HOLY AND GREAT THURSDAY

Come, O faithful! Let us enjoy the Master's hospitality:
the Banquet of immortality! In the upper chamber with uplifted minds,
let us receive the exalted words of the Word,
whom we magnify. (9th Irmos, Canon of Holy Thursday)

Now 
The texts of the liturgy, as the above hymn indicates, customarily speak to us in the present tense. They often are prefaced by the word "today," demonstrating that the Church services do much more than commemorate past events. The whole liturgy has as its aim our inauguration and growth in the life of Christ. The events of His life must be the today, the very here and now of our life.

Holy Week and Pascha together comprise the center of the great liturgical "today" of the Church. They are the Passover of Christ from humiliation, defeat and death to triumphant, resurrected life. They are the source and the goal of all liturgical life. They demand that we participate as fully as possible in the Divine services connected with them. The Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ must be the great "today," the whole center, of our own lives. The hymns of the Church summon us to accompany Christ during this decisive and climatic hour of His mission.
 

The Last Supper 
On Holy Thursday Jesus ate what is commonly known as the Last Supper with His disciples. It was more than a common supper. It was their last Passover Meal together: "for I tell you I shall not eat it until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God" (Luke 22:16).

The Passover Meal was a very important, annual event. It was a meal of thanksgiving. During the meal the Jews remembered their deliverance by God from Egyptian bondage. The meal also pointed to the future fulfillment of the Lord's promise to deliver Israel from all its enemies. During the meal a specially slaughtered passover lamb was eaten; bread broken and wine was distributed to everyone at ritually ordained moments.

It was precisely during this last Passover Meal with His disciples that Jesus revealed Himself as the Fulfillment of all that the Jews had both remembered and anticipated. He was the final passover lamb, "the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). The breaking of the bread pointed to the imminent breaking of His own body and the shedding of His own blood on the Cross, "for you and for many, for the remission of sins." He was the ultimate deliverance from all bondage. He was the new and final Passover, the Passover from death to life and from earth to heaven (Ode 1, Paschal Canon). To this day the Orthodox Church calls both Christ and Easter by the Greek word, Pascha, the Passover.
 

The Divine Liturgy 
The Last Supper was the institution of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, the Divine Liturgy, At the meal, Jesus Himself had instructed the disciples to "do this in remembrance of Me" (1 Corinthians 11:24).

The Divine Liturgy, then, is the New Passover Meal. It recalls all that the Lord has done and points to what He will still do. It stands at the immutable core of the life of the Church. At each Divine Liturgy, and especially at the Liturgy of Holy Thursday, the Lord's Supper, the Breaking of the Bread, is actualized in our midst. In this sacramental act the Church becomes a reality.

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body for we all partake of the same loaf. (1 Corinthians 10:16-17)

At the Divine Liturgy of Holy Thursday we are invited in the present tense to the upper room, the Church, to become communicants of the Master?s banquet < today! We are called together to hear the Gospel and other scriptural texts: the "exalted words of the Word." We join Christ in offering ourselves to God in prayer and thanksgiving through the gifts of the bread and wine. We ask the Holy Spirit to descend "on us and on the Gifts here offered." We receive these Gifts in Holy Communion as the "Banquet of Immortality." They are given back to us as the very Body and Blood of Christ, "shed for the life of the world" (Divine Liturgy of St. Basil).
 

Other Services 
Other actions take place during the Divine Liturgy of Holy Thursday, which is served together with Vespers. In Cathedral churches, the bishop washes the feet of twelve priests, thereby recalling the example of humility set by Christ at the Last Supper. He washed the feet of the disciples and said:

If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. (John 13:14-15)

In addition, the reserve Sacrament of Holy Communion is prepared for the communion of the sick and shut-ins throughout the year.

The other Service of Holy Thursday is the wonderful Matins, frequently celebrated Wednesday evening in anticipation. This often neglected service is one of the most rich and beautiful of the entire year. Its Canon in particular stands out as an ode to the Last Supper and to Christ as the Bread of Life.

The Divine Liturgy of Holy Thursday is the most solemn of the entire Church year. The Matins is indispensable to its preparation and proper understanding. Every effort should be made by all faithful Orthodox to participate in them. The Master Himself has extended the invitation!
 

The Final Hours 
Holy Thursday mark the beginning of the final hours of our Lord. Plans for His capture were well under way. Arrangements for His betrayal had been completed. His identity and the nature of His mission as Savior had been fully revealed. After praying to His Father in Gethsemane, He willingly turned to the last step awaiting Him: death.