Faithful mark Good Friday with prayers, devotion

Hyderabad: The city’s churches reverberated with prayers to observe Good Friday, as a larger number of devotees thronged the churches from early morning to witness Passion Play, the enactment of Jesus Christ’s suffering till his crucifixion, and offered prayers.

Most of the churches began special prayer sessions on Friday morning. Catholic churches across Hyderabad performed meditation in several different languages including Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and English. Apart from special mass and meditation, churches including St Mary’s Basilica, St Geroge’s Church, Joseph’s Church, Calvary Temple and Methodist Church organised the Passion Play, a recreation of the trial and crucifixion of Christ, which also includes the Way of the Cross with persons carrying wooden crosses.

St Mary’s Basilica Church, being one of the oldest churches in the city, saw a large number of devotees thronging to offer prayers. “Our church prayer services began in the morning and ended by 3 pm after the meditation on the last seven words spoken by Jesus on the cross. In the evening, veneration of the cross services was observed,” said pastor of St Mary’s Basilica.

A senior pastor of Calvary Temple said, “Around 2,500 devotees offered prayers in morning and evening. A play was also organised to help us remember what Jesus Christ did for us—how He sacrificed Himself as atonement for our sins so that humanity could be redeemed from sin.”