Good Friday Prayer can refer to any of the prayers prayed by Christians on Good Friday, the Friday before Easter, or to all such prayers collectively. Maria Magdalene in prayer. ... Christianity is a monotheistic religion centered on the life, teachings, and actions of Jesus as recounted in the New Testament. ... Good Friday is a holy day celebrated by Christians on the Friday before Easter or Pascha. ... Easter is the most important religious holiday of the Christian liturgical year, observed in March, April, or May to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, which Christians believe occurred after his death by crucifixion in AD 27-33 (see Good Friday). ...

Eastern Orthodox prayer on Good Friday

Eastern Orthodox Christians spend all this day in fasting from all food, to the extent that their health permits. It is the one day of the year they are forbidden from celebrating the Divine Liturgy, thereby fasting from the Eucharist as well. Instead, they meet up to three times during the day for prayer: The Divine Liturgy is the common term for the eucharistic service of the Byzantine tradition of Christian liturgy. ... The Eucharist or Communion or The Lords Supper, is the rite that Christians perform in fulfillment of Jesus instruction, recorded in the New Testament, to do in memory of him what he did at his Last Supper. ...

• Royal Hours in the forenoon, including many Psalms, Old Testament and New Testament readings;
• Vespers of Holy Friday in the afternoon;
• Matins of Holy Saturday in the evening, with prayers praising Jesus for his death and his immanent resurrection.

The prayers include commemoration of the events of Jesus' crucifixion and burial. During this time, the hymns do not forget the coming resurrection. Holding both events in tension, the following troparion (type of hymn) is sung during the afternoon prayers while the shroud is being carried to the tomb: Troparion (also tropar, plural: troparia) in Byzantine music and in the religious music of Eastern Orthodoxy is a short hymn of one stanza, or one of a series of stanzas (this may carry the further connotation of a hymn interpolated between psalm verses). ...

The noble Joseph, when he had taken down Thy most pure Body from the tree, wrapped it in fine linen, and anointed it with spices, and placed it in a new tomb.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

The angel came to the myrrh-bearing women at the tomb and said:

Myrrh is fitting for the dead, but Christ has shown Himself a stranger to corruption.

Alleged antisemitism

However, some writers use the term "Good Friday Prayer" to refer to a specific portion from a litany (prayer of petition) that is offered in certain churches on that day. Before the reforms introduced by the Second Vatican Council, the particular form of the prayer offered in Roman Catholic churches ran like this (please note particularly the middle paragraph): A litany, in Christian worship, is a form of prayer used in church services and processions, and consisting of a number of petitions. ... The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, or Vatican II, was an Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church opened under Pope John XXIII in 1962 and closed under Pope Paul VI in 1965. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ...

Let us pray also for heretics and schismatics: that our Lord and God would be pleased to rescue them from their errors; and recall them to our holy mother the Catholic and Apostolic Church. Let us pray. Let us kneel. (Arise.) Almighty and eternal God, Who savest all, and wouldest that no one should perish: look on the souls that are led astray by the deceit of the devil: that having set aside all heretical evil, the hearts of those that err may repent and return to the unity of Thy truth. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who livest and reignest with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, through all endless ages. Amen.

Let us pray also for the perfidious Jews: that our God and Lord may remove the veil from their hearts; that they also may acknowledge Our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us pray. (Here the congregation does not kneel) Almighty and Eternal God, Who dost not exclude from Thy mercy even the perfidious Jews: hear our prayers, which we offer for the blindness of that people; that acknowledging the light of Thy Truth, which is Christ, they may be delivered from their darkness. Through the same Lord Jesus Christ, Who livest and reignest with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, through all endless ages. Amen.

Let us pray also for the pagans: that Almighty God take away iniquity from their hearts: that leaving aside their idols they may be converted to the true and living God, and His only Son, Jesus Christ our God and Lord. Let us pray. Let us kneel. (Arise.) Almighty and Eternal God, Who seekest always, not the death, but the life of sinners: mercifully hear our prayer, and deliver them from the worship of idols: and admit them into Thy holy Church for the praise and glory of Thy Name. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who livest and reignest with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, through all endless ages. Amen.

Note that the congregants did not kneel, because the Church did not wish to imitate the Jews who mocked Christ before his Crucifixion by kneeling before him and reviling him. After the Second World War, Pope Pius XII instituted kneeling in the appropriate place. More recently, this prayer has been changed in the way it refers to the Jews, and the Catholic church has now revised this petition. In 1964, Pope John XXIII removed the word "perfidious" from the prayer against the Jews. In 1966, the prayer was revised as this: Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... For the Nintendo 64 emulator, see 1964 (Emulator). ... Pope John XXIII (Latin: ), born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (November 25, 1881 – June 3, 1963), reigned as the 261st Pope of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from October 28, 1958 until his death in 1963. ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link goes to calendar) // Events January January 1 - In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa ousts president David Dacko and takes over the Central African Republic. ...

Let us also pray that our God and Lord will look kindly on the Jews, so that they too may acknowledge the Redeemer of all, Jesus Christ our Lord. . . . Almighty and eternal God, you made the promises to Abraham and his descendants. In your goodness hear the prayers of your Church so that the people whom from of old you made your own may come to the fullness of redemption.

The official modern Good Friday Prayer in English has since 1974 run like this: 1974 (MCMLXXIV) is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ...

Let us pray for the Jewish people, the first to hear the word of God, that they may continue to grow in the love of his name and in faithfulness to his covenant. (Silent prayer) Almighty and eternal God, long ago you gave your promise to Abraham and his posterity. Listen to your Church as we pray that the people you first made your own may arrive at the fullness of redemption. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

However, there is also a prayer for atheists as well as one for non-Christians in general.

An Anglican form of the prayer ran like this: The term Anglican (from Anglia, the Latin name for England) describes the people and churches that follow the religious traditions developed by the established Church of England. ...

O merciful God, who hast made all men, and hatest nothing that thou hast made, nor wouldest [wantest] the death of any sinner, but rather that he be converted and live; Have mercy upon all Jews, Turks, Infidels, and Hereticks, and take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of thy Word; and so fetch them home, blessed Lord, to thy flock, that they may be saved among the remnant of the true Israelites, and be made one fold under one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen. (Older editions of The Book of Common Prayer.)

A Modern Prayer Book The Book of Common Prayer is the prayer book of the Church of England and also the name for similar books used in other churches in the Anglican Communion. ...

Latin text of the older and less ecumenical Catholic prayers

Oremus et pro hæreticis et schismaticis: ut Deus et Dominus noster eruat eos ab erroribus universis; et ad sanctam matrem Eclesiam catholicam atque apostolicam revocare dignetur. Oremus. Flectamus genua. (Levate.) Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui salvas omnes, et neminem vis perire: respice ad animas diabolica fraude deceptas; ut, omni hæretica pravitate deposita, errantium corda resipiscant, et ad veritatis tuæ redeant unitatem. Per Christum Dominum nostrum qui vivit et regnat cum Deo Patre in unitate Spiritus sancti per omnia secula seculorum. Amen.

Oremus et pro perfidis Judæis: ut Deus et Dominus noster auferat velamen de cordibus eorum; ut et ipsi agnoscant Jesum Christum, Dominum nostrum. Oremus. Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui etiam Judaicam perfidiam a tua miscericordia non repellis: exaudi preces nostras, quas pro illius populi obcaecatione deferimus; ut, agnita veritatis tuae luce, quae Christus est, a suis tenebris eruantur. Per Christum Dominum nostrum qui vivit et regnat cum Deo Patre in unitate Spiritus sancti per omnia secula seculorum. Amen.

Oremus et pro paganis: ut Deus omnipotens auferat iniquitatem a cordibus eorum;ut, relictis idolis suis, convertantur ad Deum vivum et verum, et unicum Filium ejus Jesum Christum, Deum et Dominum nostrum. Oremus. Flectamus genua. (Levate.) Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui non mortem peccatorum, sed vitam semper inquiris suscipe propitius orationem nostram, et libera eos ab idolorum cultura; et aggrega Ecclesiæ tuæ sanctæ, ad laudem et gloriam nominis tui. Per Christum Dominum nostrum qui vivit et regnat cum Deo Patre in unitate Spiritus sancti per omnia secula seculorum. Amen.

See also: Christian anti-Semitism This article is about the history of Christianity and anti-Semitism. ...

External links

• Jewish-Christian Relations