Great and Holy Thursday:
The Anniversary of the Eucharist, the Path to Golgotha
Our Savior Jesus Christ has journeyed through Bethany , where He raised Lazarus who had been dead for four days. His next stop was Jerusalem , where He entered on a donkey’s colt on top of palms and branches to the cheers of “Hosanna! Blessed is He Who comes in the Name of the Lord.” We do not know when the Bridegroom will come again to judge the world, but we know we must be ready at any hour and suffer until then for His sake. The women have anointed the Messiah to prepare Him for His burial. Now, Jesus Christ is ready to fulfill His Father’s will: to wash His Disciples’ feet and dine with them one last time and institute the primary liturgical tradition of the Orthodox Church, to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane, and to be betrayed by Judas Iscariot.
In monasteries, the Vesperal Divine Liturgy of Holy Thursday is offered in the late afternoon or early evening because it is closer to the actual time of the Last Supper, which forms our sacrament and tradition of Holy Communion, or the Holy Eucharist. “Eucharist” means to “give thanks” just as Christ did when He consecrated the bread and wine into His Body and Blood. Orthros (Matins) with the Twelve Passion Gospels is prescribed for Holy Friday around 1:00 A.M. to match the actual timeline of Jesus’ late night/early morning events of prayer in the Garden and betrayal by Judas. As stated in the Bridegroom Orthros article, the Church is merciful and understanding to hold these services at times when most of the faithful are able to attend. Thus, the Vesperal Liturgy is transferred to Thursday morning, and Orthros to Thursday night.
Beginning on Holy Thursday at the Vesperal Liturgy, the Gospels of the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John come to life and pull us into Passion of Christ. Each of the accounts, when told together, complement one another and tell the whole story to bring the worshipping Church to the exact moment in human time when humanity witnessed exactly what the Savior did for it. We become one with Christ through theosis (see Holy Unction) in His suffering: Christ’s divine mission is to make us one with Him in His Kingdom. The hymnography of the Vesperal Divine Liturgy and Orthros (Matins) with the Twelve Passion Gospels drips with Scripture. The Holy Fathers who composed these services looked no further than the Gospels for their inspiration and perfect account of what happened during these last, agonizing days of Christ before His death. We look no further, either. We start with “O Lord, I Have Cried” in the Vesperal Liturgy:
At the supper, Judas the transgressor dipped his hand in the bowl with Thee, O Lord, yet he stretched out unlawfully his hands to receive the money. He calculated the price of the perfume, yet he did not tremble with fear to sell Thee, O priceless One. He stretched out his feet to be washed, yet deceitfully kissed the Master, to betray Him to the transgressors of the Law.
The same hand that touched our Lord’s at the Last Supper took money to betray Him (Matthew 26:14-15). Judas wanted to sell the precious ointment that the women had anointed the Messiah with, pretending to care enough for the poor and give them the proceeds (John 12:5-6). Even though the Master washed Judas’ feet, he was not made clean. The rest of the Disciples were cleansed by this action, as we read in John 13:3-10. In this section of the Gospel lection for the Liturgy, Peter told Jesus that the act should be reversed. Instead, Jesus washed all of the Disciples’ feet so that they could be part of Him, cleansed of sins in an act that would prefigure Baptism. Peter wisely replied that the Lord should wash every part of his body. The Disciples willing accepted this act, but others like Judas reject their baptisms, thus betraying the Savior. This same humility is shown by our priests, who in the “Feet Washing Ceremony” wash the feet of twelve parishioners and altar boys. This ceremony has recently been restored in many parishes on Holy Thursday, as the twelve sit six on one side and the other as the priests carry water and a basin to wash their feet. This holy act reminds us that Christ came “not to be served, but to serve, and offer His life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). We, too, take on the spirit of service every day of our lives, praying what the priest prays in this beautiful service:
“Be Thou present even now in the midst of Thine unworthy servants who seek to follow Thine example, and do Thou wash away every spot and stain from our souls; so that, being cleansed from our sins which cling to us like dust, and wiped by the towel of Thy love, we may be able to please Thee all the days of our lives, and find grace in Thy sight.”
Now that the Disciples had been cleansed, they were ready to partake of the Last Supper, the Body and Blood of Christ. Our Epistle (I Cor. 11:23-32) and Gospel (Matthew 26:26-39) lections from the Liturgy dwell on this world-changing act. St. Paul elaborates on its meaning:
For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. Therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sin against the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup (I Cor. 11:26-29).
On this, the anniversary of the Last Supper, we learn the power of Holy Communion, and our responsibility to partake of it worthily. As St. Paul teaches us, we have to be cleansed from sin by Baptism, as well as Confession and Repentance (known as the “Second Baptism”). The only way we can be one with Christ is if we eat and drink His Body and Blood. “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4). Earthly food sustains our bodies, but the Eucharist sustains our souls because Christ feeds us with Himself. We are united with Christ and, in the words of St. Maximos the Confessor, Christ, “transmits to us divine life, making Himself eatable.”
On only two days of the entire year, the Communion Hymn “We who mystically represent the Cherubim” is replaced with something that better focuses on the meaning of the day. Holy Thursday is one of them, and right before the Great Entrance we sing:
Receive me today, O Son of God, as a partaker of Thy mystical supper: for I will not speak of Thy mystery to Thine enemies, neither will I give Thee a kiss as did Judas; but like the thief will I confess Thee: Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom.
This fully and justly summarizes what this Vesperal Divine Liturgy is all about: we beg Christ to include us at the Mystical Last Supper, promising we will not betray Him like Judas, and we will confess Him to be the Messiah by asking Him to remember us in the Heavenly Kingdom .
We have understood the divine nature of Jesus Christ through His institution of Holy Communion on this day, and now we study His human nature. If He did not take on flesh at His earthly birth, Jesus would not be able to save humanity. His distinct yet equal dual natures save both human aspects: the soul and the body. We get a glimpse Christ’s human nature as suffering God when He cried about hearing the death of Lazarus (see Lazarus Saturday), and when He nervously prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:21-45). Christ begged the Heavenly Father to “let this cup pass from Me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou willest.” Beads of sweat dropped from Christ’s forehead like blood (Luke 22:45) as He, as a human, agonized over what He knew had to take place for the salvation of the world. His Disciples who waited at a distance fell asleep while waiting for Jesus, but He realized again why He had to die on the Cross: to redeem human nature which had fallen into weakness. “The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). When Jesus says this, we understand that our spirits yearn for God’s presence and power to heal our bodies, and this can only be accomplished through perpetual, vigilant prayer. We cannot fall asleep as the ten virgins did in Holy Tuesday Bridegroom Orthros, or the Disciples who waited for Jesus to pray.
The final act remembered in the Vesperal Liturgy Gospel is the betrayal by Judas. Jesus rose from His prayer in the Garden to be greeted by Judas and kissed condemningly so that the guards can seize Him. The Disciples got scared and fled, as Jesus was seized by the Roman provincial guards and the vile leaders of the temple. Peter denied knowing Christ three times, and he wept bitterly; Judas eventually hanged himself. Had all the Disciples listened to Jesus at the Last Supper and understood the Scriptures, none of this would have been a surprise to them! Fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy is another reason Jesus came to earth. He quotes Zechariah: “I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered” (Zechariah 13:7 and Matthew 26:31). God will take His Shepherd and Son away from us so that He may conquer hell on Holy Saturday; yet, the Disciples still ran. We read from the prophecy of Isaiah on this day, who speaks with the words of the Father:
I gave my back to those who struck me and my cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord God will help me, so I will not be disgraced (Isaiah 50:6-7).
Christ’s suffering before and on the Cross is the focus of Orthros (Matins) with the Twelve Passion Gospels. Again, the four Gospels harmonize with one another, taking us on the journey to Golgotha , “the place of a skull” (Mark 15:22—Fourth Orthros Gospel) where Jesus’ Cross is fastened into the ground, and He onto the Cross. Jesus reminds us in the first Gospel (John 13:31-18:1—First Orthros Gospel) that He will leave us and rise again to conquer the sin that has conquered the world so that we may join Him again in Paradise . The Disciples could not go with Him into hell, because it was too dangerous (cf. John 13:36). Jesus reminds us that He is everything to us:
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; henceforth, you know Him and have seen Him” (John 14:6-7).
Only Jesus can rescue us from this life because He is both God and man.
All the hymns derive directly from Scripture during this service, particularly from the twelve Gospel lections presented. The best example of this comes in the Fifteenth Antiphon, which summarizes how Christ our God suffered as a human. The priest carries the Cross around the darkened church led by the other clergy and altar boys in a slow, solemn procession, just as Simon of Cyrene did (Mark 15:21—Fourth Orthros Gospel) because Christ had been scourged and beaten so severely, He could hardly walk to His death. We hear these words from the choir during this remembrance:
+ Today He Who hung the earth on the waters is hung on the tree [the Cross]. (Three times)
+ The King of Angels is arrayed with a crown of thorns. (John 19:2)
+ He Who dressed the heavens with clouds (Psalm 146:8) is dressed with a false purple robe (John 19:2).
+ He Who in Jordan set Adam free received slaps.
+ The Bridegroom of the Church is transfixed with nails.
+ The Son of the Virgin is pierced with a spear.
+ We fall down before Thy Passion, O Christ (Three times).
+ Show us Thy glorious Resurrection.
The greatest of all kings is humiliated as the lowest form of a human on a cross, considered in Roman times to be the worst possible form of execution. We see that everything God did for us was rewarded with punishment and mockery. Yet, if we fall down and worship His Passion, avoiding sin, we will not put Him to death ourselves, like the transgressors did. Though Christ was rewarded for good with bad, He rewards us for bad with good. We conclude this hymn in the last two stanzas, knowing that we cannot have joy without suffering for it first; we cannot have the Resurrection without Crucifixion.