Maundy Thursday, also known as Holy Thursday, Great and Holy Thursday, and Thursday of Mysteries, is the Christian feast or holy day falling on the Thursday before Easter that commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles. It is the fifth day of Holy Week, and is preceded by Holy Wednesday and followed by Good Friday. The date is always between 19 March and 22 April inclusive. These dates in the Julian calendar, on which Eastern churches in general base their calculations of the date of Easter, correspond throughout the twenty-first century to 1 April and 5 May in the more commonly used Gregorian calendar. In 2010 it falls on 1 April. The Mass of the Lord's Supper initiates the Easter Triduum, the three days of Friday, Saturday and Sunday that commemorate the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus.[1] It is normally celebrated in the evening, when according to Jewish tradition Friday begins.
Use of the names "Maundy Thursday", "Holy Thursday" and the others is not evenly distributed. What is considered the normal name for the day varies according to geographical area and religious allegiance. Thus, while in England "Maundy Thursday" is the normal term, this term is never used in Ireland or Scotland. The same person may use one term in a religious context and another in the context of the civil calendar of the country in which he lives.The Anglican Church uses the name "Maundy Thursday" in the Book of Common Prayer, where it treats "Holy Thursday" as an alternative name for Ascension Day.[2][3] But outside of the official texts of the liturgy, Anglicans sometimes apply the name "Holy Thursday" to the day before Good Friday.[4]
The Roman Catholic Church, even in countries where "Maundy Thursday" is the name in civil legislation, uses the name "Holy Thursday" in its official English-language liturgical books;[5] but, except in these texts, Roman Catholics will sometimes use "Maundy Thursday", especially in England.[6]
The United Methodist Church uses the name "Holy Thursday" in its UM Book of Worship,[7] but in other official sources it uses both "Maundy Thursday"[8][9] and "Holy Thursday".[10][11]
Both names are used by other Christian denominations as well, including the Lutheran Church[12][13][14] or the Reformed Church.[15][16][17]
In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the name for the holy day is, in the Byzantine Rite, "Great and Holy Thursday"[18] or "Holy Thursday",[19][20] and in Western Rite Orthodoxy "Maundy Thursday",[21][22] "Holy Thursday"[23] or both.[24]
In the Maronite Church[25] and the Syriac Orthodox Church,[26] the name is "Thursday of Mysteries".
"Maundy Thursday" is the official name in the civil legislation of England[27] and the Philippines.[28]
According to a common theory, the English word Maundy in that name for the day is derived through Middle English, and Old French mandé, from the Latin mandatum, the first word of the phrase "Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos" ("A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you"), the statement by Jesus in the Gospel of John (13:34) by which Jesus explained to the Apostles the significance of his action of washing their feet. The phrase is used as the antiphon sung during the "Mandatum" ceremony of the washing of the feet, which may be held during Mass or at another time as a separate event, during which a priest or bishop (representing Christ) ceremonially washes the feet of others, typically 12 persons chosen as a cross-section of the community.
According to other authorities, the English name "Maundy Thursday" arose from "maundsor" baskets, in which on that day the king of England distributed alms to certain poor at Whitehall: "maund" is connected with the Latin mendicare, and French mendier, to beg.[29][30] A source from the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church likewise states that, if the name were derived from the Latin mandatum, we would call the day Mandy Thursday, or Mandate Thursday, or even Mandatum Thursday; and that the term "Maundy" comes in fact from the Latin mendicare, Old French mendier, and English maund, which as a verb means to beg and as a noun refers to a small basket held out by maunders as they maunded. The name Maundy Thursday thus arose from a medieval custom whereby the English royalty handed out "maundy purses" of alms to the poor before attending Mass on this day.[31]
