Friday, April 3, 2026

It is the 3rd of April 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

 

A blessed Good Friday to you, if you are listening today or on any day- a time to reflect on the passion of our Lord is always in season.

 

You might have questions about this “high holy day”- a somber day in many places, and so today’s show is going to run through the development of what has always been one of my favorite days to go to church.

 

A quick note on the word “Good”- yes, it is ironic and also deeply true- it is the “eucatastrophe” (or good catastrophe) as we will discuss on the weekend show. But it likely comes from an older sense of the word “good” in Middle English- good meaning “holy”- we have an attestation as far back as 1290 for that. I’ve read that it comes from “God’s Friday,” but that seems to be an invention. Other medieval English rubrics call today “Long Friday”- as in the long fast- the whole day- and in Scandinavia today you will still hear it referred to as some form of “long Friday”. In Germany today is “Karfreitag” or “sorrowful Friday”. Other languages usually have some variation on “great” or “high” signifying the significance of the day in salvation history.

 

The recognition of the passion of Jesus, on this Friday, is one of the oldest celebrations in church history. Along with Maundy Thursday and Holy Saturday, these used to be celebrated in one service, or a series of services- they were not distinct until the 4th century. The Good Friday contemplation of the cross in particular dates from the time of St. Helena, the mother of Constantine, who journeyed to the Holy Land and is said to have found the true cross. We have a record of a special service from the Spanish Christian woman Etheria, who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land around 380 and wrote an account of a service there that included the “via Dolorosa”, similar to the modern “Stations of the Cross”.

 

The “Stations of the Cross” became especially popular in the Middle Ages- it is a liturgy following 14 “stations”- usually images or plaques representing Jesus path from condemnation to being laid in the tomb. The original stations of the cross that took place in Jerusalem became increasingly hard for pilgrims to complete, and so services that replicated this spread across Europe.

 

The Tenebrae service, or “service of darkness,” is sometimes merged with the Maundy Thursday service, which also plays with the theme of darkness. In some services, a series of candles will be lit and then blown out with successive readings- sometimes Psalms of lamentation or sometimes the “last words of Jesus”.

 

Like with Maundy Thursday, the churches of the Reformation were ambivalent about Good Friday Services- largely treating it as something “adiaphora” or “indifferent”. The Second Helvetic Confession, a reformed confession of faith, took a surprisingly positive approach- “if in Christian liberty the churches religiously celebrate the memory of the Lord’s nativity, circumcision, passion, resurrection [etc…] we approve of it highly”.

 

While the observation of the hours of 12 to 3 in the afternoon had long been celebrated by the monks in their customary 6th to 9th hour prayers, the tradition of a specific three-hour service, very popular in some Catholic and Lutheran churches, is not as ancient as you might think.

 

The service in English, as you might know it with the last words of Jesus spoken, only dates only to 1806- called the “the Devotion of the Three Hours of the agony of Jesus Christ Our Redeemer” it was composed in Lima Peru by Father Alphonso Messia in 1725 and approved by the Pope in 1789- it has since made it into various Anglican and Lutheran communities.

 

Tomorrow is Holy Saturday- a day of silence and reflection as the church “goes dark”- we will be here, however, with a special mailbag of questions about this season.

 

 

 

 

 

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and Hebrews 4 and 5:

 

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8 Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 3rd of April 2026, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who is surely ok without a pun or joke today- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man hoping you have a moment today to reflect, perhaps on the greatest good of all- the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world- I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.