Is it possible to work on Passion Week. Holy Week - signs and what not to do

Immediately after Palm Sunday, before Easter, the most strict six days of fasting begin, called Holy Week, Holy Week, Holy Week. In 2018 Holy Week begins on April 2nd. Often even those who did not hold strict fast all days, join these days to fasting, to the great sacrament of purification of the soul, mind and body, in order to unite in a common outburst of gratitude and approach the great mystery of the Faith.

This week brings even greater strength and desire to share the hardships that the Lord endured before His Resurrection. This strict time requires even more abstinence and even more strict behavior.

First of all, these days we should complete our spiritual cleansing, from everything that torments the heart, that torments the soul, through prayers, communion and confession, we work out, let go and prepare for the Bright Day of the Resurrection of Christ.

For believers, all the rules have long become common truth, for people who are a little far from faith and the church and who want communion, let's talk about this topic.

Holy Week: what to do

On Holy Week, one should especially refrain from unrighteous deeds, bad deeds and thoughts, not to allow envy, heartlessness and malice. At this time, it is not advisable to arrange noisy entertainments, holidays, laugh out loud, rejoice - this is a period of great sorrow. Help the needy, take care of the sick, time for good deeds.

Continuing to cleanse the soul, this week they are preparing their home for the holiday, renewing and transforming it.

We prepare in advance products for the festive table, eggs for dyeing, carefully think over the details of the festive decoration.

During Lent, foods that contain meat, fish, poultry, and eggs are strictly prohibited. You can not eat dairy products, as well as chocolate, pasta, white bread, pickles, spices and alcohol.

Holy Monday

Holy Week begins on Holy Monday. Earlier on this day, they usually put their yard in order, shoveled, cleaned, repaired the outside. The weather does not always allow this, and there are fewer and fewer yards, so we immediately begin preparing for the holiday right from the home.

On this day begins a big tidy. The house is cleared of old, bulky things.

On Monday, you can eat raw vegetables and fruits, as well as bread, honey and nuts. It is recommended to eat once a day - in the evening.

Good Tuesday

Buying food for Easter. Women prepare medicinal infusions. Men should not even touch herbs, tinctures, powders.

As on the previous day, raw fruits and vegetables, honey, nuts and bread are allowed. It is advisable to eat only in the evening.

Passion Wednesday

This is the day of washing and all sorts of rubbing. On Wednesday, it is advisable to thoroughly wash, scrape the floors, knock out the carpets. On Wednesday during Holy Week, a special rite was commemorated against any bodily infirmity. It was necessary to scoop up a mug of water from a well or from a barrel on the street or draw water from a river. Having crossed themselves three times, they covered the mug with a clean or new towel, and at 2 o'clock in the morning, having crossed themselves three times again, they poured this water over, leaving a little in the mug. After that, they put on clothes on a wet body, without wiping themselves, and the water that remained in the mug was poured up to 3 hours on a bush or flowers. It is said that a body washed in this way is reborn.

You can also eat bread, vegetables and fruits, cold raw food without oil.

Pure Thursday

A special day this week is Thursday, called Maundy Thursday.

From early morning it is important for everyone to take a shower, a bath, in this morning water has a special gift of purification, gives health and brings good luck for the whole year. We put on clean clothes.

Finishing cleaning our house. After a clean Thursday, we no longer clean the house until next week.

It is also important to remember: since Thursday, nothing has been given out of the house, starting with small things like salt to money in debt.

It is believed that water on this day has special properties, is able to heal, make lotions and can be used in conspiracies and rituals. It can be collected in a container and used throughout the year when you or someone in your household gets sick. For healing, Thursday water can be drunk or applied to a sore spot in the form of a compress.

Preparing Thursday salt is useful for those who perform rituals and conspiracies: all family members throw a pinch of salt into a common bag, mix it and remove it. Such salt keeps the special energy of this day and the whole family. It is desirable to consecrate this salt in the Temple.

With pure thoughts and a cleaned house, a sacred action begins on this day - baking Easter cakes and coloring eggs.

Thursday - on Maundy Thursday, it was advised to cut the hair of a one-year-old child for the first time (up to a year it was considered a sin to cut it), and for girls - the tips of the braids so that they grew longer and thicker. All livestock were also advised to cut a tuft of wool for health and well-being.

There are many traditions associated with this day. On Maundy Thursday, they cleaned the houses, washed and cleaned everything. It was customary to collect and burn juniper branches to fumigate dwellings and stables. It is believed that the healing juniper smoke protects the person and the "animal" from evil spirits and diseases.

There was also such a belief that eggs laid on Good Thursday, eaten at Easter, protect against illness, and egg shells buried in the ground in a pasture reliably protect livestock from the evil eye.

Starting from Maundy Thursday, they prepared for the festive table, painted and painted eggs. By ancient tradition colored eggs were laid on the sprouted greens of oats, wheat.

On Thursday morning they started baking Easter cakes, women, small products made from wheat flour with the image of crosses, lambs, doves, larks, as well as honey gingerbread. Easter was being prepared in the evening.

Everyone in the family should take a handful of salt and pour it into one bag. This salt is removed and stored, and it is called "Thursday salt", i.e. Great Thursday. You can treat yourself with it, as well as your family and friends. This salt is used to make amulets for the family, livestock, garden, home, etc.

On Holy Wednesday and Maundy Thursday, it was customary to wash all domestic animals - from cows to chickens - with water melted from snow, and to burn salt in the oven, which, according to popular belief, acquired from this healing properties. In some villages, at midnight on Maundy Thursday, women were also instructed to douse themselves with water to protect themselves from disease.

If before dawn you wash your face on Maundy (Clean) Thursday, you need to say at the same time: “I wash off what they let loose on me, then what the soul and body toils with, everything is removed on Pure Thursday.”

On Easter morning, they wash themselves with water left from Maundy Thursday. It is good to put a silver little thing or a spoon in it, you can use a coin. Wash for beauty and wealth. If a girl cannot get married, you need to give the towel with which she wiped herself on Maundy Thursday to people for Easter, those who beg for alms, along with krashenka and Easter cake. After that, they soon get married.

There was also a custom to burn crosses on doors and ceilings with a candle to protect the house from the invasion of evil spirits. Passionate candles were given into the hands of seriously ill or suffering from difficult childbirth, they have healing power. From Maundy Thursday it was forbidden to sweep the floor in the house until Easter itself.

On this day, it is allowed to eat hot vegetable food with vegetable oil twice a day.

Good Friday

Good Friday is a special day of compassion, on this day Jesus Christ was betrayed and crucified on the cross at Mount Calvary. The Savior of the human race accepted martyrdom thus expiating human sins. This day of special sorrow, it is not customary to work, you should devote the day to prayer.

There is a sign that any disease that happens on this day will be quickly cured.

Any problem that arose on this day will soon be well resolved.

Cooking on this day is argued. They continued to bake and prepare for the celebration of Easter. “Angels help,” say pious people. On Friday they sweep the corners with a rag, this rag will help get rid of lower back pain if you tie yourself with it. The same rag is used to wipe the feet in the bath after washing, so that the feet do not hurt. Ash, taken on Friday before Easter, will help to recover from alcoholism, black shaking, from the evil eye and from mortal anguish.

On Good Friday, generally refrain from eating.

Holy Saturday

Last (quiet) tidy. You can also dye eggs. On this day, they prepare common festive dishes. On Saturday, they brought painted eggs, Easter cakes, Easter cakes and other products to the church to consecrate. And before going to the service on Easter night, they left refreshments on the table so that later they could break the fast. True, they ate little by little - only symbolically, after which they went to sleep. But late Sunday morning, a real feast began, which lasted all week.

Of course, all the preparatory work: cooking, painting eggs must be completed before Bright Sunday.

On Saturday, you can eat hot vegetable food once a day, but without oil.

Saturday is the end of preparations for Easter. We paint eggs, bake Easter cakes, if this could not be done on a clean Thursday.

Ecology of consumption. Cognitively: Holy Week before Easter began with Orthodox Christians. Last and toughest week...

Holy Week before Easter begins with Orthodox Christians. The last and strictest week of Great Lent implies spiritual and bodily cleanliness, which is why it is also called White or Clean Week.

The time of the most strict fasting came for Orthodox believers on April 25, 2016 - Holy Week (week). This period is named after last days stay of Jesus Christ on earth.

Holy Week 2016: what can be done?

Biblical traditions tell us that throughout Holy Week Jesus Christ approaches his death on the cross, therefore, in memory of those events, believers are supposed to keep the most strict fast.

On Holy Week, you can not eat meat, fish, eggs, as well as milk and dairy products. Vegetable oils are not allowed. At this time, one should not sing and dance. It would be best to devote this time to prayers, serving in churches and preparing for Easter.

Days of Holy Week of Great Lent

Each day of Holy Week is called Great and is intended for certain deeds. For example, on Maundy Monday you should finish all the work in your house, for example, paint and repair, clean up.

On Maundy Tuesday supposed to finish washing, ironing, darning clothes, and on Great Wednesday garbage is taken out of the dwelling and eggs are prepared for traditional Easter painting.

Clean Thursday in 2016: what date?

Great or Maundy Thursday in 2016 falls on April 28, 2016. On this day, you should swim at dawn: It is believed that water at this time has a special healing and cleansing power.. In addition, Orthodox believers on Maundy Thursday bake Easter cakes and prepare curd Easter, and before kneading the dough, it is imperative to read a prayer.

On Maundy Thursday, a fire is lit in churches, which should be preserved and brought to your home. It is believed that such a candle will protect from fire throughout the year.

Good Friday in 2016: what date?

The strictest day of Great Lent and Holy Week in particular is Great or Good Friday falling on April 29, 2016. On this day, according to legend, Jesus Christ was crucified.

On Good Friday, you can’t work around the house, and you can’t sing and have fun. In memory of the suffering of Jesus Christ, one should abstain from food.

Holy Saturday 2016

Holy Saturday is considered the most troublesome day for housewives. On this day, you need to prepare everything you need for the Easter feast, as well as consecrate the festive food in the church.

On the evening of Holy Saturday, Orthodox believers go to the temple, where during the night service they celebrate the bright holiday of Easter, which in 2016 falls on May 1. published

Easter is considered the most important Christian holiday and they begin to prepare for it immediately after Forgiveness Sunday, that is, wires. The strictest weeks of a month and a half fast are considered the first and last.

Easter is considered the most important Christian holiday and they begin to prepare for it immediately after Forgiveness Sunday, that is, seeing off. The strictest weeks of a month and a half fast are considered the first and last. It is the seven days before Easter that are called Holy Week, and what cannot be done and what signs are associated with it will be described in this article.

What can not be done during Holy Week and what can be done according to church canons?

On Palm Sunday, Christians still rejoice and rejoice, glorifying the name of Christ, but already on Monday they begin to grieve, feeling the approach of inevitable betrayal and death. On this day, it is customary to remember the day when the Savior arrived in Jerusalem, whom he managed to meet and what he tried to convey to ordinary laity. The Holy Week before Easter calls on all Christians to observe fasting of the second degree - dry eating. As before, it is unacceptable to eat animal products, but now vegetable oil is also not allowed, and it is recommended to cook food without any heat treatment. On the first day of the strictest week, there is an order not to eat at all before sunset.

Those who are interested in what cannot be done on Holy Week Tuesday should answer that it is recommended to continue to fast and, if possible, finish working with fabrics and threads. Until Thursday, it is necessary to put things in order at home, set tables and furniture with festive tablecloths and capes, and prepare new outfits for yourself and the children. On Wednesday, you can buy all the necessary products for cooking Easter cakes. On Thursday, they remember the Last Supper and read a passage about this event from the Bible. Finish general cleaning and be sure to wash themselves. According to a sign, it is believed that a holiday does not come to a dirty house.

On Friday and Saturday, it is prescribed to completely abstain from food, but such a strict order is typical for the monastery, and ordinary laity can fast according to their strength and health. This is especially true for the sick, the elderly, children, pregnant women. It was on Friday that Christ was sentenced to death and crucified, so it is recommended to defend the service in the temple and do nothing around the house. On Saturday, from the very morning, you need to have time to bake Easter cakes, paint the eggs and take them to the temple for consecration. Those who are interested in what should not be done on the Saturday of Holy Week can be answered that non-lenten food should not be consumed.

What can not be done in Holy Week?

I must say that fasting concerns not only food, but also the spirit. Refusal of certain products means little without cleansing the soul, and therefore, not only the entire last seven days, but the entire month and a half fast, it is recommended to pray, and also try to appease all false and unkind thoughts in yourself. Avoid quarrels and idle talk, slander, flattery and condemnation. It is necessary to hasten to do good deeds and help your neighbor. Only through spiritual cleansing one can draw near to God and truly rejoice in the resurrection of Christ.

Those who ask what cannot be done on Holy Week before Easter should say that the prohibitions apply to sexual life, as well as any other pleasures. You can kiss with your husband only at night, and refuse any festive and entertainment events. And this is especially true on Good Friday. Now it is clear what can and cannot be done during Holy Week, but such prohibitions seem gloomy only to those who have never adhered to them. Having embarked on the path of fasting, one can understand and feel that this was not done in vain, and only by compassion for Christ can one be cleansed, become better and understand how bright and great the Easter holiday is.

Answered by Archpriest Nikolai Yemelyanov

What can and cannot be done during Holy Week? What not to do on Good Friday?

In the Church, the question is never raised like this - what is possible and what is not. Everything is possible in the Church! Where there is a real Church, there is absolute freedom. It's just that there is experience accumulated by generations of Christians, which allows you to somehow build your life in such a way that such special and holy days as the days of Holy Week do not pass by. It's not a question of what not to do. It's a question of what to do to try and feel that these days are very special.

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Just as the Lord once communed His disciples at the Last Supper, so every Christian should commune with the apostles. Also proceed to the Eucharistic Chalice. Just follow Christ to Golgotha. Also cry over Him together with the disciples and the Mother of God. Also expect the Resurrection of the Savior on the day of rest of Great Saturday. Also, enter into the eternal joy of the Resurrection of Christ together with the Myrrh-Bearing Women and the Apostles.

As always, the answer to a similar question is both very simple and very complex at the same time. Simple - because there is some simple set of actions that it would be nice to have time to do. Difficult - because these actions require inner concentration and prayer, and these two things are not operationalized and not objectified in some simple way.

First It is, of course, a prayer. All services in the church during Holy Week are special. Every day for the first three days, the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is served. Before these Liturgies, at the Hours, the whole Gospel is read in parts from beginning to end.

In the evening, from Monday to Wednesday, the wonderful words “I see Your Chamber, my Savior, decorated and I don’t imam clothes, let the stench come in” and the troparion “Behold the Bridegroom is coming at midnight ...” stichera of the nun Cassia.

Each of the days of Holy Week is dedicated to the remembrance of the events that took place on those days. On Thursday, the Last Supper and the establishment of the Sacrament of the Eucharist are remembered. For this day, you need to prepare in advance, confess in advance and be sure to take communion. On Thursday evening, everyone gathers in the church to read the 12 Gospels dedicated to the Passion of Christ. On Friday, the day of the Crucifixion, during the day the Shroud is taken out to the middle of the temple, and in the evening - a burial with a procession. On Saturday morning they again serve the Liturgy, at which once a year they sing the hymn "Let all human flesh be silent and think nothing in itself." After this, the consecration of Easter cakes and Easter is performed.

Finally, on Saturday night, everyone gathers in the temple for the Easter procession, Easter service and the Liturgy, at which they again try to take communion.

It would also be nice to have time to paint the eggs, cook Easter cakes and Easter, in fact, it’s nice to somehow clean the house for the holiday at the beginning of the week ...

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About two thousand years ago, an event took place in the Holy Land that turned the world upside down, changing it forever. The main Orthodox holiday- Easter. On the eve of the Holy Resurrection of Christ, we tried once again to recreate the picture of what happened twenty centuries ago under the sky of Jerusalem.

Do you still have questions about what not to do during Holy Week?

Usually this is not an issue. The question is how to manage to do at least half of the above. After all, there are still children, work, someone needs to take care of the sick or the elderly, someone is sick himself, etc. Therefore, usually all things that can be postponed, they tried and try to postpone these days for later. Leave only the most important and necessary in order to manage at least one of the above and meet the Easter holiday. And they always try to fast more strictly than they fasted the whole fast. For example, on Good Friday, healthy adults do not eat at all until the evening service.

And yet all this is not an end in itself. All this is done in order to try to feel and understand that Christ is somewhere very close. That His Suffering and Resurrection is something quite modern and relevant. It's not about ancient history, this is about us. When you manage to feel it at least a little bit, then all questions about what you can do and what you can’t do disappear.

Photo by Vladimir Eshtokin

Before bright Easter, you will have to meet the Holy Week (we will tell you what you can eat on the days before Easter in the article). But what can you eat every day during this period?

Now we have to deal with this. For believers, this week is very important. During this period and until Easter itself, Christians pray and read the Bible. They remember Christ, who came to our Earth to cure us of various diseases, and left this world for our sins.

The fact is that throughout the week before Easter, not everything is allowed to eat. These 7 days are considered the most severe. Starting from the first day and ending with the seventh, every day is considered Great. On an important week, believers keep the strictest Fast.

Holy Week is a kind of memory of the last time of our Savior's passing and of his terrible torment. During this week, people are rethinking their lives. Someone decides to repent, someone is just thinking, and someone is praying earnestly. For everyone, this holy holiday means something different. This week the soul is cleansed of sinful thoughts. That is, abstinence occurs not only in food, but also morally. On Holy Week, one cannot be angry and swear - this is a great sin, just like eating meat with wine.

What Not to Do on Holy Week

Great Monday. Completed all repairs around the house, cleaned construction garbage, took out old, unnecessary things.

Great Tuesday. Finished repairing clothes, sewing, cutting, darning, ironing and the like. The melt water collected this year was used to wash livestock to protect them from diseases.

Great Wednesday. At night, from Tuesday to Wednesday, they took water from a river or well into a large jug or mug, and made the sign of the cross three times. At two o'clock in the morning they watered themselves with this water, leaving a little at the bottom, signing themselves with a cross three times. Clean clothes were put on a wet body, and the rest of the water was poured under a tree or bush. This meant the birth of a washed body and, according to signs, protected from diseases for the whole year.

Maundy Thursday - or Maundy Thursday. Clean Thursday in 2017 falls on April 13th. Maundy Thursday or Maundy Thursday is the fourth day of Holy Week, the strictest week of Great Lent.

Bathing is of symbolic importance on Maundy Thursday, on this day you need to wake up before sunrise and have time to swim.

It is believed that in this way, as in Epiphany bathing, a person washes away all sins from himself, and all ailments and illnesses will bypass him.

On Clean Thursday, you need to go to church for confession and communion. On this day, according to customs, it is customary to do a general cleaning at home before Easter. It is after going to church on a clean Thursday that you need to clean the house.

You need to clean up very carefully, not superficially - you should wash all the objects in the house, including the ceilings. There is a sign that if it is good to clean the house on a clean Thursday, then the whole next year the house will be clean. Again, cleanliness in the home will reflect the inner purity of the soul of a believing Christian.

In addition, it is necessary to wash all textiles and prepare traditional Easter food: Easter cakes and colored eggs.

Passion Week Notes

It is on this day that you can get rid of many sins and improve your life. Following Easter signs and rituals, you can change your destiny for the better for the next year.

Here's what I know...

“If you want to be healthy all year round, by all means, swim before sunrise.” - Try it yourself and you will see that, indeed, this morning the water acquires wonderful healing properties. This water can wash away everything, the sins that have accumulated over the year.

Do not indulge in laziness, but rather get up early on Maundy Thursday and wash off white in the shower, in the bathroom or in the bath before dawn. If you cannot believe in the power of the magic Thursday water, then there will be no harm, purity is for the benefit of everyone - both bodily and spiritual.

There is a true sign - if you do a general cleaning on Clean Thursday, you will get a lot of joy for it.

In addition to the fact that the house will become clean, there is also such a religious moment here that religious people do not clean up for six days after Maundy Thursday.

Moreover, there is popular belief that by starting a general cleaning in the house, you receive as a gift from the Lord the opportunity to find your favorite and necessary items that seemed to be lost forever.

It has long been believed that if during Maundy Thursday all the money in the house is counted three times, then they will not be transferred to the family during the year. Counting money should be done early in the morning, at noon and at sunset. This should be done in secret not only from strangers, but also from all your household members. Only then will the performance of this ancient rite be useful.

And here is the money conspiracy on Pure Thursday. If you wash the doors and windows with water in which a trifle is placed, then throughout the year your cash income will grow by leaps and bounds!

Conspiracy words to say when throwing a bucket or basin of water with a handful of coins:

“Money, drive - don’t transfer, grow, multiply, don’t get to the enemy!”

and any other prayer that you know well. After all the doors and windows in your house are washed, take the change out of the water and put it in a far, but previously washed, corner of your house or apartment for a week. Pour water under any tree.

Place any silver item in a container of water overnight. And in the morning, on Good Friday, wash yourself with this water, and during the year no evil spirit will be afraid of you.

If in your house there is a baby under the age of one year, then such a procedure is especially indicated for him, since he cannot yet protect himself with the help of holy prayer. Therefore, we must take care of its protection.

Thursday salt can be prepared in two ways:

The first way: go to three neighbors or friends, and ask them for a handful of salt, then mix it, preferably in earthenware, and use it as needed. It is said that added to the food and drink of a seriously and even terminally ill person, thursday salt can help to cure him.

The second way to prepare Thursday salt is as follows: pour a pack of salt into the pan and fry it, stirring constantly, while reading “Our Father”. You will feel the readiness of the salt yourself.