Good Friday 2011: Origins, Observances And Fasting Rules

Good Friday is the Christian commemoration of Jesus' Passion story; specifically his betrayal, trial and crucifixion that are described in the Christian gospels. In the sequence of Holy Week, it follows the rituals marking the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday and precedes the celebration of Jesus' resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Since Jewish tradition dictates that Friday begins at sundown on Thursday, the events of Good Friday traditionally begin with the betrayal of Jesus by his apostle Judas in the garden of Gethsemane. He is subsequently brought before the Sanhedrin council, the Roman governor Pontius Pilate and King Herod of Galilee with the ultimate outcome being his condemnation to death by crucifixion.

The trial of Jesus and his crucifixion are described in varying detail by all four canonical Gospels, the Jewish historian Josephus and the Roman writer Tacitus. While the specific events and theological implications are widely disputed, the historicity of the occasion is widely accepted.

Good Friday church services generally revolve around the reading of the Gospel accounts of the Passion story. The Catholic liturgy for Good Friday also includes the distribution of the Eucharist that was consecrated during the Mass on Maundy Thursday and special veneration of the cross by inviting individuals to approach the altar and kiss the wood of the crucifix.

Many Christians also mark Good Friday by participating in or watching processions meant to replicate the journey that Jesus took through the streets of Jerusalem while carrying his cross to the site of his crucifixion at Calvary. Two of the largest and most famous of these occasions are Rome's Way of the Cross that leads to the Colosseum and is presided over by the Pope and the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem -- a procession along the traditionally marked route of Jesus that is attended by thousands of pilgrims each year.

Good Friday is also a day of strict fasting for Catholics and some other Christians. As with all the Fridays of Lent, Catholics are instructed to abstain from eating meat. As with Ash Wednesday, the fasting rules for Good Friday dictate that adherents should eat only one full meal with two smaller meals being permitted as long as no other food is consumed in the interim. The use of other meat-based products such as lard, chicken broth or dairy is not traditionally forbidden, although many individuals elect to make their Good Friday meals entirely vegetarian or vegan.

In many countries with strong Christian traditions such as those in Latin America, Good Friday is observed as a national holiday. Good Friday is not a federal holiday in the United States, but several states observe it as an official state holiday by closing government offices, courts and banks. Many private businesses also choose to close on Good Friday in addition to financial markets.

Comments

[Salty too]

04:49 PM on 04/22/2011

To all my Christian freinds on this site. God bless you all on this celebration of our Lords resurection. Some of the most beautiful words Jesus ever spoke," Come unto me, all that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light". ( Matthew 11:28-30).

[chaotician1]

02:07 PM on 04/22/2011

It is amazing! I suppose 2000 years ago, the nomadic tribes still believed that animal and human sacrifice appeased the Gods; but nobody believes that today! So why do Christians still continue to believe that their God, a mean, vicious Father God, Jehovah, was appeased and forgiving by the Jews killing his GodSon, the GodMan Jesus? Does anyone actually think that human sacrifice is pleasing to a God, much less a God sacrifice? And how does an eternal, forever, omnipotent God get killed in the first place??

I can not imagine anything less pleasing to a God than the torture and murder of his incarnation; such theatre is absurd! Please, grow up and let's deal with the real problems of our species in a humane, considerate, reality based manner!

[Salty too]

04:43 PM on 04/22/2011

Jesus said " Let the ignorant be ignorant". So I will.

[vanillalizard]

05:03 PM on 04/22/2011

he also said, "with the judgment that you judge you shall be judged"...and from what i've been reading your judgments are not loving toward your neighbor, or your enemies; and I doubt that you have given all you have to the poor, as jesus said. so remember to remove the beam in your own eye before trying to remove the splinters from your neighbors eye.

[ViciousButterfly]

09:58 AM on 04/23/2011

Amen.

[ViciousButterfly]

10:01 AM on 04/23/2011

I've heard of Muslim Taliban, Christian Taliban, and you're obviously an Atheist Taliban. Why else comment on an article that is clearly meant for believers? Amazing!

[vanillalizard]

10:25 AM on 04/23/2011

"meant for believers?" so now we have a separation of secular HP from religious HP, that non-believers shall not cross? interesting theory.

[john1513]

01:16 PM on 04/22/2011

Blessed Good Friday to all here

"For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."
Pilate said to him "What is truth?"
- Jn 18:37-38

[New Yorker]

11:10 AM on 04/22/2011

The thief beside Christ on the cross told Him to come down from the cross and save himself if he was God. That is what satan would have done. Jesus was God, but had subverted His Will to God The Father who asked Him to do this to save the world from its sins. Jesus is "The Name Above Every Other Name" precisely because Jesus did not grasp at being God, as satan did, but instead humbled Himself to the point of becoming a mere man, a creature made by God, and subject to death, just to please the Father in Heaven. It is why Jesus was given dominion over all the universe, and all power over everything by God the Father. This is the power that comes to save us from our sins, this is the love that seeks to save us, this is the Almighty God that so many underestimate !

[ckellett3]

01:05 PM on 04/22/2011

true true. The story of Good Friday in John http://dailygrace-ckellett3.blogspot.com

[OhgReaTone]

10:52 AM on 04/22/2011

I was born on Good Friday - and my parents pre-arranged my marriage to Jesus. It has been a stormy relationship. ................

http://thefiresidepost.com/2009/04/18/the-stormy-marriage-of-jesus/

[iLdoRight]

04:42 AM on 04/22/2011

At "Religious Days" times during the year I often hear the designation, "The Faithful" when they show people at some large religious service and I wonder why they use that phrase. Are they really "faithful"? Who or what are they "faithful to" and if they are being faithful to their modern day religious leaders and customs are they being unfaithful to Jesus and His Father? Galatians 4:10,11 "You are scrupulously observing days...I fear for you that...I have toiled to no purpose respecting you." Matthew 15:9 "It is in vain they do worship me, teaching the commands of men as doctrine". Exodus 20:4 'You must not make a carved image" (for religious worship). Isaiah 42:8 Will ...not share..his praise with graven images. When I was a "church person" I would hear something like, "Please come on Sunday it is the least you can do for God, as if that would make one OK with him. Then I started looking into the Bible and discovered that was not the viewpoint promoted there by Our Creator. The church I attended had a "cross", but the minister could never give me a good explanation why the would violate Gods dislike for images enough to have one. It seems that what one does 356 days a year is what can make Our Creator pleased with one's conduct, not the getting dressed up and showing up to do some listening, singing and praying. See 2Corinthians5:7, faith, not sight.

[New Yorker]

11:00 AM on 04/22/2011

Keep Holy The Sabbeth Day. You owe God praise and thanksgiving for all that you are, all whom you love, and all that you hope for, because all of it comes from God. Bending your knee, singing His praises, worshipping with others is what you owe God for His goodness. Being ungrateful enough to not do such things makes you something less, Read 'The Sermon on The Mount', and learn about the kingdom of God from his own lips.

[rollbama56]

01:44 PM on 04/22/2011

My grandfather fought in WWII, so when he tells me stories of what happened to him in the Battle of the Buldge, I supposed to think hes obviously lying because it happend almost 70 years ago? If its a tramatic enough event, your going to remember everything about that time. Just like most of us will remember where we were on 9/11, 40 years from now.

[James Shellhammer]

02:15 AM on 04/22/2011

Two questions: Why would they have a capital punishment the day before Passover?
Where did they get all that wood to make the crosses?
Many expert writers I have read, state that Jesus may had bend in prison for a few days to a month, before being executed. And you would not have a major execution of a person, with a mass following, right before a major holiday. The hold story does not make since, unless every thing was written down at the time it took place. How could they remember what words did Jesus said. Gospels were not written down until about 50-75 years later. There was massive executions of Jews and Gentiles, that did not bow down to Rome's Rulers. There should also be geological records of an earthquake that took place around 30 AD.
I have read the other gospels, that are not included in the NT, which states that Jesus was crucified on a tree, which is also know as the Tree of Life. This I accept.

[New Yorker]

11:04 AM on 04/22/2011

Pray, study the word of God, and he will give you the grace to understand. Sek God in your own heart, not in samples of earthly strata, and what you imagine happened. Grace from God opens the mind, the heart and supplies you with the truth. Without it, you will never learn these things. Pray first, than learn.

[yourmotherwasahamster]

09:15 PM on 04/21/2011

As the late great Bill Hicks was fond of pointing out, if Jesus comes back I think the last thing he'd want to see is a lot of crosses.

[Gurthee]

03:13 PM on 04/20/2011

I think they need more crosses in that picture.

[New Yorker]

11:15 AM on 04/19/2011

If any of you expect to Go To Heaven, the trip begins with the Passion of Christ on Good Friday, that's why we call it Good. For Our Blessed Lord it was agony and suffering of the most innocent person who ever lived endured solely to please His Father, and it saved the sinners of this world across eternity who Fear God and seek to do His will. Like the blood of the lamb saved the Israelites from death during the exodus, the Blood of The Lamb of God saves all mankind from death. By dying for the sins of man, Christ who is the Infinite God, as well as a mere man, atoned for the Original sin explained in the Book of Genesis, when Adam & Eve sinned an Infinite Offense, that no mortal human could ever atone for. You will recall that God warned Adam & Eve that they would die if they ate the forbidden fruit, and so all their children (all of us) also must die. This is why Christ had to be both man, and God Himself to defeat the power of death. Now, after Good Friday, and Easter Jesus tells us, " he who lives and believes in Me will never die " Christians understate this truth by calling it only, The Good News. Personally I see eternity spent in paradise as more than simply good.

[Vlady]

04:57 PM on 04/18/2011

Happy Passover http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awl1KCo_oZ0