Good Friday

On the Friday of Holy Week, "Good Friday," the Christian churches commemorate the death of Jesus on the cross.

According to the account of the synoptic gospels, this is said to have occurred at the ninth hour of the day, that is, at 3:00 PM. After the death of Jesus on the cross, he, according to Christian belief, entered the realm of the dead as a human being, until he rose from it "on the third day," that is, by inclusive counting on Easter Sunday. Early Christian theology considered this "descent into the realm of the dead," the Descensus ad Inferos, as necessary so that Jesus could also redeem the "righteous" (such as Abraham) from Sheol, the place where the deceased resided.

Historically, the crucifixion of Jesus has sparked a discourse with both Rabbinic Judaism and the Quran. Early Christian writings report, on the one hand, that Jewish circles held the thesis that the disciples had stolen Jesus' body and then falsely claimed that he had risen from the dead. Furthermore, Jewish rabbinical texts describe that the execution of Jesus was carried out following the law—perhaps to refute an anti-Jewish Christian polemic. On the other hand, the Quran also contains the statement that Jesus did not die on the cross itself but was taken up to heaven by God (cf. the Ascension of Christ).

In Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, Good Friday is a so-called "silent holiday" on which special prohibitions apply, such as a restriction on dance events. Christian liturgies know various forms of covering and/or veneration of the cross. In the Roman Rite, for example, the cross is veiled until the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus on Easter night, while in the East Syrian liturgy, it is symbolically carried to the grave and "buried" until Easter night.