Q. Why is the Friday before Easter called GOOD FRIDAY? A. The Friday you mention is also called in various countries Holy Friday, Black Friday, Great Friday, Long Friday and Silent Friday. The phrase "good Friday" does NOT appear in the Bible and neither does the word "Friday". The ONLY day of the week given a name in the Bible is the seventh day, the Sabbath. The other days are designated as the first, second, third and so on. Good Friday is a fast day created by the Roman Catholic Church in the 4th century A.D. (long after Jesus died). The day is dedicated to commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus. The following is the Catholic Church's explanation: "Good Friday is the English designation of Friday in Holy Week -- that is, the Friday on which the Church keeps the anniversary of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. "From the earliest times the Christians kept every Friday as a feast day; and the obvious reasons for those usages explain why Easter is the Sunday par excellence, and why the Friday which marks the anniversary of Christ's death came to be called the Great or the Holy or the Good Friday. The origin of the term Good is not clear. Some say it is from "God's Friday" (Gottes Freitag); others maintain that it is from the German Gute Freitag, and not specially English." (The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VI, 1909)
According to Catholic dogma, which has largely been carried over into the Protestant churches, Jesus was killed on Friday and resurrected Sunday morning, with the anniversaries of those dates observed as part of the Easter celebration. A little research will show that the origin of what we call Easter or the Easter holiday has NO Biblical basis whatsoever! Easter was never taught or observed by the early New Testament church. | 