Holy Week

Holy Week is the Christian week from Palm Sunday through Holy Saturday.

Each of the days of Holy Week has its own traditions of services in the West. Believers are encouraged to follow in their prayers with readings from the Gospel the account of each of the actions from the time of the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to the crucifixion and death of Jesus on Good Friday and the resurrection on Easter Sunday. While each day has special mass celebrations in the Western churches, the week's most elaborate services are during Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, (Holy Saturday), and Easter). In the Reformation, emphasis was taken away from the Passion and placed upon the resurrection of Jesus, but contemporary Protestant Churches, as well as the Roman Catholic Church, hold the three days between Good Friday and Easter to be the holiest days of the calendar.

Eastern Orthodox Christianity

In Eastern Orthodox Christianity, during Holy Week, Orthros (Matins) services for each day are held during the preceding evening. Thus, the Matins service of Monday is sung on Palm Sunday evening, and so on. (The services of Sunday through Tuesday evenings are often called Bridegroom Matins, because of their theme of Christ-as-Bridegroom.)

In many churches, especially Greek Orthodox, a service of Anointing (Holy Unction) is held on Wednesday evening.

Divine Liturgy of the Last Supper is held on the morning of Holy Thursday. Matins of Holy Friday, with its Twelve Gospel Readings, is held on the evening of Holy Thursday; Vespers of Holy Friday (Vespers of the Unnailing) is held in the morning or afternoon of Holy Friday. The figure of Christ is taken down from the Cross, and a richly-embroidered icon on the cloth called the "epitaphios" representing Christ laid in a "tomb" decorated with flowers. Matins of Holy Saturday is held on the evening of Holy Friday; the tomb is sprinkled with rose petals and rose water, and then carried in a candlelit procession, while a set of hymns called "The Lamentations" is being sung.

Divine Liturgy is held Saturday morning. This is the "Proti Anastasi" (First Resurrection) service, with a change from dark vestments to light ones.

Saturday night at midnight, the service begins in darkness. A single candle is lighted by the priest, from a light on the altar which is never extinguished. The light spreads from person to person until everyone holds a lighted candle. The Divine Liturgy follows. A reception or party usually follows, sometimes lasting till dawn. Slavs bring Easter baskets filled with eggs, meat, butter, and cheese -- foods from which the faithful have abstained during Lent -- to be blessed.

Agape Vespers, during which Gospel is read in as many different languages as possible, is usually held on Easter Day. It is often combined with an Easter egg hunt and other activities for children, but there is no regular Sunday morning Liturgy.

Holy Week Activities

Palm Sunday

 Beginning of the holy week.  Remembrance of the entrance of the messiah into Jerusalem.  Mass is dominated by the reading of the Passion – narrative of Jesus’ capture, sufferings and death.  Church celebrates Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem to accomplish his paschal mystery.

The Procession:

 The people assemble somewhere distinct from the church. Some carry palm branches.  Priest and ministers put on red.  A song receiving Christ is sung.  Priest greets the people.  Prayers are said. After each prayer there is a pause.  Blessing of the branches with holy water.  Lord’s entrance from the gospel is said.  Procession begins to the Church while the people sing.  Mass is said.

Good Friday

 No mass  The Church mourns for Christ’s death, reverences for the cross, and marvels at His life for his obedience till death.  The Sacraments are not celebrated on this day or even the next day.  The altar has no cloth.  Celebration of the Lord’s Passion occurs in the afternoon  The priest wears red. After a short silence, prayer is said.  The celebration commences.  Celebration consists only of liturgy of the word, veneration of the cross, and the Holy Communion.

Easter Vigil

 Takes place during the night.  The Gospel reminds us to have our lamps ready, to be like men waiting for the Lord’s return so that when he arrives we He will find us wide awake and will seat us at his table.  Night vigil is arranged in four parts: o A brief service of light; o Liturgy if the word; o Liturgy of baptism; o Liturgy of the Eucharist.  The priest wears white.

Part I: Service of light:

o All lights of the church are put out. o A fire is prepared outside the Church o One of the ministers carry the Easter Candle. o The priest greets the people then the fire is blessed. o After the prayer, the Easter candle is lighted from the new fire.  Procession: o The priest takes up the candle and sings: “Christ our light” and the people answers: “Thanks be to God”. o All enters the Church and the priest takes up the candle for the second time and sings: “Christ our light” and the people answers: “Thanks be to God”. o When the priest arrives at the altar the rite is repeated: Priest takes up the candle for the third time and sings: “Christ our light” and the people answers: “Thanks be to God”. o Then all lights in the Church are put on.  Easter Proclamation (Exsultet) o The Exsultet is proclaimed.

Part II : Liturgy of the word

o Nine Readings are provided, seven from the Old Testament and two from the New Testament. (the epistle and gospel) o After the Easter Proclamation, the candles are put aside and all sit down. Before the readings begin, the priest speaks about Easter. o The readings follow from: 1. The book of Genesis 1:1-2:2 The Creation 2. The book of Genesis 22:1-18 Abraham’s sacrifice 3. The book of Exodus 14:15-15:1 People of Israel leaving the slavery of Egypt 4. The book of the prophet Isaiah 54:5-14 God speaking to the miserable, oppressed people of Israel 5. The book of the prophet Isaiah 55:1-11 God’s covenant with Israel. (God’s magnificent promise) 6. The book of the prophet Baruch 3:9-15,32-4:4 Wisdom of God 7. The book of the prophet Ezekiel 36:16-28 God’s promises to Ezekiel. (all was fulfilled in Jesus Christ)

Epistle 8. The letter of Paul to the Romans 6:3-11 Lessons on the death and resurrection of Christ Alleluia Gospel 9. Year A: holy gospel according to Matthew 28:1-10 Women finding and witnessing to the empty tomb Year B: holy gospel according to Mark 16:1-8 Women are frightened by the empty tomb and the angel’s message about resurrection Year C: holy gospel according to Luke 24:1-12 Women see the empty tomb and are told by angels of the Resurrection.

Part III: Liturgy of Baptism

o A vessel of water is placed in the sanctuary o Candidates for Baptism is presented Litany o The Litany is sung. The procession begins: Easter Candle first, followed by the candidates then the priest and ministers.

Blessing of Water o The priest blesses the baptismal water and prays. The candle is then taken out of the water and people sing the acclamation. Then the baptismal rites proceed.

Renewal of Baptismal Promises o After the rite of baptism, all present renew their baptismal profession of faith. o The priest sprinkles the people with water while the people sing. o The profession of faith is omitted and proceeds to the Liturgy of the Eucharist

Liturgy of the Eucharist

Easter Sunday

 The Feast of the Resurrection.  The Church’s greatest feast

Holy Week throughout the world

Philippines

In this largely Roman Catholic nation, Holy Week, known as Semana Santa, is treated as one of the most important religious festivals of the entire year. At Mass on Palm Sunday, Catholics carry "palaspas" or palm leaves to be blessed by the priest. Many Filipinos bring home the palm leaves after the Mass and place these above their front doors or their windows, believing that doing so can ward off evil spirits. Holy Monday marks the beginning of the Pabasa (literally, reading) or Pasyon, the marathon chanting of the story of Jesus' life, passion, and death, which continues day and night, for as long as two straight days. A popular Holy Thursday tradition is the Bisita Iglesia (Church Visit), which involves visiting several Churches at which the faithful would pray the Stations of the Cross. The last Mass before Easter is also celebrated on Holy Thursday, usually including a reenactment of the Washing of the Feet of the Apostles; this Mass is followed by the procession of the Blessed Sacrament before it is taken to the Altar of Repose. Good Friday in the Philippines is commemorated with street processions, the Way of the Cross, the commemoraton of Jesus' Seven last words (Siete Palabras) and a Passion play called the Sinakulo. In some communities (most famously in the province of Pampanga), the processions include devotees who self-flagellate and sometimes even have themselves nailed to crosses as expressions of penance. After three o'clock in the afternoon of Good Friday (the time at which Jesus is traditionally believed to have died), noise is discouraged, bathing is proscribed and the faithful are urged to keep a solemn and prayerful disposition through Black Saturday. Easter morning is marked with joyous celebration, the first being the dawn Salubong, wherein large statues of Jesus and Mary are brought in procession together to meet, imagining the first reunion of Jesus and his mother Mary after Jesus' Resurrection. This is followed by the joyous Easter Mass.

Seville, Spain

Seville arguably holds the most elaborate processions for Holy Week anywhere in the world. A tradition that dates from medieval times which has spread to other cities in Andalusia, the "Semana Santa en Sevilla" is notable for featuring the procession of "pasos", lifelike wood or plaster sculptures of individual scenes of the events that happened between Jesus' arrest and his burial, or images of the Virgin Mary showing grief for the torture and killing of her son. These pasos are physically carried in the shoulders of costaleros (literally "sack men", usually bodybuilder types who are used to carrying extreme weights), and can weight up to five metric tonnes. The pasos are set up and maintained by hermandades and cofradías, religious brotherhoods that are common to a specific area of the city, whose precede the paso dressed in Roman military costumes or penitential robes. Those members who wish to do so wear these penitential robes with conical hats, or "capirotes", used to conceal the face of the wearer (these robes unintentionally served as the basis for the traditional uniform for members of the Ku Klux Klan in the United States). These "Nazarenos" carry processional candles, may walk the city streets barefoot, and may carry shackles and chains in their feet as penance. A brass band may accompany the group, playing funereal religious hymns or "pasodobles" written for the occasion.