Thursday, April 2, 2026

0:00It is the 2nd of April, 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org. I'm Dan VanVoris. In honor of these high holy days, the Almanac is going to be taking these next two days and the weekend edition to ask questions about the triduum, the three days before Easter and Easter Sunday. There are so many practices and words and traditions we will dive into some of these over the next few days. Today of course is Monday Thursday, a sometimes overlooked holiday among some Protestants we will explain why, and the night of the last supper being instituted, the washing of the disciples' feet and liturgically the stripping of the altars. It's fair to say this is one of the most dramatic days on the church calendar.

1:04Mondi comes from the Latin mandatum from the phrase commandment, and specifically the new commandment Jesus gives in John 13 that his disciples love one another, and this is given in the context of Jesus washing the disciples' feet. This appears to be parallel to the synoptic gospels where the Lord's Supper is instituted. So the washing of feet and the Lord's Supper have been historically the key points for this service, and it's an old service. We have record of it in Justin Martyr's first apology from around the year 150. Footwashing was a central part of the early Christian life and liturgy. It was a common practice to wash one another's feet and to attend to prisons and to the poor to wash their feet, but this not connected to any one time or season. It became a liturgical right for those who developed a liturgy of baptism that also included a ritual footwashing.

2:07Mondi Thursday was one of the days in which new Christians were often baptized, and then their feet would be washed. This was also a day to recognize those who were being brought back into the church after a time of penitence. The church would officially recognize penitence back into the church on this day, such that they could worship with the rest of the community on Resurrection Sunday. And the token they would be given on this day would be a green branch, a fresh chute. In fact, in German, today is not. Mondi Thursday, but groomed on a stack or green Thursday because of the green branches given out. Both Eastern and Western churches observed today, although for the question of why the Eastern churches are on a different day that will come this weekend. In the east and some places in the west, it is called Great and Holy Thursday. The Senate of Toledo, a local council in the 600s, declared Mondi Thursday as a service for footwashing, and then the rule of Benedict further spread the practice in the west.

3:13This year you might hear of King Charles III giving out Mondi coins to the elderly. This is part of an old medieval practice whereby Christian monarchs would wash the feet and give alms to the poor as a radical gesture and reversal of hierarchy. Who was the first English king to do this? Udelale King John, that lion voiced by Peter used enough. The washing of feet has always been practiced but not universally ordained in the service itself. In the west, the footwashing was traditionally a service adjacent to the Mondi Thursday services, and the celebration of the last supper, only since 1955 has it been reintroduced into the services, at least in the Catholic Church. In the Catholic and Orthodox Church, it is often an episcopal right, meaning it is Church leaders washing the feet of others, often symbolically twelve.

4:14The communal footwashing ceremony may have its origins in the early church, but became more commonplace during the radical reformation. The Lord's Supper is celebrated, and this is followed by the ceremonial stripping of the altars, the removal of the communion elements and other items on the altar, such that it will be left bare for the good Friday service. The traditional service was kept largely intact in both Lutheran and Anglican traditions, with the reformed generally abandoning the practice until just recently, even those reformed bodies that held to certain evangelical feast days tended not to number Mondi Thursday as one of them. John Calvin was especially opposed to the ceremonial footwashing in his commentary on John XIII, he called it, Foolish the Funery, that guy. Let me finish with a teaser. There are those Christians who will argue that good Friday should actually be today,

5:17Thursday, and for that story, wait for the weekend edition with all your Easter questions answered. The last word for today comes from the daily lecture in the words of institution, as recorded by Paul and First Corinthians, for I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, he also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 2nd of March, 2026, brought to you

6:19by 1517 at 1517.org. This show is produced by man who wishes John Calvin would just lighten up a little bit. He is Christ for Gillespie, the show is written and read by man who will never pass up a reference to Robin Hood. I'm Dan VanVores, you can catch us here every day. And remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true. It's going to be okay.