Easter Friday

Easter Friday
Observed by Christendom
Type Christian
Observances church services
Date sixth day of the Octave of Easter
2016 date
  • April 1 (Western Churches)
  • May 6 (Eastern Churches)
2017 date
  • April 21 (Western Churches)
  • April 21 (Eastern Churches)
2018 date
  • April 6 (Western Churches)
  • April 13 (Eastern Churches)

Icon of the Resurrection by St. Andrey Rublev, 1408-1410 (Andronikov Monastery, Moscow).
Greek icon of the Theotokos, The Life-giving Fount, commemorated on Bright Friday.

Easter Friday, or Bright Friday, is the Friday after the Christian festival of Easter. At times, this name has been confused with Good Friday,[1] which falls a week earlier.

Since the date of Easter is calculated differently by Eastern and Western Christians, the date of the Western Churches' Easter Friday will often be different from the Eastern Bright Friday.

Western Christianity

In the Roman Catholic Church and some Anglican churches, Easter Friday falls within the Octave of Easter. The date of Easter Friday changes from year to year, following the changing date of Easter Week. Just to show a few examples, in 2009 it fell on 17 April, and in 2010 it fell on 9 April.[2] It fell on April 29 in 2011[3] and on April 13 in 2012.[4]

Eastern Christianity

In the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite, this day is referred to as "Bright Friday". All of the services for Pascha (Easter) are repeated every day of Bright Week (Easter Week), except for the hymns from the Octoechos. On Bright Friday, the Resurrection hymns from the Octoechos are taken from Tone Six.

In addition to the Paschal hymns, propers in honour of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary) as the "Life-giving Spring" are chanted on Bright Friday, and there is customarily a Lesser Blessing of Waters.

Because the date of Pascha is movable, Bright Friday is a part of the Paschal cycle, and changes from year to year. Eastern Christianity calculates the date of Easter differently from the West (see Computus for details). In 2013 it fell on May 10 (April 27 Old Style), in 2014 it fell on April 25 (April 12) and in 2015 it falls on April 17 (April 4).

See also

References

  1. ↑ For example, the song "Easter Friday" by Simone Richardson, 2006. Published by Emu Music.
  2. ↑ About Catholicism website. Accessed March 31, 2010.
  3. ↑ TimeAndDate.com accessed February 24, 2011
  4. ↑ TimeAndDate.com accessed February 24, 2011
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