Events of holy week

[Troy Duker]

I have a couple questions surrounding Holy Week. Was the Last Supper during or before Passover? Was Christ Crucified on a Wednesday or must it have been on a Friday?

[Paul Cowan]

He was betrayed on Wednesday.
He was crucified on Friday
He arose from the dead on Sunday. Early

This is why we fast on these two days and celebrate on Sunday

This is what the Church teaches

Paul

[Olga]

A short reply:

The Last Supper (or Mystical Supper, as the Orthodox call it) was not the Passover meal, it was a seder, a meal held before the Passover night. Scripture is clear on this, notably John 18:28 : Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover.

All four Gospels attest to the day that Christ was crucified was the preparation day (Friday), i.e. the day before the Sabbath (Saturday). This also explains why it was necessary to have Christ's body taken down from the cross and buried quickly, before sunset, as after sunset the Sabbath would begin, the day of rest, where no work was permitted.

John 19:31: Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. The term high day is another reference to that Sabbath being the actual day of Passover.

[Troy Duker]

Isn't the Seder meal taken on the first night of passover?