Holy Week Trivia Quiz

Answer: The week before Easter

Holy Week is the last week of Lent, just before Easter, and focuses on Jesus' final days on earth before his resurrection, which is celebrated on Easter Sunday. It is a time of preparation for Easter in which worshippers take active part in the Gospel story through symbolic rituals and the hearing of pertinent Scriptures.

Answer: Shrove Tuesday

Shrove Tuesday, known also as Fat Tuesday or Mardis Gras, is a day of feasting prior to Ash Wednesday, which kicks off Lent in the Western Christian calendar. Unlike Holy Week, it falls prior to, and not towards the end of, Lent.

Answer: Palm Sunday/Holy Saturday

In the Western church, Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday and ends on Holy Saturday, just before Easter. It does not include Easter Sunday, which is the first day of a new church season known as "The Great Fifty Days," the time from Easter to Pentecost.

Answer: Lazarus Saturday

In the Eastern Church, Holy Week starts on the Saturday before Palm Sunday, called Lazarus Saturday because it commemorates the resurrection of Lazarus recounted in the Gospel of John.

Answer: Palm Sunday

A typical Palm Sunday will usually include a reading of the Gospel account of how Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to shouts of hosanna, and worshippers will often be given palm leaves to wave. Worshippers typically weave these palm leaves into the shape of crosses during or after the service.

Answer: The Last Supper

Maundy Thursday, also known as Holy Thursday, commemorates Christ's final Passover meal with his disciples, when he instituted the practice of the Eucharist (communion). Some churches hold services that include foot washing, in remembrance of how Jesus washed the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper. Some churches also hold a Passover meal.

Answer: The Harrowing of Hades

In the Coptic Church, as in the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Churches, it is called "Joyous Saturday," because it is believed to be the day that Christ descended to Hades (sometimes called Sheol or Hell) and rose up to Paradise those souls that were held captive there.

The tradition that Jesus "descended into hell" (in the words of the Apostle's Creed) is drawn from, among other verses, 1 Peter 4:6, which says the gospel was "proclaimed even to the dead" and 1 Peter 3:19-20, which says Christ "went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey."

Answer: Good Friday

Good Friday, also known as Holy Friday or Great Friday, commemorates Christ's crucifixion and is generally observed in a somber manner. It is typically a day of fasting in liturgical churches. In the Catholic Church, mass is never celebrated on Good Friday except with the special exemption of the Vatican or a local bishop.

Answer: Fig Monday

This day commemorates the events related in Mark 11, when Jesus cursed the fig tree for being barren. But there is a positive note to this story as well, for when Christ and the disciples later pass the fig tree, "Peter remembered and said to him, 'Master, look! The fig tree which you cursed has withered.' And Jesus answered them, 'Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, `Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against any one; so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses'" (Mark 11:21-25).

Answer: Holy Saturday

Anglicans do not take Eucharist on this day, but instead engage in a simple liturgy with readings that commemorate the burial of Jesus. The altar is typically stripped after the service on Maundy Thursday and remains so until Easter.

Answer: Judas conspiring to betray him

Because of this association with Judas, Holy Wednesday is sometimes called "Spy Wednesday." In Poland, it used to be traditional for children to throw an effigy of Judas from the church steeple on Spy Wednesday.

Answer: Even if I must die with you, I will never deny you.

Palm Sunday is also known as Passion Sunday because of this focus on the suffering and betrayal of Christ. Today, some liturgical churches, including many Lutheran and Anglican churches, use the passion play "The Cry of the Whole Congregation" as the liturgy for the Palm Sunday service.

In the play, worshippers assume the role of the crowd who shout "Hosanna" and wave palm leaves to praise Jesus when he enters Jerusalem, but also the part of those who mock Jesus at his trial and demand his crucifixion.

This liturgical practice places the congregation in the uncomfortable position of having to act the part of Jesus' betrayers and executioners, thereby acknowledging that they are responsible for His death, that it was for them and by their sins that Christ was crucified.

The line "Even if I must die with you, I will never deny you," is spoken by an actor who plays Peter in the play, not by the entire congregation.

Answer: Holy Saturday

Holy Saturday is the last day of Holy Week. In the Eastern Orthodox Church it is called the Great Sabbath, in remembrance of the fact that this was the day Christ "rested" in the tomb.

Answer: False

Liturgical churches such as the Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran churches routinely observe Holy Week with special services, but not all denominations do so. Of the Holy Week holy days, Palm Sunday and Good Friday are the most commonly observed in non-liturgical churches, but there are churches that do nothing special to observe any of the days of Holy Week. Such churches would typically have a regular service on Palm Sunday and probably a service on Easter that focuses on the resurrection.

Answer: Holy Tuesday

Few Protestant churches hold a special service for Holy Tuesday, though there are many that observe the other holy days. In the Roman Catholic Church, Holy Tuesday is observed with readings from Isaiah 49:1-6, among other scriptures. The Eastern Orthodox Church, which calls the day Great Tuesday, commemorates the parable of the ten virgins.