✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠
Let no one mourn their transgressions,
Psalm 88,3 2417
Osternacht 033
Anastasia and Basilissa, Martyrs under Nero 66
15. April 2017
1. »For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Hades.« Such is the lament of the Psalmist, for hades awaits those who die. Death stings, and Hades is victorious. Such was the fate of man, thus even Jesus died and descended into hades.
2. Saint Mark tells us that Jesus rested from His labors on the seventh day (Mark 15,46). Hades received a visitor shortly after the stone had been rolled in place, and Hades trembled when Christ knocked upon its gates. Jesus had promised: »The gates of Hades shall not prevail against the confession of the Name of Jesus« (Matthew 16,18). Hades was now in fear.
3. St. John Chrysostom in his famous Paschal homily of ad 400 proclaims: „Let no one fear death, for the Savior’s death has set us free. He that was taken by death has annihilated it! He descended into Hades and took Hades captive! He embittered it when it tasted His flesh! And anticipating this, Isaiah exclaimed: Hades was embittered when it encountered Thee in the lower regions (Isaiah 14,9). Hades was embittered, for it was abolished! It was embittered, for it was mocked! It was embittered, for it was purged! It was embittered, for it was despoiled! It was embittered, for it was bound in chains! It took a body and came upon God! It took earth and encountered Ηeaven! It took what it saw, but crumbled before what it had not seen!“
4. Hades assumed Jesus would be passive, but Jesus entered hades to go on the offensive. Jesus entered hades not to be judged by Hades but to judge Hades. Jesus descended into hades to preach to those imprisoned there (1. Peter 3,19). In the Old Testament, »Samson lay till midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city of Gaza and the two posts, and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron« (Judges 16,3). In the New Testament, the Greater Samson unlocked and torn open the gates of Hades whereupon Christ carried upon His shoulders the twisted gates of Hades.
5. „Our Shepherd, the Source of the Water of Life, has died. The sun was darkened when He passed away. But now man’s captor is made captive. This is the day when our Savior broke through the gates of death. He has destroyed the barricades of hades, overthrown the sovereignty of the devil. This is the day when our Savior broke through the gates of death“ (Holy Saturday Responsory).
6. Saint Paul thus mockingly asks: »O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?« O Death, Christ has stung you! O Hades, Christ has conquered you! Death now dies, and Hades is imprisoned. Jesus now holds the keys of Death and Hades (Revelation 1,18); He has the power to bind and loose (Matthew 16,19).
7. Karfreitag ends with the Son of God buried in a tomb and the darkness of sunset across the land. Easter morn shall soon dawn with the rising of the Bright Morning Star, and Jesus will shine forth as the Resurrected Light of the world! Do not fear Death or Hades, for your Savior has conquered His foes.
8. Hear what Irenaeus says in ad 180 concerning Holy Saturday: „The Lord descended in to the regions beneath the earth, announcing there the gospel of His advent and of the forgiveness of sins conferred upon those who believe in Him“ (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book 5, Chapter 31, Paragraph 2). Cyril of Jerusalem taught his catechumens in 350: Christ descended into the subterranean regions so that He might ransom from there the just David, Samuel, all the Prophets and even John the Baptizer (St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 4,11).
9. Therefore, lift up your heads, for your Sleeper has awakened (Isaiah 60,1-3; Ephesians 5,14). Christ has risen and He brings with Him a train of captives set free from sin, death and the devil. We confess with the Psalmist: »For with You, O Lord, is the fountain of life; in Your Light do we see light« (Psalm 36,9). The Easter Vigil is almost over, and our single candle flame shall be surpassed by the Glory of the Light of the Risen Christ. Amen.
10. We pray: O Almighty, Ever-living God, whose Only-begotten Son descended to the realm of the dead, and rose from there to glory, grant that Your faithful people, who were buried with Him in Holy Baptism, may, by His resurrection, obtain eternal life. Amen. (Holy Saturday Collect)
for pardon has dawned from the grave.
To God alone be the Glory
Soli Deo Gloria
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