<P> In the afternoon, around 3 pm, all gather for the Vespers of the Taking - Down from the Cross, commemorating the Deposition from the Cross . The Gospel reading is a concatenation taken from all four of the Gospels . During the service, the body of Christ (the soma) is removed from the cross, as the words in the Gospel reading mention Joseph of Arimathea, wrapped in a linen shroud, and taken to the altar in the sanctuary . </P> <P> Near the end of the service an epitaphios or "winding sheet" (a cloth embroidered with the image of Christ prepared for burial) is carried in procession to a low table in the nave which represents the Tomb of Christ; it is often decorated with an abundance of flowers . The epitaphios itself represents the body of Jesus wrapped in a burial shroud, and is a roughly full - size cloth icon of the body of Christ . Then the priest may deliver a homily and everyone comes forward to venerate the epitaphios . In the Slavic practice, at the end of Vespers, Compline is immediately served, featuring a special Canon of the Crucifixion of our Lord and the Lamentation of the Most Holy Theotokos by Symeon the Logothete . </P> <P> On Friday night, the Matins of Holy and Great Saturday, a unique service known as The Lamentation at the Tomb (Epitáphios Thrēnos) is celebrated . This service is also sometimes called Jerusalem Matins . Much of the service takes place around the tomb of Christ in the center of the nave . </P> <P> A unique feature of the service is the chanting of the Lamentations or Praises (Enkōmia), which consist of verses chanted by the clergy interspersed between the verses of Psalm 119 (which is, by far, the longest psalm in the Bible). The Enkōmia are the best - loved hymns of Byzantine hymnography, both their poetry and their music being uniquely suited to each other and to the spirit of the day . They consist of 185 tercet antiphons arranged in three parts (stáseis or "stops"), which are interjected with the verses of Psalm 119, and nine short doxastiká ("Gloriae") and Theotókia (invocations to the Virgin Mary). The three stáseis are each set to its own music, and are commonly known by their initial antiphons: Ἡ ζωὴ ἐν τάφῳ, "Life in a grave", Ἄξιον ἐστί, "Worthy it is", and Αἱ γενεαὶ πᾶσαι, "All the generations". Musically they can be classified as strophic, with 75, 62, and 48 tercet stanzas each, respectively . The climax of the Enkōmia comes during the third stásis, with the antiphon "Ō glyký mou Éar", a lamentation of the Virgin for her dead Child ("O, my sweet spring, my sweetest child, where has your beauty gone?"). The author (s) and date of the Enkōmia are unknown . Their High Attic linguistic style suggests a dating around the 6th century, possibly before the time of St. Romanos the Melodist . </P>

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