On Holy Thursday, our church re-lives the last hours of Christ’s time with us on earth. It was on a Thursday, before Good Friday, when our Savior instituted the service of Communion:

 22 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”
23 Then He took the cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 And He said to them, “This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. (Mark 14:22-24)

On this morning we celebrated Badarak at church and received Holy Communion.  Then in the evening, we had two services: Washing of Feet, and Order of Darkness.  During the Feet Washing service, our priest washed the feet of the children in our church just as Jesus washed the feet of His Disciples.  (The pictures in this slideshow are from the Washing of Feet service).

 The Order of Darkness is the vigil service where our Lord prays and agonizes in the Garden of Gethsemane before his arrest.  Twelve candles are lit (11 white and 1 black representing Judas), and 7 gospel readings are read depicting Christ's last hours.   After each reading a pair of candles is extinguished to recall the Apostles who couldn’t stay awake to pray with Jesus.   In chanting laments and re-enacting these last few hours, we not only remember, but re-live the pain and suffering endured by our Lord on that night.