When they remembered the cross in the light of the resurrection, Christians did not mourn. Death sought to swallow up its victim, but was swallowed up itself. So that Friday became Good Friday, God s Friday. Christians do not claim that God is deathless. Rather, Christians believe that God is beyond death.
Death is now pass .
It will not ever have the last word. By the end of the 6 th century, Holy Week was in place, and a Roman poet wrote a book of Hymns for all the Festivals of the Christian Year. The year of the church owes its origin in large part to the initiation of converts into the church. After a long period of instruction and discernment, candidates began forty days of fasting in preparation for their Easter baptism. The members of the church joined them in their fast, running the last lap of their preparation in solidarity with them.