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
Holy Week during Great Lent—to be blessed by the priest which are then taken back home to be shared by family and friends with joy. On the afternoon of Easter Day, a joyful service called "Agape Vespers" is celebrated During this service the Great Prokeimenon is chanted and a lesson from the Gospel is read in as many different languages as possible, accompanied by the joyful ringing of bells. The Coptic Orthodox Christians fast the Lent for 55 days including the Holy Week which they call Holy Paschal Week. The Friday before Palm Sunday is called "The Concluding Friday of Great Lent".