Hello, my name is Marfa and I am Russian Orthodox. Today is Good Friday and I must go to church services. There are many on this day, but there are two very important ones. I will tell about the day service, which is very interesting. Then I will tell of the evening service, which is elaborate. Also, I will include what these services are for.
During the day, many gather at the church. When they walk in they see a tomb. It is not that of an actual dead person, but for Christ (I'll tell more later). A few feet from the tomb, there is a cross with Christ hanging on it (at least at my church). Once the service begins, the priest will say prayers and we must join in. Later, he and the altar boys take Christ down from the cross and lay him on a sacred cloth. They then walk around the church, chanting. Once they're done with this, they lay him in the tomb. Again, they say prayers and then the priest says all the little children must go under the tomb three times. It's a very beautiful and interesting service.
The evening service is different from the day service. First of all, it is longer. Also, the church is decorated as if it really is a funeral. The tomb is elaborately decorated with carnations (once again, at least at my church.) This service is a bit similar as the one during the day. It's still a funeral. However, Christ is already in the tomb. The priest picks the service up from there. He says prayers and we join in. The choir and everyone in the pews sings very religious songs and hymns. Then, some helpers pick up the tomb and we all go outside and walk around the perimeter of the church. We have candles, and we're still singing. Once everyone is in the church, we say more prayers and then the tomb is lifted and we go under it three times. We also get to take a flower.
The reason we do this is to reenact the crucifixion and funeral of Christ. We act out the time he died until the time he was buried. It is a beautiful service and everyone should and must take part in it.
Good Friday is one of my favorite holidays. Both the day and evening services are beautiful. It's a good thing we relive what actually happened when Christ died.