“When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished:

and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost.” (John 19:30)

On Great and Holy Friday, the Orthodox Church stands still before the unutterable mystery of divine love: the voluntary suffering, crucifixion, death, and burial of the Son of God for the salvation of the world. It is the most solemn day of the liturgical year—a day in which heaven weeps, the earth groans, and humanity is called to kneel before the Cross of its Redeemer.

At Saint Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Los Angeles, California, where Rev. Fr. Myroslav Mykytyuk serves as pastor, the sacred observance of Holy Friday unfolded in a deeply spiritually charged atmosphere. His Eminence Archbishop Daniel, spiritual father of the Western Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA, led the faithful through the Vespers of Great and Holy Friday, culminating in the Procession and Veneration of the Holy Shroud. Assisting him were Protodeacon Pavlo Vysotskyi of St. Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Memorial Church in South Bound Brook, New Jersey, and the parish clergy and faithful, who gathered in deep silence, solemn awe, and tearful prayer.

The Cross, which we as Orthodox Christians adorn with gold and venerate in icons, was on that day in Jerusalem a grotesque and scandalous instrument of death. Archbishop Daniel, in his profound homily, reminded the faithful of the raw reality of the crucifixion:

“The Cross of Jesus Christ is the most precious emblem to those of us who call Jesus the Lord of our lives. But when the pure Lamb of God hung on that Cross - naked, beaten, and bleeding before a watching world - it was a ghastly sight. It was the most horrendous moment in human history.”

Christ was marred beyond recognition. His visage disfigured. His body violated by whips and nails, crowned with thorns, mocked by those whom He came to save. And yet in this agony, in this humanly incomprehensible act of surrender, God was reconciling the world to Himself.

“He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities… and with His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)

As Christ hung upon the Tree, His final cry - “It is finished”- was not a sigh of defeat, but a shout of triumph. In Greek, the word tetelestai denotes fulfillment, completion, perfection. It was the cry of the High Priest who had offered the final and ultimate sacrifice, the Lamb of God, now slain for the sins of the world.

Archbishop Daniel reflected: “The work is accomplished. The price is paid. The barrier between God and man is torn. There is no more separation. The veil has been rent. The tomb will be emptied. The curse has been broken. This - this is the hour of our redemption.”

And yet, he noted, this victory came wrapped in death. Christ conquered through crucifixion. He reigned from the wood of the Cross.

As the Vesperal prayers came to their sacred conclusion, the clergy emerged once more for a second procession - carrying solemnly the Holy Shroud, which depicts the lifeless Body of Christ lying in the tomb. Archbishop Daniel, carrying the Holy Scriptures - the Living Word of God - led the way, followed by the faithful, who entered the church one by one, eyes fixed upon the icon of the dead Christ, hearts pierced with the silence of divine sorrow.

In Orthodox theology and practice, the Holy Shroud is not merely symbolic. It is the Church’s sacred meditation upon the real death of Jesus Christ. It is the tomb of hope, the silence before the Resurrection, the sacred space between agony and glory. The faithful approached the Shroud in reverence, bowing and kissing the image of Christ’s lifeless body, offering their tears, their burdens, and their prayers to the One who gave everything.

Throughout the service, the voices of the parish choir, led with heartfelt devotion and spiritual sensitivity, offered their gift to God and His people. Their chanting transformed the atmosphere of the temple into a sacred garden of Gethsemane and the foot of Golgotha. The melodies - sorrowful, solemn, but full of depth - allowed every heart to cry out in unison with the Theotokos and the Beloved Disciple: “O my sweet Spring, O my sweetest Child, where has Thy beauty gone?”

Archbishop Daniel offered gratitude for the choir’s prayerful ministry, noting that sacred music is not entertainment, but a theological offering - an echo of heaven, a balm for wounded souls, a hymn of shared grief and unfailing hope.

As the church dimmed and the prayers faded into silence, the faithful remained - kneeling, bowing, weeping, praying. In a world still torn by war, suffering, and grief - especially the pain borne daily by the people of Ukraine - Holy Friday speaks not of hopelessness, but of sacrificial love. A love that bleeds. A love that dies. A love that never ends.

“Beloved in Christ,” Archbishop Daniel concluded, “the Cross is not the end of the story. It is the door to Resurrection. But first, we must pass through the tomb. Let us stay with Christ in His death, so that we may rise with Him in His glory.”

Let us, too, embrace the Cross - not just as a sign of suffering, but as the path of salvation. Let us carry it not as a burden, but as a gift. And let us never forget that from the depths of death, the Lord rises in glory - for us, for all, and forever.