Prayers and Poems for Good Friday

Orthodox Icon of the Crucifixion

Today He who hung the earth upon the waters is hung upon the tree.
Today He who holds the whole creation in His hand is born of a virgin.
The King of angels is decked with a crown of thorns.
He whose essence none can touch
is bound in swaddling-clothes as a mortal man.

WHEN Jesus came to Golgotha they hanged Him on a tree,

They drave great nails through hands and feet, and made a Calvary;
They crowned Him with a crown of thorns, red were His wounds and deep,
For those were crude and cruel days, and human flesh was cheap.

When Jesus came to Birmingham they simply passed Him by,
They never hurt a hair of Him, they only let Him die;
For men had grown more tender, and they would not give Him pain,
They only just passed down the street, and left Him in the rain.

Still Jesus cried, "Forgive them, for they know not what they do,"
And still it rained the wintry rain that drenched Him through and through;
The crowds went home and left the streets without a soul to see,
And Jesus crouched against a wall and cried for Calvary.
- G.A. Studdert

The sun and moon represent law and gospel, sin and grace
and the eclipse that occurred at Christ's death.

DEAR Lord, I hold my hand to take
Thy Body, broken here for me,
Accept the Sacrifice I make,
My body, broken, there, for Thee.

His was my body, born of me,
Born of my bitter travail pain,
And it lies broken on the field,
Swept by the wind and the rain.

by G.A. Studdert; painting is Crucifixion by Dali, based on a drawing by San Juan de la Cruz

by Giotto

When Thou, the Redeemer of all,
hast been laid for all in the new tomb,
Hades, the respecter of none, saw Thee and crouched in fear.
The bars broke, the gates were shattered,
the graves were opened, the dead arose.
Then Adam, thankfully rejoicing, cried out to Thee:
Glory to Thy condescension, O Merciful Master.

How, O Life, canst Thou die? Or abide in a grave.
For Thou dost destroy the kingdom of death, O Lord,
and Thou raisest up the dead of Hades realm.

In a grave they laid Thee, O my Life and my Christ.
Yet behold now, by Thy death, death is stricken down,
and Thou pourest forth life's streams for all the world.

O, how full that joy was! O, how great that delight!
Wherewith Thou didst fill all them that were held by Hades,
when Thou shonest forth Thy light in those dark depths.

- Orthodox Prayers for Holy Week


Surely a Mother understands Thy thorn-crowned head,
The mystery of Thy pierced hands--the Broken Bread.
- G.A. Studdert