This article is about the holiday. For other uses, see Good Friday (disambiguation).
Good Friday
A depiction of Jesus's crucifixion by Diego Velázquez, named "Christ Crucified", 1632
Type
Christian
Significance
Commemoration of the crucifixion and the death of Jesus Christ
Celebrations
Celebration of the Passion of the Lord
Observances
Worship services, prayer and vigil services, fasting, almsgiving
Date
The Friday immediately preceding Easter Sunday
2023 date
April 7 (Western)
April 14 (Eastern)
2024 date
March 29 (Western)
May 3 (Eastern)
2025 date
April 18 (Western)
April 18 (Eastern)
2026 date
April 3 (Western)
April 10 (Eastern)
Related to
Passover, Christmas (which celebrates the birth of Jesus), Septuagesima, Quinquagesima, Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, Lent, Palm Sunday, Holy Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, and Holy Saturday which lead up to Easter, Easter Sunday (primarily), Divine Mercy Sunday, Ascension, Pentecost, Whit Monday, Trinity Sunday, Corpus Christi and Feast of the Sacred Heart which follow it. It is related to the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, which focuses on the benefits, graces, and merits of the Cross, rather than Jesus Christ's death.
Good Friday is a Christian holy day observing the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum. It is also known as Black Friday, Holy Friday, Great Friday, Good Friday of the Passion of the Lord,Great and Holy Friday (also Holy and Great Friday).[1][2]
Members of many Christian denominations, including the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist, Oriental Orthodox, United Protestant and some Reformed traditions (including certain Continental Reformed, Presbyterian and Congregationalist churches), observe Good Friday with fasting and church services.[3][4][5] In many Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and Methodist churches, the Service of the Great Three Hours' Agony is held from noon until 3p.m.—the hours the Bible records darkness covering the land until Jesus' death on the cross.[6] Communicants of the Moravian Church have a Good Friday tradition of cleaning gravestones in Moravian cemeteries.[7]
The date of Good Friday varies from one year to the next in both the Gregorian and Julian calendars. Eastern and Western Christianity disagree over the computation of the date of Easter and therefore of Good Friday. Good Friday is a widely instituted legal holiday around the world, including in most Western countries and 12 U.S. states.[8] Some predominantly Christian countries, such as Germany, have laws prohibiting certain acts—public dancing, horse racing—in remembrance of the somber nature of Good Friday.[9][10]
^Franklin M. Segler; Randall Bradley (2006). Christian Worship: Its Theology And Practice. B&H Publishing Group. p. 226. ISBN 978-0-8054-4067-6. Archived from the original on 3 October 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
^Gilman, Daniel Coit; Peck, Harry Thurston; Colby, Frank Moore (1903). The New International Encyclopaedia. Dodd, Mead and Company. p. 77. Good Friday is also known as Black Friday in the Western Church , because on that day clerical vestments and altar draperies are black .
^Ripley, George; Dana, Charles Anderson (1883). The American Cyclopaedia: A Popular Dictionary for General Knowledge. D. Appleton and Company. p. 101. The Protestant Episcopal, Lutheran, and Reformed churches, as well as many Methodists, observe the day by fasting and special services.
^Cite error: The named reference Pfatteicher1990 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference JacobsHaas1899 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"What is the significance of Good Friday?". The Free Press Journal. 2 April 2021. Archived from the original on 3 October 2021. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
^Cite error: The named reference WSJ2020 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 36, Issue 214. Harper & Brothers. 1868. p. 521. In England Good-Friday and Christmas are the only close holidays of the year when the shops are all closed and the churches opened.
^Cite error: The named reference Petre was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference Stevens was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
known as Black Friday, Holy Friday, Great Friday, GoodFriday of the Passion of the Lord, Great and Holy Friday (also Holy and Great Friday). Members of...
GOODFridays was a weekly free music release by rapper Kanye West, launched in support of his fifth studio album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)...
The Long GoodFriday is a 1980 British gangster film directed by John Mackenzie from a screenplay by Barrie Keeffe, starring Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren...
known as the Great Alaskan earthquake and GoodFriday earthquake, occurred at 5:36 pm AKST on GoodFriday, March 27. Across south-central Alaska, ground...
In ice hockey, the GoodFriday Massacre (French: la bataille du Vendredi saint) was a second-round playoff match-up during the 1984 Stanley Cup playoffs...
Hebrides it is supposed that it is a lucky day for sowing the seed. GoodFriday in particular is a favourite day for potato planting—even strict Roman...
GoodFriday Prayer can refer to any of the prayers prayed by Christians on GoodFriday, the Friday before Easter, or to all such prayers collectively....
The 2004 GoodFriday ambush was an attack by Iraqi insurgents on April 9, 2004 during the Iraq War on a convoy of U.S. supply trucks during the Battle...
fifth Sunday of Lent (known as Judica Sunday or Passion Sunday) until GoodFriday, when the cross is unveiled solemnly in the liturgy. In most Lent-observing...
The GoodFriday Battle was an attack by Taliban forces and Members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan on April 2, 2010, on a group of German paratroopers...
The GoodFriday prayer for the Jews is an annual prayer in some Christian liturgies. It is one of several petitions, known in the Catholic Church as the...
The GoodFriday Agreement referendum, 1998 was a referendum held in Northern Ireland over whether there was support for the GoodFriday Agreement. The...
Wednesday, while the Friday fast is done in commemoration of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on GoodFriday. As such, all Fridays of the year have been...
Marsh Chapel Experiment, also called the "GoodFriday Experiment", was an experiment conducted on GoodFriday, April 20, 1962 at Boston University's Marsh...
Mystical or Last Supper on Maundy Thursday and the Passion of Jesus on GoodFriday. Holy Week concludes with Christ's rest in death and descent into hell...
Maundy Thursday, commemorating the Maundy and Last Supper, as well as GoodFriday, commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus. In Eastern Christianity...
GoodFriday processions in Baliuag or Holy Week procession in Baliuag, Bulacan is an event taking place in Holy Week, in a traditional Roman Catholic...
Easter. The Easter dates also affect when Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, GoodFriday, Holy Saturday, the Feast of the Ascension and Pentecost occur in a given...
Except in Baliwag and Pulilan, the Passion tableaux are excluded from the GoodFriday afternoon procession. Maundy Thursday (Huwebes Santo) is the first statutory...
known for his opposition to UUP leader David Trimble's support of the GoodFriday Agreement during the Northern Ireland peace process, especially from...
is the liturgical colour used on GoodFriday. In the Lutheran churches, there is no liturgical color on GoodFriday. Altars remain stripped and clergy...
The GoodFriday Appeal is an annual fundraising activity on behalf of the Royal Children's Hospital, in Melbourne, Australia. The event occurs on Good Friday...
1994 and their representatives were involved in negotiating the 1998 GoodFriday Agreement. Since then, loyalists have been involved in protests against...
Monday. GoodFriday: on the date it is publicly observed, always a Friday. The day after GoodFriday: Always a Saturday, one day after GoodFriday. Easter...
Holy Week, preceded by Holy Wednesday (Spy Wednesday) and followed by GoodFriday. "Maundy" comes from the Latin word mandatum, or commandment, reflecting...
Canon Law and the Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium, on Ash Wednesday, GoodFriday and where possible, throughout Holy Saturday, both abstinence and fasting...
Global Information