Holy Week guide · Day 5 of 8
Covenant Thursday
The Last Supper and the Washing of Feet
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- Date
- Length
- 3-4 hours
What happens today
Covenant Thursday - also known as Holy Thursday or the Thursday of the Covenant - commemorates two central events in salvation history. First, the Lord Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, teaching them that true greatness lies in humble service (John 13:1-17). This is re-enacted in the Coptic Church through the Lakan ceremony, where the priest washes the feet of the congregation. Second, Christ instituted the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper, taking bread and wine and declaring, ‘This is My Body’ and ‘This is My Blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins’ (Matthew 26:26-28). This is the only day during Holy Week when the Divine Liturgy is celebrated, because it is the anniversary of the first Eucharist. The service is deeply moving - the faithful receive Communion knowing that Christ gave them this gift on the eve of His suffering.
He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
At St. Stephen
18937 Kz Rd., Cypress, TX 77433
This day's service times are posted on the schedule as Holy Week nears.
The services and their readings
Open a service to read what it remembers.
Covenant Thursday - Matins to 9th HourLuke 22:7–13 · Isaiah 52:13–53:12 · 1 Corinthians 5:7
The preparations for Passover
Luke 22:7-13. The disciples ask where to prepare the Passover meal. Christ sends them to a man carrying a pitcher of water who will show them a large upper room, furnished and prepared. Coptic tradition identifies this as the house of St. Mark the Evangelist - the first church, the place where the disciples would gather after the Resurrection, and the room where the Holy Spirit would descend at Pentecost. The mundane detail of preparing a meal becomes the stage for the institution of the Eucharist. Every detail in the preparation narrative carries weight: the room is already prepared because God has been preparing this moment since before the foundation of the world.
The fourth Servant Song
Isaiah 52:13-53:12 is read at the 11th hour of Thursday. It is the fullest Old Testament prophecy of the suffering Messiah. “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” Every line finds its fulfillment in the events of the next twenty-four hours. The Coptic Church reads this passage on Thursday rather than Friday because it describes the divine intention behind the Passion before the Passion begins. The Cross is not an accident or a defeat. It is the plan of God announced seven hundred years before it was accomplished.
The Lamb of God
The convergence of Jewish Passover and Christian Pascha is total on this day. The lamb slain in Egypt, whose blood on the doorposts saved Israel from the angel of death (Exodus 12), prefigures the Lamb of God whose blood saves humanity from eternal death. St. Paul states it directly: “Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7). The Last Supper is both the final Passover meal and the first Eucharist - the moment the shadow gives way to the reality. What Moses commanded, Christ fulfills. The blood that was placed on wood in Egypt is now placed on the wood of the Cross.
Liturgy of the WaterZechariah 13:1 · John 13:1–17
The eight prophecies of water
The Laqqan service opens with eight Old Testament readings, each centered on water. Genesis 18: Abraham washes the feet of the three visitors at Mamre - the earliest type of divine hospitality. The Exodus reading recounts the crossing of the Red Sea - water as the instrument of deliverance. Joshua’s crossing of the Jordan follows - water as the threshold of the Promised Land. Isaiah and Ezekiel speak of cleansing water and the fountain that will be opened for sin and uncleanness (Zechariah 13:1). Each prophecy reveals a different dimension of what Christ does when He kneels before His disciples with a basin and a towel: He hosts, He delivers, He opens the way, He cleanses.
He who is Lord becomes servant
John 13:1-17. Christ rises from supper, lays aside His garments, wraps a towel around His waist, and washes the feet of His disciples one by one. St. Cyril of Alexandria, the 24th Pope of Alexandria, taught that this was not merely an example of humility but a revelation of the nature of God. Peter’s refusal - “You shall never wash my feet” - and Christ’s response - “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me” - reveals that receiving service from God is itself an act of faith. The one who formed the heavens kneels before fishermen. The reversal of all earthly authority is not a temporary gesture but the permanent character of the Kingdom.
Divine Liturgy (Last Supper)1 Corinthians 11:23–29 · Psalm 23 · Matthew 26:26–28 · Exodus 24:8
This is My Body
1 Corinthians 11:23-29 is the Pauline reading for this Liturgy - the institution narrative. “The Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My Body which is broken for you.’” Every Divine Liturgy celebrated anywhere in the world across twenty centuries participates in this same act. On Covenant Thursday, the connection is direct and historical: the Church gathers to receive what Christ gave on the very night it was given. Psalm 23 is read at communion: “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.”
The new covenant in My Blood
Matthew 26:26-28. Christ takes the cup and says, “This is My Blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” The word “covenant” is the key to this day’s name. The old covenant was sealed with the blood of animals (Exodus 24:8); the new covenant is sealed with the blood of God. The cup the disciples drink at this supper is the cup Christ will pray about in Gethsemane: “Let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39). The Eucharist and the Cross are one act, not two.
The only Liturgy of the week
The Coptic Church suspends the Divine Liturgy during Holy Week because you do not celebrate the sacrifice while the sacrifice is being accomplished. The Lamb is on the altar of the Cross. Covenant Thursday is the exception because it is the anniversary of the first Eucharist - the night Christ Himself instituted the sacrament. The next Liturgy will be on Bright Saturday, the day the tomb is sealed but death has already been defeated from within. The faithful who receive Communion today enter the darkness of Great Friday having just received the Body and Blood of the One who is about to be crucified.
Eve of Great FridayJohn 13:33–17:26 · Exodus 15:2
The Farewell Discourse
John 13:33-17:26 is read during Thursday evening - the most intimate words Christ speaks in the Gospels. “Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me.” “I am the vine, you are the branches.” “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down his life for his friends.” The High Priestly Prayer of John 17 - “that they all may be one” - is the last prayer Christ prays before Gethsemane. Hearing these words on the night of the arrest, in a church that has been walking toward the Cross all week, gives them an urgency they cannot carry at any other time of year.
The final addition to the Doxology
From the first hour of Thursday evening (the Eve of Great Friday), the final phrase is added to Thok te ti-gom: “Tagom nem pa esmou pe Epchois, afsopi nei evsotiria ethouab” - “The Lord is my strength, my praise, and has become my holy salvation.” This is from Exodus 15:2, the Song of Moses after the crossing of the Red Sea - the oldest victory hymn in Scripture. Adding it on the eve of the Cross is a profound theological statement: the same God who parted the sea is about to part the gates of death. The doxology now contains its full form - praise, personal address to the Savior, and the song of deliverance - and will remain in this form through the Resurrection.