.Pilate was surprised that He had already died, and, calling the centurion, asked him how long ago had He died?
45.And having learned from the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph.
46. He bought a shroud and took Him off, wrapped him in the shroud, and laid Him in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock, and rolled the stone to the door of the tomb.
47. Mary Magdalene and Mary of Joseph looked where they laid Him.

11) John 19:38-42 (Nicodemus and Joseph burying Christ).

38.After this, Joseph of Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus, but secretly out of fear from the Jews, asked Pilate to remove the body of Jesus; and Pilate allowed it. He went and took down the body of Jesus.
39. Nicodemus, who had previously come to Jesus at night, also came and brought a composition of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred liters.
40. So they took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in linens with spices, as the Jews are wont to bury.
41. 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.
42.They laid Jesus there for the sake of the Friday of Judea, because the tomb was close.

12) Matthew 27:62-66 (Putting guards at the tomb of the Savior).

62. On the next day, which followed Friday, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered to Pilate
63.And they said: Master! We remembered that the deceiver, while still alive, said: after three days I will rise again;
64. Therefore command that the tomb be guarded until the third day, so that His disciples, coming at night, do not steal Him and say to the people: He has risen from the dead; and the last deception will be worse than the first.
65Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go and protect it as best you can.
66They went and set a guard at the tomb and put a seal on the stone.

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