On the day when the Holy and Saving Passion of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ is commemorated, the divine services in the Lavra were presided over by the Holy Archimandrite of the Kyiv-Pechersk Monastery, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine.

On the eve, in the evening, a conciliar reading of the Gospels of the Passion of Christ was held in the church of our Venerable Father Agapitus of the Caves.

On Great Friday itself, in the same church, the Royal Hours were served, followed by the Typika and Vespers with the Rite of the Bringing Out of the Shroud. On this day, according to the Typikon, the Bloodless Sacrifice is not offered at the Liturgy, for three days before Pascha Christ Himself voluntarily offered Himself as a sacrifice for the human race.

Before the reading of the canon “On the Crucifixion of the Lord and the Lament of the Most Holy Theotokos,” the Head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine, addressed the faithful with a primatial homily, speaking about the events following the taking down of the Saviour’s Body from the Cross and the подвиг of His faithful disciples.

“When Christ healed and worked miracles, many people followed Him, and crowds surrounded Him,” the Primate reminded. “But when the most tragic moments of His saving подвиг came, they all abandoned Him. Only a few remained—those who were truly faithful to Him.

There is faith in God, and there is trust in God. Almost all people have faith in God: they acknowledge Him, yet live according to their own will. But when a person shows trust in God, then, having true faith, he lives according to the divine commandments.

Such faith is possessed by few, yet it is the most precious and the strongest. It always gives a person the strength to remain with God even amid temptations, reproaches, and sorrows—in the most difficult moments of life.

We venerate this trust which the Myrrh-bearing Women had, as well as the secret disciples of Christ—the righteous Joseph and Nicodemus. We also strive to cultivate this trust within ourselves, submitting ourselves to Christ. Trust in God makes a person invincible. May the Lord help us, dear brothers and sisters, to cultivate within ourselves this spirit of trust in God and always follow Him, that He may receive us into His Kingdom and vouchsafe us eternal life!”

A brotherhood service was also celebrated in the church in honour of the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Joy of All Who Sorrow.”

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