EASTER 2024: liturgical PROGRAM at the Coronation Cathedral in Alba Iulia during Passion Week. The meaning of jobs

EASTER 2024. Liturgical program at the Coronation Cathedral in Alba Iulia during Passion Week.

Between April 29 and May 3, the Week of the Passion, services called denii are held in Orthodox churches. Through these, the dramatic moments related to the Passion and Sacrifice of Christ are highlighted.

The feasts began on Palm Sunday and continue until Good Friday.

On Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the Liturgy of the previously sanctified gifts is celebrated. On Maundy Thursday, the Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great is celebrated, united with Vespers. In some monasteries, on Passion Thursday, the ritual of washing the feet takes place, which recalls the gesture of humility made by Christ before the Last Supper, who washed the feet of the disciples. In monasteries, the abbot is the one who washes the feet of the monks.

On Good Friday, being a liturgical day, the Holy Liturgy is not performed. In the morning, the Epitaph is removed from the Holy Altar and placed on a table, in the middle of the church, with the Holy Cross in front, taken from Maundy Thursday.

In the evening, the service of the Annunciation of the Lord is celebrated, during which the church is surrounded with the Holy Epitaph (a cloth representing the scene of the entombment of the Savior). After this procession, the priests place the Epitaph on the Holy Table in the Altar, where it remains until Wednesday, the eve of Ascension.

On Sunday evening, the Lord’s Prayer is sung.

These services are also held at the Coronation Cathedral in Alba Iulia.

liturgical PROGRAM, Coronation Cathedral from Alba Iulia – Passion Week

Monday, April 29

Holy and Great Monday

• 7.00-8.00 – Ceasurile III, VI, IX and Obedniţa
• 8:00-9:30 a.m. – Divine Liturgy of the Pre-sanctified Gifts
• 18.00-19.15 – Denie

Tuesday, April 30

Holy and Great Tuesday

• 7.00-8.00 – Ceasurile III, VI, IX and Obedniţa
• 8:00-9:30 a.m. – Divine Liturgy of the Pre-sanctified Gifts
• 18.00-19.15 – Denie

Wednesday, May 1

Holy and Great Wednesday

• 7.00-8.00 – Ceasurile III, VI, IX and Obedniţa
• 8:00-9:30 a.m. – Divine Liturgy of the Pre-sanctified Gifts
• 18.00-19.15 – Denie

Thursday, May 2

Holy and Holy Thursday/ Last Supper

• 7.00-8.00 – Ceasurile III, VI, IX and Obedniţa
• 8:00-10:00 a.m. – Vespers with the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great
• 18.00-20.30 – Denia of the 12 Gospels with the removal of the Holy Cross

Friday, May 3

Holy and Great Friday/ Crucifixion of the Lord

(Liturgical Day and Eve)

• 7:00-9:00 a.m. – The Imperial and Obednitsa Clocks
• 9.00-9.45 am – Vespers with the removal of the Holy Epitaph
• 18.00-21.00 – Denia Prohodului Domnului with the Procession of the Holy Epitaph

Saturday, May 4

Holy and Great Saturday/ The Lord’s Descent into Hell

• 7.00-7.45 – Clocks III, VI, IX and Obedniţa
• 7:45-10:20 a.m. – Vespers with the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great
• 23.30-23.45 – Canon of Holy Saturday

liturgical PROGRAM. Deniile – Passion Week

Months: The Church remembers Patriarch Joseph, who was sold by his brothers in Egypt. He is a foreshadowing of Christ, sold by Judas.

Accused of debauchery, he ends up in prison. After interpreting some dreams, he is released from prison and put in charge of all of Egypt. Joseph’s rule over Egypt was a foreshadowing of Christ’s victory over the sins of the world.

During the denia on Monday, the unfruitful fig tree, cursed by Christ to wither because it had no fruit, is also commemorated. It is a parable given to man, from which he must remember that God is both love and justice. So, at the final judgment, He will not only reward, but also punish those who did not bear fruit.

Passion Week – Tuesday: commemoration of the ten virgins

The story of the “good” and the “crazy” virgins. At the meeting of Christ, five virgins waited for Him with the candle full of oil, and the other five had the candle without oil. The candle without oil represents self-realization in total indifference to others, and the candle with oil represents piety accompanied by almsgiving.

The importance of preparation for the subsequent judgment is highlighted.

Passion Week – Holy Wednesday

The commemoration of the sinful woman: in the desire to have his sins forgiven, he washed with tears and anointed the Savior’s feet with myrrh, before His Passion, as a symbol of the sinner’s repentance and correction.

Wednesday is the day when Judas sold Christ to the Pharisees, for thirty pieces of silver.

Passion Week – Maundy Thursday

Four events from the Savior’s life are celebrated: The washing of the feet, the Last Supper, the Prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane and the Sale and capture of the Lord.

Before the Supper began, Christ washed everyone’s feet. He wanted to make Judas ashamed, and to remind the others of humility.

He also gave them the commandment: “Love one another, as I have loved you. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another”.

At the end of the meal, he also talks about selling Him. After a while, taking the bread, he said: “Take, eat”; likewise the cup, saying: “Drink from this all of you, this is My Blood, of the New Law. Do this in remembrance of Me” (Matthew 26, 26-28).

After that, showing Himself as a man, He says to the disciples: “My soul is sad even to death” (Matthew 26, 38). He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane with sweat of blood (Luke 22, 44).

Judas knew the place and, taking some soldiers, came to arrest Him. He was arrested and taken to Annas, to Caiaphas, and finally to Pilate. Peter denied Christ three times, He did not deny that he knew Him.

Specific to the Thursday evening devotion are the reading of the 12 Gospels and the solemn removal of the Holy Cross in the nave of the church. There is a custom that when the priest reads from the Holy Gospels, the faithful light candles and kneel.

Passion Week – Good Friday

Good Friday is the day of commemoration of the fearful Passion of the Savior and of the confession of the robber to the grateful one who acquired Heaven.

On this day, the Liturgy is not performed. Only the royal clocks are made that set before us the boundless humility of the Lord, the life-giving Cross and the thief’s faith.

In the evening, the Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord is celebrated, which is the last stage of mourning for Christ, before His Resurrection. The church is surrounded three times with the Holy Epitaph – a sign of the three days spent in the tomb.

Passion Week – Holy Saturday

Holy Saturday celebrates the burial of Christ with his body and the descent to hell to raise the sleeping ones to eternal life.

Holy Saturday is a day of deep silence, now Christ descends into the depths of hell whose gates he will break and bring to light those who have died since the beginning of the world in the hope of eternal life and resurrection.