THE LORD DESCENDS INTO HELL
An Ancient Homily on Holy Saturday, from the
Synaxarion of the Lenten Triodion and Pentecostarion, Fr. David and Mother
Gabriela, editors, HDM Press, Rives Junction, MI, 1999pp. 160-161.
Something strange is happening— there is a great
silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth
trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has
raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh
and hell trembles with fear.
He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a
lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the
shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he
who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross,
the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first
man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: My
Lord be with you all. Christ answered him: And with your spirit. He took him by
the hand and raised him up, saying: Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead,
and Christ will give you light.
I am your God, who for your sake have become your son.
Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command
all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be
enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I
did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am
the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my
image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you;
together we form only one person and we cannot be separated.
For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the
Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended
to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I
became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who
left a garden, I was betrayed to the Jews in a garden, and I was crucified in a
garden.
See on my face the spittle I received in order to
restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the
blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my
back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that
weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once
wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.
I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for
you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has
healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The
sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.
Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out
of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will
enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was c only a symbol of
life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim
to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The
throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal
chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are
prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of
heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.
Page 8
Vol. 18, Issue 03-04
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