Friday, April 6, 2012

Good Friday, the Commemoration of the Crucifixion Of Jesus Christ

Good Friday (from the senses pious, holy of the word "good"),is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of Passover. It is also known as Black Friday, Holy Friday, Great Friday, or Easter Friday, though the latter normally refers to the Friday in Easter week.  Good Friday, called Feria VI in Parasceve in the Roman Missal, he hagia kai megale paraskeue (the Holy and Great Friday) in the Greek Liturgy, Holy Friday in Romance Languages, Charfreitag (Sorrowful Friday) in German, is the English designation of Friday in Holy Week — that is, the Friday on which the Church keeps the anniversary of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

From the earliest times the Christians kept every Friday as a feast day; and the obvious reasons for those usages explain why Easter is the Sunday par excellence, and why the Friday which marks the anniversary of Christ's death came to be called the Great or the Holy or the Good Friday. The origin of the term Good is not clear. Some say it is from "God's Friday" (Gottes Freitag); others maintain that it is from the German Gute Freitag, and not specially English. Sometimes, too, the day was called Long Friday by the Anglo-Saxons; so today in Denmark.

Based on the details of the Canonical gospels, the Crucifixion of Jesus was most likely to have been on a Friday (John 19:42). The estimated year of Good Friday is AD 33, by two different groups, and originally as AD 34 by Isaac Newton via the differences between the Biblical and Julian calendars and the crescent of the moon. A third method, using a completely different astronomical approach based on a lunar Crucifixion darkness and eclipse model (consistent with Apostle Peter's reference to a "moon of blood" in Acts 2:20), points to Friday, 3 April AD 33.

May you be blessed as you remember the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Happy Easter to you and your church family on this holiest of days from the staff of Church Supply Warehouse!

Sources:

1)  Wikipedia contributors, "Good Friday," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Good_Friday&oldid=485932315 (accessed April 6, 2012).

2)  Catholic Encyclopedia.  "Good Friday."  Accessed April 6, 2012.   http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06643a.htm.

2 comments:

  1. This is a great reading here. I have fun reading this and other topics here on your page. Keep it up. I will surely be back for more post here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Church Partner! We have enjoyed creating and maintaining the blog!

      Delete