Meditation
From the Holy Saturday Matins service of the Byzantine Rite
A fearful and marvelous mystery is today beheld being accomplished: The Incorporeal is conquered; he who freed Adam from the curse is bound; he who tries the hearts and reins of humanity is unjustly tried by them; he who shut the abyss is shut up in prison. He before whom the powers of heaven stand with trembling, stands before Pilate; the Fashioner is smitten by the hand of him whom he fashioned; he is adjudged to the Tree of the Cross, who judges the living and the dead. He is shut up in the tomb, who is the purger of Hell. O you, who with compassion did endure all things and has saved all from the curse, most patient Lord, glory to you.
Glory be to your cross, O Christ, and to your Resurrection.
When you, the redeemer of all, had been placed for all in the new tomb, Hell, the respecter of none, saw you, and crouched in fear. The bars broke, the gates were shattered, the graves were opened, the dead arose. Then Adam, thankfully rejoicing, cried out to you: “Glory to your humiliation, O merciful Master.”
Glory be to your cross, O Christ, and to your Resurrection.
When you, the deathless Life, did come down to Death, then did you destroy Hell through the dazzling brightness of the Godhead; and when you did raise up the dead from the abyss, all the powers of heaven cried aloud: “Christ our God, Giver of life, glory to you.”
Glory be to your cross, O Christ, and to your Resurrection.
Creation was moved with intense astonishment, when it beheld you hung in Golgotha, you who did hang all the earth free in the midst of the waters; wherefore it cried: “None is holy except you, O Lord.” He who closed up the abyss is seen as dead, and wrapped in linen and spices; he the Immortal, as mortal is laid in the tomb. O Lord, Creator of the world, and Conqueror of death, glory to you.
Glory be to your cross, O Christ, and to your Resurrection.
Today the grave holds him who holds creation in the hollow of his hand. A stone covers him who covers the heavens with virtue. Life sleeps, and Hell trembles, and Adam is set free from his bonds. Glory to your dispensation, O Lord, through which, when all things were accomplished, you presented to us an eternal rest – your most holy Resurrection from the dead.
Glory be to your cross, O Christ, and to your Resurrection.
The great Moses mystically foreshadowed this day, saying: “And God blessed the seventh day.” This is the blessed Sabbath; it is the day of rest, and on it the only-begotten Son of God rested from all his works; through the dispensation of death, in the flesh he rested. Joseph of Arimathea begged the body of Jesus, and laid it in his own new tomb, for it was fitting for him to pass from the grave as from a bridal chamber. You who has destroyed the power of death and to humanity has opened the gates of paradise, glory to you.
Glory be to your cross, O Christ, and to your Resurrection.
Most blessed are you, O Mother of God, for through him who was incarnate from you, Hell was made captive, the curse was annulled, Eve was set free, Death was put to death, and we are endued with life. Therefore, we cry, “Blessed are you, O Christ our God, who did so will; glory to you.”
Glory be to your cross, O Christ, and to your Resurrection.
He who has ears to hear, let him listen. Today Hell cried out, groaning: “Would that I had not received him who was born of Mary, for he came to me and broke my power; he shattered the gates of brass, and as God, raised up the souls which before I had held.”
O praise the Lord, all you nations of the Earth.
Today, Hell cried out, groaning: “My authority has been broken down; I received one dead, as one of the mortals; but against this one I prevailed not. I perish with him and with those I had ruled. From eternity I had held the dead, but behold, he raises all.”
For his merciful kindness is ever more and more towards us; and the truth of the Lord endures forever.
Today Hell cried out, groaning: “My power has been trampled on; the Shepherd has been crucified, and he raised up Adam; I have been deprived of those over whom I ruled, and all those I swallowed in my strength I have disgorged. He who was crucified has emptied the tombs, and the power of death avails not.”
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
For more on the Harrowing of Hell, see Jesus' Harrowing Experience.
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