Слово на всенощном бдении, в Неделю Антипасхи

: “We magnify You, Life-Giving Christ, who for our sake descended into hell and raised everything with Himself.” With this majesty the Holy Church now gives honor to her Divine Bridegroom, who came from the tomb as from a palace. At the end of all her songs of praise for Him, which lasted a whole week, she did not find anything more glorious for His face than to finally point out His descent into hell: “He descended into hell!” But what kind of praise is this! – According to our concept, to descend into hell means to be subjected to an unhappy state, not to rise, but to come into humiliation. For no matter how you imagine hell, you cannot imagine it as a place of light, life and joy. How then does the descent into hell of our Risen Savior serve as a sign of His greatest glorification? The answer to this is contained in the following words of the same song of praise: “and raised all things with Himself.” It’s a great difference to be sent down to hell in order to come out of it whenever you want; It’s an even bigger difference to go down to hell yourself in order to take all the prisoners from there with you. Our Savior descended into hell Himself, by His will and by His power, descended in order to quickly leave hell, descended alone to inform everyone from there: “He raised everything with Him.” In order to more vividly imagine the solemnity of this event, imagine that some powerful king took by storm a city hostile to him, where many captives, his subjects, were languishing in prison, who, enduring all kinds of hardships, were expecting death from day to day. After conquering the city, the winner immediately hurries into the dungeon, declares freedom to the languishing prisoners, and takes them out with him. Isn’t it here, in this prison, that there will be a place of special joy and joy? Wouldn't the winner himself call this action the best fruit of his victory, this moment unforgettable for himself for the rest of his life? “And whoever would dare to sing of his exploits, wouldn’t he have the right to point to this descent into prison as one of the best stones in his royal crown?” – Likewise, the descent into hell was the most pleasant and most glorious action for the risen Lord, because in it His extreme love for poor humanity and His highest power over the enemy of the human race were most clearly revealed. “We magnify, brethren, and we will not cease to magnify the Life-Giver Christ, who for our sake descended into hell, and raised all with Himself!” But what should we do with our inquisitive mind when, prompted by gratitude itself, it wants to see the full depth of the disasters from which we have been spared! “Why,” he asks on this occasion, why was hell filled with prisoners? Why were these prisoners subject to the power of the prince of darkness? For what reason could none of them come out of hell on their own? Why did the Savior Himself not first descend into hell for their liberation, but after His suffering and death? – The questions, as you can see, brothers, are deep and comprehensive; why they are not in the habit of being offered from this sacred place; but since their resolution tends entirely to the glory of our beloved Savior, to the increase of our spiritual joy; then we, under the guidance of the word of God and the Fathers of the Church, will not hesitate to say something to each of these questions; – we only ask you to open your thoughts with faith and love for the Savior. Why was hell, before the Lord descended into it, filled with prisoners? -Because the souls of all the departed, before the fulfillment of the mystery of redemption on Golgotha, descended upon death to hell. Why did they go to hell and not go to heaven? – Because all human souls are fallen souls, deprived of primitive perfection. It is unnatural for someone who has fallen and crashed to go up: at the first movement he strives downward, and strives until he is stopped and supported by someone. The same thing happened with human souls. Having fallen in their forefather, then falling a hundred times and breaking themselves in arbitrary falls, they naturally lost strength and strength; and therefore, after death, grief could not ascend, but fell down into the circle of lower and worse existence - as Scripture puts it, “into the depths of the earth” (Ps. 62:10). At the same time, the souls of the departed could not help but be subject to some unfortunate dependence on the enemy of the human race - the devil. For the unfortunate region of darkness and death, sorrow and hunger, into which they descended, was originally formed by him, through his own fall from the highest circle of existence, and therefore constitutes his unfortunate property. We do not know where exactly this sad abode of fallen spirits and fallen souls is located, but it must be somewhere: we cannot determine what exactly the misfortune is to be there, but we cannot imagine that staying there would not be associated with severe hardships. And it was in this disastrous state that the souls of the departed were in before the risen Lord descended to them! Was everyone there equally subject to disaster and dependence on the prince of darkness? Without a doubt, not equal. Abraham, Moses and similar righteous people could not be the playground of the enemy of God. Purified by faith, inspired by love, their souls were close to heaven; filled with hope, their hearts were already anticipating the joys of paradise. But heaven itself was enclosed for everyone: no one had the strength to completely break the bonds that led to the valley, to cross the line separating heaven from earth, to ascend to the bright city of God, to the throne of the Almighty. - For this, more than angelic power was required: for this it was necessary to unite the heavenly with the earthly, to fill the abyss that had opened up through sin between both. All this could be done by one One, in Whom God and man constitute one person, for Whom therefore there is nothing imperishable; Who, being above all and concentrating everything in Himself, could therefore lead “all things” with Himself (Eph. 1:10). And he led! From the very beginning of the incarnation of the Son of God, heaven with all the fullness of its perfections has already bowed to the earth; the prince of the world had to lose his power and strength, and man had to come to life for primitive freedom and bliss. But all this happened gradually. At first, during the earthly life of the God-man, the action of the universal restoration carried out by Him was revealed most in what was at that time on earth, without yet touching with all the power of its invisible world; Apparently only His contemporaries enjoyed the fruits of the coming of the Redeemer; and for those who lived far away, especially for those who were in another world, the coming of the Savior had not yet come. But now, when He ascended to the very top of perfection by the cross, for “Greater than sowing love” for God and neighbors, in His own words, “there is no one who lays down his life for his friends” (John 15:13); then, having assumed power over heaven and earth, he immediately hurried to the other half of humanity, which was in hell, in order to bring from there to heaven everyone who was capable of it. His most pure flesh still remained in the tomb, in the garden of Joseph, scourged by the guards; and His spirit was already in hell. In this case, as one teacher of the Church notes, the Savior of the world was, as it were, divided between two worlds: the invisible and the visible, and each of them accepted his own: the invisible world, consisting of disembodied souls, saw among itself the most holy soul of the Lord, and on earth, among people covered with flesh, His most pure flesh remained. How was the actual removal of souls from hell accomplished? Without dispute and abuse, the prince of darkness gave up his centuries-old prey? - Without argument and abuse, although with great shame and sadness. Without dispute and warfare, for, although I saw a human soul descending to itself, this soul was invested with the omnipotence of the Divine; and he was already struck on the head and deposed on Golgotha ​​by the cross. With great shame and sadness: for although the prince of darkness was now giving away everything that was taken from him, and that only could and wanted to come out of his power of death, he would even like to run away and hide from the light of the Divine that shone before him; but by the action of the omnipotence of Jesus he was stopped, “stripped off,” according to the testimony of the apostle, of all the signs of “principalty and power” with which he surrounded himself as an impostor, and “put to shame” in the eyes of all those who were now leaving him, the captives, and all his minions who remained with him (Col. 2:15). And with the souls of people who were waiting with faith for the coming of the Redeemer, one must think that something similar happened to what happens to particles of a certain metal when a magnet appears among them: they immediately involuntarily surround it, unite with it, each in its own way, and therefore follow it everywhere. Similar things, I say, should have followed with pure souls. Just as in our world the sun only needs to rise to the horizon for everything capable of ascending to rush upward from the earth: so in hell, the mere appearance of the God-man has already given the opportunity to ascend after him to everything that was capable of leaving the depths of hell. There were, however, souls in hell who either did not suddenly understand this precious opportunity, or were not disposed to take advantage of it suddenly: I conclude this from the fact that the Savior, according to the testimony of the Apostle, preached to some in hell, so that “having once received” (once) punishment “in the flesh, they will live... now according to God in the spirit” (1 Pet. 4:6). But who will not be enlightened, warmed, or carried away by such a sermon? “Therefore, the Holy Church sings with joy that by the descent of her Bridegroom into hell, “the whole kingdom of hell” has been exhausted. “But what is the benefit to us from this descent? It’s not us who are tormented, but others,” someone might think. Give up this thought, beloved, for it is due to a lack of love for the Savior and for people like you. What do we need? -Isn’t the triumph of the head, our Lord, the triumph of the whole body and all members, that is, of all of us who believe in His name? – We do not personally participate in the exploits of the earthly king; and yet, we all rejoice and triumph when he wins victories and takes cities and regions. How can we not rejoice at the victory of our Heavenly King? Besides, why are we all human? Are they not members of one body? When one half of the body recovers, it cannot but be gratifying for the other. And the many souls who were in hell before the Resurrection of the Savior, without a doubt, made up a significant part of the human race, if not half the body. Along with consolation, the Lord's descent into hell contains a great lesson for us. It is necessary, brothers, for us to go somewhere after death. Where shall we go? Woe or doom? – The gates to heaven are opened by the Cross of the Savior; but heaven remained in heaven. Whoever wants to be in heaven must be able to ascend to grief after death. But not everyone can climb the highest mountains of the earth, and even more so, having climbed, a rare person can stay there for a long time. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare in advance for sunrise. How to prepare? Firstly, by laying aside all burdens, freeing oneself from all bonds; secondly, by acquiring lightness and the ability to ascend mountains and breathe heavenly air. The bonds of the soul are passions, the heaviness of the soul is sin. Whoever does not free himself from these bonds, does not lay down this burden, will naturally be left behind after death, or, even worse, drawn by his own internal heaviness, he will rush down. Where? - There, perhaps, where all the heaviness around us tends - to the center of the earth. What's there? – Ask the three hundred fire-breathing vents with which the earth’s surface is dotted on all sides... But wherever hell is, who, however, beloved, will come down to free us from it, if you and I, by misfortune, happen to be there? – Having ascended to heaven, the Savior will no longer descend from him to earth, as before, until the great day of judgment comes. Then, according to the testimony of the seer, “hell itself will give up its dead again” (Rev. 20:13); but it will no longer give it up to ascend to heaven, but for judgment and casting “into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:15). So, as long as we have every opportunity, let us not hesitate to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, remembering that every sin is a burden that, after death, will drag us down to hell. Amen. You might be interested in: