Saturday of Passion Week #
The homily of St. Epiphanius of Cyprus for Great Saturday begins magnificently—a homily which the Church Ustav recommends reading before the start of the Paschal Midnight Office, if time permits after the reading of the Acts of the Apostles.
“What is this? Why such deep silence upon the earth, and why such stillness? — It is because the King is asleep. The earth fell silent out of fear, for the Lord has fallen asleep in the flesh and has raised up those who slept from ages past. The Lord died in the flesh, and Hades trembled. The Lord slept for a little while, and He awakened those who from ages past had slept in the abyss. Where now, O lawless ones, are those noisy and frenzied cries against Christ that echoed before? Where are the crowds, the soldiers, the clubs? Where are the kings, the priests, and the judges deserving condemnation? Where are the torches, the swords, and the chaotic shouts? Where has the raging mob and the dishonorable guard fled? Truly, “the people imagined a vain thing” (Psalm 2:1). They stumbled upon the cornerstone—Christ—and were broken; they struck against the solid Rock and shattered themselves; their waves turned to foam…
Now salvation has shone forth for those living upon the earth and for those from of old in the abyss; now salvation has shone upon the visible and invisible world alike; a double coming of Christ today, a double work, a double compassion, a double descent—and withal, a condescension—a double visitation of mankind: God comes from Heaven to earth, and from earth to the netherworld; the gates of Hades are opened: O ye who from of old have died, rejoice, and ye who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, receive the great Light!”
The spiritual mystery of this day is revealed both in the saint’s homily and in the wondrous canon of the Saturday Matins, which is also read again during the Paschal Midnight Office:
“The heavenly hosts saw Thee enthroned on high, and the depths saw Thee beneath, laid in the tomb, my Savior, and they trembled at Thy death; for though appearing as one dead, Thou wast revealed to be the Author of Life” (Ode 1).
“Hades reigns, yet not forever over the race of men. For Thou, O Savior, having been laid in the tomb, didst burst asunder the bars of death with Thy strong and life-giving hand, and didst proclaim true deliverance to those who had slumbered there from the beginning of the ages, becoming the Firstborn from the dead” (Ode 6).
This was the day on which Christ’s disciples, together with the Most Holy God-bearer and the devout women who did not leave her in her motherly sorrow, kept the Sabbath rest according to the Law of Moses. They restrained the grief that consumed them, while the murderers of Christ—hypocrites who pretended to be zealous for the Law—though satisfied with their evil deed, could find no rest, tormented as they were by malice, anxiety, and fear. Their plea to Pilate to seal the tomb and post a guard betrayed their inner turmoil. Even dead and sealed behind the great stone, Christ remained a threat to their selfish and tyrannical dominion over the minds of men, a dominion they exercised in the name of God and His law.
Their hearts were gripped by the premonition that their authority would soon be overthrown by the power of the One they had crucified. But their corrupted consciences and deeply ingrained evil habits would not let them humble themselves before Him or believe in Him. “Ye do the deeds of your father,” Christ had said to them before His crucifixion. “If God were your Father, ye would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do ye not understand My speech? Even because ye cannot hear My word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. […] He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God” (John 8:41, 44–47).
Meanwhile, the dominion of the father of lies was shaken not only in the darkened souls of the scribes, Pharisees, and elders of the people, but also in the depths of Hades itself. With His human soul, assumed together with all the properties of human nature, the Lord descended into Hades after His death, where from of old the souls of the dead had been imprisoned, and He led out from there the souls of the righteous who had loved Him even before His coming.
Foreseeing this triumphant descent, the prophet David once sang in the Psalms: “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle” (Ps. 23:7–8, 10). “Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder” (Ps. 106:15–16).
“The gates of brass are broken, and the iron bars are shattered,” echoes St. John of Damascus in response to the prophetic word. “The everlasting doors are opened, the guardian of Hades is shaken, and the foundations of the universe are revealed. For the One free from sin is numbered among the dead; and He who loosed the bonds of Lazarus is now wrapped in burial linens, that He might free man, slain by sin and entangled in its nets, from bondage and lead him into liberty. Now the King of Glory, mighty in battle, comes to the tyrant—He whose coming to us is from the heights of Heaven, who has run the course of life like a giant, and binds the strong one like a feeble bird… restoring rightfully what the unjust one had stolen. Now the Word descends to the dragon, to Leviathan, to the apostate… hiding in the heart of the earth, and like a fisherman hiding a hook with a worm, He draws him out with the divine bait—His body concealing His divinity—and forces him to release those whom he had wretchedly swallowed when he was strong, and so the one who boasted in his riches is sent away empty” (Homily on Great Saturday).
“Death once boasted and gloried, saying, ‘Priests and kings are shut up within my halls,’” writes St. Ephraim the Syrian. “But the glorious Warrior burst suddenly into the kingdom of death; like a plunderer His voice penetrated its depths and silenced its boasting. […] His voice, like the sound of mighty thunder, reached the dead and proclaimed to them that they were freed from bondage” (Christ’s Victory Over Death).
With such exalted words, the descent of Christ into Hades is glorified by Orthodox theologians and hymnographers of all ages. Even those who lived in the times of greatest disasters, persecutions, and wars found joy and hope in the spiritual contemplation of Christ’s victory over the power of death and Hades. In that victory, they saw the pledge and promise of the Second Glorious Coming of “the Son of Man, coming in the clouds with power and great glory,” when “He shall send His angels and shall gather His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven” (Mark 13:26–27); when death, which Scripture calls “the last enemy,” shall be utterly destroyed (1 Cor. 15:26), and all shall be completely subjected to the Son of God. And when all things are subdued unto the Son, the Apostle says, “then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all” (1 Cor. 15:28).
Therefore, the sorrowful day of Christ’s bodily rest in the tomb is also the day of His triumph, power, and glory. The Church calls it the “Most Blessed Sabbath,” penetrating its mystery and confirming itself in its greatest hope. And every Christian who has ever wept for departed loved ones finds comfort in knowing that “as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive; but every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming. […] For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory’ (Isa. 25:8). O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” exclaims the Apostle Paul, echoing the prophet Hosea—and all the saints from all ages join him in that cry: “Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:22–23, 53–54, 57).
Kondak, Tone 6
He who shut the abyss is seen as dead, and wrapped in myrrh and linen cloths, He is laid in the tomb as a mortal, though He is the Immortal One. The women came to anoint Him with sweet spices, weeping bitterly and crying aloud: “This is the Most Blessed Sabbath, wherein Christ hath slept, and shall rise again on the third day!”
Ikos
He who holds the ends of the earth was raised upon the Cross, and all creation wept. Seeing Him hanging naked upon the Tree, the sun hid its rays, and the stars withdrew their light. The earth was shaken with great fear, the sea fled, and the rocks were rent; many tombs were opened, and the bodies of saints arose, shining. Hades groaned below, the Jews plotted to slander the Resurrection of Christ; but the women cried aloud: “This is the Most Blessed Sabbath, wherein Christ hath slept, and shall rise again on the third day!”
Stikhera at the Praises, Tone 6
The great mystery of this day Moses once prefigured, saying: “And God blessed the seventh day.” For this is the blessed Sabbath; this is the day of rest, wherein the Only-Begotten Son of God rested from all His works. By divine providence, He rested in the flesh from death, and returned again to that which He was, granting us eternal life through the Resurrection, for He alone is good and the Lover of mankind.