Great & Holy Saturday

These were just a few verses that we sang in church last night and this morning that really kind of blew my mind (bold emphasis my own):

From the Canon of Great & Holy Saturday:
"The Life of All accepts burial in the tomb,
And the tomb becomes the source of resurrection
Unto the salvation of us who sing:
Blessed are you, O God, our redeemer!"

This verse hit me because, not only did Christ defeat death by His death (paradoxical enough), He made it His slave (essentially) by wielding it to be a new source of life. That even though we all die, we're no longer held captive by death. Whoa!


From the Liturgy on Great & Holy Saturday:
"Today hell cries out groaning:
I should not have accepted the Man born of Mary.
He came and destroyed my power.
He shattered the gates of brass.
As God, He raised the souls that I had held captive.
Glory to Thy cross and resurrection, O Lord.

"Today, hell cries out groaning:
My dominion has been shattered.
I received a dead man as one of the dead,
but against Him I could not prevail.
From eternity I had ruled the dead,
but behold, He raises all.
Because of Him do I perish.
Glory to Thy cross and resurrection, O Lord."

Fr. Alexander Schmemman of blessed memory describes Christ's time in hell as an "active repose." Interesting contrast.


Have a wonderful Pascha!