GOOD FRIDAY, the name given in England to the Friday of passion week, which is observed as a fast day, as being the anniversary of our Saviour's crucifixion. Among the Saxons it was called Long Friday, probably from the length of the religious services observed. In Germany it is called Stiller Freitag, from the reverential silence maintained in the churches, but more commonly Char Freitag, from an obsolete word signifying penitence. In the Greek and Latin Churches many of the ceremonies still practised on this day remount in antiquity to the days of Constantine the Great.