place at one o'clock in the morning. Its theme is the Burial of Christ and the Lamentations that take place around His body, represented by the Shroud, an embroidered or painted cloth, solemnly laid in the centre of the church and surrounded by flowers.

At the beginning of the service all the clergy stand with the people before the Shroud, while the Shroud itself and then the whole sanctuary and church are censed. Everyone holds a lighted candle, as is the custom at funerals, and the troparia commemorating Joseph of Arimathea's courage and compassion are sung. Joseph went to Pontius Pilate and begged for the dead body of Jesus, so that he might bury it in his own new tomb in the garden of Gethsemane.
The choir then sings Psalm 119, which is divided into three parts or stases, and these are interspersed with verses expressing the profound lamenting of the whole creation at the catastrophe of the killing of" the Life of all". This long passage of grieving ends and is followed immediately by the Evlogitaria, which makes a proclamation of the amazing event of the Resurrection, a basic element which occurs every Saturday evening at the All-Night Vigil.

Then begins the Canon, whose first troparion announces "O Lord, my God, I will sing unto Thee a funeral hymn, a song at Thy burial". The melody of this canon is a traditional one, but the harmony is by Bakhmetev, and the text is repeated at the service of Nocturns the following night, just before the Shroud is taken into the sanctuary for the Paschal season. The next item is the usual Theotokion "Most blessed art thou, O Virgin, Mother of God", which brings us a step nearer to the climax of the service, the singing of the Great Doxology and the Procession with the Shroud. Following the Cross and the deacon carrying the censer, the clergy carry the Shroud by its four corners suspended over the head of the senior celebrant, who holds the Gospel book on his head, and going out through the west door they go round the whole church followed by the singers and all the people, holding lighted candles. The choir sings the chant "Holy God, Holy and Strong, Holy and Immortal, have mercy upon us" to a slow and solemn melody, as they would do at any funeral. After this procession the Shroud is once more placed on the table in the centre of the church to the singing of the hymn "Noble Joseph", which is set to the Bulgarian chant, harmonised by Turchaninov.

The prokeimenon "Arise, Lord, and help us" introduces the reading from the prophecy of Ezekiel, sung to an old Russian melody: this is a very special element of this service with its promise that dry bones scattered on the valley floor will regain their flesh and sinews and spirit and rise again in glory with Christ. The very thing, which it is impossible for mankind to do, is possible for God. Out of humiliation and mortality comes new life and the restoration to the garden of Eden is accomplished.
Another prokeimenon says "Arise, O Lord, my God, lift up Thine hand" and this is echoed by the Alleluia verses, which begin "Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered". The gospel reading from Saint Matthew tells of the sealing of the tomb and the setting of the soldiers as guards to prevent the stealing of the dead body of Christ.
The service draws to a gentle ending with the singing of "Come and let us bless Joseph of everlasting memory", which is again a setting of a traditional melody, which has been harmonised by Dmitri Bortniansky. It ends with the words "We venerate Thy Passion, O Christ, and Thy holy Resurrection". Meanwhile everyone in the church comes up to venerate the Shroud, prostrating before it and kissing it with reverence and awe. There is a tangible sense that the whole Church in every place is awaiting the Resurrection with a peaceful anticipation.

This is a live recording made during the service of Good Friday, usually called "the Burial of Christ". The service is a complete form in itself, and to those for whom the worship of the Church is a living experience it will come as a vivid reminder of one of the most telling services in the yearly cycle of Christian worship; to those interested in music, and in Russian choral music in particular, it will unfold, in musical and verbal terms, the various successive stages of a past event as it is corporately re-lived and re-enacted today. The liturgical form is that of Matins (of Holy Saturday, but generally held on Good Friday evening by anticipation in Russian parishes). Joseph of Arimathea takes the body of Jesus from the Cross, and lamenting he lays it in a new tomb. Later the women will come and be told by the angel that Jesus is risen. These two themes will recur constantly throughout me service. While the choir sings the "Honourable Joseph" to a traditional Bulgarian melody, harmonised by P. Turchaninov (1779-1856), the Clergy gather round the Shroud (called the "Epitaphion") which represents Christ in the tomb, and cense it; the people stand holding lighted candles.
In the words of Psalm 119 and special poetic verses called "Lamentations", the Choir and the Clergy in turn evoke the sorrow of the Church. The music, by S. Zaitsev, closely matches me words, often taking the form of recitative.
Then, in anticipation of later events, the Choir sings of the meeting at the tomb of the women and the angel who urges mem to cease their lamentations; me glory of God is proclaimed. The traditional melody of tone 5 is here harmonised by A. Kastalsky (1856-1926).
But the Church's grief over the death of Christ proves too great, and again the Choir and Clergy intone a dialogue in which events of the Old Testament are recalled with reference to the Passion, and in which grief and hope alternate. The melody of the Canon is traditional, the harmony by N. Bakhmetev.

We now approach the climax of the service. First come a familiar Sunday, i.e. Resurrection, hymn to the Mother of God lauding Christ's victory over the powers of hell. Then the majestic Great Doxology is sung to a melody of monastic origin, at the end of which the procession begins, the Clergy carrying the holy Shroud and the Choir singing: "Holy God, Holy and strong, Hoh/ and immortal, have mercy on us".
The people join in the procession round the church while the Choir sings the Bulgarian melody for the second time, retelling Joseph's grief and the angel's message of life.
Although the Shroud is laid once more in the middle of the church and everyone stands in awe before the mystery of the death of the Son of God, the anticipation of the resurrection is openly proclaimed in the reading of the prophecy of Ezekiel, in which dry bones, scattered in a desolate valley, take on flesh and spirit and stand once more a living company of God's people; this is sung to an old Russian melody. Two verses (Prokimena) emphasize the context of the resurrection and this theme is further stressed in the Alleluia and the verses throughout the whole of Easter week. The Church knows mat death and the grave cannot hold Christ, and confidently rejoices.
However, a whole day will elapse before we reach Easter. The priest reads the Gospel lesson in which guards are appointed by Pilate to keep watch on the sepulchre. The service closes with the Choir singing again of the sorrow of Joseph of Arimathea and the Mother of God, while the entire Church stands bewildered before the mystery of God's Passion and coming Resurrection. The music of this last piece is a traditional melody, harmonised by D. Bortniansky (1751 -1825).

	PLAY MUSIC SAMPLER from Track 1		ADD TO CART
	MP3 system: sound good / download longer Real Audio: sound average / download fast