(Theological commentary on the content and meanings of Good Friday)
"On Holy and Great Friday, the holy and saving and horrible Passions of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, performing the impalings, the rappings, the floggings, the insults, the jelotas, the purple blasphemy, the reed, the spongon, the the arrow, the arrows, the spear and above all the cross and death, for us he has given
the confession of the grateful robber, of the crucified, savior on the cross". The holy synaxari of this holy day mentions in detail what we honor and worship on this holy day.
Good Friday is for us Christians the most horrible, mournful and saddest day, but also the holiest, the holiest, the most respected and most beloved and pilgrimage day of our Church. And this is because the King of the reigning and Lord of the ruling, the Incarnate Son and Word of God hangs nailed, naked, breathless, on the wood of the cross, as a criminal. Our Crucified Christ took upon Himself all the sins of the world and ascended from there to the horrible Golgotha to redeem, mysteriously, with His honest Blood the redemption of the human race. He performed as a priest and at the same time as a priest the greatest and most effective sacrifice of all times, which was the real reconciliation with God. The apostle Paul emphasizes that "we are enemies of God because of the death of his son" (Rom. 5,10). Hereafter the reborn "in the blood of Christ" (Eph. 2,13) man "He is not a servant, but a son, and a son, and an heir of God through Christ" (Gal. 4,5). And this because on the horrible Calvary the eternal covenant between God and man was concluded through the precious Blood of Christ (Hebrews 8,15:XNUMX).
What heart does not bow this day before the horrible and unspeakable God-killing? Which eyes do not drool at the sight of the sweetest Crucified One? What soul does not soften in the face of unjust suffering? Which knees do not close under the Cross to worship the Divine Passions? Millions of faithful Christians mourn the painful death of our Christ. They flood the holy Temples with bouquets of flowers in their hands to deposit them on the holy Epitaph. To worship their Redeemer, Him, Who "He redeemed us from the curse of the law with His precious blood."
Our Lord Jesus Christ, after being arrested in the garden of the Mount of Olives, after the betrayal of Judas, was dragged captive in a dramatic night trial. The fury of the rulers of the Israelite people was such that they could not wait for the morrow to dawn. The holy Evangelists report details of the trial – a travesty. The sentence was already predetermined and only some legitimate pretexts had to be observed. The solution was provided by paid false witnesses, who, distorting the words of Christ, supported the desired charge: Guilty of death!
At daylight he was taken to the Praetorium, the seat of the Roman governor Pilate. The formal sentence was to be pronounced by the "legal authority". The mob was mobilized to shout and demand His crucifixion. It is the same mob that was shouting a few days ago "Blessed is the Coming One"! The corrupt representative of the corrupt Roman power, exchanges the conviction of the Great Innocent for the freedom of the great criminal Barabbas. The Lord suffers unspeakable humiliations, such as not even the worst of evil mortals has suffered. Finally, despite all his reservations, Pilate hands Christ over "cross hair" (Luke 19,16:XNUMX).
Loaded with the heavy wood of the cross, he passed through the streets of the holy city for publicity, being led to the place of martyrdom, the hill of Golgotha. His tired, wounded and weakened holy flesh cannot bear the weight of the wood and falls in the middle of the road. The passer-by is disturbed Simon of Cyrene, who eventually uploads the murderous instrument to
place of execution. Thick rusty nails are driven into His hands and feet. His honest Blood is shed abundantly and stains the innocent hands of the executioners
Of. As a man he hurts and suffers, but endures the terrible torture, which leads him slowly and torturously to death. Two unscrupulous robbers are crucified on either side of Him, one of whom repents and is saved (Luke 23,40:XNUMX). He is the first man, who enters the arti opened by the Crucified Heaven!
In your unbearable pains and the worst under the feeling of His unjust condemnation, not only does He not get angry and curse His lawless captives, but begs the Heavenly Father to forgive them, because "Oh look who's who" (Luke 23,34:XNUMX). "Unless it's six o'clock" (Luke 23,44), the Lord reaching the end of human endurance, "cracked voice big left the spirit" (Matthew 27,50). Immediately miraculous and unprecedented phenomena occurred: "darkness fell over the whole earth until the ninth hour of the setting sun" (Luke 23,44), "the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook and the stones were rent, and the monuments were raised and many bodies of the sleeping saints were raised, and they went out to the holy city and many appeared" (Matthew 27,51:52-XNUMX). If the hard-hearted Jews remained impassive in the face of the horrible god-slaying, inanimate nature was duly shocked, protesting the greatest criminal act of all time, the unjust passion and needless death of God! Eternal natural laws were disrupted, the world reached the brink of collapse. The national Areopagite Dionysios, from Egypt, dramatically exclaimed that "either God suffers them, or everything is perfect".
The head of the executive squad "the centurion and those who followed Jesus with him, seeing the earthquake and what was happening, were greatly afraid, saying 'truly this is the son of God'" (Matthew 27,54:XNUMX). The same "and all the congeneric mobs on this theory, considering what had happened, beat their hearts and returned" (Luke 23,48). On the contrary, the chief priests and the Pharisees, not only were not moved by the shocking events, but went to Pilate asking him: "lock and secure the tomb until the third day, lest the disciples come that night and steal it and say to the people, He has risen from the dead" and this is the ultimate error of the hands of the first" (Matthew 27,64:XNUMX).
Good Friday is, as we mentioned above, a day of sorrow and destruction for us believers. But for the theology of our Church, Good Friday is already Easter. The soul of the Lord, as the soul of a true man, had to follow its prescribed course, to descend to omnivorous Hades, the abode of all souls, of all times. But the soul of the Lord, as an integral part of the theandric hypostasis of God the Word, could not be kept in the place of suffering, it was not possible for the soul of the source of life, to become the north of death and remain a captive of Hades. According to the paternal teaching of our Church, the soul of the Lord acted as a bait in Hades. As an omnivore he swallowed this bait and was caught and captured by it and defeated!
The Divine Passion has another important aspect for us Orthodox believers. Without struggle and suffering, it is impossible to have victory and triumph. Without sacrifice there can be no redemption. Without a cross there can be no resurrection. The Divine Passion also shows us the need to willingly follow our own path of martyrdom, to climb our own cross, which is the crucifixion and death of our old fallen self, in order to have the blessed hope of our own resurrection . According
at the prompting of the holy hymn writer! "Let us not celebrate as Jews, and because our Easter, Christ God is for us. But let us cleanse ourselves, from all contamination, and sincerely pray to him, Risen Lord, save us as a philanthropist"!
Photo By Theophanes the Cretan – Holy Monastery of Stavronikita, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1288231, https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/
