10:30 a.m – Service of the Absolution/Dismissal of Penitents – Divine Liturgy

7:30 p.m. Ceremony of the Washing of the Feet (Vodunluva);
8:30 p.m. Great Vigil
On Great and Holy Thursday, the focus of the Church turns to the events that occurred in the Upper Room and at the Garden of Gethsemane.
In the Upper Room, while at the meal, Jesus established and instituted the mystery or sacrament of the Holy Eucharist and washed the feet of His disciples as well.
By establishing the Eucharist, He enshrines to perfection God’s most intimate purposes for our salvation, offering Himself as Communion and life. By washing the feet of His disciples, he summarizes the meaning of His ministry, manifested His perfect love, and revealed His profound humility.

The Garden of Gethsemane calls our attention to Jesus’ redemptive obedience and awe-inspiringly beautiful prayer (Mt 26.36-46).  It also brings us before the cowardly, treacherous act of Judas, who betrayed Christ with a kiss, the sign of love and friendship.
On Thursday night begins the great Vigil commemorating Christ’s Betrayal, Passion, and Crucifixion.  During the Vigil, the Night and Morning Hour services are said and lengthy passages about Christ’s Betrayal, Passion, and Crucifixion are read from the Gospels.  At the beginning of the services, the deacons light twelve candles and place them in the center of the bema, flanking the two sides of the Book of Hours.  One of the candles is covered with black soot as a disgrace to Judas’ memory.
Right before the chanting of Gloria in Excelsis during the Matins or Morning Hour, the last lit candle, symbolic of Christ,  is taken into the vestry or behind the closed curtain, and in a trembling and lamenting sound, a voice cries out the words of Christ to his mother, Ուր ես Մայր իմ . . . Where are you, my mother…