Improperia

The Improperia are a series of antiphons and responses, expressing the remonstrance of Jesus Christ with his people.

[2] In their present form in the Roman Rite, the Improperia are a series of three couplets, sung antiphonally by cantors and followed by alternate Greek and Latin responses from the two halves of the choir; and nine other lines sung by the cantors, with the full choir responding after each with the refrain "Popule meus, quid feci tibi?

Thus the Improperia begin with this couplet that includes parts of the Trisagion: Cantor 1: Popule meus, quid feci tibi?

Cantor 2: Quia eduxi te de terra Ægypti: parasti Crucem Salvatori tuo.

The nine following reproaches are sung alternately by the cantors of each choir, beginning with the second, with the full choir responding after each reproach with the line, "Popule meus ...": Cantors 3 & 4: Ego propter te flagellavi Ægyptum cum primogenitis suis: et tu me flagellatum tradidisti.

Cantors 1 & 2: Ego eduxi te de Ægypto, demerso Pharaone in mare rubrum: et tu me tradidisti principibus sacerdotum.

I led you from slavery to freedom and drowned your captors in the red sea, but you handed me over to your high priests.

During the English Reformation, the Reproaches were suppressed by Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury when he authored the first Book of Common Prayer in the sixteenth century.

In the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Reproaches were incorporated in its 1993 Book of Common Worship, pp 287–291(Revised 2018).

They are part of the Good Friday liturgy, and follow the Solemn Intercessions and Lord's Prayer.

They can be followed by a psalm or hymn or other musical offering, and the congregation, thereafter, departs in silence.

If used in the service of Friday Tenebrae, they are read at the end of the lessons, once only the Christ candle is still burning.

Often a bell or chime is stuck 33 times in remembrance of Jesus' years, as the people sit in silence.