Page "Great Lent" Paragraph 98

Vespers on Good Friday is usually celebrated in the afternoon, around the time of Jesus ' death on the Cross.

After the Little Entrance the Gospel reading is a concatenation of the four Evangelists ' accounts of the Crucifixion and the Descent from the Cross.

At the point during the reading which mentions Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, two clergymen approach the large cross in the center of the church, remove the soma, wrap it in a piece of white linen, and carry it into the sanctuary.

Later, during the Troparion, the clergy carry the epitaphios ( a cloth icon symbolizing the winding sheet in which Jesus was prepared for burial ) into the center of the church, where it is venerated by all the faithful.

Special chants and prayers and chanted along with biblical readings and psalms chanted.