Holy Friday – Morning

The Royal Hours of Holy Good Friday

On Holy Good Friday morning, 18 April 2025, the service of the Royal Hours and the Vespers of the Descent from the Cross was held at our Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Woodstock.

The Royal Hours (in Greek: Basilikai Hōrai) is a solemn service, rich with scripture readings and recounts of the last day of Christ‘s life.

It is a special prayer service celebrated only three times a year on Christmas Eve, The Eve of Theophany and today which is
Holy and Great Friday morning.

Why are these services called “Royal” ?

As far back as the Byzantine Empire, the Emperor Constantine himself would attend, bowing in humility before the crucified Christ in the church.

It includes the First Hour,Third Hour, Sixth Hour, and Ninth Hour, each commemorating a time of the day when Christ endured a specific part of His Passion.

The church is quiet, and solemn and there are no bells just the soft hypnotic and comforting chanting and the reading of the Gospel, EpistleS, Old Testament prophesies and psalms plus hymns that combine theology and poetry, describing each stage of His suffering.

The faithful stand in prayer and listen deeply, as the Church walks hour by hour through the final moments of Christ’s earthly life.

The accent is on the Crucifixion during the Royal Hours.

It was followed with the actual ritual of taking Christ down from the Cross which is the Vespers of Holy Friday, but we added them this morning as the the Royal Hours prepare one‘s heart and soul to grieve for Christ like his bereft Mother The Theotokos did when it was time to bury Him.

We saw Archbishop Sergios taking the figure of Jesus down from the cross and wrapping it in linen shroud, echoing what Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus did.
This ritual reenactment is one of the most moving moments of Holy Week.
Then the procession of the burial shroud, the Epitaphios, which was then laid in the “kouvouklion”, the beautifully flower-bedecked bier, alongside a Bible, covered in rose petals.

What does the Greek word Epitaphios mean?

The Epitaphios (Greek: Ἐπιτάφιος, epitáphios, or Ἐπιτάφιον, epitáphion,) meaning “upon the tomb”.

Today’s icon icon is called “The Descent from the Cross” and the sacred scene depicts the moment after Christ has died on the Cross, when His lifeless Body is lovingly removed, covered with a shroud and prepared for burial.

This second part of the service this morning is also called the Vespers of the Unnailing, or in Greek “ Apokatheliosis,” an emotionally charged and deeply reverent service in Orthodox Holy Week.
It is a time of deep reverence and humility and a time a time of inner mourning , awe and thanks for Christ’s supreme sacrifice.

It serves to remind us that God as Man truly died in the flesh, and that His burial was real. Yet, this moment is most definitely not the end, it is, in fact, just the beginning – the doorway to resurrection.

In the Words of the Hymn:

“Noble Joseph, taking down Thy most pure Body from the Tree, wrapped it in clean linen with spices, and laid it in a new tomb…”