Good Friday for everyone: a restart of recognition in Austria!

Good Friday for everyone: a restart of recognition in Austria!

The Evangelical General Synod passed a significant resolution in Graz on December 5, 2024, which demands Good Friday as a legal holiday for all people in Austria. In a unanimous decision, the delegates emphasized the high religious importance of this day, which is reminiscent of the suffering and death of Jesus. "The Good Friday as a holiday for everyone is based on our common history, a new monument for respect and careful dealings with minorities in our country," said the representatives of the synod. The collection of Good Friday also commemorates the serious discrimination, which Evangelical Christians were exposed to in the past, including a conversion and persecution in the course of the counter -reformation.

This initiative is also a reaction to the abolition of Good Friday as a holiday for Protestant, methodist and old Catholic Christians in 2019, which left a deep pain in the Protestant community. The General Synod sees the return to a holiday that is valid for all people, as a question of justice and respect for the Protestant tradition in Austria. This invitation to the political parties would be a step to strengthen social cohesion in a multicultural country.

evangelical holidays at a glance

In addition to the debate about Good Friday, the variety of the Evangelical Holidays is pointed out in Austria. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Good Friday is not a legal holiday in the classic sense, but it remains of central importance for the Evangelical Church because it is reminiscent of the crucifixion of Jesus. Other holidays such as Easter Monday and Whit Monday are also important events in the Protestant tradition of belief that encourage reflection on the resurrection and the administration of the Holy Spirit. A detailed overview of these evangelical holidays can be found in the list of jesus-info.de .