Holy Week begins today, April 29, and ends on Easter Sunday, May 5. Some people choose to fast during this time. During this week, the Deniiles are held, special services that last from Monday to Saturday, when the Resurrection service is held and the Holy Light is taken.
On Sunday, May 5, the long Easter fast ends, and people smash red eggs saying “Christ is Risen!”, with the response “He is truly Risen.”
On Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the Liturgy of previously sanctified gifts takes place, followed by the Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great, united with Vespers, on Maundy Thursday.
On Passion Thursday, Saint Agnet is celebrated, which is used at the Holy Liturgy, but another Agnet is taken out, which is sanctified together with the other, without saying the prayers of the epiclesis twice and without blessing each one separately. Depending on the monastery, on this day the ritual of washing the feet takes place, the day when the abbot washes the feet of the monks. This gesture means the gesture of humility made by Christ before the Last Supper, when he washed the disciples’ feet.
Although the Liturgy is celebrated from Monday to Thursday, this does not happen on Friday. In the morning of this day, the Epitaph from the Holy Altar is placed on a table placed in the middle of the church. In front of the table is also placed the Holy Cross, which was used on Thursday. In the evening of Good Friday, the service of the Annunciation of the Lord takes place, when the church is surrounded with the Holy Epitaph.
Holy Saturday, the last day of Passion Week, marks the moment when the Savior’s body is buried. It is the step that Jesus takes in Hell and gives all the dead the possibility of resurrection in the Afterlife. It is the last moments before the Resurrection, celebrated by Christians at midnight.
