Responsories for Holy Week Responsories for Holy Week Responsories for Holy Week (Latin: Responsoria pro hebdomada sancta) are three sets of nine responsories, for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday respectively, the three days of the Holy Week preceding Easter Sunday. They are also known as the Tenebrae responsories, and were set to music for instance by Carlo Gesualdo ("Responsoria et alia ad Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae spectantia", 1611) and by Jan Dismas Zelenka (ZWV 55). The Night Hours ("preceding" the Little Hours) of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday consist of matins (each with three nocturns) and lauds. The lessons of these
Saint George's Day Georgiritt takes place on 23 April and leads from Gunzendorf up onto the Senftenberg. This is a kind of pilgrimage traditionally done on horseback. Under the state atheism of former Eastern Bloc countries, the celebration of Saint George's Day was historically suppressed. If St George's Day (or any saint's day) falls during Holy Week or on Easter Day, it is observed on Easter Monday. The Russian Orthodox Church, which uses the Julian calendar, has two important feasts of Saint George. Besides the feast of 23 April (6 May in the Gregorian calendar), common through all Christendom, Russians also celebrate the