Word for Holy Great Saturday

The Homily “Word on Holy Great Saturday” begins with a reflection on the incomprehensible love of God and the need for spiritual purity to comprehend the Divine mysteries. St. John of Damascus expounds in detail the doctrine of the Incarnation, emphasizing the perfection of the two natures of Christ - Divine and human - unfused and inseparably united in one Hypostasis. This fullness of human nature, minus sin, enabled Christ to endure “natural and sinless passions” and thus “clothe with dispassion” fallen humanity, restoring its original blessedness. The central place in the sermon is occupied by the description of the gospel events of Holy Saturday: the burial of the Body of the Lord by the righteous Joseph of Arimathea in a new tomb, the sealing of the tomb and the posting of guards. The author refutes the assumptions of the Jews about the theft of the Body, explaining the true meaning of Christ’s 3-day stay in the tomb and His victorious descent into hell, where He crushes the “brass gates and iron ropes” and frees the righteous of the Old Testament. St. John of Damascus uses Old Testament prototypes (Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Jonah), pointing to the coming death and Resurrection of the Savior. At the end of the sermon, the monk exhorts to “mortify yourself to sin,” to acquire virtues, to show mercy to others (the parable of the talents, of the wise and foolish virgins), to reject vain glory and carnal pleasures. Particular attention is paid to the Sacrament of the Eucharist as a source of union with God. *Title of the work in Greek: λόγος εἰς τὸ ἅγιον Σάββατον. * Title of the work in Latin: In sabbatum sanctum. “Who will proclaim the mighty powers of the Lord? all His praises are heard” (Psalm 105:2)? Who will explain the immeasurable abyss of His goodness? Who will depict His incomprehensible love for slaves, His condescension, which exceeds all understanding, His mercy towards us and the unspeakable consideration that resulted from this for us? Of course, no one, even anyone who spoke the languages ​​of humans and angels, even combined in himself all human understanding. The spirit would like this, but the tongue is weak for expression, the mind is powerless for understanding. Truly, the mystery of Divine economy is great: it is comprehended not by understanding, but by faith alone, and requires spiritual purity, which is a consequence of the fear of God and love. There is no other way to achieve spiritual purity than through the fear of God and love; There is no other way to receive Divine illumination than by first clearing the vision of the soul. The Deity is not accessible to the unclean; only “the pure in heart... will see God” (Matthew 5:8), as Christ says, the very truth. That is why, during Moses’ epiphany in the bush, he was ordered to first gnaw his boots, and then proceed to the sign that appeared: this pulverization of the boots means the putting aside of dead and prostrate thoughts. Likewise, when Mount Sinai was smoking, during the Divine legislation, not everyone ascended to it, and even those who ascended ascended as they were purified. If, in relation to the prototypes, the law demanded the putting aside of all filth, then how much must those who want to approach the truth itself and the prototypes have to make themselves pure and godlike! So let us cleanse ourselves, brethren, from all earthly thoughts, from all confusion and worldly vanity, so that we may receive in full light the bright brilliance of the Divine Word, so that we may nourish our souls with spiritual bread—angelic meat, and, being inside the sanctuary, we will clearly recognize the divine and for the whole world saving passions of the Passionless One. Now a mystery has been revealed, hidden for centuries; now the main task of the Divine economy is being accomplished; now the crown is given to the incarnation of God the Word; Now the abyss of God’s love is opening. For God the Word so loved the world that, by the favor of the Father, he descended to the incarnation, and, being immaterial, accepted the burden of material flesh, so that, having received the passions as a being capable of suffering and having suffered death, he could clothe us who are passionate with dispassion. Hence hunger, thirst, sleep, fatigue, sadness, near-death suffering, and fear of death or a natural inclination towards life; hence, that is, according to the power of our nature perceived by Him, the cross, passion and death. All these are natural and sinless passions (παθη) of our nature, inseparable from my makeup, and the Lord did not reject them to experience, so that they, tamed in Him, would become subject to us. Christ is on the cross: let us gather together and be partakers of His sufferings, so that we may also share in His glory. Christ is among the dead: let us mortify ourselves to sin, that we may live in righteousness. Christ is wrapped in swaddling clothes and clean shrouds: let us be freed from the bonds of sin and clothed with divine light. Christ is in the new tomb: let us cleanse ourselves from the old leaven, and let us become a new mixture, that we may be the habitation of Christ. Christ is in hell: let us descend with Him to humility, which makes us high, and with Him we will rise again, and ascend, and be glorified, enjoying the unceasing sight of God. Free yourself, you beings, from the age; come out bound; appear, you who are in darkness; Go to freedom, prisoners; receive your sight, you blind; Awake, sleeping Adam, and rise from the dead: for Christ has risen - the resurrection. But, if you allow, we will begin the word from the beginning: in this way it will become clearer and more convincing, and will follow an even and smooth path. You will ask for me that Divine illumination from the Holy Spirit, without which even the wise are foolish, and with which the ignorant become wiser than the wisest. The culprit of everything is God; having not received being from anyone, and therefore unborn. He has a hypostatic, co-eternal Word, born before time and without outpouring from Him and never separate from the Father. This Word is perfect God - in everything except ungeneracy, like the One who gave birth, in being and power, in will and action, in kingdom and dominion. It is not without a reason, because it is from the Father; did not begin in time, because the Father was never without the Son, for the father is the father of the son, and without the son, who would have existence together with the father, he will not be a father; It was born from the Father inseparably, and abides in Him without origin; It is the wisdom of the One who gave birth and the hypostatic power, essentially God, consubstantial with the Father, not knowable without the Spirit. For from the Father proceeds the Holy Spirit, who is equal to the Father, equally perfect, one-effective, co-eternal, hypostatic. He comes from the Father not in the same way as the Son, but through procession: this is a different way of being, divine and incomprehensible. He is like the Father and the Son in everything, being good, the Lord, the Lord, the Creator, by nature God, the Father and the Son of one essence, reigning together, glorified and worshiped together from all creation. This is the Deity we honor: the Father, the parent of the Son, unbegotten, because He is from no one; - Son, the birth of the Father, because he is born of the Father; The Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of God and the Father, because he proceeds from the Father, and who is also called the Spirit of the Son, because through the Son he appears and is communicated to creation, although he does not have existence from the Son. There is one God, because there is one Deity, one power, one essence, one will, one action - indivisible, only with divided hypostases, or features of being, since one Father is characterized by ungeneracy, one Son is characterized by a beginningless, pre-temporal and eternal birth from the Father, and one Spirit is characterized by a pre-temporal and eternal procession. The Trinity is one, simple, uncomplicated, a limitless being, an incontainable light, limitless power, an abyss of goodness, one God, inseparably glorified in three perfect hypostases. This God from nothingness created the Angels, heaven, earth and everything on them, ethereal fire and the abyss of water; air is a repository of breath and a transparent conductor of light; the second vault (heavenly), established on the water, separating the upper waters from the waters of the deep, which He called heaven; the brilliant sun, which produces the continuity of day and night, and which constantly illuminates everything with its radiant radiance; the moon, illuminating the night and moderating the heat of the sun; stars that serve as decoration of the firmament, and all earthly objects, such as: diverse and multi-useful flowers, seed-bearing herbs, fruitful trees - the best beauty of the earth; all kinds of animals living in the waters - great and terrible whales; various breeds of reptiles and birds that originate from water, fly in the air, and live on land; then the animals of the earth, wild animals and herds of tame cattle: the Lord created all this as proof of his command, and for the pleasure of that creature that was to be created in the image of the Divine. Finally, after everything, as if a certain king, God with His own hand created this notorious animal - man, honoring him with his image. He formed his body from the earth, and produced his soul with a divine and life-giving breath, which, in my opinion, is the Holy Spirit, life-giving, constructive, perfecting and sanctifying everything. And He did not only unite the soul with the body, as if it had existed even earlier (this absurd and strange idle talk of Origen was a success), but He created it directly from non-existence. This very man, whom He created in His image, rational and verbal, a man who carries within himself the spirit of life, He placed in the communion of His grace and made him the ruler of paradise, planted in the east, gave him a blessed and happy life, free from all worries and carefree, from which he drove away all illness, sadness and sighing. And man, like another Angel living on earth, sang to God - his Creator, being filled with Divine thoughts, and ascending from every creature to the Creator - for which he was actually created. But it became unbearable for the inventor of evil, the father of lies, the creator of envy, the serpent-devil to see a person in abundance of so many blessings. Intending to deprive him of these benefits, he insidiously approaches him, and, under the guise of goodwill, entangles a person with flattery, brings him to the most disastrous fall, and look what a bait! What is above all, what is the highest? Without a doubt, God is above everything and is the culprit of everything. What, therefore, is most desired than to become God? And it was with this lust that the devil seduced the man, having caught in advance the innocence of his wife, and persuaded him to eat from the tree of knowledge. This is how evil almost always hides behind the guise of goodness, and imposes its own ugliness on virtue! Meanwhile, the omniscient forbade Adam from voluptuously eating from this tree for his own benefit; for he said: “Take food from every tree that goes into paradise. But from the tree, which you understand to be good and evil, you will not cut it down; you will touch it; but if you cut it down one day, you will die” (Genesis 2:16-17). Moreover, if anyone wanted to think that this tree was planted to test obedience or disobedience, and that for this reason it was called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or that it awakened in those who ate from it the ability to know their own nature, then this would not be contrary to the truth. But it was harmful for man to eat from this tree until he had yet become perfect. Having tasted it, he immediately realized his nakedness and began to think about preparing clothes for himself, became fussy, immersed in concern for his body, forgetting to think about God. Deprived of grace, he is now clothed with corruption, turns to earth, becomes an exile from the Divine paradise and is condemned to sweat, labor and death, not because the tree produced death (God did not create death), but because disobedience entailed death. Now sin begins to dominate, enslaves me, the unfortunate one, produces all kinds of evil in me, and, ensnaring me in the sweetness of food, puts me to death. What then? In such a pitiful situation, did He neglect his own creation, the most precious and most amiable, who is merciful by nature, who created us and gave us a blessed existence? Not at all; on the contrary, speaking Apostolically, “In many ways and in many ways, God spoke in ancient times to the Father as a prophet; in these last days He spoke to us in His only begotten and consubstantial Son” (Heb. 1:1–2), whom He sent into the world in order to lead lost man again to primeval bliss. And what great goodness! What is happening? The incompatible is united; that which exceeds nature is realized; what the eye has not seen, what the ear has not heard, what has never entered the heart of man, now they see and hear, they speak about it, they believe it! What is this? The Son of God and God becomes the son of man, a mediator between God and people! He does not cease to be God, because He is unchangeable, and not only apparently becomes man, because He is not deceitful and all deceit and lies are completely alien to open benevolence, but truly and by nature He becomes man, without any change or fusion, in order to truly grant our nature salvation. Thus, He is a perfect God, because in Him dwells “all the fullness of the physical Godhead” (Col. 2:9), and a perfect man, so that he can save the whole man, for what is not accepted is not healed; - one and the same in two perfect natures without any division. By hypostasis He is one with His flesh, and by nature He, as God, is consubstantial with the Father and the Spirit, and, as a man, is homogeneous and of the same race with us, having in Himself the entire essence of the first Adam, everything from which, in which and in which man is, i.e. a mortal body, and a rational and immortal soul, verbal, autocratic, endowed with will and activity (for an animal that does not have anything we have said is not a person). He took flesh, animated by a verbal and rational soul, from the Most Holy Virgin, and, uniting with her hypostatically, was born as God incarnate, being one Son and Christ and Lord, who made the Mother of God who gave birth to Him. If He were not one in hypostasis, then how is it said: “The Word became flesh” (John 1:14)? – What, of course, the Holy Spirit inspires is not that the Word turned into flesh, but, on the contrary, that It was united with the flesh hypostatically. Or how does it say: “the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, made his confession” (John 1:18)? After all, he confessed who was seen as a man; if He were not also God, then how can one believe that He is in the bosom of the Father? How also (it is said): “no one ascended into heaven, except the Son of man who came down from heaven” (John 3:13), while in body at that time He had not yet ascended into heaven, because even after the resurrection he said: “I have not sighed to My Father” (John 20:17)? In the same way, as “he who descended, He also ascended” (Eph. 4:10), when He descended according to the Divinity (not in the sense of moving from one place to another, but in the sense of condescension (ου τοπικως, αλλα συγκαταβατικως), but ascended bodily, being one and the same God and man? Or how does He, who speaks as a man and was seen as a man, say of himself: “I am one and the Father” (John 10:30)? It is not proper for a man to say this, if He were not at the same time God, consubstantial with the Father. And if we do not recognize two natures in Him, then how could one and the same person be mortal and immortal, created and uncreated, visible and invisible, perfect God and perfect man? After all, these are properties of more than one nature; for the created is not the same in nature with the uncreated, the mortal with the immortal, the visible with the invisible, the Divinity with humanity. How could Christ have one complex nature, when the nature of the Father and the Spirit is recognized as simple? In this case, how will He, by the same nature, be consubstantial with both the Father and us? Will anyone already say that the Father is of the same essence to us? But this is more absurd than any monstrous thought. And how does He himself say: “You have seen Me, you have seen the Father” (John 14:9), and in another place: “Now you seek to kill Me, the man who spoke the truth to you” (John 8:40)? Whoever saw in Him only a man did not see God and the Father. If we also say that He has one action, then where do we include bodily walking, breaking bread, sounds of voice, etc., that everything does not belong to the Divine nature, but to human action? All this, of course, did not just seem so in appearance, but it really was so, in the truth of nature. Likewise, if we assume that He, in His humanity, did not have a natural autocratic will, then to what do we attribute the natural desire for food, sleep, drink and the like? All this, occurring according to the law of nature, involuntarily attracts the unreasonable soul to fulfillment, from which here the desire is always followed by the desire for action, for unreasonable creatures are controlled by nature, and therefore they are free from guilt and are not subject to punishment in the least. But those beings who have reason, who act spontaneously, rather control nature themselves, having the opportunity to follow or resist wishes, because will is a natural, reasonable, autocratic desire. However, I say this only about those who maintain a life in accordance with nature, because those who, out of carelessness, have deviated towards a life unnatural, rather govern themselves than govern, since passions have acquired dominance over them. – To what desire can we attribute the fact that (the Lord), having come to one house, did not want to be recognized, and yet could not hide (Mark 7:24)? Everyone knows that the Divine will is omnipotent, and that the human will is weak and feeble. How also did He, denying His own will, pray for the will of His Father to be done? What nature is it to pray? It is clear that it was created. This means that the will that He refused belonged to the same nature. Thus, one is Christ, the Son and the Lord, having inseparably and unmerged two perfect natures with their natural properties, desiring and fulfilling everything characteristic of one and the other nature, with their mutual communication, due to the unmerged union of one nature with the other - the Son of God, one of the (persons) of the Holy Trinity, for our sakes made man. For since death entered through man, it was necessary that resurrection should also be given through man; and just as the rational soul committed disobedience with an autocratic will, it was necessary that the rational soul, with a natural and autocratic will, should also show obedience to the Creator, and thus salvation would come in the same way as death drove out life. What was the consequence of this? The fact that he who has deceived a person with the hope of the Divine is himself deceived by the covering of the body, and death, having tasted the sinless body, felt sick and, the unfortunate one, vomited out all the food that was in her womb. For God the Word, our Creator, having assumed our entire nature for our sake and having experienced our infirmities in the likeness, except for sin, having fulfilled the law and appearing alone among all people sinless, and therefore innocent of death, and having discovered in himself by miracles the power of the Divine nature, finally goes for us voluntarily to the saving passion for the whole world, betrays himself, and having become a curse for us (He himself is not an oath, but a blessing and sanctification, and only takes upon himself our oath), crucified and dies and buried for us. “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,” says Scripture (Gal.3:13); and God said to Adam: “You are earth and you will return to earth” (Gen. 3:19). So, He becomes a curse for us, so that we may receive a blessing: for it is said: “And the little ones received Him, and gave them the province to become children of God who believe” in Him (John 1:12). Wonderful thing! “The shepherd of Israel,” as the eternal God, is given over to death, like a man, by the hand of an Israelite! “Teach Joseph like a sheep,” like a gentle lamb is led to the slaughter, and brings with it, in exchange for the tree of knowledge, the tree of life, and by eating bile mixed with the sap, destroys the disease that has infected our nature from eating sweet food! “He who sits on the Cherubim” (Psalm 79:2), like God, hangs as if condemned on the cross, and while He himself is the life of men, the murderers of God, seeing her hanged on the cross, did not believe: for “they closed their eyes, and their ears were hard of hearing” (Is. 6:10). He who formed man with the Divine hands stretches out his immaculate hands all day long to a rebellious and outrageous people, and finally betrays his soul into the hand of the Father. The One who created Eve from Adam's rib has his rib pierced with a spear and exudes divine blood and water, the drink of immortality and the bath of renewal! That is why the sun was ashamed, unable to see the desecration of the mental Sun of Truth. The earth, watered with the blood of the Lady, shook, shaking off the impurity of the blood sacrificed to idols, and joyfully celebrating its cleansing. The dead rose from their graves, foreshadowing the rise of those who were killed for us. The sun went out and lit up again so that the three-day reckoning of the death of the Lord would be completed. The veil of the church was torn, clearly indicating the accessibility of places that were hitherto inaccessible and the revelation of the hidden. Indeed, now the thief will soon enter paradise, and man, killed as a villain, will soon be honored and worshiped by all creation as God, for He truly is God; soon the earthly body, made of dust, will ascend above the heavens and will sit with God; soon the knowledge of the holy, blessed and glorified Trinity will also be revealed. He who breathed the breath of life into Adam, and he who created it into the living soul, is laid in the tomb, dead, lifeless! He who determines for a person to turn to the earth is considered one of the hidden things in the earth! The copper gates are broken and the iron ropes are erased. The “eternal gates” were closed (Psalm 23:7), the guard of hell trembled, and the foundations of the universe were opened. For he who is free from sin is numbered with the dead, and he who loosed the bonds of Lazarus is wrapped in swaddling clothes, so that a man killed by sin and entangled in its snares may be loosed from his bonds and set free. Now the King of glory comes to the tyrant, strong in battle, whose coming to us is from the heights of heaven, flowing like a giant, the path of life, and binds the strong man like a weak bird, scatters his bodyguards with the omnipotent Divinity and steals his vessels, returning in justice what he stole unjustly. Now the Word descends to the dragon, to leviathan, to the apostate (Is. 27:1) - (leviathan means dragon), to the great mind of the Assyrians (Is. 10:12), i.e. resisting forces, hiding in the heart of the earth, and like a fisherman covering the fishing rod with a worm, the fishing rod of the Deity, covered with the body, pulls it out and forces it to vomit those whom it miserably swallowed up while it was strong, and thus lets go of the one who boasted of wealth with nothing. The Child, born and given to us, descended into the cave of the asps, strangling, killing and destroying the arrogant and proud man. Now hell is becoming heaven, the underworld is filled with light, the darkness that hitherto dwelt there is driven away, and the blind are given sight. For to those who sit in the land and shadow of death, the east has risen from above. All this was clearly depicted and foretold by the Prophets, Patriarchs and Righteous Ones. The righteous is bound as an indecent one, “having deliberately devised evil counsel against themselves” to those who reap the people of the Lord and trouble the paths of their feet: “Woe to their souls; the evil one will befall them according to their deeds (Is. 3:9-12). But for us this work has become true salvation from sorrows and a cure against illness. “I put my cloaks on the wounds,” said the One who spoke in Isaiah, “and my cheeks on the blows, but I did not turn away my face from the cold of spitting” (Is. 50:6). For this reason I will not be ashamed and will not the creation of My hands will be ashamed. I did not consider equality with God to be robbery, and, being God, consubstantial with the Father, I humbled myself to the point of exhaustion (Phil. 2:7), I humble myself for the wicked to the point of death, because the Father so pleased (and what He wants, I also want, being by nature a partner in His will and an accomplice of the Divine), and, ascending as the highest, I exalt with with myself to the height of glory and humanity. This is how I realize fatherly love, so that the sheep preserved for Me, justified by My blood and having received reconciliation with My Father in My death, could henceforth live life and rest under My wings!” Let us understand, we who were not eyewitnesses of these events, and believe the hearing of those who preach peace; for the arm of God is revealed to us—God’s omnipotent power. We will be glorified if we understand, and we will glorify much, contemplating, as if in a mirror, the glory of the Lord in humiliation, perceiving in an unglorious form the beauty that surpasses all understanding. For although He suffered “from weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God” (2 Cor. 13:4), although they saw Him hanging on a tree, ugly and inglorious more than all the sons of men, nevertheless He is the radiance of glory, from which the earth, at the sight of Him (on the tree), was ashamed and shuddered. He bore our sins on the tree, bore our illnesses, was weak for us and endured blows, sorrows and insults - the price of our peace. since we, like sheep, lost our way, leaving the path of the Lord and following our own path, then He, out of the compassion of mercy, was betrayed for our sins, and, setting an example for us, He did not contradict or cry out, but, like a silent sheep, was led to death for us. And you will see, says Moses, “your life hanging before your eyes, and you will not have faith in your life” (Deut. 28:66). And the God-father David, or better, through David, the Lord of David himself, foreshadowing his passion and life-giving burial, said: “I divided my garments for myself: and cast lots for my clothing” (Psalm 21:19). He who clothed our first parents in clothes of leather voluntarily undresses himself before the crucifixion, so that, having stripped us of mortality, he could clothe us with the beauty of incorruptibility. He divides by lot his clothing among the soldiers, for after rising from the dead, he intends to send disciples chosen by Him to the nations, and himself to become a garment for the believers in holy baptism: “For as many as were baptized into Christ,” says the Scripture, “put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27). Noah, imprisoned in the ark, and saving the seeds of the second world with a tree and becoming again the beginning of the human race, prefigured the voluntarily buried Christ, who washed away sin with the blood that flowed from His side along with water, and saved our entire race with the tree of the cross, and became the head of a new life and a new order (πολιτειας). Abraham, that great patriarch, leading Isaac to the burnt offering, who was given according to the promise, and to whom all the promises related, clearly foretold the death of the Lord. For Isaac is given alive by God to his parent; and the sacrifice was a lamb, entangled with its horns in the Savek bush. This dual sacrament of the lamb and Isaac is the true image of Christ our God. For Christ is dual and complex, being both God and man; and He, as the Son of God and God by nature, remained passionless, and, as having become man for the sake of man, He offered himself for the salvation of the world as an immaculate sacrifice to the Father in the plant Savek, or on the tree of scapegoat, since Savek means remission. - What do the three measures of flour mean, from which the bread baked in ashes was made (Gen. 18:6)? Doesn't this clearly indicate the three-day burial of the Bread of Life? What does it mean in the life of Joseph, first the ditch, and then the guards? Doesn't this obviously point to the coffin and the guards with it? For it is said: “I have laid Me in the pit of the grave, in the dark places and the shadow of death” (Psalm 87:7). And what about Moses, the seer of God and lawgiver? When he hides in a basket, is he not clearly given up to death, and yet is he not accepted by the princess? So Christ lies in the tomb, being dead in body, and yet by his Divinity, reigning over all creation, he is again called to life. Doesn’t the same Moses again cut the seas with a rod, and with a double blow, straight and transverse, depict the sign of the cross? And when it descends into the depths, does it not show the Savior’s descent into hell? Doesn't he kill the persecuting Pharaoh and save Israel? Because Christ put death to death, and saves all who believe in Him. When he also puts Amalek to flight with outstretched hands and gives victory to Israel, he thereby shows the same mystery of the Savior ahead. The wonderful manna also brings me to amazement: just as it was hidden only on the evening of the Sabbath (Ex. 16:23) - and Jesus, my God and for my sake man, all sweetness and all desire, is hidden in the tomb at the end of the heel. And Jonah? Didn’t the Lord Himself foretell His pre-image in it? “As Jonah,” He said, “was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights: so will the Son of man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights” (Matthew 12:40). But someone will ask: if He suffered a voluntary death on Heel, and returned to life alone from the Sabbaths, then how will it remain true that He spent three nights in the heart of the earth? But the divine Moses tells us this: “God calls the light day, and the darkness he calls night” (Gen. 1:5). And when the Lord was hanged on the holy cross, “darkness came over the whole earth” (Matthew 27:45), not because a cloud came and covered the ray of the sun, and not because the lunar body, like some kind of barrier, obscured the sun and did not allow the radiance to reach us (for this is how solar eclipses are explained by people who know this matter): but the whole earth was enveloped in darkness, much darker than that tangible darkness with which Egypt was struck, because in the solar body itself there was no luminous ray of emitting power; for it was necessary that the bodily death of the Creator should be mourned by all creation. Therefore, the Prophet says: “The sun will go down at noon, and the light of the earth will be darkened in the day” (Amos. 8:9); and another again: “in the day it will not be light, ... and not day and not night, and at evening there will be light” (Zech. 14: 6-7). During this darkness, the divine and all-holy soul of the Lord, having separated from the sacred and life-giving body, was in the heart of the earth, and this time is counted as one night. Then, after darkness, the Creator restores the day again, and the sun returns to its normal state; - that is why the Prophet predicted that there would be light before evening. Then there was the night before Saturday, then - Saturday itself, then - the night before one of Saturdays, and finally, the most radiant and luminous day of the Holy Resurrection, the day on which the uncreated light came bodily from the tomb, like a bridegroom, shining with the beauty of the resurrection; for the end of the Sabbath, which the Evangelist calls “Sabbath evening” (Matthew 28:1), is the beginning of one Sabbath. Here is a clear reckoning of three days and three nights! – But let’s return to where we left off. He who formed man from the dust is brought down into the dust of death, and His belly is lifted from the earth. He puts aside earthly things, not the body I mean, but what belongs to the body - sleep and fatigue, hunger and thirst, separations and discharges; for all this came into our lives through disobedience. His burial takes place in the world, in the world that He delivered to us through the cross and burial, uniting what was divided and subduing the apostate man to God. Meanwhile, after His burial, the evil ones were given over to destruction; The Jews, after the destruction of the church and the city, were taken into captivity by the enemies, and will no longer return to their fatherland, because they were left without the care of the Divine, after the Lord said: “Behold, your house is left to you empty” (Matthew 23:38); and the demons are deprived of that intolerable and arrogant power with which they, being evil, dominated us, enslaving us to the most shameful passions. He Himself inherited the spoils of the wicked - people who had died since time immemorial, having freed all who were under the yoke of sin. He was numbered among the lawless, but brought forth legality. For the unbelievers He became a seed to destruction, He changed their festivals into lamentations, and replaced their songs with cries. For us, He brought forth light from darkness, brought forth life from the grave, and brought forth resurrection, joy, gladness, and admiration from hell. Now it will not be indecent to touch upon the sayings of the Gospels and extract the wealth hidden in them. This is what the Evangelists say, who proclaimed divine things according to the guidance of the Spirit, and who had Christ speaking within them. “Later I came, a rich man came from Arimathea, named Joseph” (Matthew 27:57), “a good counselor” (Mark 15:43), “a good and righteous man” (Luke 23:50), “who himself learned from Jesus” (Matthew 27:57), “and without hope of the kingdom of God” (Mark 15:43); “This one was not suited to their work” (Luke 23:51), “but he was hidden in fear for the sake of the Jews” (John 19:38). “This one was bold enough to go to Pilate and ask for the body of Jesus” (Mark 15:43). O blessed and glorious man! The Lord truly said that every tree is known by its fruits (Matthew 7:17-18). So he, being good and righteous, did not follow their advice and deeds. (Luke 23:31). And in truth he is a blessed man, as the inspired David said; for “I do not walk in the counsel of the wicked, and I do not stand in the path of sinners, and I do not sit in the seats of destroyers” (Psalm 1:1), in order to take counsel with people who are lawless against the Lord and against His Christ. He did not say: “Take, take, crucify Him” (John. 19, 15); He did not utter the words of despicable people and did not bring upon himself and his tribe the vengeance of innocent and divine blood. But, confirming his will in the law of the Lord, and always thinking about the law, whether he was on his bed or rising from sleep, he irrigated his mind with the divine streams of the Spirit; for he was a disciple of the good Teacher, and followed in His footsteps. O man rich in good will! O wise merchant, who has taken heavenly wealth with earthly wealth and hidden within himself the treasure of life! “Pilate marveled,” says St. Mark, “even if he had already died” (Mark 15:44): he marveled at how Life died, at how He who gives breath to men himself gave up breath. Pilate! He truly died, but He died voluntarily, because He has the power to lay down His life, and the power to take it up again (John 10:18). He truly died in order to take away the spoils of death, in order to revive the one bound in chains, so that, having become the firstborn from the dead, He might bring about the resurrection of the dead, so that what is mortal would be destroyed by life. So the body (of Jesus) is given to Joseph. What uncontrollable courage and daring, generated by faith and fiery love for God! The disciples, who have been awarded Divine gifts, take refuge, struck with fear: but you ask for the dead, and rather imitate them, your Teacher, Leader and Lord, for with your determination you dare your soul to die! You could not look at the naked holy body of the Lord, united hypostatically with the Divine. You touched the very coal of the Divine, while the Seraphim could not touch His image (Isa. 6:6). Oh, blessed hands! Oh, the happiest embrace in which, holding the body of my God, you wrapped it in a clean shroud with precious ointment; “As it is a custom,” says Scripture, “to bury Jews” (John 19:40)! “But in the place where they were crucified, there was a heli-city, and in the heli-city there was a new coffin, in which no one else had been laid. For the sake of the Jews, there is a heel, for the tomb of Jesus is near” (John 19:41–42), “he cut it (the tomb) in stone: and having rolled a great stone over the door of the tomb, he departed” (Matthew 27:60). The heel is called παρασκευη (preparation), as a kind of preparation for the Sabbath rest: for the Sabbath was a day of rest from work, because God decreed for the Jews (on this day) not to touch any work at all. But for us, the heel (preparation) for peace from sin, and from the evils arising from it, was Divine suffering. - So, wrapped in a clean shroud is He who alone is pure and unharmed, who covers the sky with clouds and is clothed in light as with a robe. In the tomb lies the One for whom heaven serves as a throne and earth as a footstool. The narrow confines of the coffin enclose the body of the One who embraces all creation in a handful, who fills and describes everything, being one, like God, the indescribable. The same one who, as God, accepts worship together with the Father and the Spirit in heaven, the same one, like a man, lies with his body in the tomb, and with his soul dwells in the hidden refuges of hell, and makes paradise accessible to the thief, because the indescribable Divinity accompanies Him everywhere. For although the sacred soul was separated from the life-giving and immaculate body; but the Divinity of the Word remained inseparable from them, that is, from the soul and body, since from the time of conception to the womb of the Holy Virgin and Mother of God Mary, an inseparable union of two natures took place in one person. Thus, even in death itself, one hypostasis of Christ was preserved, because the body and soul consisted in one hypostasis of God the Word, and after death they had the same hypostasis. And therefore, “every tribe will worship those in heaven and on earth and under the earth: and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:10-11). But why is He placed in a new tomb, in which not a single dead person has yet been laid? It seems to me that this is so that the resurrection will not be attributed to one of the previously buried. People who hate their own salvation are prone to deceit and are very quick to disbelief. So, so that the resurrection of the Lord would be clear and obvious, He is buried alone in a new and empty tomb. The spiritual Stone of life, from which the ungrateful drank, the cornerstone and uncut stone is hidden in the cut rock: because souls that are pampered and lost in pleasure cannot accept the Divine Word; this belongs to strong souls who have a courageous disposition towards virtue. “And on the morning,” says the Evangelist, “the bishop and the Pharisee, who were on his heels, gathered together to Pilate, saying” (Matthew 27:62–63). Again a host of lawless people gathered, who killed the Prophets and stoned those sent to them, who terribly devastated the vineyard of the Lord, that is, the people of Israel, and who, after the slaves, inhumanly killed the Son and Heir himself. They did not know that He would be the heir of all creation, like man; and if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. What do they say to Pilate? “Lord, remembering that the flatterer he said is still alive, in three days I will arise” (Matthew 27:63). O iniquity, characteristic only of idolaters! Deceivers, allies of deception call the Lord a juror (υποσπονδον) of deception, a slave of sin! They declare the Savior and Lord of the universe, the very truth, wisdom and power of the Father, the light that enlightens every person coming into the world, to be a flatterer! Why do you say in advance: “He is still alive?” Does not the Author of the life of the living and the existence of those who exist live even after death? Although He was among the dead, He lived as if free. Have you ever heard that the Lord said to the prophet Jonah: “Three more days, and Nineveh will be transformed” (Jonah 3:4)? Deception will truly be transformed when the Lord rises from the grave on the third day, and righteousness and truth are implanted. “They commanded,” say the villains, “to establish the tomb until the third day” (Matthew 27:64). Why are you worrying in vain, timid ones? What are you afraid of fear where there is no fear? The seal of the Boundless will not hold! If the seals did not prevent Habakkuk from entering the ditch to feed Daniel the prophet and servant of God (Dan. 14:36): then how can the seals hold the Lord of the universe? But malice is truly blind and easily destroyed by itself. “Let not His disciples come and steal Him away in the night, and say to the people that He has risen from the dead: and the last flattery will be worse than the first” (Matthew 27:64). O senseless ones! who steals the dead? It happens that gravediggers take off the clothes of the dead: but who has ever stolen the dead? If Christ had not been resurrected, and His prediction about His resurrection would have turned out to be false, would the Disciples have in vain become attached to Him? Every dead thing is forgotten from the hearts of mortals, says Scripture (Psalm 30:13). And if He is also a deceiver, then must He not fall into oblivion? How then, out of affection for the dead deceiver, did they (the Disciples) begin to expose themselves, as they actually did, to various kinds of deaths, and disasters, and many evils? Truly, you yourself place the deception you suspect among the truths. “Pilate said to them: Be a custodian: go, establish it as you know. They went along and solidified the tomb, marking the stone with the custodian” (Matthew 27:65-66). Pilate avoids complicity with the deicides, knowing that he himself did not find a single fault in Him, and lays the whole crazy case down on them. “So that there is no reason left for you to object to the resurrection, I entrust you with the seal and the guard. Be careful not to resort again to dishonest inventions and absurd stories, when the event of the resurrection will prove the truth of the predictions of this, as you say, deceiver. The matter is now on the razor's edge; “Now there is judgment” (John 12:31), as He himself said. If He, having risen, is “lifted up from the earth,” you, the rulers, will be rejected, and He will “draw everyone to Himself” (John 12:32). Such were the speeches of Pilate. But the shameless and ungrateful Jews rushed like dogs to the tomb and sealed the stone. So He who created the abyss and sealed it, who put sand as the limit of the sea, lies in the tomb, dead, guarded by a guard and a seal. “He fell asleep like a lion and like a skiman” (Gen. 49:9). He died like a Tsar, behind a guard. Who will stir Him up? “Now I will rise, says the Lord” (Psalm 11:6), now I will be exalted, now I will be glorified: now you will see, now you will understand. Meanwhile, the wives, burning with fiery love for the Teacher, openly looked at everything that was happening; and ready to risk danger for the Lord, they surpassed the boldness of the Apostles and did not allow anyone to take advantage of themselves in this matter. Let us also be like the wise servants who were waiting for the coming of the master: having received the talent, we will try by all means to increase it, and thus receive the joy of the Lord, like good servants and faithful stewards. This talent, in my opinion, is every gift given to people by Divine goodness. And no one is completely deprived of Divine gifts: only one is capable of such virtue, another of another: one of more virtues, another of fewer; one to the highest and most excellent virtues, the other to the lower and not so perfect. God gave everyone his own measure of faith. For this “they will be tormented more and more severely” (Wis. 6:6); “and to him much will be given, and much will be required of him” (Luke 12:48); It will be demanded from everyone according to the power entrusted to him by God. The giver knows to whom he is giving what, “before His eyes all are naked and the essence is declared” (Heb. 4:13). Therefore, let us hasten to multiply our talent as much as possible: if you have accepted five talents, try to buy the Lender another five; he who accepted two, the other two. Let one who has received this gift give a helping hand to those in need and those who are exhausted under the burden of poverty; and the other - with a word, he will nourish those exhausted by hunger and dried up from the heat of unbelief. Let us make friends for ourselves from the mammon of unrighteousness; Let us feed the poor, so that they, like good rhetoricians, will defend us before the terrible judgment seat. Let us give shelter to the homeless, clothe the naked, visit the sick, let us not be burdened with visiting those in prison, the grieving and sad, let us stretch out our hand, lament with them, shed a tear of compassion: this will extinguish the endless fire of Gehenna. If we do this with the desire of our hearts, then the Lord will say to us: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). Called, let us put on bright wedding clothes in order to become participants in the Divine marriage, in order to become worthy of reclining, in order to taste the well-fed Calf, to partake of the Passover lamb, to be nourished by the fruit of the new grape. Let us begin to eat and drink with a clear conscience - from wheat, inexpressibly, but truly (for He who promised is not a lie), through invocation, the transformed flesh of God, and from wine - the blood of God. Through this we will be cleansed sevenfold, like gold - we will blot out the filthiness of sin that remains in us, and thus we will inherit incorruptibility, and we will be united with God, and we will be deified, and we will enjoy communion with Him, when the trumpet of the Lord sounds and the dead are raised, when the Lord sits on the judgment seat, on the day on which God has appointed to judge the universe in righteousness. Everything will then receive its renewal, and after that there will be no other renewal; the fire will then begin to devour the opponents without destroying them, and the righteous will be received by the abodes prepared from the ages, and the bosom of Abraham, that is, God the Word and Lord incarnate from Abraham’s bosom. Then the land of the wicked will fall, and darkness and the gloomy fire that they kindled for themselves will take possession of them, and the worm will constantly torment and gnashing of teeth, combined with groaning: and those who are right in heart, have an immaculate faith, are bright and shining like the sun, will be received by the land of the meek (Matthew 5:5). The foolish virgins will then fuss in vain, untimely taking care of what they now need, and trying to decorate their extinguished lamps with alien oil: the bridal chamber will be closed for them, and from inside it they will hear the stern voice of the Unflattering: “We don’t know you,” or, which is the same, I don’t love you, because you didn’t love my brothers, didn’t show them signs of your love, didn’t moved towards them with mercy. Therefore judgment is without mercy to him who has not shown mercy. Nothing pleases Me, the merciful Me, as much as mercy; nothing can attract My heart like mercy: I want mercy, but not sacrifice. You have not opened the doors of mercy to those in need: so I will not open to you the entrance into my Kingdom.” Behold the harvest that the foolish virgins will reap! On the contrary, the wise, being ready to receive the Bridegroom, will not be dismayed. Having filled their lamps with many different virtues, having drunk them abundantly with the oil of charity and kindled them with the luminous fire of the Orthodox faith, joyful and cheerful, in the dead of night, they will meet the Bridegroom, form a choir in the Divine palace, and there they will taste all the joys, forever uniting in spirit with the immaculate Bridegroom, and being honored to have a pure conversation with the Pure One. Let us also be, O sacred and divine flock of the great Shepherd, Priest and sacrifice, O chosen people, royal priesthood, we who have inherited a new name, as servants of Christ! - let us also, remembering the sufferings, words and deeds of Christ, keep His life-giving commandments. He said: “believe in God and believe in Me” (John 14:1), also: “and the Father will give you another Comforter” (John 14:16), “the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father” (John 15:26). So, believing in Him, let us love Him heartily: “Whoever loves Me,” He said, “will be loved by my Father: and I will love Him and will appear to Him myself” (John 14:21). At the same time, we will hate His enemies. Anyone who does not confess Christ as the Son of God and Lord is the Antichrist. If anyone says that Christ is a servant, let us close our ears, full confidence that the one who says this is a liar and there is no truth in him. Let us endure reproach for Christ as a crown of glory. For “you will be blessed,” He says, “when men hate you, and when they revile you and carry your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of man, rejoice in that day, and behold, for this is your reward. there is much in heaven” (Luke 6:22–23). By doing this, we will avoid the foolishness of the foolish virgins and be jealous of the prudence of the wise. Let us also be ready for the resurrection of the Lord from the dead. Let us not worry about pleasures for the belly, nor about many clothes for the body, nor about the precious but useless world, nor about luxurious food and drink, with which repose and debauchery are inseparable. Let us not be proud of the poor; Let us not ignite within ourselves the desires of vain glory and let us not remove the bridle of chastity from desires; Let us not be misogynist horses, raging against the chastity of others, and let us not sow food for the fire into our flesh. Let us not be carried away by the unclean lure of gold, silver and valuable stones. When others suffer from hunger, we will not allow our luxurious meal to attract the inexorable worm of Gehenna. Behold the Bridegroom arises! This comes from the tomb of the King of kings! Let us prepare ourselves so as not to be excluded from participating in the joy. Let us be good companions of the meal, distinguishing good from bad, and let us burn one with the fire of divine jealousy and love, and keep the other in our treasuries. Let us be strict with anger and desire; let us exhaust the lust of the belly; let us gird ourselves with chastity through abstinence and humility of heart; let us put aside arrogance, through humiliation and remembrance of death; we will be everything to everyone; We will endure slander courageously; enduring insults, let us begin to be consoled by hope: “for the image of this world is passing away” (1 Cor. 7:31), and everything that is now visible with our eyes passes by. In all things, “let this be understood in you, even in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5), who loved us while we were still His enemies; having loved us, he had compassion on us, having had compassion, he humbled himself, and by humbling himself he saved us: for from love comes mercy, from mercy, humility, from humility, salvation and exaltation. If we behave this way, we will now get rid of the disasters that threaten us. If we throw off the yoke of passions, we will be freed from the yoke of tyrants, and just as before a sad one came from a happy state, so now a blessed one will come again from a sad one: we will receive the former freedom, we will purely celebrate the original holiday of the Lord God, we will not hear blasphemous speeches against the Creator, and the state of the Church will be in the world. And then we will brightly meet with the shining lamps the Conqueror of death, the immortal Bridegroom, and the immaculate Bridegroom will receive us, and we will see with an open face the glory of the Lord and enjoy the beauty of the Lord, to whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory, honor, worship and majesty now, always and forever. Amen. You might be interested in: