Maundy Thursday

Heard in the wild

The longer version

What it means

Maundy Thursday is the church's remembrance of the night before Jesus died: the Passover meal He ate with His disciples, at which He washed their feet, told them to love one another as He had loved them, broke bread and shared the cup and said "do this in remembrance of Me," and then went out to the garden to pray and be arrested. The evening service follows the story. There's communion, often with special solemnity since this is its anniversary. There's foot washing — the priest or pastor kneeling to wash the feet of twelve members, or, in some churches, everyone washing one another's feet. And at the end, the stripping of the altar: while a psalm is read, every cloth, candle, and ornament is carried out in silence, until the sanctuary is bare. The congregation leaves without a blessing or a word, because the service isn't over — it continues on Good Friday and ends at Easter.

Catholics reserve the consecrated bread on a side altar for a night of watching, recalling Gethsemane: "could you not keep watch with Me one hour?"

Why people say it

Christians keep this night because it's the night the Eucharist was given and the night Jesus showed what His kind of lordship looks like — on His knees with a towel. Foot washing is uncomfortable, which is the point; the stripped altar is stark, which is the point. Liturgical Christians will tell you Holy Week only makes sense if you walk through Thursday's intimacy and Friday's grief before Sunday's joy, and that this service, more than any other, puts you in the room.

How to respond

If you attend, expect a quiet, moving evening: communion, possibly foot washing (participation is voluntary — you can stay in your seat), and an ending that comes without a benediction. Leave in silence when others do. If you're invited to have your feet washed, it's an honor and an act of humility on the washer's part; you can accept or decline. If a friend keeps Maundy Thursday, they're going to a service that many say is the year's most intimate. Don't plan dinner afterward; people leave quietly and go home.

If you hear it in different churches

Catholics: "Holy Thursday," the evening Mass of the Lord's Supper with foot washing and the procession to the altar of repose. Anglicans and Lutherans: Maundy Thursday with communion, foot washing, and the stripping of the altar. Methodists and Presbyterians: increasingly observed, often with communion and a Tenebrae service. Orthodox: "Great and Holy Thursday," with the Liturgy of St. Basil and, in the evening, the reading of the twelve Passion Gospels. Baptists and evangelicals: mostly not observed, though some hold a Thursday communion or a "Seder." Black churches often hold a Holy Thursday service.

Where does “Maundy Thursday” come from?

John 13 tells of the foot washing and the new commandment; the Synoptic Gospels and Paul (1 Corinthians 11) record the institution of the Lord's Supper. The pilgrim Egeria describes Jerusalem's Holy Thursday liturgy in the 380s. Foot washing by bishops and abbots was standard by the 600s; the English name "Maundy" is from the antiphon Mandatum novum do vobis sung during it. British monarchs distributed "Maundy money" to the poor from the 1200s and still do. The stripping of the altar is medieval. Pope Francis drew attention in 2013 by washing the feet of prisoners, including women and Muslims, and in 2016 opened the rite formally to women.

Good to know

You might also hear

Common questions