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Photos and video from the office Tenebrae 2026 at St George's Cathedral with Fr Phil Andrews & the Southwark Catholic Youth Service

St George's Cathedral marked Spy Wednesday with the ancient Office of Tenebrae, organised by the Southwark Catholic Youth Service.

The faithful gathered for this solemn night prayer of Holy Week. One by one, candles were extinguished as the Church entered the darkness of the Passion, yet one light remained, a sign that the darkness of the Cross does not overcome the Light of Christ.

Fr Phil Andrews presided and preached at the service, during which the Lamentations of Jeremiah and the Passion of the Lord were sung. Confessions were heard throughout.

Preaching at the service, Fr Phil said:

“In the Byzantine tradition, the great image of Easter is not simply Christ stepping out of the tomb in splendour. It is the Anastasis: Christ descending into the realm of death, shattering its gates from within, standing over its broken bars, reaching down to Adam and Eve, and drawing them up. He does not merely leave the tomb behind; he enters the prison of the human race as its victor. He enters the deepest place of our lostness, not as a captive, but as the conqueror. That image matters; because it tells us where Christ goes. He goes exactly where we would fear he cannot. He goes where hope seems finished. He goes where humankind can no longer rescue itself…

"Anastasis is such a necessary image for the wounded heart. Adam does not lift himself out of the abyss. Christ takes him by the wrist. Eve does not negotiate her own release. Christ summons her into life. Redemption begins, not with our success, but with his descent; not with our strength, but with his victorious mercy. And this means that there is no one here tonight who need say: 'My darkness is too much for God'…

“ This is why, in the bleakness of Good Friday, in the midst of lament, the Church can still glimpse victory. Even within the solemn reproaches, there shines the strange and mighty light of Christ’s triumph."