“And his banner over me was love.”(Song of Songs 2:4)

(By Your bruises we were healed,wound me by the spear of Your healing divine love. Cheer me also by Your love,O You who accepted death for my sake. By the blood of Your cross purify me from my sins.)(The Son’s annual fraction)
Blessed is the tender One that saw a spear at Paradise blocking the way to the tree of life, so He came and took a wounded body in order to open by opening His side a way to paradise.
(Mar Avram the Syriac)[1]

[The cross is glory. Look at what the Evangelist says: ” the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (John 7:39)

It was the cross that removed the enmity between God and people offering reconciliation
Making the Earth a heaven
Combining angels with humans
Dashing death Castle
Weakening the power of the devil
Extinguishing the power of sin
Saving the world from error and restoring the right
Casting out demons
Destroying the temples of the idols, transforming their altars and nullifying their sacrifices
Planting virtue and founding the church!
The Cross is the will of the Father, the glory of the Son, and the joy of the Holy Spirit.
It is the subject of Paul’s pride when he says,” But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,” (Galatians 6:14)
The cross is shinier than the sun, and more brilliant light than the rays of the sun, and when the sun darkened, the cross shone brighter. The sun darkened not because it went out, but because the light of the cross overcame it…
The cross breaks our chains, abolishes the prison of death.

It is a sign of God’s love ((John 3:16)

The Cross is an impregnable fortress, a strong shield, a protector of the rich, a fountain for the poor, a defender of the fallen in nets, a shield for those who are under attack, a means of conquering lusts and acquiring virtues, and an amazing miraculous sign!] (Saint John Chrysostom) [2]
St. Athanasius explains the role of the cross in defeating Satan and all his works:
[The sign of the cross nullifies all magic and the power of poisonous drugs fades
And the idols become desolate and abandoned, and all sordid lusts are nullified،
And everyone’s eyes turn from Earth to heaven !
This is what He himself (i.e. the Lord)said
Referring to which death that He intended to redeem everyone by :
“And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” (John 12:32)
The Lord has come to cast Satan down and purify the air
And prepares us the ascending path to heaven
“through the veil, that is, His flesh,”(Hebrews 10:20) as St Paul the apostle said. And so it had to be done by death.
But by which death, except the death that is done in the air, I mean the cross
So it was appropriate that the Lord endured such a death.
Because when He was lifted up in this way, He cleansed the air from the evil of the devil and all demons as he says “ ” I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” ( Luke 10:18)
He dedicated the ascending path to heaven] [3]

The day of Good Friday

This solemn day is the mystery of our salvation..

It is the day when the son of God refuted and crushed all the forces of darkness gathered on weak humanity (Colosians 2:15)
It is the day when He accepted all the cruelty, darkness and soldiers of the world to open the way to heaven for us (Hebrews 9:12).
It is the day when He penetrated the depths of hell to restore the captives (1 Peter 3:19) and penetrated the depths of man’s darkness to give him the light of adoption and the righteousness of the Father (Co1: 13)..
It is the day when the feelings of the cup, if possible to pass(Luke 22:42) were turned into joy set before Him (Hebrews12:2) through the struggle of prayer and perfect surrender to the Father’s will.(Luke 22:44)
It is the day when He entered it, He was aware of everything that comes to Him (John 13:1), but also of everything that comes from Him to us (Luke 10:18, 19).
It is the day when He was surrounded by our cruelty, ingratitude, reproof and rejection of Him in order to confine us to His love to the end (Jermiah 31: 3)..
It is the day when He proclaimed the perfection of power and glory for accepting the will of the Father for our salvation, despite the body being filled with pains and the soul with sorrow (Mark 14: 34)..
It is the day that our deepest cry has been waiting for: “Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! (Isaiah 64: 1) despite the falsity of our pride and our refusal to love Him..
It is the day when the son of God accepted all the will of the Father to crush all the weapons of the devil and his soldiers against His redeemed (Luke11: 22)..
It is the day when He saw the humiliation with the perfection of its shame (Matthew 27: 30) to give us the fullness of glory in our humiliation (Isaiah 53: 11)..
It is the day we approach His temple with reverence and prostration, it is depths that we all realize only in eternity when we will know everything and some knowledge will end (1 Corinthians 13: 12).. But here he is, with His divine love and righteousness, shining on all of us little by little with the radiances of salvation, as much as the endurance of the weakness of our nature “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,” (Philippians 3: 10)..
When we accept all the Father’s economy in our lives, we are represented by the only Son in accepting “the will of Him who sent Me.” (John 6: 38).. Then, the cover that was covering our nakedness was taken off(Genesis 3: 21) so that the cover of His pain in us could be the cover of the glory (Isaiah 4: 5) and we have this treasure in earthen vessels, (2 Corinthians 4: 7).. This path, filled with our weakness, the sifting of the devil and the cruelty of human beings, becomes, by drawing love, arranging humility, striving for prayer and surrendering the will, is the path of our salvation, glory and crossing (Jude 20 – 24)..

It is our daily struggle:

Between running away from His cross (Matthew 26: 56) and being compelled by others for carrying it (Matthew 27: 32)..
Between resorting to violence to survive (Matthew 26: 51) or giving up His knowledge and commandment to be safe (Matt 26: 74)..
Between hearing the cheers against us (Matthew 27: 23), and being slanderously reported (Mark 14: 57, 58), or see with our eyes those whom we love giving us up(2 Timothy 4: 16)..
Between a darkness that surrounds us from all sides (Jonah 2: 3), and between a light that seems dim coming from afar (Jonah 2: 4) but will overwhelm all our weakness and need..
Between ridiculing our principles (the Wisdom of Solomon 2: 12), and between marveling at our silence (Matthew 27: 14)..
But here the constancy of love to the end with the Crucified is the only guarantee of our existence before His cross (John 19: 25), and in His resurrection the person of the son of God will be revealed to us (John 20: 18)
It is a daily struggle that its grades appear in our prayer (Colossians 4: 12), our silence (Exodus 14: 14), our forgiveness (Acts 7: 60), despite its stumbling steps in our speech, justifying ourselves and the coldness of our prayers (Hebrews12: 12)..
It is a struggle supported by the grace of the Crucified when we live His cross (Heb 12: 3), and the power of resurrection hides in it (Co 3: 1 – 5) when we declare our complete submission to His will, and write our deeds according to His words (Gregorian liturgy).
This day has become our life, our soul, our breeze and the secret of our victory in our daily struggle (2 Timothy 2: 8): “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me;” (Galatians 2:20)
” For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” (1Cor 2: 2)..
That the love of His cross will become the banner that is above me (Song of songs 2: 4).. And His kingdom is my address in my pain (Romans 8: 17).. And His ignorance becomes my wisdom, and His weakness my strength (1Cor 1: 25)
Shine on all of us, Crucified One, with the light of Your cross and Your love:
Let us overcome our ignorance, cruelty, stubbornness and lust, and accept to be crucified and humiliated for your sake..
Let’s be silent consciously, wisely and calmly in front of reproaches..
Let us pray in a non-stop struggle for our salvation, and the salvation of those we meet..
Let us desire the blessings of God for us and for all sinners like us..
May your cross become the pride of our struggle (Galatians 6: 14 ), the sweetness of our yoke, the lightness of our loads (Matthew 11: 30)..

 

Introduction

We bow down in lowliness and fear to the Son of the living God, who is crucified for the sake of our salvation. That we may continually dare to ask in all humility and meekness from His greatness and majesty, to grant us to become closer to the mystery of his crucifixion. And that he may also gift us through His righteousness and love, the guidance of the Spirit of God and the light of wisdom to shine upon us. So that we may partake in the light of abundance of the glorious cross by and that we may grasp even a single ray of the many rays from the cross of the Son of the living God to be manifested to us.

Understanding the readings of this special day requires many years of immersing oneself and acknowledging one’s own ignorance, weakness and deficiency. In front of us lies a divine symphony of the scriptural readings and I believe I do not exaggerate when I say that those who have chosen the readings were guided by the Holy Spirit in selecting each of the readings. They must have prayed a lot until the light of the Son appeared in them as the break of dawn, when reaching a deeper understanding of the readings that surpasses the superficial meaning. These specific readings when examined collectively, demonstrates the glory and meaning of the cross, our Lord the morning star.

The readings of this day are divided into six hours and revolves in and outside of Golgotha and is before all ages but also of our time. In the cross, we see all that is divine through His glories and all that is human because of its weakness. Through the readings, the weakness of the human nature is transcended to what is mightier than strength and greater than glory, by the Lord Jesus Christ.

The themes of the hours are as follows:

• First hour (Matins): the Son of God and the redemption through His Cross
• Third Hour: His divine righteousness in the Cross
• Sixth Hour: the signs of His cross
• Ninth Hour: how the cross became the source of life and premise for judgement
• Eleventh Hour: a light that shines an everlasting joy
• Twelfth Hour: victory over death through His death

Commentary on the readings of first hour of Good Friday

The readings in this hour are about how the great redeemer who through His cross, transitions us to a new life (Passover) and how He manifested His intercession to the Father on our behalf, with His Cross (Deuteronomy).

Since corruption prevailed in that time in all of human nature without any exception (Isaiah, chapter 1), He abolished the idolatry through the glory of His Cross (Isaiah, chapter 2) and the light of His divine righteousness shone upon us (Jeremiah 22, 23).

He became a source of healing and forgiveness through His love (Jeremiah) and the curse became the fate of those who rejected Him (Isaiah 24) because they have refused the Son of God (Wisdom of Solomon) even their priests and elders  (Job) who have disgraced Him (Zechariah), hence their lives were ruined (Micha).

Let us therefore hold unto His salvation to escape his revenge (Micha 7)

The readings of the first hour of Good Friday

Deuteronomy 8:19 – 9:24

In this reading, there are three essential points that refer to Saviour in the New Testament of which Moses was a symbol. Firstly, the cross and the salvation of Christ is our Passover to a new life and eternal inheritance. “Hear, O Israel: You are to cross over the Jordan today, and go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to heaven” (Deuteronomy 9:1)

Secondly, the redemption is fulfilment and completion of the divine covenant made with our fathers the prophets in the past, due to the loyalty of His promise and not because mankind deserves it.

“It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but … that He may fulfil the word which the swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” (Deuteronomy 9:5)

Thirdly, we also see the intercession of Moses to God for the sake of the people Israel and his brother Aaron, which symbolises the intercession of atonement of the Son of God before the Father for our sake.  “For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which the Lord was angry with you, to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me at that time also. And the Lord was very angry with Aaron and would have destroyed him; so I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.” (Deuteronomy 9: 19-20)

We read in the prophecy in general how Moses came down from the highest mountain and saw the fall of his people, and visited them and interceded on their behalf to God and so they were saved from perdition. Similarly, this symbolises the Son of God who came down and “emptied Himself” (Philippians 2:7) to be with us on earth and to visit us and to intercede on our behalf through His prayers before the Father (John 17), as well as a symbol for his crucifixion and pure blood that saves us from corruption.

St. Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem also says that: ‘And not only the people sinned, but also Aaron the High Priest. For it is Moses that says: And the anger of the Lord came upon Aaron: and I prayed for him (with great supplications), says he, and God forgave him. What then, did Moses praying for a High Priest that sinned prevail with God, and shall not Jesus, His Only-begotten, prevail with God when He prays for us? And if He did not hinder Aaron, because of his offense, from entering upon the High Priesthood, will He hinder you, who has come out from the Gentiles, from entering into salvation?’ (The Catechetical Lectures of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, lecture 2, article 10)

i.e. St. Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem explains that just Aaron’s sin did not end his ministry and that he continued service thereafter as a high priest, so too we will be saved through the intercession of Jesus.

Isaiah 1:2-9

This prophecy reveals the corruption of all of mankind and its need for salvation. From the beginning of the book of Isaiah, the theme is salvation and how God visits and searches for all mankind, the Jews as well as the Gentiles.

“From the sole of the foot even to the head, There is no soundness in it, But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; They have not been closed or bound up, Or soothed with ointment.” (Isaiah 1:5-6)

The whole book speaks to us about sin and the corruption of all the people and their need for salvation which is why ‘the Holy One of Israel’ appeared approximately 30 times in the book as one of God’s title in Isaiah. This title only appeared 5 times in the other books of the Holy Bible.

Isaiah 2: 10-21

This prophecy paints the picture of the earth during and after crucifixion, when the rocks split and all of nature was shaken, and the glory and power of the Crucified was manifested the Earth thundered and the idolatry was abolished by the power of His cross.

“Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust, From the terror of the Lord And the glory of His majesty.” (Isaiah 2: 10)

“In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver, And his idols of gold, Which they made, each for himself to worship, To the moles and bats, To go into the clefts of the rocks, And into the crags of the rugged rocks, From the terror of the Lord And the glory of His majesty, When He arises to shake the earth mightily.” (Isaiah 2: 20, 21)

Jeremiah 22:29 – 23:6

In the prophecy we see that despite the corruption (downfall) of mankind and the misguidance of the shepherds, the Lord visits mankind and saves them for the sake of His Holy Name.

‘Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: ‘You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings,” says the Lord … Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord , “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely.’

(Jeremiah 23:2 & Jeremiah 23:5,6)

Jeremiah & Zechariah

These prophecies talk about the nature of the Saviour, His innocent blood and how essence of His message heals the sick and leads to the forgiveness of sins. It also prophesises about how the scribes and chief priests conspired against Him and valued him for a very low price, for which they received judgement of perdition.

“And Jeremiah said to Pashur: ye were resisting the truth for sometime with thy father, and thy children after you, who did sin worse than you. For they set a price to him who has no price, and grieved him who heals sickness and forgives sins. They took the price upon which the sons of Israel agreed, thirty pieces of silver. And gave it to the potter’s house. As the Lord commanded me, so I say. The judgment of perdition will be upon them and their children forever, for they judged innocent blood.”

This prophecy has been attributed to Jeremiah whereas it appears in Zechariah. The one who prophesied this prophecy is Zechariah (Zechariah 11: 12, 13). The book of Jeremiah in the Talmud was the first of the books of the prophets, so the name Jeremiah was given to all the prophecies. According to the Jewish tradition, the old testament is divided into three sections: the first being the law, the second being the Psalms and the third being the prophets. The name Jeremiah is used refer to all the books of the prophecies and as such this passage in found “in Jeremiah” according to the Talmud. (Source: Father Antonius Fikr)

Isaiah 24: 1-13

In this prophecy we read about how the fate of the mankind is cursed and leads to destruction when it refuses the salvation. As the Lord said, those who refused to be gathered by His love, He left their houses in ruins. This is indeed what happened under the reign of Titus the Roman in less than forty years after the crucifixion.

“Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty and makes it waste, And it shall be: As with the people, so with the priest; As with the servant, so with his master” (Isaiah 24: 1, 2)

“The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, Because they have transgressed the laws, Changed the ordinance, Broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, And those who dwell in it are desolate. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, And few men are left.” (Isaiah 24: 5, 6)

“There is a cry for wine in the streets, All joy is darkened, The mirth of the land is gone. In the city desolation is left, And the gate is stricken with destruction.” (Isaiah 24: 11, 12

Wisdom of Solomon 2: 12-22

The wisdom of Solomon is one of the most beautiful and most accurate prophecies, as if King Solomon were standing right in front of the crucifixion in Golgotha. What’s remarkable is the fact that the prophecy was written approximately 1000 years before the crucifixion. In this prophecy, we read about a person who describes himself as the Son of God, “calls himself a child of the Lord” (Wisdom of Solomon 2:13). “The righteous man is God’s son” (Wisdom of Solomon 2:18) “and boasts that God is his father” (Wisdom of Solomon 2:16) and he reproaches the leaders and the people “because … he opposes our actions; he reproaches us for sins against the law, and accuses us of sins against our training” (Wisdom of Solomon 2:12).

The difference in way of life and in conduct, between him and the human being is just like the difference between the human being and animals “because his manner of life is unlike that of others, and his ways are strange.” (Wisdom of Solomon 2:15) hence “let us condemn him to a shameful death” (Wisdom of Solomon 2:20)

Is there a prophecy clearer and more accurate than this one?

Job 12:17 – 13:1

This prophecy continues on the same theme as the previous prophecy, on how the arrogance and false pride of leaders has blinded them.

“He leads counselors away plundered, And makes fools of the judges. He loosens the bonds of kings, And binds their waist with a belt. He leads princes away plundered, And overthrows the mighty.” (Job 12: 17-19)

“They grope in the dark without light, And He makes them stagger like a drunken man.” (Job 12:25) and in this time, He heals, enlightens and sets free the believers and the humble and visits the lost.

“He deprives the trusted ones of speech, And takes away the discernment of the elders. He pours contempt on princes, And disarms the mighty. He uncovers deep things out of darkness, And brings the shadow of death to light” (Job 12: 20-22)

Zechariah 11: 11-14

This prophecy is about the wage Judas received for betraying our Lord, which he threw away before the chief priest and elders before he hung himself. The prophecy is repeated yet this time with the addition that the result of the betrayal is destruction and forms the end of the covenant between Judah & Israel.

“So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter. Then I cut in two my other staff, Bonds, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.” (Zechariah 11: 13-14)

Micah 1:16 – 2:3 & Micah 7:1-8

The last two prophecies of the first hour reveals the fate of Jewish nation in their rejection of the salvation.

“Make yourself bald and cut off your hair, Because of your precious children; Enlarge your baldness like an eagle, For they shall go from you into captivity.” (Micah 1:16)

It is astonishing to see that what’s written in second prophecy of Micha, is exactly what Jesus said to the disciples when he called them for the service (Matthew 10: 35, 36).

“Daughter rises against her mother, Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; A man’s enemies are the men of his own household. (Micha 7:6)

At the same time, the prophecy calls on everyone to hold onto God’s salvation. “Therefore I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; My God will hear me.” (Michah 7:7)

 

The Pauline Epistle

1 Corinthians 1:23 – 2:5

Here Saint Paul presents to us the cross of Christ to whom is all glory, or Jesus Christ crucified, in front of all the power and wisdom that the world boasts of, so that we may know, experience and be convinced that what Jesus has shown with the weakness of the cross, is greater than any power in the world, just as we pray in the hymn ‘Omonogenies’. The heavenly wisdom that shines upon mankind through the cross has exposed the wisdom and philosophies of the world as foolishness. Equally so, the foolish and the weak ones of the world, the shameful, the despised & the lacking became chosen by God and Jesus crucified became that which they can boast of. Hence, St Paul ends the letter by saying “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2) so that his service and preaching of the one crucified “were in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Corinthians 2:4).

“But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:23-24)

“But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise” (1 Corinthians 1:27)

“For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2)

“that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:5

 

The Psalm of the first hour of Good Friday

“For false witnesses have risen against me, And such as breathe out violence.” (Psalm 27: 12)

“Fierce witnesses rise up; They ask me things that I do not know. They reward me evil for good. They gnashed at me with their teeth.” (Psalms 35: 11,12,16)

This prophecy talks about the what happened during the ecclesiastical (i.e. religious) trial before Annas (first) and (then) Caiaphas (the high priest) when the two said they heard Jesus blaspheme  against the temple. The words of the psalm “they ask me things that I do not know” here refers to that the fact there is no deceit in the nature of the Son of man (since God knows no evil) and hence this deceit is what the Lord knows nothing about.

The link between the Psalm and the Gospel (source: Father Luka Sidarous)

“For false witnesses have risen against me, And such as breathe out violence.” (Psalm 27: 12)

The spirit of darkness, who is the head of this world, was disturbed in the last moments before he was crushed by the Cross of Christ. He moved in the darkness before the sun (our Lord) rises. Given that he is the spirit of darkness, he conjures up false witnesses from the people to whom he speaks lies. He is the liar and the father of the lies (John 8: 44) and the psalm says about them “witnesses of darkness” i.e. false witnesses.

“For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed” (John 3:20). The practice of evil and the deeds in this verse refers to the worldly things. Cheating, forgery, lying and fabricating accusations are not from God but from the devil, because “he was a murderer from the beginning.” (John 8: 44)

“They ask me things that I do not know.” (Psalms 35: 11)

At the hour of the various trials of the Lord, He was asked many questions by the chief priests, Pilate and Herod. Sometimes He answered some questions and many times He was silent and did not answer anything. The psalm reveals to us the secret of this exceptional silence, when we read “about what I do not know, they ask me” because when they asked Him about Himself, He did not deny but answered that He was the son of God and that He was the Christ the Lord. However when they asked Him about evil, blasphemy and sins, this is when He did not answer since they asked him about things “he knows nothing about” (because the Lord is not of evil nature).

Let us contemplate on what is written in the Gospel of this hour, ‘Then Pliate said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?” But He answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.’ (Matthew 27: 13,14)

May the Lord print the image of His divine silence in us when the world complains about us every day for no reason.

“They reward me evil for good.” (Psalms 35:12)

The mouth that uttered the word of life was judged to be blasphemous and deceitful. The hand that did good and healed every disease and lifted every pain was bound in shackles. The most beautiful face of all human beings was smitten by the slave of the high priest as a face of a criminal. The heart that intends to forgives them was gnashed upon with their teeth, all this while He was silent and did not speak. Whoever responds to insult with insult and whoever returns a curse with curse, has not yet become a disciple of Jesus, for there is neither a disciple that is better than his teacher, nor a slave that is better than his master. “Who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return.” (1 Peter 2:23) Anyone who allows himself to be a false witness or to be a slave to lying, joins himself in the defilement of the high priests who have sold themselves to evil.

The Gospels of the first hour of Good Friday

The main theme of the four gospels concerns the question posed by Pontius Pilate “Are you the King of Jews?”. The Gospel of Saint Matthew also mentions the how Judah perished whereas the gospel of Saint Luke talks about the last of all the ecclesiastical trials and the trial before King Herod. The gospel of Saint John includes the complete dialogue that took place between Pontius the governor and the crucified Lord Jesus.

 

Matthew 27: 1-14

This is the only gospel that mentions the perdition of Judah and it appears as if Judah had remorse for what he had done. However if we follow his steps and the divine revelation about him, we understand that the remorse he had, was because the sequence of happenings did not occur the way he wanted or as he planned. It is clear that Judah thought that when he would go along with the chief priests and the officers to arrest the Lord, that Jesus would pass from amidst them and go his way (Luke 4:30), just as he did many times before, without the officers arresting him and that only Judah would profit financially. Perhaps Judah considered repeating the act of leading the chief priests to Jesus and that he could profit more than once since he knew (just like the other disciples) all the places they were accustomed to being in. However when he saw that the arrest actually led to the religious (i.e. ecclesiastical) trials as well as the civil and Roman trials before Pilate and Herod which eventually led to the sentence of death and crucifixion, he realised that his plans had failed and that he only gained thirty pieces of silver. Not only did he take the thirty pieces of silver but Saint John also said about Judas, “not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.” (John 12:6), which we read in the gospel of the sixth hour or Wednesday. There is no clearer evidence that than this verse that explains the character of Judah, where we see that the betrayal was not a weakness like the denial of Saint Peter but that Judah had a deviation in his character, as he neglected sin day after day and in every situation. Another harsh and clear evidence in the Bible is the verse John 13:2, “And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him” which is read during the gospel of the liturgy of Blessing the Water during Maundy Thursday. Hence his betrayal was not a single act in itself or a weakness but was reoccurring and formed his character and was his way of life. Besides all of this, Judah’s heart was closed towards (i.e. he refused) the numerous times Jesus himself personally warned him:

‘Most assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.’ (John 13:21)

‘He said to him, “You have said it.”’(Matthew 26:25)

‘Then Jesus said to him, “What you do, do quickly.”’ (John 13:27)

Even at the moment of betrayal, Jesus’ reproach was full of love when he said ‘“Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”’ (Luke 22:48)

And we must not forget, during the complete journey of God’s incarnation after calling the disciples to serve, how many miracles that Judah witnessed (John 6:11), or that Judah himself performed miracles as being God’s disciple (Matthew 10:8), or all the times Jesus explained the danger of avarice (greed for money and material things) through the parables and in different situations (Luke 12:21, Luke 16:13). As the holy church fathers explained: It is clear that unclean spirits cannot find their way into the bodies of those they have penetrated by any means unless they first possess their minds and thoughts, so they take away from them the fear of the Lord, any remembrance of Him or any single thought about Him. Thus they dare to come forward to them as if they were without divine immunity, and easily restrain them and find a place for them, as if they had the right of ownership over them. (Father Serenus)

And this is also confirmed Saint Antony: Demons cannot find an entrance to the thought or body of a

human being, nor are they capable of overwhelming a human soul unless they strip it of all sacred thoughts and make it empty and devoid of spiritual contemplation.

John Chrysostom also explains how the Lord warned Judas until the last moment: It is appropriate for us not to stop advising our brothers even if our advice seems fruitless, to allow the streams of water to overflow even if no one drinks from them. Whoever does not hear today may listen tomorrow. The net of the fisherman may be empty the whole day, and at the last moment the fisherman might catch a fish. Thus in the same way, even though our Lord knew that Judas would not return, he did not cease to give him advice.

Mark 15: 1-5

The focus of this gospel is on the religious/ecclesiastical trial. The chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. Father Antonius Fikry explains to us how the ecclesiastical trial of our Lord in front of the chief priests and elders, was not lawful. The ecclesiastical trial of our Lord was in fact in breach of many laws at the time. Firstly, the chief priests and elders were not allowed to hold or initiate this trial. Secondly, despite that it seems the actual verdict of death was decided during the trial, the decision to kill Jesus was already taken in advance and before the trial making the trial unfair, even if was allowed to be held. Thirdly, the trial did not take place at the official place which is before the Sanhedrin (a Jewish judicial body) but at the private residence of Caiaphas. Fourthly, in what way was Annas able to judge in the trial? For he no longer was the chief priest (John 18:13), making his position questionable. Fifthly, the trial took place in the night and not during the day contrary to usual practice back then, when trials would start in the morning and would end around the customary or habitual hour for the evening meal. Sixthly, trials were not allowed to take place during the sabbaths and during feasts nor on the eve of any Sabbath or any feast. Seventhly, the trial took place without the custom of ensuring the witnesses to speak truthfully and accurately. Eighthly, it was mandatory to first listen to the testimonies of the witnesses of the defendant (the defendant being Jesus in this case) and this did not happen. This is why Jesus also answered to the high priest “Ask those who have heard Me what I said to them” (John 18:21). Ninthly, the testimonies of the witnesses were contradictory and in this case, they should have not been used as evidence in the trial, yet they were still used for the verdict of death. Moreover, the accusation against Jesus for which he received the sentence of death, actually was an accusation of idolatry by which he was impairing the faith of the people. Tenthly, the implementation of any sentence decided upon in any trial should take place a couple of days after the sentence has been decided, however in the case of Jesus the implementation of the verdict was within a couple of hours after taking place, which is also against usual practice. (Father Antonius Fikry)

Luke 22:66 – 23:12

This gospel shows three main manifestations of Jesus crucified.

The first manifestation is about the kingdom of Jesus when Pontius asked him ‘Are you the King of Jews?’ and Jesus answered and said ‘It is as you say’. Hence, Jesus is and remains King even when crucified.

The second manifestation of Jesus is him being a wonderworker, which we read about when king Herod repeatedly kept asking Jesus about, not because he wanted to believe but wanted to see a spectacle of some sort, just like when Jews asked for a sign before and Jesus answered them saying  “and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” (Matthew 12:39). This verse refers to verdict of death in the sea and Jonah being saved after three days from the belly of the whale and this prophecy was fulfilled during the crucifixion and the resurrection. “He hoped to see some miracle done by Him. Then he questioned Him with many words, but He answered him nothing.” (Luke 23: 8, 9)

The third manifestation is Jesus being the reconciler as we observe the reconciliation that happened between Pilate and Herod through the trials that took place by each one of them. “That very day Pilate and Herod became friends with each other, for previously they had been at enmity with each other.” (Luke 23: 12)

John 18: 28-40

Saint John talks here about the kingdom of the New Testament through the cross and the revelation of the truth and how Jesus bears witness to the truth.

‘Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”

Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”’ (John 16: 36, 37)

You have all the power, greatness, dignity, blessing and glory forever.

 

The Third Hour of Great Friday

The readings of this hour speak about the civil trials before the Romans and the beginning of the way of the cross, the trial in which Pilate indicated that he finds no reason to die in the Lord and so his woman sent to him.This is also the subject of the readings of this hour : the suffering Righteous for us or Jesus the Crucified for justifying us by the righteousness of His cross.
Therefore, the readings begin with Jacob choosing to bless the younger Ephraim with discernment to give him the birth right and Ephraim receives the righteousness of choice (Genesis), the son of God shows in pain the righteousness of the Father (Isaiah 50), The superiors will be judged for their injustice to the Righteous (Isaiah 3), the Son will declare the righteousness of the Father in His salvation (Isaiah 63) as well as in His purification for us (Amos) and how the people rejected the Lamb without blemish and rejected His righteousness (Job).

Prophecies

Genesis (Gen. 48: 1-19)
The story of the blessing of our father Jacob to Joseph’s two sons comes at the beginning of the readings to declare the meaning of God’s righteousness to mankind, that is, it is not according to the flesh or merit, but according to the divine choice, and perhaps Jacob, the father of the fathers, as he astutely blesses the little one how he himself received the blessing of his father Isaac
But the difference here is that he did not wait (and also his mother Rebekah) for God’s intervention to fulfill the promise, but took the blessing by trick, but here with a fully conscious will he chooses the youngest as an example of God’s righteousness in His love for us, His gifts and the righteousness of His cross forgiving our sins, not according to our merit but according to His love.
And also the blessing here came through the cross, by putting the hands of Jacob reversed on Joseph’s two sons to announce how the fullness of the blessing of the peoples will come in the Cross of the son of God, and therefore the church has made this state of blessing we live in every liturgy in the choice of sacrifice to remind ourselves of his divine righteousness and we ask Him in the sacrifice of the liturgy for us all:
“And Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near him.
Then Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn….
And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.” But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know.” (Genesis 48:13,14,18,19)
[The Syriac Saint Ephraim says that the placing of father Jacob’s right hands on Ephraim’s head and the left hand on Manasseh’s head was a symbol of the cross. St. Ambrosius also says that Ephraim the younger son was a reference to the Gentiles] [13]

Isaiah the prophet (Isaiah 50: 4-9)

This prophecy explains how the son of God accepted in His body the sufferings of the sins of all mankind by His own will, which is one with the Father, in order to grant us all the righteousness of the Father in Him and in His cross
This is evident in the fact that He did not resist and that He is justified by a relative, i.e., the Father (i.e., humanity is justified in Him):
“The Lord God has opened My ear
I gave My back to those who struck Me, And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.
“For the Lord God will help Me; Therefore I will not be disgraced; Therefore I have set My face like a flint, And I know that I will not be ashamed.
He is near who justifies Me”

Isaiah the prophet (Isaiah 3: 9-15)

This prophecy is directed precisely to the time of the civil trial, in which Pilate asked the Jewish leaders to reforechastise Him and release Him (bind and whip Him) and they could have been content with this, but by their cries and conspiracies they bound and crucified him:

“Woe to their souls, for they have conspired within themselves, saying: Let us strengthen the wicked, for he is of no benefit to us.. But now the Lord comes to judge and comes with his people to be tried with the elders and the rulers.”

Isaiah the prophet (Isaiah 63: 1-7)

In this prophecy, divine righteousness is manifested in the cross and salvation, as it says: “I looked, but there was no one to help, And I wondered That there was no one to uphold;”, and as we pray in the prayer of reconciliation (Gregorian liturgy) that: [neither an angel nor an archangel,neither a patriarch nor a prophet,have you entrusted with our salvation] for the inability of everyone to save mankind and renew their nature, except the son of God through His cross and the righteousness of His salvation.
The prophecy also accurately describes the appearance of the son of God after being whipped and in front of the Roman ruler with blood filling His pure body, but the beauty here in the prophecy is that it also describes Him with splendor, pride and strength:
“Who is this who comes from Edom, With dyed garments from Bozrah, This One who is glorious in His apparel, Traveling in the greatness of His strength?– “I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.”
Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like one who treads in the winepress?
“I have trodden the winepress alone, And from the peoples no one was with Me.
For the day of vengeance is in My heart, And the year of My redeemed has come.
I looked, but there was no one to help, And I wondered That there was no one to uphold; Therefore My own arm brought salvation for Me;…
I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the Lord And the praises of the Lord, According to all that the Lord has bestowed on us, And the great goodness toward the house of Israel, Which He has bestowed on them”
[Here is a metaphor taken from the east when the people of the East were gathering grapes and throwing them in a great winepress, and then the young men took off their clothes and their soles and put on white clothes and entered the land of the press barefoot trampling grapes, and their clothes were stained with the blood of red grapes. it was a time of great joy and it was a season of joy for the Hebrews, and the young men were coming out of the winepresses and their clothes stained and red….
And here in these verses, the Prophet saw this glorious person in His clothes, who is the Messiah in red garments = a sign of redemption, and He came from Edom (as the battle was between the Redeemer and the devil, and His symbol here is Edom). And Bozrah = is the largest city in Edom. And he saw Him glorious in His clothes = for He is the one whom John saw, and He “came forth conquering and to conquer.”

His clothes are His church and His bride, whom He justified and sanctified, so that she became beautiful to Him. “I am black and beautiful” (Song of Songs 1:5). He is magnified by His great power, for His victory on the cross was a marvelous display of strength, in which He defeated the devil and trampled him, and gave us, His people, this authority. Through His death, he trampled death and gave us eternal life.

Therefore, the altars of the temple (burnt offerings and incense) in the Old Testament had horns as a sign of power. And when the people of Christ realized His work, they glorified and magnified Him.

He is the speaker of righteousness = he is the Christ the Word who justified His people. For salvation = the meaning of the name Jesus is to save His people, so the Prophet asked Him why your garments are reddish = redemption on the cross. And your clothes are like the treader of the winepress = the young people were coming out of the winepress in joy, and here Christ rejoiced that He saved His people and justified them with His blood. Christ is shown to have trampled the winepress alone = there is no partner for Christ in the work of salvation.][14]

Amos the Prophet (Amos 9: 5، 6, 8، 10)

This prophecy explains the righteousness of the cross that it comes according to God’s promise and economy, and despite the abundance of sin and the corruption of His people, He does not eradicate them, but will purify them by renewing their nature, which he refers to with a word, and nothing on Earth will be destroyed by it:
“He who builds His layers in the sky, And has founded His strata in the earth..
“Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom, And I will destroy it from the face of the earth; Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” Says the Lord.
“For surely I will command, And will sift the house of Israel among all nations, As grain is sifted in a sieve; Yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground.”
Perhaps this is what St. John said that the blood of His cross is an atonement not only for our sins but for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2) .He is able by the righteousness of His cross to renew the whole earth and what he also announced in his visions:
“And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: “Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!”
And also what St. Paul said,” that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth–in Him.”

Job the righteous (Job 29: 21-etc; 30: 1-10)

The prophecy puts here a comparison between Job’s situation among people in their listening to him, their joy in him and his consolation to them in their pain and sorrow, but at the time of his trial, things completely changed and they mocked him, and in this situation he was an example of the Lord Jesus who was wandering doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, but at the time of His crucifixion, they mocked Him and shouted to the Roman ruler, “crucify him, crucify him”
“Men listened to me and waited, And kept silence for my counsel. After my words they did not speak again, And my speech settled on them as dew. They waited for me as for the rain, And they opened their mouth wide as for the spring rain.
If I mocked at them, they did not believe it, And the light of my countenance they did not cast down.I chose the way for them, and sat as chief; So I dwelt as a king in the army, As one who comforts mourners.”
It also accurately explains how they mocked Him and spat in His face:
“And now I am their taunting song; Yes, I am their byword.
They abhor me, they keep far from me; They do not hesitate to spit in my face.”

Pauline Epistle (Col 2: 13-15)

Saint Paul explains how we were dead in sins and how He forgave us and wiped out the handwriting that was against us by the cross, and made us alive with Him, and these verses summarize the meaning of the righteousness of Christ, glory be to Him.

“And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,
having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”

Psalm (Psalm 38: 17, Psalm 22: 16)

“For I am ready to fall, And my sorrow is continually before me.
For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.”

The first verse in the psalm here comes with a very clear prophecy about the sufferings of the cross, because David the king himself was not whipped, and the second verse comes from the psalm 22 which is the most Psalm explaining the sufferings of the cross and is the one that begins with the verse “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”.
Some say that one of the purposes of the Lord, while He is on the Cross, is to direct the eyes and hearts of the Jews to what is mentioned in this psalm about Him, His sufferings and His cross, as He spoke on behalf of humanity, and as St. Athanasius the Apostle says that He was carrying us in His own body.
We are also struck here by the Lord’s willingness to be whipped (according to the Septuagint translation) and this declares His acceptance of pain with His full will.

The link between the psalm and the Gospel (father Luke Cedarus)[15]

I’m ready for the whips…
If we are looking to the Lord at this hour through the words of the Gospels, which describe how His appearance was humiliated by lashes, a crown of thorns, a purple robe and reproaches of the soldiers, the psalm is not limited to this external view, but enters us into the heart of the Lord Jesus, where He reveals to us His readiness for whips “but I am ready for whips”.
He tells the pains that I am ready to carry you to death for the sake of my children.
He tells the whips that I am ready (I turned my back on the hitters) to save my children from the lashes of forced labor and the yoke of sin.
He says to insults and mockery: I am ready because I gave myself up so that my children would not be offended later.
He said to those who arrested Him: I am ready for restrictions, but let the disciples go.
And God’s willingness to face the whips means:
That the light is ready to confront the forces of darkness to break its remnants with strength and confidence.
Christ’s willingness to be whipped means that Christ is always ready to restrictions of sinners and ungodly people, to be whipped in their place and take their place.

And my sorrow is continually before me
It is known that the Lord’s body has been filled with pain at this hour so that there is no place for pain left in it … but that pain is the Savior’s preoccupation, this is what the psalm expresses: “my pain is against me all the time”.
Whoever comes to the Lord Jesus must bear the cross “at all times”. ” before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified”
For dogs have surrounded Me;
They gathered all the battalion together, and the Lord was among them like a meek Lamb, among many words fumbling for the places of plunder, and before the Lord sent His children like lambs in the midst of wolves, He was like a forerunner for us.

The Gospels
The gospels describe the last trial before Pilate, in which the Lord was sentenced to death and handed over to be crucified after he offered to release them captive, so they asked for Barabbas.
And we see Saint Matthew mention in addition to this the dream that Pilate’s wife had and sent to him warning him not to judge Him.
While St. Mark began to explain the sufferings of the cross, he added to this that they compelled a man with Him to carry the cross, Simon of Cyrene, and he mentioned the names of his sons.
As for St. Luke, he explains that Pilate asked the crowd three times about what He had done to be crucified, as he and St. Mark, who mentioned that Barabbas’s sin was sedition and murder, which is much more difficult than the accusation that they slandered the Lord, but this reveals the extent of their envy and evil.
As for St. John, he reveals the character of the Crucified One, which Pilate was upset when he heard them say that He had made Himself the son of God.

The Gospel of Matthew (27:15-26)
St. Matthew explains that although Pilate knew the envy of the Jews ” For he knew that they had handed Him over because of envy.” and that he found nothing obvious on which to base the death sentence, “Why, what evil has He done?” and although his woman begged him that she suffered a lot in a dream for His sake.”
“While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, “Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him.” and although he announced to the crowd that He was a just person, “he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person”. Pilate sentenced Him to death, so Pilate is not exempt from responsibility. Therefore, the Lord told him in the Gospel of John that the one who handed Him over to him has a greater sin.

The Gospel of Mark (15: 6 – 25)
St. Mark explains in detail the crime of Barabbas ” And there was one named Barabbas, who was chained with his fellow rebels; they had committed murder in the rebellion.” and the request of the leaders of the Jews for his release reveals the extent of evil, lies ” contortions and envy, as the saint also explained the Lord’s sufferings from the Romans
And they called all the battalion on Him, as he was the only one who mentioned the story of Simon of Cyrene, and “Then they compelled a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by, to bear His cross. “and also explains the meaning of the Jewish words to the Romans ” And they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull. ”

The Gospel of Luke (23: 13 – 25)
St. Luke reveals the result of the three civil investigations ( Pilate-Herod-Pilate), which Pilate announced to the crowd,
“said to them, “You have brought this Man to me, as one who misleads the people. And indeed, having examined Him in your presence, I have found no fault in this Man concerning those things of which you accuse Him and indeed nothing deserving of death has been done by Him.”
Therefore, he declares that Pilate’s death sentence was not for his conviction, but for their will !!” So Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they requested.”

The Gospel of John (19: 1 – 12)
As for St. John, he is known for focusing on divinity in the person of the Lord Jesus, and therefore the words of the Jewish leaders about Him mentioned that He said that He was the son of God, which made Pilate come back inside again and ask Him, ‘ Where Are you from?’ He also declares the authority of the Lord and His acceptance of the cross by His will, and that the authorities of men do not approach him except those according to his will and the will of his good father for the salvation of men
” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God.”
Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid, and went again into the Praetorium, and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?”
Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”

The Sixth Hour of Great Friday

The readings of this hour speak about the events of the crucifixion itself ( the Gospels )
The signs and references of the cross in the Old Testament ( prophecies and psalms )
Therefore, the readings speak of His salvation for us by healing us from the serpent and saving us from death (The book of Numbers )
The Lord was completely silent in the way of His passion and crucifixion ( Isaiah 53 )
And His being lifted up in the middle and the joy of salvation ( Isaiah 12 : 2 – etc., 13: 1-10 )
Signs of nature and the invalidity of Jewish holidays (Amos )
The passion of the cross (Psalms )
And His ascension on the cross ( Gospels )
And our pride in the cross ( Pauline Epistle )
The book of Numbers (21: 1 – 9)
This incident explains the story of the people’s discontent with God and Moses, and how serpents started to destroy them. Therefore, when Moses cried out to the Lord, He instructed him to make a bronze serpent that anyone seeking healing and salvation from death could look at.Jesus referenced this story to symbolize the cross, connecting salvation from destruction with the bronze serpent, and salvation from eternal damnation and judgment with the cross (John 3:14).
“So Moses prayed for the people.Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.”
So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.”
We can also see here other similarities between the copper serpent and the Cross of the Lord by Saints Augustine and Ignatius :
” Christ was slaughtered so that there may be on the cross the one who looks to Him the one who was bitten by the serpent …
… Everyone who looked at the raised serpent is healed of poison and freed from death, and now whoever insists on the likeness of Christ’s death by faith in Him and by His baptism is freed from sin, justified and from death through resurrection
This is what he means by saying “ that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3 : 15). So it wouldn’t be necessary for a child to imitate Christ’s death at baptism if the bite poison of the serpent hadn’t leaked poison to him.
Saint Augustine says
“When the body of the Word was lifted up as the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, mankind was attracted to it for their eternal salvation “[16]
And what is the most beautiful thing mentioned in the book of wisdom about the copper serpent and healing, is verses 7, 8
“And when these monsters broke into the enormous rage and destroyed them to bite the malicious serpents, your anger did not continue to the end, but they worried until you gave them an ultimatum and erected for them a sign of salvation that reminds them of the commandment of your law.
The one who looked at it was saved not by the visible but by you,the Savior of all.

And thus you have proved to our enemies that you are the savior from all evil, because those were killed by the sting of locusts and flies and there was no healing for their souls, because they are people because they deserve to be punished in the same way, but the poisonous fangs of dragons weren’t able to conquer your children, because your mercy has come and healed them, and they have only become humble so that they may remember your words and quickly repent so as not to fall into deep forgetfulness and deprive themselves of your goodness. Lord, who heals everyone, because you have the power of life and death, so you will descend to the gates of hell and ascend.” (The book of wisdom 16 : 5-13)

Isaiah ( 53: 7 – etc.)
It is one of the clearest prophecies in the book of Isaiah about the cross, which tells of the complete silence of the Lord in the way of his passion and crucifixion, is ” He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. ”
He came to the cross for the sins of all mankind, ” and for the sins of the people he came to death. “
And sinless ” ” because he did no sin, and there was no cheating in His mouth. “
And the joy of His righteous Father was in His recovery ( that is, our recovery in Him) from trauma and wounds. “Yet it pleased the Lord to recover Him from bruise;” which unfortunately came in the Peruvian translation “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief.. ”
With His cross, He took mankind from the power of the devil ” And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah ( 12: 2 – etc., 13: 1-10 )
This prophecy speaks of the joy of salvation: ” Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; ‘For Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation. ” which is the praise that the church praises on the night and on Good Friday.” to proclaim to every soul the power of the cross, the joy with which we received it and the great salvation ( my power and my praise is the Lord, and he has become my Holy Salvation.)
The prophecy also speaks of the spring of salvation from the side of the stabbed Christ, from which blood and water came out, filling the life-giving cup and the baptismal basin with the springs of our salvation “Therefore with joy you will draw water From the wells of salvation.”
The prophecy also refers to the son of God being lifted up on His cross in the middle of the Earth, ” Sing to the Lord, For He has done excellent things; This is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion, For great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst!”
Therefore, we pray at the sixth hour ( you have made salvation in the midst of the whole earth, O Christ our God)

Amos (8 : 9 – 12)
This prophecy reveals the signs that have happened in nature and will be on that day (day
Crucifixion) “And it shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord God, “That I will make the sun go down at noon, And I will darken the earth in broad daylight;”
The prophecy also explains how the celebration of Passover turned into lamentation and weeping and the festive joy ends in the Jewish church for rejecting her savior and Redeemer “I will turn your feasts into mourning, And all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on every waist, And baldness on every head; I will make it like mourning for an only son, And its end like a bitter day.”
Their songs were turned into lamentations (and they are still crying at the Wailing Wall) and they wear sackcloth on every waist when God handed them over to the nations for about 2000 years and their grief was like over the only one = the grief is very severe. And the last bitter day is the day when they accept the Antichrist, when the devil set off and the Great Tribulation comes.)[17]

Pauline Epistle (Galations 6 : 14 – etc.)
Therefore, St. Paul tells about the invalidity of circumcision and uncircumcision in Christ Jesus and about the greatest thing that we received with the cross; the new nature, so the cross became our permanent pride
“But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.”

Psalms
The first psalm (Psalm 37 : 21, 22) speaks of the nails that will be in the body of the Lord, “and they have pierced my body with nails ” and then explains with something of detail of the second Psalm (Ps 21: 16, 17, 18, 19) that they were in his hands and feet)
“They pierced My hands and My feet;” It explains the reaction of the soldiers of the Romans with the Lord’s clothes as if the Prophet was standing in front of the cross “They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.”
And also the mockery of the Jews standing in front of the Lord’s Cross, ” All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, “He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!” which are almost the same words that came in the Gospels of this hour about mocking the chiefs, elders and scribes

The link between the psalm and the Gospel (father Luke Cedarus )
The sixth hour of Friday

+ They have rejected me …
Pilate brought Jesus out in front of the congregation of Jews and said to them : Behold, your king . They shouted: lift Him up !
Crucify Him ! Crucify him . And he said to them, I will crucify your king, and they said, We have no king but Caesar . The psalm expresses a profound divine expression about the stance of Christ the Lord as the rejected one.
They refused that He reigns over them while they accepted Caesar and recognized him .
They refused to be release Jesus and demanded that a murderous man, Barabbas the thief, be released to them .
They rejected his education, love and submission
Meditate, my soul, on your rejected savior from the world …. Do you then accept dignity from the world If they reject the teacher, how much they reject the students. No student is better than a teacher .
+ I am the beloved one …
The meaning of love has not been known and has not been revealed in all the generations of creation as it appeared in the sight of the Lord standing before the ungrateful people .
He was wounded for the sake of His loved ones and beaten for the guilt of the people ” For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3 : 16) .
They have previously called him a “lover of tax collectors and sinners”, but here love is evident before their eyes bleeding from His wounds … now the love of Christ is no longer hidden from their eyes .
Oh,you, the soul who loved the world and closed her eyes so as not to see the beloved who says Open up to Me . He begs that His haircuts and hair got wet not with night dew, but with bleeding blood from the sacred forehead because of the crown of thorns …
How cruel you are, my soul, when your heart does not like all this and you continue to reject, what despicable part you have taken to make you reject your beloved .
As an abominable dead carcass…the beloved one became not like a dead one.

 

Good Friday Gospels

The Gospel of Matthew (27:27-45):

“The events of the crucifixion begin at this hour, starting from the gathering of all the Roman soldiers around the Lord, mocking him and dressing him in a scarlet robe. They made a crown of thorns and placed it on his head, mocking him greatly, and they compelled Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross. They brought him to the place of crucifixion and wrote above his head, ‘This is Jesus, the King of the Jews,’ and they crucified him between two thieves, amid mocking by the chief priests, scribes, and elders using the same words that the prophet had spoken before, approximately a thousand years ago, in Psalm 37, as he alluded to the darkness on the earth at this hour. Saint Matthew mentioned what happened at this hour, and so did Saint Mark at the third and sixth hours together. How did the darkness occur on this day? The darkness was miraculous and was not an eclipse, as the moon was full, not a crescent (Easter comes on the fourteenth day of the lunar month, and it is known that an eclipse only occurs when the moon is at its end of the lunar month). The sun was obscured for several hours because the God of nature was suffering. Therefore, one of the Greek astronomers and philosophers commented on this unnatural eclipse, saying, ‘Either the God of the universe is suffering, or the cosmos is dissolving.’ When the Apostle Paul went to Athens and spoke to Arius Pagos, the pagan philosopher Dionysius was present. Dionysius followed Paul and asked him when Jesus suffered and died. When Paul specified the time and year, mentioning the aforementioned saying, Dionysius believed. The darkness that prevailed was an announcement of the darkness that had prevailed over the world since the moment of the fall, then the light shone again after Christ died and reconciliation was accomplished. This hour, when the sun was darkened in the middle of the day, was foretold by the prophets (Zechariah 6:14). In it, we see that their Easter became a lament for them, as the women wept and the sun disappeared. Instead, it marked the end of their nation and the tearing of the veil of their temple, as God abandoned them.” [Explanation of theChapter – Father Antonius Fikri]

 

The Gospel of Mark (15:26-33)

In this Gospel, Saint Mark refers to the prophecy: “And He was numbered with the transgressors.”And he points to the mockery of the leaders and the darkness upon the earth, as foretold in Amos’s prophecy for this hour.

 

The Gospel of Luke (23:26-44)

Saint Luke adds the weeping and lamentation of the daughters of Jerusalem over the Lord, as well as the words of the Lord concerning the days of vengeance (the destruction of Jerusalem). A Jerusalem travel guide explains that the term “daughters of Jerusalem” not only literally refers to daughters, but that the term used to refer to the small villages outside the walls of Jerusalem that were the first to be hit when the Roman army besieged Jerusalem. Saint Luke also records the words of the Lord on the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

It is also recorded that the text above the cross of the Lord (that He was the king of the Jews) was written in the three languages: Hebrew, Latin and Greek (as also stated in the Gospel of Saint John). Why did Pilate write: Jesus the Nazarene, king of the Jews; INRI?

1 – He wrote it in Latin to show Caesar that he killed the one who claimed to be king and opposed Caesar so that he would be rewarded.

2 – He wrote it in Hebrew as an insult to the Jewish people: “for here is your king: crucified.” Pilate was angry with them because they resisted him and continued to insist on the crucifixion of Christ, while he wanted to release Him. He cared not for their remonstrances, but he declared before them that their case for their complaint to Caesar had ended with the crucifixion of the king of the Jews. And perhaps he wanted to free them from their false association with Caesar.

3 – Some said that Pilate was deeply moved by Christ and that is why he wrote this expression; as an expression of his feelings, in appreciation of Him and as an apology for what had happened.

Explanation of the chapter – Hegoumen Antonius Fakri.

Finally, the following things are also described: the conversion of the thief, his request to the Lord to be in His kingdom and his confession that the crucified is his Lord, God and King. This thief rebuked the other thief and said, “Do you not even fear God, now that you are under the same sentence? And we are righteous, for we are punished according to what we have done, but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

The Gospel of John (19:12-27)

John mentions a unique expression about the position of the Lord between the two thieves on the cross, described as: “and Jesus in the middle.” This is a phrase that is unique compared to the rest of the Gospels. This is also repeated after His Holy Resurrection and His appearance to them (the disciples) in the upper room. John also said about the Lord: “He stood in their midst,” which is the same expression as the prophecy of Isaiah for this hour: “He is exalted in your midst, the Holy One of Israel.”

The Gospel also details what the soldiers did: “Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His clothes and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece. They said therefore among themselves, ‘Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be,’ that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says, ‘They divided My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.’” (John 19:23-24)

And this prophecy came over them in Psalm 21 (the Psalm of this hour).

John tells us that the garment, which was entirely woven from the top without seams, was not to be worn except by the high priests, and thus this garment, which resembled the high priest’s clothing, ensured that Christ went to His cross as the high priest (a priest who offers his sacrifice).

The tunic was very valuable, so the soldiers did not tear it apart but cast lots for it. The fact that they did not divide it refers to the church, which is not split or divided. This can be compared to Psalm 22: the soldiers are the Roman soldiers, woven from above as a sign: for it is God who has founded His church, and it is not for man to tear it apart. (Interpretation of John 19 – Abouna Anthony Fikry)

John also mentioned the Lord’s care for His mother while He was at the height of His suffering on the cross to make her dignity and status known to everyone in the Holy Church. “Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold your son!’ Then He said to the disciple, ‘Behold your mother!’ And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.” (John 19:26-27)

The words of the Lord to His disciple John are relevant to us all, meaning that she will always be our mother, and we will always be her children.

 

The Ninth Hour of Great Friday

The readings of this hour speak of the perfection of the journey of suffering and death on the cross to announce the end of cursing and the beginning of life and the declaration of judgment for those who refuse salvation:
So the readings explain:
The cause of the judgment of the resisters of salvation. (Jeremiah)
And the curse ends by the cross. (Zachariah).
Whose events will be solemn. (Joel).
And the glory of mankind is in the Crucified Christ. (Pauline Epistle).
Who gave us life by His resurrection. (Psalm).
After completing everything necessary for His death on the cross. (The Gospels).

Prophecies

The first prophecy:Jeremiah the Prophet (Jermiah 11: 18 – etc.; 12: 1-13)

This prophecy speaks of the events of the cross and the judgment of the Resisters
Therefore, it talks about the son of God who was led to slaughter like a lamb even to the cross and death, and those who resisted Him and called for His crucifixion in order to destroy Him, did not realize that they sought to destroy themselves and severe days of vengeance came upon them (the destruction of Jerusalem).
“Now the Lord gave me knowledge of it, and I know it; for You showed me their doings.
But I was like a docile lamb brought to the slaughter; and I did not know that they had devised schemes against me, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be remembered no more…”
therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine; and there shall be no remnant of them, for I will bring catastrophe on the men of Anathoth, even the year of their punishment.’ ”
The meaning of the word “I didn’t know” is answered by the scholar Origen.
[Jesus speaks of himself:” I was like a docile lamb brought to the slaughter and I did not know “. He did not say what is the thing that He does not know. He didn’t say, “I didn’t know good,” or “I didn’t know evil,” or “I didn’t know sin,” but he just said, “I didn’t know.
So He left you the task of searching for something that He did not know. In order to know that thing, consider this phrase: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us,.” (2 Cor 5: 21). Knowing sin means falling into it, just like knowing the truth, that is, practicing it. He who speaks the truth and does not practice it does not know the truth [[31]

The second prophecy:
Zechariah the prophet (Zechariah 14: 5-11)
This prophecy speaks of the revelation of the divine visitation by the cross, the beginning of life and the end of cursing:
“And in that day it shall be That living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, And the Lord shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be– “The Lord is one,” And His name one….
The people shall dwell in it; And no longer shall there be utter destruction, But Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.”

The third prophecy:
Joel the Prophet (Joel 2: 1-11)
This prophecy shows what happened during the cross from darkness on Earth and signs in nature and how this day was so great and frightening and perhaps this is what made the thief repent and the centurion admit the righteousness of this Crucified:
“The earth quakes before them, The heavens tremble; The sun and moon grow dark, And the stars diminish their brightness. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible”

Pauline Epistle (Philippians 2: 1-11)

This reading proclaims the glory of mankind in Christ, in His cross and death, and how the Father’s plan for our salvation was fulfilled
“but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,”

And St. Augustine explains the meaning of this biblical text :[The Lord said to the Jews: “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” (Matt 22: 42)?” They answered Him,” Son of David, ” because they knew it easily, having learned it from the prophets. In fact, He was a descendant of David, but “according to the flesh” from the Virgin Mary, who was betrothed to Joseph.
And when they answered Him, He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool ?”
Do you wonder that the son of David should be his God, when you see Mary as the mother of the Lord
He is the Lord of David “who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,”, and the son of David by being “but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant”
O Prophet who said: ” You are fairer than the sons of men; ” (PS 45: 2)?” Where did you see him There I saw him. Do you doubt that the equivalent of God is more beautiful than human beings…? –
And to ask the one who says:” We have seen it, there is no goodness or beauty in it ” (Isaiah 53: 2). You’re saying this, tell us where you saw Him…?
“He made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant coming in the likeness of men.
And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” Here I have seen Him.

So the two are in a harmony filled with peace, both agree together.
Which beauty is more brilliant than God?
And which mutilation is more than the Crucified?!..
He left His Father so that here He would not show Himself equal to the Father, but “He made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant”.
He also left His mother, the collector, from whom, according to the body, He was born, He adhered to a woman, that is, to His church] (St. Augustine) [32]

Psalm (Psalm 68: 2, 21)
“Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck.
I sink in deep mire,….
They also gave me gall for my food, And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”
The psalm explains the extent of the psychological pressure that the Lord endured on the way of the cross and in His sufferings until death, as well as mentioning what happened when the Lord was thirsty and how they offered him vinegar to drink.
[David was in this a symbol of Christ, and there are many verses from this psalm that the New Testament applied to Christ:

Verse 4 ← mentioned in (John 15:25).
Verse 9 ← mentioned in (John 2:17) + (Romans 15:3).
Verse 21 ← mentioned in (Matthew 27:34).
And verses 22, 23 ← mentioned in (Romans 11:9, 10).

It is a companion to the psalm 22 and both begin with the passion of Christ and end with His glory. To this is added the prophecies of the destruction of Israel for the crucifixion of Christ] ( father Anthony Fikri) [33]

The link between the psalm and the gospel (father Luke Cedarus) [34]
Save me, O God!
How wonderful the words of this psalm are : who gave life to those in the graves with one word, he says: Save me? These words express the perfection of making Himself of no reputation which was accomplished by the Lord on the cross, He addresses the Father, saying :
Here I have put Myself out of my sheep .
I gave Myself a ransom for the world .
And here I am surrendering Myself to death, which has no authority over Me. And I offer the perfection of mankind’s obedience in My obedience, and its submission to you to death in My submission .
And now the work you sent me to do has been completed .
And now, Father, I am putting myself down and you are glorifying Me with the glory that I had with You before the creation of the world. Behold, at this hour I am surrendering Myself to death in order to make Myself of no reputation, and you raise Me alive and glorify Me.
When He asks now on the cross, He is asking for everyone’s life, because when He rose alive and He raised us up together as living members, then He is asking for my life at the moments of His death.

For the waters have come up to my neck.
The passions rose and increased like the waters of a sweeping flood until at this hour they reached the soul. It was for this that it was said that He shouted with a great voice. In truth, there is no pain that man has suffered, and there is no cup of bitterness that anyone will drink, rather the Lord drank it completely from us until the end.
So it was said that the waters of pain reached to his soul until death. However, the water was brought to the soul of the Lord only to the extent that He allowed it. He said, “I have the power to put it and I have the power to take it”. Because the Lord’s sufferings were not imposed on Him by an external force, to accept them involuntarily, but He took upon Himself our sufferings out of His love.
I sink in deep mire,
The Lord is the Lamb of God who bore our sins, remained sinless and knew no form of evil, and now He surrendered the soul and got involved in the mud of death, but He was not soiled by it, it was even said about Him that death could not catch him.

They also gave me gall for my food, And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
Jesus did not hunger for physical food, nor was He thirsty either in this sense, He sent the disciples to buy food before He met the Samaritan woman, but when they came and said, teacher, eat, He did not eat, but said: I have another food… how hungry is the satiated five thousand of the five loaves? … how can be hungry the One who satiated five thousand of the five loaves He has another food.
How can be thirsty the one who said, ‘ if someone is thirsty, he will come to me and drink?
But on the cross he is hungry and thirsty in another way
He is thirsty for the souls of His children to be satisfied with their love for Him and accept them to Him.
The bitterness that was put in His food is the rejection of those who crucified Him and the hardness of their hearts and their non-acceptance of the work he is doing.
And the vinegar that He drank in His thirst on the Cross is that He asks His children to repent, and yet they still live as slaves to sin, wandering in a distant region .
Blessed Are you, O right thief, for the Lord has been satisfied with your repentance and sincere confession of Him as a savior, and your return after the estrangement of your whole life .
O My Lord, may I prostrate myself before your cross every time, instead of the vinegar that you drink from the words of reproach and insult from many to this day, and may my repentance rejoice Your Heart, which is waiting for my return every day.

The Gospels (Matthew 27:46-50, Mark 15:34-37, Luke 23:45, 46, John 19:28-30)
The accounts of the death of Christ on the cross in the Gospel of Matthew and Mark are almost identical in their readings at this hour.

In the readings of this hour comes the cry of the Son on the cross “my God, my God, Why Have you forsaken me” and perhaps the Lord intended by this to draw the attention of the Jews and those standing before the cross to the psalm 22 which begins with this verse and speaks very clearly on the cross as if the speaker were an eyewitness.
As for the Gospel of Luke, it shows what the Lord said in His cry on the cross “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.” as well as what happened from the darkness of the sun and the tearing of the veil of the temple.
The Gospel of John mentions the fulfillment of the Lord’s prophecies by His word on the cross “I thirst!”” and also the last word spoken by the Lord “It is finished!” .
And we note here that the Lord cried out on the cross twice:
The first was when he said, “Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”‘ and it came in the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Mark.
The second was when he said, “And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’ ” which came in the Gospel of Luke.
Only St. John mentions that the Lord bowed His head, He gave up His spirit. [the opposite of what happens when a person dies]:
[An ordinary person at the moment of his death does not have the ability to shout with a loud voice. Rather, his cry at the moment of His death caused the Centurion standing next to the cross to say “Truly this Man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15: 39) and this indicates a powerful force arising from the union of his weak manhood with His divinity. It is also wonderful to hear, “he bowed His head and gave up the spirit. It is normal for a person to give up the spirit first and then bow his head, and not vice versa.
This is because He tries to keep His head as high as possible to breathe, but after He dies, His head falls off. These two notes indicate that the death of Christ was not like the death of any ordinary human being, but He, with His authority, gave His life, that is, He died of His own free will when He wanted, that is, when His work was completed. Thus, we understand that death did not swallow Christ, but that it was Christ who swallowed death as a conqueror, and not as a vanquisher.
Death did not overcome the Lord, but it was He who overcame death, and He descended to hell with His spirit united by His divinity to open the doors to those who died on hope and take them to paradise.
Thus Isaiah said ” He poured out His soul unto death,” (Isaiah53: 12) and His soul was not taken from Him as a human being, but He poured out Himself by Himself, of His own will] [35]

 

The Eleventh Hour of Great Friday

The readings of this hour speak of the beginning of the feast and the eternal glory of mankind ( prophecies )
And the glory of the Crucified in the life of the church ( Paul )
To open eyes to the son of God and reveal His divinity ( Gospels )
Fully redeemed by the resurrection (Psalm )

(Exodus 12: 1- 14)
This prophecy talks about the salvation that the Lord was going to make with His people to save them from the slavery of Pharaoh and His commandment to Moses and to the people to make this salvation a permanent feast and a reminder that the people live all the days, and how the characteristics of the Passover lamb were applicable to the Lamb of God bearing the sin of the world in that it is blameless and is kept until the fourteenth day. ( As the Lord was in Jerusalem and around it from Palm Sunday to the cross ) and it is eaten on herbs once, as a sign of the pain that He has passed through, and its blood is a sign of salvation from the destruction that is planned to be on people at the crossing of the deadly Angel.
” Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats.
Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight.
And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it….For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt,
Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you ” So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.”

(Leviticus 23: 5 – 15)
The Lord always confirmed this commandment to His people more than once after they left the land of Egypt to feast for seven days to eat bread, which St. Paul said should be a reminder and a feast of our salvation with the unleavened bread of true sincerity, a sign of salvation and new life
“On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover.
And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; seven days you must eat unleavened bread.
On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.
But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord for seven days. The seventh day shall be a holy convocation;”

Pauline Epistle ( Galatians 3 : 1 – 6 )
In the Old Testament, the feast turns from a reminder of an event, a situation and a miracle that God worked with them to the constant presence of the Crucified Son of God for us, so that He will be our life and our goal. The expression that St. Paul said that the crucified Jesus was portrayed before our eyes means not only that we live by seeing Him, but also that we see nothing in the world except through Him and through His salvation and love
“before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified”
And the beauty in the readings of this hour is that they drew us the cross in :
+ The law of the Old Testament ( description of the Passover lamb and comparison with the cross )
+ In the whole creation, as St. Athanasius said in the sermon ( as for the sign of the cross, it is spread over the whole creation )
+ Before our eyes, as St. Paul said ( that is, in our daily life and struggle)

The first psalm ( 143: 6 , 7 )

” I spread out my hands to You; My soul longs for You like a thirsty land.
Answer me speedily, O Lord; My spirit fails! Do not hide Your face from me, Lest I be like those who go down into the pit.”
This psalm speaks about the Father’s response to the Son in that His human body does not stay in death, so He said, so he responded to Me sooner ( on the third day), which is the same meaning that St. Paul said in the epistle to the Hebrews (Hebrews 5 : 7).
It is also what St. Athanasius the Apostle explained to interpret this verse (Hebrews 5 : 7) that the son of God’s intense cry for the one who is able to save Him from death (that is, Saves the human nature that the son of God took from death, crossing it for resurrection), that is, He rises on the third day and death does not prevail over Him yet.

The second Psalm ( 31: 5 )
” Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.”
And this is the word that the Lord said on the cross, and the Prophet here announced the completion of the redemption

The link between the psalm and the Gospel (father Luke Cedarus )
Answer me speedily, O Lord; My spirit fails!
If we ponder what is the request of Christ hung on the wood who asks to be answered sooner we will be very surprised … He is asking for the complete innocence of Man and now sooner because He has completed death for him, saying : ( I have lost my soul ) . But what surprises us the most is the Father’s response sooner , at this moment :
The veil of the temple, which had long tormented man with the feeling of God’s being hidden and His abandonment of man, was torn off, reconciliation took place forever, and we began to look at the Lord with an uncovered face .
The thorn of death was broken, the prison walls were smashed, man came out, and the resting Saints escaped from the graves . Every accepted nation glorified God, and the firstborn of the nations, in the person of the enemy; the centurion who crucified the Lord, glorified the crucified and recognized His divinity.

The whole world has been forgiven by the divine side .
Let us reflect, brothers and sisters, on what the Lord has obtained for us by His death, namely, what glory for us Christians by His death for us and by the gifts He has given us with all wisdom and discernment .
Into Your hand I commit my spirit
The moments – in which Jesus committed His spirit, must have been very terrible ones, and those who looked upon the Lord at this hour saw what is not permissible for a human to speak of. Such was the solemnity of what they saw that they cried out, believed, and returned while beating their chests.
Contemplate on the written “So when the centurion, who stood opposite Him, saw that He cried out like this and breathed His last, he said, “Truly this Man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15 : 39) .
The Lord cried out, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’” (Luke 23 : 46) . And this is not strange because He has already said: ” I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.” (John 16 : 28) .
His coming forth from the Father never meant His separation from the Father, and then His return to the Father (committing His spirit in His hands ) does not mean the separation of His divinity from His manhood for a single moment, not the blink of an eye . But you see how the Lord uttered the phrase ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit ” and in any way completed this committing to death .
O Lord Jesus, teach me to live the same life of committing, the way you said those words, and in your own unspeakable, transcendent way .
O Lord Jesus, make these words the conclusion of my day before I go to bed and the conclusion of my journey when my spirit comes out of me .
+ You have redeemed me, O Lord God of Truth (Justice ) …
How beautiful is this comparison that is in the words of the psalm , this is the redemption that He also gave us in fulfillment of the debt that we had and in fulfillment of the requirements of divine justice.
Reference: book of meditations on the Psalms of passion page 165-170 (father Luke Cedarus)

The Gospel of Matthew ( 27: 51- 56 )
Saint Matthew mentions here the signs of nature, the tearing up of the veil of the temple, the soldiers ‘ confession of His divinity, and the women accompanying the Lord to the cross ( as also mentioned by Saint Mark and Saint Luke ) , but Saint Matthew adds Here the rise of many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep, their appearance to many, and their entry into the holy city of Jerusalem
“and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised;
and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.”

The Gospel of Mark ( 15: 38- 41 )
St. Mark ( and also St. Luke) specifically mentions in the confession of the standing soldiers that he is the Centurion, but here he says, “Truly, this man was the son of God,” and this is the same as St. Matthew mentioned by the soldiers, as he also mentions, like others, the tearing up of the veil of the temple and the women accompanying the Lord in His sufferings to the cross.

The Gospel of Luke (23: 47 – 49 )
St. Luke, in the words of the Centurion, mentions his confession that He was righteous. “Certainly this was a righteous Man!” he is the only one who mentioned the reaction of the crowds who watched the death of the Lord on the cross. ” And the whole crowd who came together to that sight, seeing what had been done, beat their breasts and returned.”

The Gospel of John ( 19: 31- 37 )
St. John is unique in explaining that this Saturday (after the Friday of the crucifixion ) was great and also mentions the stabbing of the soldier to the Lord with a spear in His side, which brought out blood, unlike what happens in the death of any normal human being, so it was a declaration of His divinity that He died, but corruption did not reach Him like the rest of mankind.
(Immediately blood and water came out.. Water is the sign of His death, and blood is the sign of His life )
(Father Athanasius Al-maqari – the book of the Holy Pascha Part II Page 256) he also mentioned the prophecies that refer to this.
“But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.
But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.”

 

The Twelfth Hour of Great Friday

The readings of this great day conclude with this hour, when the souls of the righteous were freed from hell by the entry of the son of God into it, and He led captivity captive and brought them out of darkness into the light, and their souls rejoiced at His coming, and therefore the door of the temple is opened at this hour and the temple is clothed with joy.
Therefore, the readings speak of two prophets (Jeremiah and Jonah) who were a symbol in their sufferings of the son of God in His passion and His cross, but also in His resurrection and the crossing of death.
There are also two Psalms, one expressing the pain of death and the other the glory and splendor of the sufferer.
The Gospels reveal the quality of souls who live in constant transit from death to life (Joseph and Nicodemus), who were hoping and waiting for the kingdom of God, and they did not yet know it, but realized it in the death and resurrection of the Lord.

Prophecies

The lamentations of Jeremiah (Mark 3: 1-etc.)

This prophecy charts the way of the Lord in His sufferings, His death on the cross, His descent to hell as a represetative for humanity and His acceptance of the Father’s plan for our salvation.
“I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.(He bore the sins of the humanity)
He has led me and made me walk In darkness and not in light.
Surely He has turned His hand against me Time and time again throughout the day.
He has aged my flesh and my skin, And broken my bones.(the pains of the cross)
He has besieged me And surrounded me with bitterness and woe.(the death of the cross)
He has set me in dark places(the hell) Like the dead of long ago.(the fate of the humanity in the old testament)”
And we see the same talk about dark places in the prayer of the Prophet Jonah and in the first psalm (psalm 44), which refers to His descent to hell.
But although the prophet Jeremiah described the suffering of the son of Man, he declares how the pain and death did not last, but changed into salvation and revealed the Father’s mercy in the victory of His Son over death and the salvation of the souls of the righteous from destruction.
” It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the Lord.It is good for a man to bear The yoke in his youth. Let him sit alone and keep silent, Because God has laid it on him; Let him put his mouth in the dust– There may yet be hope.
Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him, And be full of reproach. For the Lord will not cast off forever.Though He causes grief, Yet He will show compassion According to the multitude of His mercies.”
The prophet Jeremiah uses expressions that describe the passion of Christ that are almost identical to what the Prophet Jonah said in his prayers (the prophecy following it):
” And He has set me in dark places” (lamentations of Jeremiah).
” The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; The deep closed around me; Weeds were wrapped around my head. I went down to the moorings of the

  “Have mercy on us, Lord, in our mortality” (Lamentations of Jeremiah).
“O LORD, my God, I am at the end of my soul” (Jonah).
” And I said that He left me about Him ” (Lamentations of Jeremiah).
And I said,” ‘I have been cast out of Your sight” (Jonah).
” I called on Your name,O LORD from the lowest pit, and you have heard my voice ” (Lamentations of Jeremiah).
” Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, And You heard my voice.” (Jonah).
“Do not hide your ear from my sighing,from my cry for help” (Lamentations of Jeremiah).

” And my prayer went up to You,” (Jonah).

Jonah the prophet (Jonah 1: 10-etc.; 2: 2-7)

This story lists two situations, each of which is associated with the cross :
(1) The first situation is the sailors ‘ reluctance to throw a human being into the sea and consider him an innocent blood, according to their expression, although he was the cause of the sea’s rampage and the great loss of their goods that they threw into the sea to try to survive, and he also made them exposed to death if the ship sank, and although he was the one who admitted his mistakes
Despite the reaction of God, whom they did not yet know, and how He showed His anger at him (according to their understanding), they still say, “ Therefore they cried out to the Lord and said, “We pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O Lord, have done as it pleased You.”
So how can we see men who do not know God; the true God (they worship other gods) and show mercy to the one who was the cause of their loss and perhaps their death and consider him “innocent blood”, and in return we see the chief priests and scribes judging by false witnesses and conspiracies against the son of Man the only innocent blood among mankind and asking for the release of Barabbas – who was the cause of sedition in the city and murder – instead of Him!!.
But the difference is shown here between unbelievers who cried out to the true God and others who are supposed to be the leaders of the believers who cried out to Pilate, the Roman ruler who tried to absolve himself of the blood of Christ, and the superiors shouting His blood on us and on our children.
And how much do the human principles of atheists (with the true God) prevail over those who belong to God, and even speak in His name! But it is also our life if we neglect His word and constantly reject His will, and our interests overcome and dissipate our fear, so we crucify Him anew in His innocent children!.
(2) The second situation is the prayer of Jonah the prophet in the hollow of the whale, which was a symbol of the Lord’s death and resurrection (Matt 12: 40) and how we see in His prayer His trust and hope in the living God who will ascend and save Him from death: “Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, And You heard my voice… Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight; Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.”
And here it seems that Christ’s glorious death in the flesh on the Cross is a response to the cry coming from hell to all the righteous souls since the beginning of creation, and humanity in Christ returned again to the temple of the Father and inhabited it in man anew (compare Genesis 6: 3, John 14: 23).

Psalms
The reading of the Psalms combines pain and glory, suffering and splendor, renunciation and divine authority, between the shadows of death and forever and ever, Between evil intrigues and the King’s scepter.
Therefore, the first psalm speaks of His suffering and death, and the second of His power and glory.

The first psalm (88:4/23:4)
“They laid me in the lowest pit,in dark places and in the shadow of death.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me;”

The reading of this psalm comes from two Psalms (88, 23).
This reading explains the descent of the Lord to hell (a lower mountain), but he was not dominated by death, i.e. corruption, so the sequel came from the psalm 22 to make it clear that it is the shadow of death, i.e. death without corruption (Acts 2: 31) as St. Peter said.

The second psalm(45:6,11)
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;
A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.
Myrrh and stacte and cassia pour forth from your garments.”
This psalm is prayed with a long melody (Pik Ethronos) and is one of the longest and sweetest melodies of our Holy Church. It’s wonderful that the church makes this melody for two Psalms:
The psalm of glory and divine authority and The psalm of the betrayal of mankind as if describing two contradictory cases of how everyone was corrupted and how God showed His glory and love so supremely, The Church sings it twice in the Holy Pascha (the eleventh hour of Tuesday, the Twelfth Hour of Friday) for the glory of God, and also twice for the betrayal of Man (the third hour of Thursday night, early Maundy Thursday).
The psalm also describes the Lord’s garments at His burial and the precious heirlooms brought by Nicodemus, which St. Matthew mentions as pure linen (priests ‘ clothes), the sign of His priesthood.
That is, the Lord went to the cross in priestly vestments and after they stripped Him on the cross and took His clothes, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus also buried Him in priestly vestments to reveal the sacrifice of salvation by the Lord’s death, burial and resurrection.

The link between the psalm and the Gospel (Luke Cedarus)[36]

I am counted with those who go down to the pit
Adam went down to the grave (the mountain) and Christ came down in his wake, turned the dust of the dead and asked for him from among the perdition … our God entered the House of the mighty one after tying him on the cross first to plunder his belongings.
The One who the heavens of heaven cannot accommodate was placed in a small grave like the dead in dark places, in order to illuminate those in the graves… life broke into the grave, heralding the dead and preaching to those in prison… the darkness of the grave our Lord was pleased with it, as he was previously pleased to have a fetus dwell in the Virgin belly for nine months. In the belly of the Virgin , Angels shaded her praising their creator. While He was in the tomb, the Angels were praising him, saying: “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal …” and as he came out of the belly according to Ezekiel’s prophecy and the door was closed, he also came out of the pit (tomb) and the door was closed.

I am counted with those who go down to the pit
They obliged me for the sake of my love for them, so I was carried like dead to a place. And the lower mountain refers to the descent of the Lord to hell “the One who ascended is the one who first descended into the lower parts of the earth and He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men”.

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me;
The psalm says that if I walked , because the Lord crossed in the midst of death with His full will, it was not possible to be caught by death.
He bore our sins, but He did not get dirty with them, he tasted death for us, but He is the Lord of resurrection..
And here the psalm refers to the breaking of the thorn of death, that death that was frightening and terrible for the heart of mankind, “I am not afraid of evil.”
What a wonderful joy it is to preach the death and resurrection of Jesus! We no longer fear death or the shadow of death as long as we cling to the Lord Jesus who trampled death.
Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;
The church has dedicated a special melody to this psalm in order to fill the faithful with contemplation of this psalm (see the eleventh hour of Tuesday) .
The church tells God:
As you are placed in the grave, I am aware of your status and your divine majesty. I am also aware of how much of your wondrous concession and costs of salvation you have planned for me.
And you are wrapped in shrouds of “white linen”, I realize that you are dwelling in unapproachable light.

A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.
The Lord reigned over the heart of the church, and she became his throne forever and ever . “the Lord has reigned and clothed Majesty… The Lord has clothed power and girded it.” now we understand the meaning of the Lord’s saying to Pilate: “my kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36 ).
Myrrh and stacte and cassia pour forth from your garments.”
The myrrh symbolizes the pains of the Lord that ended with the burial… And Joseph of Arimathea wrapped him in myrrh, aloes, and spices, which are a type of bitter fragrance that tends to liquidity, and it refers to the descent of the blessings of the cross downwards, that is, to hell where our Lord Jesus descended through the cross, and He returned our father Adam and his children to paradise.
Cassia is a hard shell that is peeled off from its tree, and it once symbolized the tree of the Cross, whose shell gave off a smart fragrance that refreshed all people…
St. Basil continues: your sufferings, crucifixion, burial in the grave and descent into Hell, O Lord… have been felt throughout the world.
The four Gospels mention the descent of the Lord’s body from the cross and its placement in the tomb, which was carved out of a new rock by Joseph and Nicodemus, with the presence of some Marys at the time of His burial in the tomb.

The Gospels

The Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 27: 57-61)
Saint Matthew mentions the type of linen, that it is pure, the tomb is new, and the stone on it is great, and mentions two Marys:
[But let us note that they wrapped the body of Christ in linen, and this is the clothing of the priests. He is our high priest who sacrificed Himself.] [37]

The Gospel of Mark (Mark 15: 42-etc.; 16: 1)
St. Mark mentions that it was the Friday before the Sabbath, and describes Joseph that he is from Ramah and rich, with advice and hopes for the kingdom of God, and Pilate’s inquiry and making sure from the Centurion that the Lord died on the cross and identified the two of the Marys as Mary Magdalene and Mary Mother of Yossi and bought three of Maries bought spicesto come to Him after the Sabbath and embalm Him.

The Gospel of Luke (Luke 23: 50-etc.)
In addition to the above, St. Luke describes Joseph as a good and righteous man, that he did not agree with their opinion and their deed, and mentions women without specifying names, and he may have been satisfied that he mentioned them before (Luke 8: 2, 3).

The Gospel of John (John 19: 38-etc.)
St. John adds to the above that Joseph did this secretly out of fear of the Jews, and also mentions the coming of Nicodemus with him to the grave, and because he (St. John) is the only one who mentioned Nicodemus (John 3) gave confirmation here of his personality and stated that he came with about a hundred pounds of spices and mentions that it is the custom of the Jews to bury.
He also adds that the place where the Lord was crucified was a garden and in it a new grave, in which no one was ever laid.

[The first Adam sinned in a garden, and the last Adam began His salvation in a grove… Joseph wanted a grave to bury his dead, so it became a garden to proclaim the resurrection and life. We note that Christ was born of a virgin, whose bowels no one bore before Him. And He rode a donkey that no one had ridden before and was buried in a grave where no one was buried before him… The church tradition says that Nicodemus glorified the praise “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal”, which the church took from him while he was shrouding the body of Christ”] (father Antonius Fikri)[38]

Archdeacon panop Abdo also says about the New garden :
[Then John says, “and in the place where he was crucified
“Now 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.” but the garden belonged to Joseph of Arimathea” and the divine economy required that the burial be in it, because Adam the first committed the sin that destroyed mankind in a garden, namely in the garden of Eden, and Adam II had to begin His salvation and give Him life in a garden to be the perfection of the economy like its beginning] (Archdeacon panop Abduh) [39]

[It is told in the Jewish Talmud:
When Gamaliel the Great was buried, they made a fire of incense and perfumes weighing 80 pounds (about 24 kilograms). When they asked Onkelos – one of the rabbis – about the reason for this abundance, he replied, “Is not Gamaliel better than a hundred kings (like Asa)?”
It is clear, then, how much kindness Nicodemus carried, which is a silent expression of his reverence and love for the Lord Jesus] (father Athanasius Al-maqari) [40]