Lent, Holy Week and Easter 2025

Welcome


Lent is a time of reflection and renewal, when we journey together through prayer, contemplation, and worship. This sacred season invites us to remember the forty days Jesus spent fasting in the wilderness, preparing our hearts for the solemnity of Holy Week and the joy of Easter.

Holy Week is a time of deep reflection, as we recall Christ’s journey to the Cross and await the hope and light of Easter, the most important festival of the Christian year.

We warmly invite you to join us for services and events throughout this season, including the creation of a beautiful Easter Garden outside the Cathedral—an enduring symbol of resurrection and new life.

Lent


Ash Wednesday, Wednesday 5 March
17:30: The Eucharist with the Imposition of Ashes

All are welcome to join us as we mark the beginning of Lent, with music sung by the Cathedral Choir and a sermon preached by The Rt Revd Stephen Lake, Bishop of Salisbury. At the service, those attending will have crosses marked on their foreheads with ash. Our probationer (trainee) choristers helped to prepare the ash this year, which was made by burning Palm Crosses from last year’s Palm Sunday services.

 

Lent Lunches
Every Friday from 7th March until 11th April, 12.30 – 1.45pm

54 The Close, SP1 2EL
You are very welcome to join us for homemade soup and sandwiches every Friday throughout Lent. The lunch is free but donations are invited – all funds raised will go to support the Diocese of Salisbury’s longstanding link with medical projects in South Sudan. Come along and bring a friend.

The Beauty of Holiness: Praying the Psalms


This year’s Lent course explores the Psalms, the so-called songbook of the bible. The Psalms are songs of the soul. Through a series of engaging talks, we will consider their place in Christian spirituality and their value as a resource for personal and corporate prayer. All are welcome to these sessions, which will incorporate time for questions and discussion, and end with the beautiful service of Compline. A traditional choral service interspersed with short addresses, Compline dates back to medieval times drawing on prayers of ancient Sarum rite.

Mondays, 7:30-8:30pm, North Transept, followed by Compline at 8:40pm in the Quire

Free, no booking required

Learn more

Holy Week


Guest preacher in Holy Week

We’re pleased to welcome Revd Dr Cally Hammond, Dean of Gonville and Caius College Cambridge, who will preach at the Eucharist of the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday, lead the Good Friday Devotion on Good Friday and then preach at the Good Friday liturgy that follows, and preach at the Dawn Eucharist on Easter Day.

 

Palm Sunday, 13 April

08:00 Holy Communion

09:00 Font Service

09:15 Choral Mattins

10:30 The Eucharist with Procession of Palms from Choristers’ Green

This service begins on Choristers’ Green, where palm crosses are distributed and blessed, before moving to the West Front of the Cathedral, recalling the procession of Jesus into Jerusalem on a donkey. In the service, we also hear the account of Jesus’ betrayal and abandonment, crucifixion and death from the Gospel according to Luke.

16:30 Choral Evensong

 

Monday of Holy Week, 14 April

07:30 Morning Prayer

07:45 Holy Communion

17:30 Choral Evensong sung by Salisbury Cathedral Chamber Choir

19:30 Sarum Tenebrae: A Service of Shadows

A service with candles which are gradually extinguished, finishing in total darkness.
This is a service which is traditionally held during Holy Week.

 

Tuesday of Holy Week, 15 April

07:30 Morning Prayer

07:45 Holy Communion

12:00 Holy Communion

17:30 Choral Evensong sung by Salisbury Cathedral Lay Vicars

19:30 Compline sung by Salisbury Cathedral Youth Choir

 

Wednesday of Holy Week, 16 April

07:30 Morning Prayer

07:50 Holy Communion

17:30 Young People’s Stations of the Cross

 

Maundy Thursday, 17 April

Celebrating ministry and service, the Chrism Eucharist is an opportunity for the clergy and everyone to renew their commitment to Christian service as the clergy renew their ordination vows. The Bishop leads this service, and blesses oils for use in ministry in the following year. The evening Eucharist recalls Jesus’ last supper with his disciples. This service, beginning with a mood of intimacy, ends with the stripping of the altar and a procession to the Garden of Repose which recalls the Garden of Gethsemane. The Watch, where Christians keep vigil as did Christ the night before his crucifixion, takes place until midnight.

07:30 Morning Prayer

07:50 Holy Communion

11:00 Eucharist of the Chrism and Re-affirmation of Vows

17:30 Choral Evensong

19:30 The Eucharist of the Lord’s Supper

21:00 – 00:00 The Watch of the Passion

 

Good Friday, 18 April

All are welcome at 10am for a service at aimed at families and young children that tells the story of Good Friday. The Good Friday Devotion allows us, through prayer, music, silence, and the preacher’s words, to reflect on the suffering of Jesus and what it means for us. In the Liturgy of Good Friday symbols, words, and music enable us to accompany Jesus from his trial, to his death on the cross, and his burial in the tomb.

07:30 Morning Prayer

10:00 Children Service

12:00 Good Friday Devotion

13:30 The Liturgy of Good Friday

 

Holy Saturday, 19 April

The Cathedral is empty of all decoration for silent prayer. Visitors to the Cathedral on this day will be invited to spend a few moments of quiet reflection.

08:30 Morning Prayer

10:00 – 16:00 Meditation and Prayers

16:30 Evening Prayer

A line of candles marking out a cross on the floor. A woman is lighting a candle on the edge.

Easter


Easter Day, 20 April

At the end of the Easter Vigil, we move outside for the ‘sun arising in the East’. We kindle a fire, from which the Easter candle is lit, then enter the still-dark Cathedral and raise the candle as a sign of Jesus’ rising. New members of the church are baptized and confirmed. In the Eucharist at 10:30 the Easter Garden is blessed, and we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and the empty tomb.

04:00 The Easter Vigil and Readings

05:00 The Easter Liturgy

08:00 Holy Communion

09:00 Font service

10:30 The Eucharist with Blessing of the Easter Garden

15:00 Festal Evensong

Alleluia! Christ is Risen: An Easter Carol Service


Sunday 4 May, 5pm

A service of Easter readings from the bible and poetry reflecting on the Easter story, interspersed with musical items. To include popular Easter congregational carols and Easter anthems sung by the Cathedral Choir by composers such as Byrd, Hadley, Williamson, Vaughan Williams and Shephard.

Learn more

Events and more


The Easter Garden

4 April until 9 June

Our popular Easter Garden will return to outside the Visitor Entrance into the Cloisters. The vision of Hampshire-based horticultural designer Andy McIndoe, the Mediterranean plants will draw visitors back to the landscape and story of Jesus. Three crosses and a sealed tomb will remind us of his sacrificial death and burial on Good Friday before the stone is rolled aside and the tomb opens on Easter Sunday as we recall Jesus’ defeat of death and promise of salvation. The garden will continue throughout the season of Eastertide.

Salisbury Cathedral, Easter garden,
Photo by Finnbarr Webster

 

Stations of the Resurrection

Outside in the Close from 20 April

Explore the Cathedral grounds to encounter a series of readings, prayers and reflections to take us deeper into the Easter story.

St John Passion


As part of the Cathedral’s programme of worship for Passiontide, Salisbury Cathedral Choir performs J.S. Bach’s St. John Passion, a masterpiece of sacred music that vividly tells the story of Christ’s Passion. Featuring an exceptional lineup of soloists, the renowned period-instrument ensemble Florilegium, and Salisbury Cathedral Choir under the direction of David Halls, this performance promises to be a profound and moving experience.

Book Tickets

Family Activities


Children’s Easter Trail

Saturday 5 April until Tuesday 6 May. (during visiting hours, included in admission)

A reflective trail exploring Salisbury Cathedral during the festival of Easter.

Easter Crafts and Storytelling

Saturday 5 April from 10am-3pm

Get creative with Easter-themed crafts and an opportunity to make an Easter card for somebody special. There will be two short storytelling sessions bringing to life the Easter story for your little ones at 11am and 2pm. Free, included with general admission ticket.

 

Family Services

Sundays at 09:00 Font Service

Good Friday, 18 April 10:00 Family Service

Wednesday of Holy Week, 16 April 17:30 Young People’s Stations of the Cross