We invite you to make the journey through Holy Week to Easter at one of our Episcopal churches near you. Please locate a neighborhood church and go to their website for their updated Holy Week and Easter services.

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To listen to our bishops' Holy Week & Easter audio reflections, click on the schedule below.  

• Easter Sunday - Bishop Lillibridge

What is Palm Sunday?

Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast which always falls on the Sunday before Easter Sunday. The feast commemorates an event mentioned by all four Canonical Gospels Mark 11:1-11, Matthew 21:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, and John 12:12-19. Palm Sunday is the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem in the days before his Passion. It is also called Passion Sunday or Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion.

What is Maundy Thursday?

Maundy Thursday, also known as Holy Thursday, Great and Holy Thursday, and Thursday of Mysteries, is the Christian feast or holy day falling on the Thursday before Easter that commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles. The term Maundy comes from the Latin word mandatum (from which we get our English word mandate), from a verb that means "to command." It is the fifth day of Holy Week and is preceded by Holy Wednesday and followed by Good Friday. The date is always between 19 March and 22 April inclusive. The Lord's Supper initiates the Easter Triduum, the three days of Friday, Saturday and Sunday that commemorate the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus.It is normally celebrated in the evening, when according to Jewish tradition, Friday begins. Many churches have a foot washing service and end by stripping the altar of all the symbols of Christ. This symbolizes the abandonment of Jesus by his disciples and the stripping of Jesus by the soldiers prior to his crucifixion.

What is Good Friday?

Friday of Holy Week has been traditionally been called Good Friday or Holy Friday. On this day, the church commemorates Jesus’ arrest (since by Jewish customs of counting days from sundown to sundown it was already Friday), his trial, crucifixion and suffering, death, and burial. Since services on this day are to observe Jesus’ death, and since Eucharist is a celebration, there is traditionally no Communion observed on Good Friday. Also, depending on how the services are conducted on this day, all pictures, statutes, and the cross are covered in mourning black, the chancel and altar coverings are replaced with black, and altar candles are extinguished.  They are left this way through Saturday, but are always replaced with white before sunrise on Sunday. Also, many churches use the Stations of the Cross as part of the Good Friday Service. This service uses paintings or banners to represent various scenes from Jesus’ betrayal, arrest, trial, and death, and the worshippers move to the various stations to sing hymns or pray as the story is told.

What is Holy Saturday?

This is the seventh day of the week, the day Jesus rested in the tomb. In the first three Gospel accounts this was the Jewish Sabbath, which provided appropriate symbolism of the seventh day rest. While some church traditions continue daily services on Saturday, there is no communion served on this day. Some churches suspend services and Scripture readings during the day on Saturday, to be resumed at the Easter Vigil after sundown Saturday. It is traditionally a day of quiet meditation as Christians contemplate the darkness of a world without a future and without hope apart from God and his grace. It is also a time to remember family and the faithful who have died as we await the resurrection, or to honor the martyrs who have given their lives for the cause of Christ in the world.  While Good Friday is a traditional day of fasting, some also fast on Saturday as the climax of the season of Lent.  An ancient tradition dating to the first centuries of the church calls for no food of any kind to be eaten on Holy Saturday, or for 40 hours before sunrise on Sunday.  However it is observed, Holy Saturday has traditionally been a time of reflection and waiting, the time of weeping that lasts for the night while awaiting the joy that comes in the morning (Psa 30:5).

What is the Great Vigil of Easter?

The Easter Vigil, also called the Paschal Vigil or the Great Vigil of Easter, is a service held in many Christian churches as the first official celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus. Historically, it is during this service that people (especially children) are baptized and that adults are received into full communion with the Church. It is held in the hours of darkness between sunset on Holy Saturday and sunrise on Easter Day—most commonly in the evening of Holy Saturday—but is considered to be the first celebration of Easter Day, since the Christian tradition considers feasts and other days of observance where services are celebrated to begin at sunset of the previous day. The service is marked by the first use, since the beginning of Lent, of the acclamatory word "Alleluia," a distinctive feature of the liturgy of the Easter season.

What is Easter?

On Easter Sunday, we celebrate the resurrection of the Lord, Jesus Christ. We believe according to Scripture, he was raised from the dead, three days after his death on the cross. As part of the Easter season, the death of Jesus Christ by crucifixion, is commemorated on Good Friday, always the Friday just before Easter. Through his death, burial and resurrection, Jesus paid the penalty for sin, thus purchasing for all who believe in him, eternal life in Christ Jesus. Contrary to what many people think, Easter is not a single day.  It is actually a season that begins on Easter Sunday and continues for seven full weeks.  This seven-week cycle is known historically as the Great Fifty Days or the Week of Weeks.  During this time, the church celebrates the Lord's resurrection, His appearances to the disciples after Easter, His post-resurrection teachings, His ascension into heaven, and the disciples' eager anticipation of the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.  Ascension Day -- the 40th of the Great Fifty Days -- is frequently commemorated with a special evening worship service since it always falls on a Thursday.