H.H. Pope Tawadros II prayed the Great Friday prayers at St. Mark’s Cathedral at El-Abbasiya.
The prayers began early this morning and ended with the approach of sunset, as it included six prayers, which are the daily prayers, from the first to twelve hours of “Great Friday”, which is one of the most important ecclesiastical events to the Coptic Orthodox Church.
The process of entering the Cathedral witnessed the application of precise precautionary measures by the Cathedral’s scouting team.
H.H. delivered the sermon in which he pointed out that the “Great Friday” is a special day in the history of the year because we celebrate the memory of the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ as if we were at the time of the cross, and in it, we pray the prayers with the sad and comforting tunes and we pray in a rhythm that is in harmony with the soul while it searches within it for the darkness that is caused by sin and we pray with tears to remember the darkness of sin and what it does in man and pray the repetitive praise “You have the power, glory, blessing and honor” as if we were saying, Jesus Christ our God, in the midst of suffering, you can change the sinful soul into a repentant one.
H.H explained the events of this day in the life of Jesus Christ and the journey of suffering in the life of mankind in three elements:

1- The birth of pain, sin was born because of breaking God’s commandment, and with it came pain, “Cursed is the earth because of you. With toil you will eat of it all the days of your life, and they will eat you.” you will bear children” (Genesis 3:15, 16).

2-Bearing the pain, by offering the sacrifice, the principle of redemption appeared, and the blood of the sacrifice is the price of human sin, so the cross was there:

-The sign of peace between Man and God.
-A quick way to reach God.

-Declaring faith in Jesus Christ as Lord, Redeemer, and Saviour.
-Evidence of human innocence from the death sentence.

3- Sharing pain: In the events of Holy Week, we meet with three types of human souls:

-Suffering souls, for example: Jesus Christ himself, Our Mother Virgin Mary, and John the disciple whom the Lord loved.Petrified souls, example: Judas the traitor, the thief who was on the left hand of Jesus on the Cross, the heart of the raging crowds.
-Souls that have changed, for example: the thief who was on the right hand of Jesus on the Cross, the pourer of perfume, the captain of the army.

A number of the General Bishops, along with some priests, the choir of deacons, and a large number of worshipers contributed to the prayers.

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