“Stomach, how you’re dying...”

“Stomach, how are you dying? Why do you dwell in the tomb?” Yes, Life in the Grave. Погребению предается Его израненное тело... После смерти к Распятому приблизилась любовь погребающая: «Благообразный опрятает Тя страшно, Спасе... И ужасается образа Твоего страшного». «Красный добротой паче всех человек, яко беззрачен мертв является, естество украсивый всех». “Having laid down the measure of the earth, you dwell in a small tomb.” “Contain a handful of earth, mortified in the flesh, now hidden under the earth.” “You hid yourself under the earth like the sun now, and you were covered by night.” “Oh strange wonders! About new things! The Giver of my breath rushes lifeless, we bury him with the hands of Joseph.” “My sweet Jesus and saving Light, how you hid in a dark tomb!” The Mother of God and the Myrrh-Bearers bowed over the Dead Man in quiet sadness. “Woe is me, the light of the world! Woe to me, my light, my beloved Jesus!” В священном ужасе опустили крыла свои силы небесные, пророки в трепете склонили свои вещия хартии, и преклонилась вся небесная и земная Церковь . Тихо и благоговейно приближаются верующие, преклоняют пред Гробом в глубокой думе светящияся любовью лица свои, и возставляют свои светы в пылающем множестее огней у Гроба. In solemn silence, the mystery of the death of God, His sabbatification, is performed. Together with them, we, thin and last, dare to approach «Блаженному Гробу: в себе бо приим яко спяща Содетеля, жизни Божественное хранилище показася», and to this sabbath of the Creator of the world: «седьмый день днесь освятил еси, егоже древле благословил еси упокоением от дел...» «Сия бо есть благословенная суббота... день, в оньже почи от всех дел Своих Единородный Сын Божий». Let us stand timidly with those present at the Tomb, they will not overthrow us, for love also burns in us, for we also brought Him the candle of our dark life, we lay flowers with all our love and touch His wounds with tears of our hearts... But where does this quiet joy come from here, in a place of sadness, and, instead of the torment of the heart, this solemn peace, and, instead of darkness, the quiet radiance of light shines silver? Where does this bliss of sorrow come from, and how does the horror of being removed from the cross give way to the victory of accomplishment? S o u r sh i s h a s i! Yes, here the victory of the cross took place, and it is evidenced in our hearts by the inexpressible joy, the joy of being taken down from the cross, the triumph of this death on the cross and wounds: the jubilant fullness of this sacrifice of love, which bore everything and gave everything, and life itself... And just a few hours ago the whole world was experiencing the spasms of death. The sun darkened, unable to bear the world's despair, and the veil of the church, created for the consecration of the earth, was torn, after the murder of Christ was committed on it, the Giver of Life tasted death on the cross. There has never been and never will be such despair in the world, the extinction of all meanings, in rebellion against God and His Christ. The creature rebelled against the Creator and wanted to kill Him, to give triumph to the prince of the world, and He surrendered to this death, did not resist it... And all the hatred, alienation, misunderstanding, indifference, cowardice, betrayal, betrayal, cruelty and malice that surpassed all measures fell upon Him, the Meek and Humble in Heart, who brought the world the revelation of Divine love. They reviled Him, tortured Him, scourged Him, tore His body with nail wounds and, finally, hung Him on the cross to die in terrible agony, abandoned and alone, as if to despair in all His work and in all humanity. The disciples fled, Judas betrayed, and Peter denied, and only one remained at the cross. The people who listened to His teaching, who accepted the gifts of His miracles, turned to Him with hatred, and the few faithful were only able to respond to what was happening by beating their chests and crying. And the last sorrow that overflowed the cup of His suffering was the torment of the Mother, whose heart was pierced by a weapon, piercing into the dying heart of the Son - that is, exhaustion on the cross: “Now receive me with You... May I go down to hell with You and I: do not leave me alone, for I no longer tolerate living without seeing You, my sweet light... Joy will never touch me from now on, in the sobbing verb Immaculate; My Light and My Joy will go into the grave: but I will not leave Him alone, here I will die and be buried with Him...” Such was this night of the world and its agony. Mortal spasms stopped the heart of the world, and it seemed that only death, plunging into the darkness of non-existence, could put an end to it. And death came, the end of suffering. But it did not become a triumph of non-existence, but was a victory of life. Her darkness is illuminated by radiant light, her dead silence is filled with full-voiced silence, her sorrow is extinguished in the radiance of Life in the tomb. And the army of the church bows down and celebrates the triumph of the victorious, for love, which has given everything to the end and accepted everything, is crowded around the Mother of God. She already knew, in the depths of her suffering, that the only path to the final victory of Life over death had been passed. “Oh, how the abyss of generosity was hidden from You, God said to the Mother in secret: for although I will save My creation, I willed to die, but I will also rise again. Don’t cry for Me, Mother, see me in the grave... I will rise and be glorified.” Sabbath peace, the final certainty, reigns in the heart, and it becomes known to him what is happening there, beyond the gates of death, from this tomb: “Jesus Christ, King of all, why did you come seeking those in hell? Or free the human race? Truly, He came to earth to save the human race: “He descended to earth to save Adam: and on earth he did not find him, O Lord, he descended to hell looking for him. Like a grain of wheat, when it went into the depths of the earth, it abundantly gave back to this class, raising up men who were from Adam. The two-branched, life-giving grain is sown into the bowels of the earth with tears today, but when it vegetates the world will rejoice. Yes, having filled everything with Your glory, You descended into the underworld of the earth: for my composition in Adam did not hide from You, and was buried, having decayed, you renewed me, O Lover of Mankind. The most pure church was destroyed, but with it it erected the fallen tabernacle, to the first Adam the second Adam, living in the highest, descended even to the repositories of hell.” The Lord, who is in the tomb, goes through the path of the afterlife, sacrificial love, the non-evening light of the Epiphany illuminates the darkness of death. At the Holy Sepulcher we touch the sacrament of death. The light of this tomb illuminates every Christian death as a repose in the Lord. Bright silence and speaking silence, the revelation of death, is proclaimed at the tomb of loved ones, and the body, calmed from the heat of the earth by the heavenly coolness, sends us news of an otherworldly world. And the sign of this life in death, like dying in life, is the cross of the Lord, life on the cross and death on the cross. “Like a lion who has fallen asleep in the flesh, O Savior, like a certain young man who rose up, having put off old age of the flesh” 1 . All texts are borrowed from the Holy Saturday service (canons and praises).