Royal Maundy pence to each of fifty poor men. It is not known, however, whether it was as yet the practice each year to have the number of pence and the number of recipients track the monarch's age: Henry IV was the first monarch to decree that the number of pence given be determined by the monarch's age. The ceremony was not always performed on Maundy Thursday; it could be postponed a day to Good Friday by royal command, as it was in 1510. Nobles could hold their own Maundy distributions, as did Henry Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland in the early
Maundy Thursday and healing. In addition, the Bishop and clergy in attendance will reaffirm their Ordination Vows. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the liturgical colours are brighter, white being common. On this day alone during Holy Week, the fast is relaxed to permit consumption of wine and oil. The primary service of this day is Vespers combined with the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great at which is read the first Passion Gospel (), known as the "Gospel of the Testament", and many of the normal hymns of the Divine Liturgy are substituted with the following troparion: "Of Thy Mystical Supper, O