“Do this in memory of me.” Jesus’ command at the Last Supper forms the basis of the Church’s liturgy, not simply remembrance of Jesus but a mystical union with the actions of Christ through word, ritual, and the movements of all the faithful. There is a drama latent within the liturgy through its use of formal speech, symbolic action, and the participation of the choir and faithful. The altar, as a kind of stage, does not serve as a platform for a mere fictional story, but as a gateway to the Kingdom of Heaven.
The early Church banned participation in dramatic productions, with their links to pagan religion. Drama presented an alternative liturgy, as people gathered on public festival days to commemorate mythic stories through poetic speech, dramatic action, the use of choruses, and the engagement of the audience. Athens’ winter festival, Dionysia, began with a procession known as the pompe, which culminated in dance, song, and dramatic performances. The Church shunned any participation in such rites, as a ritual tie to demonic worship. We can see this in the 3rd century Apostolic Tradition, attributed to Hippolytus, which refused to admit actors into the catechumenate: “If someone is an actor or does shows in the theater, either he shall cease or he shall be rejected.”
It took time to overcome the stigma, but, interestingly, drama reemerged in conjunction with Holy Week and Easter in the Middle Ages. Generally, we point to c. 925 for the first liturgical drama, stemming from an Easter text, a trope, of the procession of the women to the tomb, Quem Quaeritis (Whom Do You Seek?). It’s a simple beginning, inviting the congregation to enter the scence:
Angel: “Whom seek ye in the sepulchre, O Christians?”
Congregation’s Response: “Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, O angel.”
Angel: “He is not here, He has arisen as He foretold: Go, announce that He has arisen from the grave.”
Recorded by the 10th century monastic document, Regularis Concordia
Although liturgical drama eventually grew into outdoor vernacular productions (the Mystery and Morality Plays), the dramatic nature of Holy Week, with its invitation to participation in the realities of Christ’s Passion and Resurrection, flowed into processions. Liturgical actions made the realities of the Paschal mystery tangible, and through processions the laity could enter into them.
The first major procession of Holy Week comes with Palm Sunday. Even today, its Mass contains liturgical drama by beginning at the back of Church to reenact Christ’s procession through the congregation holding palms. In the Middle Ages, however, the procession, many times using other kinds of branches (such as willow or olive) reached out into the streets. Before 1955 the liturgy began in the sanctuary and then processed outside of the Church. Historically, the procession could include the Blessed Sacrament, while other times it might feature a statue, such as the palmesel (palm donkey), with branches, cloaks, or flowers spread out on the ground. The Palm Sunday procession gives the believer an opportunity to honor Christ as King, the Son of David, who initiates the messianic kingdom through his Passion.
Catholics today would be more likely to recognize a Blessed Sacrament procession on Maundy (or Holy) Thursday, a day commemorating the institution of the Eucharist. At the end of Mass, the altar is stripped, and the Eucharist is processed to an altar of repose, symbolizing Christ’s captivity. Linking the end of the Holy Thursday Mass to Corpus Christi, it is now customary to sing St. Thomas Aquinas’ Eucharistic hymn, Pange Lingua. This procession honors Christ’s gift of his body in the Eucharist and provides an opportunity to watch with Christ for an hour, which the apostles failed to do in the Garden of Gethsemane, a devotion strengthened by visiting other churches (seven of them, traditionally).
There are many processional devotions related to Good Friday. The Stations of the Cross, practiced throughout Lent, take on a new poignancy on Good Friday, not only processing around church, but entering into Jesus’ footsteps to Calvary. The dramatic element becomes explicit once again with many Passion plays this day (a tradition given new life by the film, The Passion of the Christ). Within the Presanctified liturgy, the faithful process to venerate the Cross, traditionally known as Creeping the Cross, as it was done kneeling in past generations. There was an additional tradition in medieval England of a small procession to bury the Eucharistic Christ in a sepulcher niche built into the church wall.
The Eastern Church, likewise, has a tradition of marking the burial of Christ through the Epitaphios (literally “upon the grave”), an embroidered cloth icon of the dead Christ. At the end of Good Friday Vespers, it is processed to a table or bier decorated with flowers on the other side of icon screen (iconostasis) for veneration, an act similar to the veneration of the Cross in the West. During the Matins of Great Saturday, focused on lamentation, sometimes celebrated at night on Good Friday, processions of the Epitaphios throughout the streets can occur. It is a burial procession, with funeral bells tolling, giving the faithful an opportunity to mourn for Christ’s death.
There are also some public processions on Good Friday in the West, particularly in Spain and its former colonies, such as the Philippines, as well as Italy and Malta. Extending beyond the liturgy, they express the popular piety of the people, their own grief, devotion, and penance. In Spain, the processions focused on the pasos, a float of the Crucifixion or other images, carried in penitential processions by religious fraternities, known for their capirotes (pointed hoods), which give anonymity to the penitents. In some places, processions also involve chains, a tradition called “The Chained One,” representing Christ’s bondage and suffering. Depending on the city, there may be processions throughout Holy Week, culminating on Good Friday. Here is one example from Saragossa:
Like Palm Sunday, the Easter Vigil begins outside of church, this time with a fire used to light the Paschal Candle. Beginning in darkness, akin to the women coming to the tomb, worshipers experience the light of Christ in the Paschal Candle and receive its light as it processes into the church. The Vigil retains a dramatic element, using candle light until the church becomes illuminated during the Gloria, signifying the salvation brought by Christ.
Holy Week and the Triduum represent the high point of the Church’s liturgical life. They also present the greatest opportunity for the faithful to enter into the drama of Christ’s work of salvation, with processions as the clearest example of sharing in Christ’s movements and actions. Unable to participate this year directly in the liturgy, it is even more important to make an effort to participate in the actions of Christ, participating in his movements through prayer. The home must become the sanctuary and the family must proclaim the word, conduct its own ritual and prayer, and express both the penitence and joy of this holy week through their movements and celebration.
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