The Holy Triduum: Maundy Thursday

Note: This year, St. Paul’s parish won’t celebrate the Eucharist, however we will have Foot Washing and Stripping of the Altar. The Vigil begins immediately after the service. To sign-up, please visit this Sign-Up Genius. If your email isn’t in our records, please let one of the wardens know.

The three days before Easter—Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday—are known as the Holy Triduum. During this time, our worship is experienced as one drama that unfolds in three acts, seamlessly recalling the suffering, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The evening of Maundy Thursday marks the beginning of the Triduum. This day receives its name from the Latin “mandatum” or the “new commandment” given by our Lord. At the Last Supper, Jesus washed his disciples’ feet and commanded them to love and serve one another as he had done. Tonight begins with a festal character as we remember the joy of the institution of the Eucharist and the love and service which Jesus lived and taught. The mood turns solemn as we fix our attention on the agony in the garden of Gethsemane and the journey to the cross and crucifixion. The altar, symbolic of Christ, is stripped of its vesture and left bare for the solemnity of Good Friday. —The National Cathedral, Maundy Thursday ordo, 2023