Honouring the Epitaphios

Service of the Lamentations and the Procession of the Epitaphios, held on Friday evening 18 April  2025 at St George‘s Cathedral with his Eminence Archbishop Sergios, Reverend Archimandrite Doukas Coulbanis and Very Reverend Father Nikolaos Giamouridis.

Our journey through Great and Holy Week is coming to an end with the morning service of the Great and Royal Hours followed by the taking down of Christ from the Cross which set the tone for the rest of this extremely solemn and sacred day.

Tonight was devoted to the outpouring of grief and loss during the Service of Lamentations as Jesus was laid to rest in the tomb.

The Greek Orthodox Holy Friday (or “Megali Paraskevi”) is a day of grieving and all over Greece ( as here in Woodstock) the somber death knell of the church bells sends out the message of loss.

Flags are at half mast, and in many villages, years ago, black cloths were hung from windows and balconies to depict the day of Christ’s death.

On this day fun activities, socialising or entertainment, are kept to a bare minimum if at all and for those who are fasting strictly only plain bread and water.

This night’s service is even more special as we saw the Body of Christ, depicted in the form of a sacred embroidered cloth icon called the “Epitaphios“ placed in a flower-bedecked bier which is covered in an elaborately carved canopy called the “ kouvouklion”.

The “ Epitaphios“ icon is made of a richly- embroidered cloth depicting the body of Christ laid in the grave. Usually it also shows the Theotokos, Christ‘s mother and several disciples. It represents the tomb and both the icon cloth and the canopy are called the “ Epitaphios” .

On the morning of Great Thursday, the Epitaphios was decorated and adorned with white blooms and trailing ribbons by ladies of the community.

 And a second lighter version was decked out  in olive branches and also trimmed with lovely blooms for the procession. 

The word ‘Epitaphios’ originates from Ancient Greek “ἐπιτάφιος” (epitáphios) relating to a funeral or a funerary oration.
It’s literally from ἐπί (epí, meaning over )+ τάφος ( taphos , meaning tomb)and is the origin of the word epitaph.

The flower-bedecked Epitaphios was blessed and fragrant rose-scented Holy Water, which is so redolent of this night of funerary traditions, was sprinkled on the Icon and the congregation.

Then a group of little girls called Myrofores, dressed in long white tunics with garlands of flowers on their heads and carrying baskets of fragrant fresh rose petals , scattered them on the icon.

Myrofores represents the mhyrr-bearing women who went to the tomb of Jesus to complete the burial rites in the early hours of the Day of Resurrection.

Being one of the Myofores is on every little Greek girl’s bucket list – it’s one of those cultural and traditional “musts” on her way through life.
I was thrilled to bits when I was chosen and to this very day (at least 70 years later!) I can still recall the scent of the petals in my little woven basket and I felt like an angel in that white satin tunic.

The flowers are a mix of white for purity, red or vermillion for life and purple for death.

But back to the present and tonight’s service. The priests blessed the Epitaphios as the Hellenic Community Choir under the direction of choir mistress Effie Saridakis sang the special funeral hymns, called the Epitaphic Lamentations or “Egomia” comprising three distinctive hymns sung from north to south and east to west wherever Greek Orthodox gather to mourn Christ’s death – “ I Zoi en Tafo”, ( meaning life in the grave), Axion, Esti” and “E Genei Pase”.

The Epitaphios bier was carried by young men from the congregation in procession around the neighbourhood of the church ( in Greece it would be around the village or town ) while the congregation followed with lit candles and the choir singing the soulful dirges accompanied by wind instruments which is also traditional.

Back at the church everyone walked under the Epitaphios which was held on high at the entrance and this is considered a very special blessing.

And finally Our Lord was laid to rest ….

It was a very emotionally-charged night when we not only mourned the sufferings of the Crucified Christ but turned our grief inward and lamented for our own sins, finding personal meaning and a sense of repentance that are supremely comforting and energizing.

After the service we all lined up to venerate the icon and Holy Bible and take a handful of blessed rose mpetals home as a reminder . Then we wished each other “Kali Anastasi” or “Happy Resurrection ” as we looked ahead to the pinnacle of Holy Week – tomorrow at midnight.

My wish for all of us is that we could take home with us the solace of knowing that through this sad and melancholy occasion we are given the chance of everlasting life in God’s Grace. 

(Text and photos: Pepe Sofianos)