The ‘Sad Friday’ Mass, which was held during the ‘Holy Week’, commemorating the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross after his trial, was held in the Iskenderun Annunciation Latin Catholic Church, accompanied by prayers and supplications.
Monsignor Paolo Bizzeti, the Acting Apostle and Bishop of Anatolia, conducted the mournful liturgy in Iskenderun, which commemorates the death of the Lord Jesus Christ in the body by being caught, tried, crucified and being insulted after the betrayal of Judas Iskoriot, his disciple. One of the Church Fathers, Dariusz Dogondke, also accompanied the Holy Mass.
Prior to the Commemoration, the traditional ‘Way of the Cross’ ritual was performed within the church. After the prayers read at every stop of the sufferings of Jesus Christ on the Way of the Cross, the ‘Good Friday’ liturgy was started.
The Holy Mass began with Monsignor Paolo Bizzeti and his accompanying priests lying on the ground in front of the empty altar, which reminds of simplicity and sadness, and then the Bible chapters about the judgment process of Jesus Christ and His sufferings were read. The ritual in which Holy Communion was not established continued with ‘Honoring the Cross’.
The covered ‘Holy Cross’ was quietly moved towards the altar. Monsignor Bizzeti and the priests, who took the cross on the altar, opened the veil on the cross in three stages, and prayers were said each time, “This is the board of the Cross on which the savior of the world was crucified.” The Holy Cross, whose veil was opened, was left in front of the altar with candles next to it, with the congregation’s response, “Come, let us worship Him.” After the Fathers showed their respect by bowing before the Cross, all the members of the congregation attending the service also bowed before the Holy Cross and offered their respect.
Speaking during the ceremony, Anatolian Apostolic Vicar and Bishop Monsignor Paolo Bizzeti reminded that our Lord Jesus Christ knew that he would suffer and that he endured these persecutions in order to bear the sins of the whole world.
At the end of the Good Friday Mass, which continued with supplications on behalf of the Holy Church, Saints, Clergy, Rulers, and all Humans, the congregation who attended the ceremony remained silent for a while, praying and trying to experience the sorrow of Christ’s bodily death on the Cross and to understand his sufferings. (SAT-7 Turk/İlyas Edip TERBİYELİ-İskenderun)
