The Great Friday is a day of mourning and fasting for all of Christianity, culminating in the Divine Drama of the Passion of Jesus.
This morning, the Service of the Great Hours and the Vespers of the Descent from the Cross took place, as Jesus is being taken down from the cross and placed in the Epitaph.
No Divine Liturgy is celebrated in the Church due to the mourning nature of the day.
In the evening of Good Friday, the Service of the Lamentations, also known as the Matins of Holy Saturday, takes place, followed by the procession of the Epitaphios in parishes across Greece.
At the same time, the Lamentation Hymns of the Epitaphios are chanted, along with the lamentation of the Virgin Mary: “O my sweet spring, O sweetest child of mine, where has your beauty gone?” The Lamentation Hymns are chanted in three stanzas. Leading the procession of the Epitaphios are the Cross, followed by the priests and the faithful.
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After the return of the Epitaphios to the church, a passage from the Gospel of Matthew (27:62-66) is read, which recounts how the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pontius Pilate and asked him to seal the tomb, remembering that Jesus had said he would rise again in three days. Pilate grants them their request.
