Editing Maundy Thursday (section)

====Services====
{{Main|Mass of the Lord's Supper|Royal Maundy}}

In the [[United Kingdom]], the [[Royal Maundy]] service involves the [[Monarch]] offering "alms" to deserving senior citizens – one man and one woman for each year of the sovereign's age.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.royal.uk/royal-maundy-service|title=Royal Maundy Service|website=The Royal Family |language=en|access-date=28 March 2024}}</ref> These coins, known as [[Maundy money]] or Royal Maundy, are distributed in red and white purses, and is a custom dating back to [[Edward I of England|King Edward I]]. The red purse contains regular currency and is given in place of food and clothing. The white purse has money in the amount of one penny for each year of the Sovereign's age. Since 1822, rather than ordinary money, the Sovereign gives out [[Maundy money#Maundy coinage|Maundy coins]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Maundy Money |url =http://www.royalmint.com/RoyalMint/web/site/Corporate/Corp_british_coinage/Maundy_Money.asp |access-date=28 March 2007 |website=The Royal Mint|archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20070328121720/http://www.royalmint.com/RoyalMint/web/site/Corporate/Corp_british_coinage/Maundy_Money.asp |archive-date =28 March 2007 }}</ref> which are specially minted 1, 2, 3 and 4 penny pieces, and are legal tender. The service at which this takes place rotates around English and Welsh churches, though in 2008 it took place for the first time in [[Northern Ireland]] at [[St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh (Church of Ireland)|Armagh Cathedral]]. Until the death of King [[James II of England|James II]], the [[Monarch]] would also wash the feet of the selected poor people. There is an old sketch, done from life, of Queen [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth I]] washing people's feet on Maundy Thursday.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}

The [[Footwashing|Maundy]] (washing of the feet) is practised among many Christian groups on Maundy Thursday, including the [[Anglican]]/[[Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America|Protestant Episcopal]],<ref>{{cite book | title = Episcopal and the African Methodist Episcopal Church | work = Book of Occasional Services | page = 93 | year = 1994}}</ref> [[Armenian Apostolic Church|Armenian]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.armenianchurch.net/worship/easter/thursday.html |title=Maundy Thursday |publisher=The Armenian Church |access-date=13 August 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224130221/http://www.armenianchurch.net/worship/easter/thursday.html |archive-date=24 February 2009 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church|Ethiopian]], [[Lutheran]],  [[Methodist]], [[Eastern Catholic]], [[Schwarzenau Brethren|Schwarzenau (German Baptist) Brethren]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.brethren.org/ |title=Churches of the Brethren |publisher=Brethren.org |date=8 August 2013 |access-date=13 August 2013}}</ref> [[Mennonite]],  [[Presbyterian]] and [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] traditions.<ref name="UMC Maundy Thursday">{{cite web|url = http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=2873| title = What is Maundy Thursday? |publisher = United Methodist Church|access-date = 21 March 2007}}</ref><ref name="Stamm2015">{{cite book |last1=Stamm |first1=Mark |title=Devoting Ourselves to the Prayers: A Baptismal Theology for the Church's Intercessory Work |date=2015 |publisher=Upper Room Books |isbn=978-0-88177-714-7 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Elwell2001">{{cite book |last1=Elwell |first1=Walter A. |title=Evangelical Dictionary of Theology |date=2001 |publisher=Baker Academic |isbn=978-0-8010-2075-9 |page=750 |language=en |quote=Observed in the Roman Catholic Church, Maundy Thursday appears on the Lutheran, Anglican, and many Reformed liturgical calendars and is almost universally celebrated with the Lord's Supper.}}</ref>

[[File:Chancel of Houston Memorial UMC on Good Friday.jpg|thumb|upright=1|[[Stripping of the Altar|Altar and crucifix veiled]] in a Methodist church on Maundy Thursday in preparation for [[Good Friday]]]]

With Maundy Thursday commemorating the [[Last Supper]], Christian denominations who observe this day universally celebrate the [[sacrament]] of [[Holy Communion]], which they teach was instituted by Jesus on this night.<ref name="Elwell2001"/> In the Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church and in certain Anglican congregations, the [[Mass of the Lord's Supper]] begins as usual, but the [[Gloria in Excelsis Deo|Gloria]] is accompanied by the ringing of [[church bell]]s, which are then silent until the [[Easter Vigil]].<ref name="CC-Maundy Thursday">{{cite web|url = http://www.catholicculture.org/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2008-03-20|title = Maundy Thursday|publisher = Catholic Culture|access-date = 21 March 2007|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110514153942/http://www.catholicculture.org/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2008-03-20|archive-date = 14 May 2011|df = dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="Gramenz2021">{{cite web |last1=Gramenz |first1=Stefan |title=Holy Week II: Maundy Thursday |url=https://lutheranmissal.home.blog/2021/03/26/holy-week-overview-ii-maundy-thursday/ |publisher=The Lutheran Missal |access-date=26 March 2024 |language=en |date=27 March 2021}}</ref> After the homily the washing of feet may be performed. The [[Blessed Sacrament]] remains exposed, at least in the Catholic Mass, until the service concludes with a [[procession]] taking it to the [[Altar of Repose|place of reposition]]. The altar is later stripped bare, as are all other altars in the church except the Altar of Repose. In pre-1970 editions, the [[Roman Missal]] of the Catholic Church envisages this being done ceremonially, to the accompaniment of {{bibleverse||Psalms|21–22|KJV}},<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.sanctamissa.org/en/resources/books-1962/missale-romanum-1962.pdf| title = Missale Romanum| year = 1962| page = 161| access-date = 8 February 2021| archive-date = 15 February 2020| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200215054059/https://sanctamissa.org/en/resources/books-1962/missale-romanum-1962.pdf| url-status = dead}}</ref><ref>{{CathEncy|wstitle=Stripping of an Altar}}</ref> a practice which continues in the Lutheran churches and Anglican churches of Anglo-Catholic [[churchmanship]].<ref name="LL2013">{{cite web |title=The Three Days: traditions of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and the Vigil of Easter |url=https://www.livinglutheran.org/2013/04/three-days-traditions-maundy-thursday-good-friday-vigil-easter |publisher=[[Living Lutheran]] |date=5 April 2013 |quote=After the Eucharist is celebrated it is customary to “strip the altar,” which symbolizes the abandonment of Jesus by his disciples and the stripping of Jesus by the soldiers before his crucifixion. It represents the humiliation of Jesus and the consequences of sin as a preparation for the celebration of new life. In many congregations Psalm 22 is read or sung while the paraments are being removed.}}</ref> In other [[Christian denominations]], such as the Methodist Churches, the stripping of the altar and other items on the [[chancel]] also occurs, as a preparation for the somber [[Good Friday]] service.<ref name="LBW-Maundy Thursday">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=BinVUNIdOgAC&q=stripping+of+altar+lutheran&pg=PA319| title = Maundy Thursday: Stripping the Altar |publisher = Lutheran Church|access-date = 21 March 2007|isbn = 978-0-8066-1676-6|author1 = Pfatteicher, Philip H|author2 = Messerli, Carlos R|year = 1979}}</ref> The stripping of the altar represents "the abandonment of Jesus by his disciples and the stripping of Jesus by the soldiers before his crucifixion."<ref name="LL2013"/>