It is still uncertain when Christians first began to make an annual (as opposed to a weekly) memorial of the death and resurrection of Christ. This Pascha (a word derived indirectly from pesach, Hebrew ‘Passover’) was at first a night-long vigil, followed by the celebration of the Eucharist at cock-crow, and all the great themes of redemption were included within it: incarnation, suffering, death, resurrection, glorification.
Over time, the Pascha developed into the articulated structure of Holy Week and Easter. Through participation in the whole sequence of services, the Christian shares in Christ’s own journey, from the triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to the empty tomb on Easter morning.
Listings of our regular services during Holy Week will be published on the Service Schedule on Sunday 4th March.
John Stainer’s ‘The Crucifixion’ with University of Exeter Chapel Choir Good Friday 3 April 2026 | 7:30pm Join the University of Exeter Chapel Choir and its alumni for a moving Good Friday performance of John Stainer’s The Crucifixion at Exeter Cathedral. Written in 1887 as a meditation on the Passion of Christ, the work combines […]