by St. Epiphanios of Salamis (+403)
What thing is this? Today there
is great silence upon the earth, great silence and stillness, verily great
silence, for the King sleeps. The earth was frightened and became still, for
God fell asleep in the flesh and raised up those who from ages past were
sleeping. God died in the flesh and Hades shuddered. God slumbered briefly, and
those in Hades He awoke.
Where now that so recent tumult,
those cries, that clamour against Christ, O ye lawless? Where the populace, the
oppositions, the ranks, the weapons, the spears? Where the kings, the priests,
and the judicable judges? Where the lanterns, the swords, the boisterous
shouts? Where the rabble, the jeering, the irreverent guard? Verily in truth
and in truth verily, "the peoples have meditated things empty and vain."
[1]
They have stumbled against the
Cornerstone, Christ, and they were broken; they have hurled themselves against
the solid Rock, and they were crushed, and their waves dispersed into foam.
They struck against the invincible Anvil, and they were shattered. Upon the
wood [of the Cross] they raised up the Rock of life, and It brought them down
and slew them. They bound the great Sampson, the Sun, God, but He, having
loosed the age-old bonds, destroyed the Philistines and iniquitous. God, the
Sun, Christ set beneath the earth and wrought for the Jews lasting nocturnal
darkness.
Today is salvation for men upon
the earth and for those who from ages past are beneath the earth. Today is
salvation for the world, the visible and the invisible. Twofold today is the
Master's coming, twofold the oeconomy, twofold the love of men, twofold the
descent and also the condescension, twofold His visitation of men. From Heaven
to earth, and from earth to the nether world God makes His way.
Ye that from ages past have
fallen asleep, rejoice! Ye that sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
receive the great Light! With the servants is the Master; with the dead is God;
with the mortal is Life; with the guilty is the Guiltless; with those in darkness
is the unwaning Light; with the captives is the Liberator; and with those in
the nethermost is He that is above the very heavens.
Christ [came] upon earth, and we
have believed; Christ is among the dead, let us descend with Him and behold
those mysteries yonder! Let us come to know the wonders of the Hidden One
hidden under the earth! Let us learn how and to whom the kerygma was manifested in Hades!
What then? Did God save
absolutely all when He appeared in Hades? In no wise. But there also He saved
them that believed. Yesterday oeconomy, today authority; yesterday the tokens
of infirmity, today those of majesty; yesterday the tokens of humanity, today
those of Divinity. Yesterday, He was slapped; today He smites the tenement of
Hades with the lightning of His Divinity. Yesterday He was bound; today He
binds the tyrant with infrangible bonds. Yesterday He was condemned; today He
bestows liberty on the condemned. Yesterday Pilate's ministers mocked Him;
today Hades' gatekeepers saw Him and trembled.
But hearken now to the sublime
tale of Christ's suffering! Hearken and offer praise, hearken and glorify,
hearken and preach the wondrous works of God: how the Law retires; how grace
blossoms forth; how the types pass away; how the shadows vanish; how the Sun
fills the whole world; how the Old [Covenant] has grown old; how the New is
established; how things of ancient times have perished; how things new have
flourished.
There were two peoples on Sion at
the time of Christ's Passion, that of the Jews and that of the nations; and two
kings, Pilate and Herod; and two high priests, Annas and Caiaphas. And this was
so that simultaneously there be two Paschas, the one terminating, and Christ's
just beginning.
On that evening two sacrifices
were performed, since two salvations, I mean of the living and of the dead,
were accomplished. The Jew bound a lamb and sacrificed it by slaughter; but he
from the nations [sacrificed] God in the flesh. The former gazed upon the
shadow; the latter ran to God, the Sun. The Jews bound Christ and sent Him
away; but they from the nations eagerly received Him. The first offered as
sacrifice an animal victim; the second the body of God. The Jews commemorated
their passing over from Egypt, whilst they from the nations heralded their
deliverance from error.
And these things, where did they
take place? In Sion, the city of the great King, where He "wrought
salvation in the midst of the earth." [2] In the midst of two living
beings was Jesus, the Child of God, known, [3] in the midst of the Father and
the Spirit, two living Beings; Life from Life, he says, known as a living
Being, and in the midst of angels and men He was born in a manger.
In the midst of two peoples He
lies as the Cornerstone; in the midst of the Law and the prophets He is
preached; in the midst of Moses and Elias He is seen upon the mount; in the
midst of two thieves He is recognized as God by the grateful thief; in the midst
of the present life and the future He sits as the eternal Judge; and today in
the midst of the living and the dead He works a twofold life and salvation.
Nay, again I say a twofold life, a twofold birth and also rebirth.
Listen now to the circumstances
of Christ's twofold birth and acclaim the wonders. An angel announced to Mary
Christ's maternal birth, and an angel announced to Mary of Magdala His awesome
rebirth from the grave. At night Christ is born in Bethlehem, and at night in
Sion He is reborn. Upon His birth He receives swaddling bands, and here also He
is wound round with swaddling bands. When born He received myrrh, and at His
burial He receives myrrh and aloes.
There Joseph was the name of
Mary's non-husband husband, but here Joseph of Arimathaea proved to be the
burier of our Life. In Bethlehem in a manger the former took place, and the
latter in the tomb as in a manger. First the shepherds were given news of the
birth of Christ, and first the shepherds, Christ's disciples, were given news
of His rebirth from the dead. There the angel cried "Rejoice!" to the
virgin, whilst here Christ, the Angel of Great Counsel, cried
"Rejoice!" to the women.
At His first birth Christ after
forty days entered the earthly Jerusalem, and the temple, and as firstborn He
offered a pair of turtle-doves to God. But at His resurrection from the dead
Christ after forty days ascended to the Jerusalem on high, from whence He
departed not, and as the incorruptible First-born from the dead, in the true
Holy of Holies He offered to God the Father our soul and body as two spotless
turtle-doves; and like some Symeon the ancient, God the Father received Him
uncircumscribably into His embrace, into His own bosom.
If, however, thou hearest these
things as though they were fables and not with faith, the unbroken seals of the
Master's tomb condemn thee with respect to Christ's rebirth. For just as Christ
was born from the Virgin whilst the natural gates of the virginal nature
remained closed at the opening of the womb, so also Christ's rebirth was
wrought whilst the seals of the tomb were unbroken.
But as to how Christ, our Life,
was placed in the tomb, and when, and by whom, let us listen to the sacred
words.
"When even was come,"
he says, "there came a rich man of Arimathaea named Joseph, and went
boldly unto Pilate and begged from him the body of Jesus." [4] A
mortal went in before a mortal, asking to receive God; the God of mortals he
begs; clay stands before clay so as to receive the Fashioner of all! Grass asks
to receive from grass the Heavenly Fire; the miserable drop seeks to receive
from a drop the whole Abyss!
Who ever saw, who ever heard such
a thing? A man grants to a man the Creator of men; a lawless man undertakes to
surrender the Definition of the Law of [sic
— I think they meant "to"] lawless men; a judge deprived of judgment
permits the burial of the Judge of judges Who has been judged to death.
"When even was come,"
he says, "there came a rich man named Joseph." Truly was this man
rich who carried away the entire compound hypostasis of the Lord. Verily was he
rich, because he received the twofold nature of Christ from Pilate. He was rich
indeed, because he was accounted worthy to carry off the priceless Pearl. Truly
was he rich, for he bore away the Pouch overflowing with the treasure of
Divinity. And how should that man not be rich who acquired the Life and
Salvation of the world? How should Joseph not be rich, who received as a gift
Him that sustains and rules all things?
"When even was come,"
for the Sun of Righteousness had then set into Hades. Wherefore, "There
came a rich man named Joseph of Arimathaea, who was a secret [disciple] for
fear of the Jews. And there came also Nicodemus, which at first came to Jesus
by night." [5] O hidden mystery of mysteries! Two secret disciples
came to conceal Jesus in a tomb, thus teaching by His concealment the mystery
concealed in Hades of the God concealed in the flesh.
Each one of these men surpassed
the other in their affection for Christ. For Nicodemus proved his magnanimity
by the myrrh and aloes, and Joseph proved worthy of praise by his daring and
boldness before Pilate. For he, casting off all fear, went in unto Pilate and
begged the body of Jesus.
Now when he went in he acted very
shrewdly, so as to obtain his longed-for aim. Wherefore, he did not employ
high-sounding and pompous words, lest Pilate be moved to wrath and he fail in
his request. Nor did he say to him, "Give me the body of Jesus, Who but a
short time ago darkened the sun, split the rocks asunder, shook the earth,
opened the sepulchres [sic], and rent
the veil of the temple!" Nothing of the kind said he to Pilate.
But what, then? A certain pitiful
plea, in every wise lowly. "O judge, I have come to make of thee a
trifling of Him that was by thee condemned, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus the poor,
Jesus the homeless, Jesus the crucified, the bound, the shelterless, the
Stranger, Who in a strange land is unknown, Jesus the contemptible, Who for all
was suspended [on the Cross]."
"Give me this Stranger, for
what profit to thee is the body of this Stranger? Give me this Stranger, for
from afar He came to this place to save a stranger, to a dark region He
descended to draw up a stranger. Give me this Stranger, for He alone is a
stranger. Give me this Stranger, whose country we know not, the strangers. Give
me this Stranger, whose place and birth and ways we know not, the strangers.
Give me this Stranger, Who lived in a strange land, a strange life and
existence. Give me this Stranger, whose generation and disposition we know not,
the strangers. Give me this Stranger, Who had no where to lay His head. Give me
this Stranger, Who as a homeless stranger in a strange land was born in a
manger. Give me this Stranger, Who from the very manger fled Herod as a
stranger. Give me this Stranger, Who from His very swaddling bands was a
stranger in Egypt, Who has no city, no village, no home, no abode, no kindred,
for this Stranger is found in foreign lands with His Mother.
Give me, O prince, this naked man
on the Cross that I may cover Him that covered my nature's nakedness. Give me
Him that is both a dead man and God, that I may shroud Him that has hidden mine
iniquities. Give me, O prince, this dead man Who buried my sin in the Jordan. I
entreat thee for a dead man Who suffered injustice from all, Who by a friend
was sold, Who by a disciple was betrayed, Who by brethren was persecuted, Who
by a slave was smitten.
For a dead man I interceded, Who
was condemned by them that He freed from slavery, Who by them was given vinegar
to drink. Who by them that He healed was wounded, Who by His own disciples was
forsaken, Who of His own Mother was bereaved. For a dead man, O prince, I
beseech, that homeless One Who was suspended on the Cross, for He has no father
near Him upon the earth, no friend, no disciple, no kindred, no burier. Nay, He
is alone, the Only-begotten of the Unique, God in the world, and none else save
He."
When these things Joseph spake to
Pilate on this wise, Pilate commanded that the all-holy body of Jesus be given
him. And he went to the place called Golgotha and took God in the flesh down
from the Cross and laid Him on the earth, naked God in the flesh, Him that was
not merely a man.
Lo, He is beheld lying low Who
drew all men on high. And He for a brief time is bereft of breath Who is the
Life and Breath of all. He is seen bereft of eyes Who created the many-eyed
beings. He lies prostrate Who is the resurrection of all. And God is slain in
the flesh Who raised up the dead. The thunder of God the Word is now silent for
an instant, and He is borne in the arms of men Who holds the earth in His hand.
Dost thou really, O Joseph, know
Whom thou wast given when thou didst ask and receive? Dost thou truly know Whom
thou didst carry when thou camest to the Cross and didst bring down Jesus? If
in truth thou knowest Whom thou didst carry, thou art now verily become rich.
And how is it that thou givest
burial to this most awesome body of God? Praiseworthy is thine ardour, but even
more praiseworthy the disposition of thy soul. For dost thou not tremble,
bearing in thine arms Him before Whom the Cherubim tremble? With what fear dost
thou strip that Divine flesh of the loincloth? And how dost thou reverently
restrain thine eye? Art thou not fearful when gazing upon and shrouding the
nature of God's flesh, He that surpasses nature?
Tell me, O Joseph, dost thou
really bury towards the East a dead man that is the Dayspring of the East? And
with thy fingers dost thou close the eyes of Jesus as befits the dead, nay, of
Him that with His immaculate finger opened the eyes of the blind? And dost thou
bind the mouth of Him that opened the mouth of the stammerer? Dost thou lay out
with thy hands Him that extended the withered hands? Or dost thou bind the
feet, as befits the dead, of Him that made motionless feet to walk? Dost thou
place upon a bed Him that commanded the paralytic, "Take up thy bed and
walk"? [6]
Dost thou empty out myrrh upon
the celestial Myrrh Who emptied Himself and sanctified the world? Dost thou
dare to wipe that Divine side of Jesus bleeding still, the side of God who
healed the woman of an issue of blood? Dost thou wash with water God's body
which cleanses all and bestows purification? But what lamps dost thou light for
the "true Light which enlighteneth every man"? [7]
What funeral odes dost thou chant
for Him that is hymned unceasingly by all the Heavenly hosts? And dost thou
weep as though He were dead that wept and raised up Lazarus, the four days
dead? And dost thou bewail Him that gave joy to all and banished the sorrow of
Eve?
Albeit, I bless thy hands, O
Joseph, which ministered and clasped the bleeding hands and feet of Jesus'
Divine body. I bless thy hands which drew nigh to God's bleeding side before
Thomas, the believing disbeliever, the acclaimed inquisitive. I bless thy mouth
filled insatiably, and united to the mouth of Jesus, whence it was filled with
the Holy Spirit. I bless thine eyes which thou didst press against the eyes of
Jesus, whence they partook of the true light. I bless thy countenance which
drew nigh to the countenance of God. I bless thy shoulders which bore the
Bearer of all. I bless thy head against which Jesus, the Head of all, reclined.
I bless thy hands wherewith thou didst carry Him that carries all.
I bless Joseph and Nicodemus, for
they replaced the Cherubim by uplifting and carrying God and, as God's
ministers, the six-winged Seraphim also, for not with wings but with a winding
sheet they covered and rendered honour to the Lord. Him that the Seraphim hold
in dread, the Same Joseph and Nicodemus carry upon their shoulders, and all the
bodiless orders stand in awe.
When Joseph and Nicodemus came,
the entire divine populace of angels swiftly gathered. The Cherubim run before
them, the Seraphim hasten with them, the Thrones help them to carry, the
Six-winged cover Him, and the Many-eyed are struck with dread, seeing Jesus in
the flesh bereft of vision; the Powers aid in shrouding, the Principalities
offer hymns, the order of Angels tremble, and all the hosts of the celestial
ranks are stupified [sic].
And marvelling [sic] they question and say one to
another, "What fearsome thing is this? What this dread? What this
trembling? What manner of deed? What is this great, strange and
incomprehensible spectacle? He that as naked God on high we cannot see, the
Same on earth is easily seen naked by men!"
Him before Whom the Cherubim
stand with reverent fear, Joseph and Nicodemus bury fearlessly. When did He
descend that never left [the regions] on high? How did He go forth that remains
within? How did He that fills all things come upon earth?
In what manner did He slip away
that eludes [the sight of] all? He that is on high with His Father as perfect
God, is below with His Mother as perfect man. How is He that never appeared to
us now manifest to men as both man and the man-befriending God? How was the
Invisible One beheld? How was the Unmaterial One incarnate? How did the
Impassible One suffer?
How did the Judge stand before a
tribunal? How did Life taste of death? How is the Uncontainable One contained
in a tomb? How does He sojourn in a sepulchre [sic] Who never left the Father's bosom? How does He enter the gates
of a cave Who opened the gates of Paradise, Who broke not the gates of the
Virgin, but burst the gates of Hades?
Nay, He Who [entering] for
Thomas, opened not the gates, but Who to all men opened the gates of the
Kingdom, and kept unopened the gates and seals of the tomb? How is He reckoned
among the dead Who is free among the dead? [8] How does the unwaning Light
come to the regions of darkness and the shadow of death?
Whither does He go? Where comes
His path, He Whom death cannot dominate? What is the reason [of these things]?
What the means? What is the intent of His descent into Hades? Perhaps He
descends so as to bring up Adam the condemned, our fellow servant?
Verily, He goes to seek out Adam,
the first-created, the lost sheep. It is certain that He wishes to visit those
sitting in darkness and the shadow of death; it is certain that He goes to
loose Adam the captive and his co-captive Eve from affliction, He that is both
God and her Son.
But let us descend with Him, but
let us rejoice together, but let us hasten, but let us skip, but let us escort
Him, but let us praise Him, but let us run quickly, seeing God's reconciliation
with men and the release of the condemned by the good Master! The Friend of man
by nature goes with great gallantry and might to lead forth them that are there
held captive from ages past, them that dwell in the grave, whom bitter,
insatiate death has tyrannically swallowed, oppressed, stolen from God and
amassed; He goes to free them and number them with the denizens on high.
There Adam is found, the captive,
the first-created, the first-born, and who of all those condemned to the nether
regions is nethermost. There is Abel, the first to die, the first righteous
man, the shepherd and type of Christ the Shepherd's unjust slaughter. There is
Noah, the type of Christ, the Fashioner of the great Ark of God's Church, which
saved all the bestial nations from the cataclysm of ungodliness by the Dove,
the Holy Spirit, which banished from itself the blackish raven. There is
Abraham, the sacrificer and father of Christ, Who sacrificed to God that most
blessed Sacrifice which with double-edged sword dealt death to death.
There below is Isaac bound, who
above [9] was bound of Abraham in olden times as a type of Christ. There
is Jacob afflicted in Hades below, who above was once afflicted because of
Joseph. There is Joseph the fettered, who in Egypt was cast into prison as a
type of Christ the Prisoner and Potentate. There is Moses below in darksome
regions, who once was in the cleft amidst the darkness. There is Daniel in the
pit of Hades, who once above was in the pit of lions. There Jeremias as in a
pit of slime lies in the pit of hades and the corruption of death. There in
that world-devouring leviathan of Hades Jonas lies as a type of Christ, the
eternal and pre-eternal Jonas Who lives unto the ages and the ages of ages.
And there is David too, God's
forefather, from whom Christ sprung after the flesh. But why speak I of David,
Jonas, and Solomon? There is found the sublime John himself, who is greater
than all the prophets, who as though in a dark womb proclaimed Christ to all in
Hades, the twofold forerunner, the preacher of the living and the dead, he that
from Herod's dungeon was sent to the common prison of Hades where both
righteous and unrighteous from ages past were sleeping.
All the prophets and righteous
unceasingly offered up secret, mystical supplications to God, begging for
deliverance from that most grievous, gloomy, fiendish murk, and tenebrious,
nocturnal black. One cried to God, "From the belly of Hades hearken unto
my cry, hear my voice." [10] Another, "Out of the depths have I
cried unto thee, O Lord; O Lord, hear my voice." [11] And another,
"Cause Thy face to shine, and we shall be saved." [12]
And another, "Thou that
sittest on the Cherubim, manifest Thyself." [13] And another,
"Stir up Thy might and come to save us." [14] And another,
"Let Thy compassions quickly go before us, O Lord." [15] And
another, "Deliver my soul from the nethermost Hades." [16] And
another, "O Lord, bring up my soul out of Hades." [17] And
another, "Abandon not my soul in Hades." [18] And another,
"Let my life ascend from corruption unto Thee, O Lord my God." [19]
The God of tender mercies verily
heard all these cries, and so Christ judged that it was not right that His love
for man should only be shared with them that lived in His days and after Him,
but that those also that before His coming had gone down to Hades and that sat
in darkness and the shadow of death should be partakers of the same as well.
Thus God the Word visited with body and soul men who were still in the flesh,
but to the souls which were bereft of bodies He manifested Himself in Hades
with His Divine and blameless soul, bereft of a body but not of Divinity.
Wherefore, let us hasten in mind
and journey to Hades so as there to see how He masterfully mastered the
tyrannical master of a mastership mightly [sic]
mastered and how by the lightning flash of His brilliance He without hands
captured in His hand [20] the whole soldiery of the ranks of those
deathless orders. He took away the doorless doors, nay, Christ the Door
shattered those woodless gates by the wood of the Cross; by those divine nails
He burst and broke the eternal bars; by the bonds of His Divine hands He
dissolved like wax the indissoluble bonds; and by the spear [thrust] in His
side He transfixed the heart of the tyrant. "There did He break the power
of the bow," [21] when upon the Cross He stretched out the sinews
[22] of His Divine arms like a bowman.
Therefore, if thou followest
Christ silently thou shalt presently see where He bound the tyrant; where He
hung the latter's head; how exhumed that dungeon; whither He led the prisoners;
how He trampled upon the serpent; where He suspended its skull; and how He
liberated Adam; how He raised up Eve; how He broke down the middle wall; [23] how
He punished the bitter dragon; how He made perdition to perish; and where He
restored man to his ancient dignity.
Yesterday by way of oeconomy He
refused to summon numerous legions of angels, saying to Peter, "Can I not
now bring forward more than twelve legions of angels?" [24] But today
in a manner befitting God, a warrior and a sovereign, through death He tramples
down the tyrant of Hades and death, having with Him the immortal legions — not
simply twelve, but thousands of thousands and ten thousand ten thousands — of the
bodiless hosts and the invisible ranks: the Dominions, the unthroned Thrones,
the unwinged Six-winged, the eyeless Many-eyed and all the celestial bands.
For it is certain that they
accompanied, escorted and honoured Christ as their own Master and King; but
they were not allies — far be it! — for what assistance could Christ the
Almighty need? But both by obligation and as loving to stand beside their Master
and God, they are trusty spearmen, hoplites, glorious and astute staff-bearers
of the Master's divine offices. At the Divine bidding alone they with zeal and
speed anticipate one another in transforming act into deed by His command, and
they are crowned with victory over the ranks of enemies and transgressors.
Therefore they descended then in
haste, hastening with their God and Master to the subterranean chambers of
Hades — which are deeper down than anything terrestrial — and to the
under-worldly abodes of them that have fallen asleep from ages past; there He
gallantly brought forth them that from of old lay in fetters.
As soon as the glistering,
divinely-accompanied presence of the Master reached Hades' windowless, sunless,
nocturnal dungeons, hovels, lairs, and caves, Gabriel, the chief marshal was
first of all — since, indeed, he is wont to bring men good tiding of joy — to
exclaim with a mighty, archangelic, resounding, commanding, lion-like voice to
the hostile powers, "Lift up your gates, O ye princes," [25] and
with him Michael cries, "Be ye lifted up, ye everlasting gates." [26] Thereafter
the Powers say, "Stand back, ye iniquitous gate-keepers!" Then the
Dominions say with dominion, "Be broken, unbreakable bonds!" And
others, "Be abashed, abominable foes!" And still others, "Fear,
ye lawless tyrants!"
Now just as before a fearsome,
invincible, all-powerful, regal, trophy-bearing battle array, terror and panic
and pangs of dread seize the enemies of an unconquerable king, so and more so
it befell those [evil beings] in Hades at the sudden, most strange coming of
Christ to the nether world. The blinding bolt of lightning from above darkened
the countenances of the hostile powers of Hades and they heard thunder-like
voices and the [angelic] host commanding, "Lift up your gates, O ye
princes! Do not merely open them, but lift them from the foundations, uproot
them, remove them so that they never again be closed. Lift up your gates, O ye
princes!
"Although the Master here
present could enter even if the doors were shut, yet He commands you like
run-away slaves to raise, remove, and break those everlasting gates. He orders
not the common sort among you, but them that are esteemed by you to be princes,
saying, 'Lift up your gates, O ye princes!' Your gates, none else but yours.
"Wherefore, O princes,
though till now ye have wickedly held sway over those fallen asleep from ages
past, from henceforth ye shall not be their rulers, nor rulers of others, but
only of your own selves, but not even of yourselves. For Christ, the Heavenly
Door is present. 'Prepare ye the way for Him that rideth upon the setting of
Hades. Lord is His name, and the pathways leading forth from the gates of death
are those of the Lords' Lord.' [27] Ye made the ways of entrance, but He
came to make the pathways leading forth.
"Therefore tarry not, lift
up your gates quickly, take them away and return them not. But if ye think to
procrastinate, we shall command the gates to be lifted up automatically of
themselves. 'Be ye lifted up, ye everlasting gates!'"
And as soon as the hosts cried
these things, straightway the gates were raised up, straightway the bonds were
loosed, straightway the bars were broken, straightway the bolts fell away,
straightway the foundations of the dungeon quaked, straightway the hostile
powers were turned to flight, one pushing the other, one impeding the other,
one exclaiming to the other, "Flee!"
They were terrified, they were
shaken, they were awestruck, they were confounded, they were altered, they were
frightened, they were dumbstruck and stupified [sic], confused and made to quake. One stood agape, another between
his knees hid his head, another lay prostrate, another like one dead was
motionless, another was possessed by awe, another lay with altered countenance,
and another fled to an inner region.
For there Christ "cut
asunder the heads of princes with amazement," [28] there "they
trembled" at Him, there they "burst their bridles," [29] saying,
"'Who is the King of Glory?' [30] Who is the great Being that, with
so many, works here such wonders? Who is the King of Glory, that now works in
Hades that which has never been wrought in Hades? Who is this, that now leads
out from hence them that from ages past have fallen asleep? Who is this that
has destroyed and abolished our insuppressible audacity and power, Who leads
forth from the prison of Hades those fettered from ages past?"
But to those [wicked spirits] the
hosts of the Master cried, "Do ye wish to learn, O lawless tyrants, who is
the King of Glory? It is 'The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty and
strong and invincible in war'! [31] This is He that banished and cast you
down from the vaults of Heaven, ye spineless and lawless tyrants! This is He
that in Jordan 'break the heads of your dragons.' [32] This is He that by
the Cross publicly exposed you, triumphed over you, and slew you. This is He
that bound, blackened and banished you to the abyss. This is He that consigns
you to, and destroys you in, the everlasting fire and in Gehenna.
Wherefore, do not linger, do not
delay, but speedily bring forth those in bonds which ye wickedly swallowed till
this day. From henceforth your dominion is destroyed, your tyranny is come to
an end, your insolence is miserably extinguished, your arrogance is quashed,
your might is trampled and ruined."
These things the royal hosts of
the King spake to the hostile powers and then made haste. Some excavated the
dungeon from its very foundations, while some routed the enemy's hosts from the
outer regions, causing them to flee within; but others ran and searched the
hovels, the jails, and the caverns; and others brought prisoners before the
Master from every quarter; others bound the tyrant with infrangible bonds;
others speedily obeyed them; and some ran before the Master and He proceeded to
the innermost regions, while others followed Him as the victorious King and
God.
As these things, therefore, and
more than these were coming to pass, were proclaimed and made known, and all
things were in an uproar, and the Master's presence was about to reach the very
bottommost realm of the nethermost regions, then Adam, the first of men to be
created, the first-fashioned and first-mortal, who lay in the innermost
recesses bound with great security, heard the sound of the Master's feet as He
came to the imprisoned, and he recognized His voice which sounded in the prison
as He walked. Thereupon Adam turned towards all his fellow captives from ages
past and said, "I hear the sound of Someone's feet advancing towards us,
and if He deigns to come even to this place, we shall be freed of our bonds,
nay, if we should but see Him in our midst, we shall be delivered from
Hades!"
And as Adam said these things and
their like to all his fellow prisoners, the Master entered within, holding the
Cross as a weapon of victory. Then Adam the first-fashioned beholding Him, beat
his breast in exuberance and cried to all, "My Lord be with you all!"
And Christ replied and said to Adam, "And with thy spirit," and
grasping his hand, He said, "Stand up, 'Awake, O sleeper, and arise from
the dead, and Christ shall shine on thee.' [33]
"I am thy God, Who for thy
sake became thy Son, for thy sake and for thy descendants' sake, and now I say
and with authority command the shackled, Come forth! and those in darkness, Be
enlightened! and those asleep, Arise! Thee I enjoin, Awake, O sleeper! for I
did not fashion thee to be held in Hades as a captive. Arise from the dead, for
I am the Life of the dead! Arise, My creation, arise, Mine image, who wast also
made in My likeness! 'Arise, let us go hence!' [34] for thou art in Me and
I in thee; we are one indivisible person.
"For thy sake thy God became
thy Son; for thy sake the Master took the image of a slave; for thy sake I Who
am above the heavens came down upon earth and even beneath the earth; for thee,
who art a man, I became 'as a man without help, free among the dead;' [35] for
thee, who wentest forth from the garden [of Paradise], I from a garden was
betrayed to the Jews and in a garden I was crucified.
"Behold upon My countenance
the spittings which I received for thy sake so as to restore to thee the
ancient in-breathing. [36] Behold upon My cheeks the slaps which I
accepted so as to set aright thy twisted form in accordance to Mine image.
Behold upon My back the scourgings which I accepted so as to scatter the burden
of thy sins which weighs upon thy back.
"Behold My hands, which unto
good were nailed to the tree [of the Cross] for thee, who unto evil didst
stretch forth thy hand to the tree. Behold My feet, which were nailed and
transfixed upon the tree [of the Cross] for the sake of thy feet which evilly
ran to the tree of disobedience on the sixth day, that same day whereon the
decree [of thy condemnation] was pronounced and whereon I wrought thy
re-creation and re-opened Paradise. [37]
"For thy sake I tasted gall,
so as to heal for thee the bitter pleasure caused by that sweet fruit. I tasted
vinegar, so as to nullify thy poignant and contranatural cup of death. I
accepted the reed, so as to undersign [the writ of] freedom for the race of
men. I slept upon the Cross and by a sword was pierced in the side for thee,
from whose side whilst thou wast sleeping in Paradise Eve was brought forth. My
side healed the pain of thy side; My sleep shall wrest thee from the sleep of
Hades; My sword arrested the sword turned [38] against thee.
"Wherefore arise, let us go
hence! The foe led thee out of the land of Paradise; yet no more shall I
restore thee to Paradise, but to a celestial throne. I restrained thee from the
typical tree of life, but lo, I myself, the [true] Life, am united unto thee. I
enjoined the Cherubim to watch over thee like a slave; now I make the Cherubim
to worship thee like God. Thou didst hide from God as one naked; but lo, thou
hast hidden within thyself naked God. Thou didst put on the skin-made coat of
shame, [39] but being God I put on the haematic coat of thy flesh.
"Wherefore arise, let us go
hence, from death into life, from corruption in incorruption, from darkness
into everlasting light! Arise, let us go hence, from affliction into joy, from
slavery into freedom, from prison into the Jerusalem on high, from bonds into
repose, from detention into the delight of Paradise, from earth into Heaven!
And for this did I die, and arose, that I should be Lord both of the dead and
the living.
"Arise, let us go hence! For
My Heavenly Father waits for the sheep that was lost. The ninety and nine
sheep, the angels, await their fellow servant Adam, when he shall arise, when
he shall ascend and go up to God. A cherubic throne is prepared, and the
bearers thereof are swift and expectant. The bridal-chamber is made ready, the
delicacies are prepared, the eternal tabernacles and abodes are waiting, the
treasuries of good things are thrown open, the Kingdom of the Heavens has been
prepared before the ages, and that which 'eye hath not seen, nor ear hath
heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man,' [40] these same good
things await mankind."
When the Master said this and
more besides, Adam, being united to Him inwardly, rose up, and Eve arose as
well, and the bodies of many others who in faith had fallen asleep from ages
past arose41 also, preaching the Master's resurrection on the
third day.
The same, O men of faith, let us
now joyously welcome; let us behold it and embrace it, as we form one chorus
with the angels, and with the bodiless celebrate and glorify Christ Who raised
us up from corruption and gave us life, to Whom be glory and dominion with His
Father, Who is without beginning, and His all-holy good and life-creating
Spirit, both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
------------------------
1. Cf. Ps. 2:1
2. Ps. 73:13
3. Cf. Hab. 3:3
4. Cf. Matt. 27:57, 58; Mark 15:43
5. Cf. John 19:38, 39
6. John 5:8
7. John 1:9
8. Ps. 87:4
9. I.e., on the earth. The Greek, although being a play on
"below," can also mean "formerly."
10. Cf. Jonas 2:2.
11. Ps. 129:1.
12. Ps. 79:4.
13. Ps. 79:2.
14. Ps. 79:3.
15. Ps. 78:8.
16. Cf. Ps. 85:12.
17. Cf. Ps. 29:3.
18. Cf. Ps. 15:10.
19. Jonas 2:6.
20. I.e., subdued.
21. Ps. 75:3.
22. The Greek word also means "bow-string."
23. Cf. Eph. 2:14.
24. Cf. Matt. 26:53.
25. Ps. 23:7.
26. Ibid.
27. Cf. Ps. 67:4, 21
28. Hab. 3:14.
29. Cf. Ibid.
30. Ps. 23:10.
31. Cf. Ps. 23:8.
32. Cf. Ps. 73:14.
33. Eph. 5:14.
34. John 14:31.
35. Ps. 87:4.
36. Vide Gen. 2:7, "And God…breathed upon his face the
breath of life."
37. I.e., on the Holy and Great Friday.
38. Vide Gen. 3:24.
39. Or, "shameful coat of skin."
40. I Cor. 2:9.
41. Vide Matt. 27:52.
Source: The
Lamentations of Matins of Holy and Great Saturday, published by Holy
Transfiguration Monastery, Brookline, MA, 1981.
