If anyone is pious and God-loving, let him enjoy this good and bright celebration.
If anyone is a prudent servant, let him enter rejoicing into the joy of his Lord.
If anyone has labored by fasting, let him receive a denarius today.
If anyone has eaten since the first hour, let him accept righteous debt today.
If anyone comes at the third hour, give thanks and celebrate.
If anyone has reached the sixth hour, let him doubt nothing, for he will gain nothing.
If anyone has lost even the ninth hour, let him begin without hesitating or fearing anything.
If anyone has reached the point, even at the tenth hour, let him not be afraid of delay: for this Lord, being of curiosity, accepts the last as he did the first: he gives rest at the tenth hour to the one who has come, as doing from the first hour.
And he has mercy on the last, and he pleases the first, and he gives, and he bestows, and he accepts the deed, and he kisses the intention, and he honors the deed, and he praises the proposal.
Therefore, all of you enter into the joy of your Lord: first and second, accept the reward.
Riches and wretches, rejoice with each other.
Abstinence and laziness, honor the day.
You who have fasted and those who have not fasted, rejoice today.
The meal is complete, enjoy, everyone.
The well-fed calf, let none come forth hungry, all of you enjoy the feast of faith: you all receive the riches of goodness.
Let no one weep in misery, for the common Kingdom has appeared.
Let no one weep for sins, for forgiveness has risen from the grave.
Let no one fear death, for Savior’s death will set us free.
Extinguish that which is kept from her.
Captivity of hell, Descended into hell.
Grieve him by tasting His flesh.
And Isaiah, when he received this, cried out: hell, he who has grieved, will shit on you.
Be grieved, for you have been abolished.
Be upset, for you will soon be insulted.
Be grieved, for you have died.
Be grieved, for you have been humbled.
Be upset, because I am connected.
Accept the body and admire it to God.
Accept the earth and tear up the sky.
It is pleasant even when you see it, and you fall into it when you don’t see it.
Where is your sting, death; where is your victory? Christ is risen, and you have fallen.
Christ is risen, and the demons have fallen.
Christ is risen, and the Angels rejoice.
Christ is risen, and life lives.
Christ is risen, and not one dead man is in the tomb.
Christ, having risen from the dead, became the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
To him be glory and power, forever and ever. Amen.
Let those who are pious and God-loving enjoy this beautiful and bright celebration.
Let him who is a prudent servant, rejoicing, enter into the joy of his Lord.
He who has labored while fasting, let him take a denarius today.
Whoever worked from the first hour, let him receive his due payment today.
Whoever came after the third hour, let him celebrate with gratitude.
Those who managed to arrive after the sixth hour should not worry at all; for nothing will be lost.
Whoever has delayed until the ninth hour, let him begin, without any doubt, without fear of anything.
Whoever managed to arrive only at the eleventh hour, let him not fear for his delay.
For the generous Master accepts the last as the first; calms the one who came at the eleventh hour in the same way as the one who worked from the first hour; and he has mercy on the last, and cares for the first; and he gives to him, and he bestows on him; and accepts deeds and welcomes intentions; and honors the activity and praises the disposition.
So, all of you, enter into the joy of our Lord; both the first and the second will receive a reward;
Rich and poor, rejoice one with another;
Temperate and careless, honor this day;
You who have fasted and those who have not fasted, rejoice now.
The meal is plentiful - be satisfied, everyone;
Taurus is great - let no one go hungry; everyone enjoy the feast of faith; everyone, enjoy the wealth of goodness.
Let no one complain about poverty, for the common Kingdom has been revealed.
Let no one cry over sins, for forgiveness has shined from the grave.
Let no one fear death, for the death of the Savior has freed us.
He destroyed her, being embraced by her;
He emptied hell by descending into hell;
He grieved the one who touched His flesh.
Isaiah, foreknowledge of this, exclaimed: “Hell,” he says, “was upset when it met You in the underworld.”
He was sad because he became idle;
He was upset because he was ashamed;
He was grieved because he was killed;
He was upset because he was deposed;
I was upset because I was tied up.
He took the body and found God in it;
He took the earth and saw the sky in it;
He took what he saw and was subjected to what he did not see.
"Death! Where is your sting?
Hell! Where is your victory? (1 Cor. 15:55).
Christ has risen, and you have fallen;
Christ has risen, and the demons have fallen;
Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice;
Christ is risen, and life is restored;
Christ has risen, and there is not a single dead person in the tomb.
For Christ, who rose from the dead, is “the firstborn of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor. 15:20).
To him be glory and power forever and ever.
Amen.
* * *
Svetlana Ivanova
I
If anyone is pious and God-loving, let him enjoy this good and bright celebration.
If anyone is a prudent servant, let him enter rejoicing into the joy of his Lord.
If anyone has labored by fasting, let him now receive a denarius.
If anyone has eaten from the first hour, let him accept righteous debt today.
If anyone comes after the third hour, let him celebrate with thanks.
If anyone has reached the sixth hour, he will doubt nothing, for he will gain nothing.
If anyone has lost even the ninth hour, let him approach without hesitation or fear.
If anyone has reached the point even at the eleventh hour, let him not be afraid of delay:
II
The godly Lord, who is barefoot, accepts the last as he did the first: he rests in the one and tenth hour the one who comes, as he did from the first hour.
And he has mercy on the last, and pleases the first, and gives to this, and bestows on this.
And he accepts the deeds and praises the proposal.
III
In the same way, let all of you enter into the joy of your Lord: first and second, accept the reward.
Riches and wretches, rejoice with each other.
Temperance and laziness, honor the day.
You who have fasted and those who have not fasted, rejoice today.
The meal is complete, enjoy it all.
The well-fed calf, let no one come forth hungry: all of you will enjoy the feast of faith: you will all receive the riches of goodness.
Let no one weep in misery, for the common kingdom has appeared.
Let no one weep for sins, for forgiveness has come from the grave.
Let no one fear death, for the death of Savior will set us free. Extinguish you, those like you who are kept from her.
Captivity of hell, descended into hell. Grieve him by tasting his flesh.
IV
And Isaiah, who was undertaking this, cried out: hell, he says, grieved, he will shit you.
Be grieved, for you have been abolished.
Be upset, for you will soon be insulted.
Be grieved, for you have died.
Be grieved, for you have been humbled.
Be upset, because you are connected.
Accept the body and admire it to God.
Receive the earth and destroy the sky.
It is pleasant to see the hedgehog, but to fall into the hedgehog not to see.
V
Where is your sting, death; where is your, hell, victory; Christ is risen, and you are cast down.
Christ is risen, and the demons have fallen.
Christ is risen and the angels rejoice.
Christ is risen, and life lives.
Christ is risen, and not one of the dead is in the tomb: for Christ, having risen from the dead, has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever, amen.
This “Word for Easter” by St. John Chrysostom is read in the church during the night festive service before the start of the liturgy after the Easter canon. Thus, the Church recognizes this word as the only one that fully expresses the meaning of the Holiday, so completely that the Easter service is unthinkable without it, and so accurately that, according to church tradition, the usual pastoral sermon on this day is canceled, which is a recognition that it is no longer necessary and impossible to add anything.
But its content may seem unexpected, to say the least. Back in the 19th century. Metropolitan Platon of Kiev, who compiled an interpretation of the “Word...”, evasively notes its obscurity not only because of the “incomprehensibility of the Old Church Slavonic language for listeners,” but also “due to the brevity of the expression of the thoughts contained in it.” There is nothing “historically” connected with the event being celebrated: neither the recollection of the “prehistory” of the holiday and the exodus from slavery in the Old Testament, nor what happens in the New Testament, i.e. the Gospel events themselves, there is not even a mention of the crucifixion, or the circumstances of death, there is no story about the Resurrection; finally, not even the name of the holiday itself is mentioned.
This work attracted the attention mainly of theologians rather than linguists, and researchers mainly turned to the interpretation of images. However, it is precisely in its form and structure that it is completely unusual; In addition, it is in the principles of organizing the material that one can find the key to understanding the uniqueness of the content.
Compositionally, “The Word...” is divided into 5 parts; each part is built in accordance with the composition of the whole, but at the same time is in some way an independent work and has features unique to it.
In the first part there is a call to everyone, “both first and last,” those who worked and those who were lazy, to a feast with the Lord of the House. The second part is the story that the Householder receives and has mercy on guests. In the third there is a description of the feast: “come in, all of you,” “the meal is complete,” “the fat calf,” “the kingdom has appeared.” The fourth part reveals the meaning of the words: “And Isaiah, when he was about to do this, cried out: hell be grieved...”. In the fifth, the long-awaited words sound: “Christ is risen!”
In syntagmatic terms, one can note perfect alignment and balance. In the absence of any “decorations”, which, as Chrysostom himself believed, are characteristic of the speech of pagans, syntax becomes the dynamic force that gives the “Word” its brightness, versatility and, at the same time, integrity. The first part is permeated by the structure:
subject
predicate
predicate
who
pious
let him enjoy it
who
slave (prudent)
let him come in
who
worked hard
yes he will accept
who
(from 1 hour) did eat
yes he will accept
who
(on the 3rd) arrived
thanks and celebrates
who
(by 6th) reached
(nothing) yes doubt
who
lost (and the 9th)
let him begin
who
reached (in 11th)
let him not be afraid
The lexical structure is based on parallel gradation. Syntactically, this is part of an open structure, which is determined by its idea: the opportunity for everyone to come, and even for those for whom there was no “gospel” correspondence.
The second part is also an open structure, and now we are talking about the actions of the Householder:
accepts
last
puts to rest
coming
last
has mercy
first
pleases
thereto
gives
therefore
bestows
affairs
accepts
intention
kisses
act
honors
offer
praises
The third part of the closed structure: here the same Gospel image of the “closed gates” is syntactically expressed, behind which there is a feast - everyone was invited to it, even “on the roads,” but from a certain moment no one else can enter there (the parable of the wedding feast, the parable of the ten virgins).
A: take it all in:
both first and second
accept
wealth and poverty
rejoice
abstinence and laziness
honor
those who fasted and those who did not fast
have fun
B
the meal is complete
enjoy everything
well-fed calf
let no one else go
A
all
enjoy
all
perceive
B
no one is crying
come the kingdom
no one is crying
vozsia forgiveness
no one will be afraid
free death
A
predicate – (object)
subject of action
extinguish (yu)
held
captivity (hell)
descended
upset (him)
tasted
This is the most graphically rich part, a kind of “syntactic culmination” of the work. The series of gradations, oppositions and synonymous series have something in common; they are organized into simpler (A) and more complex (B) structures.
In the fourth part, an expressive method of organizing vocabulary is used, based on repetition: the same verb is used 6 times, a kind of basso ostinatto, in response to which more and more new “explanations” are heard - at the same time, two figures of speech, opposition and gradation are superimposed here. All repetitions are predicates to the subject “hell”, i.e. the opposition is in the sense of “what hell did” - “what happened to him in response”:
be upset
abolished
be upset
quickly scolded
be upset
died
be upset
bow down
be upset
contact
And then in a more complex structure:
nice
body
to God
get excited
nice
land
shit
sky
nice
as you can see
falling into
I can't see it
One can note the peculiar technique of “various climaxes” - the jubilation of the fifth part is conveyed by the most complex syntactic pattern (syntactic climax), in the fourth part, the most expressive, there is an emotional climax (echoes of speeches after battles and ridicule of the enemy in the ancient folklore tradition are felt here), in the last, fifth part - what was prepared from the very beginning: semantic climax.
In the fifth part the same stylistic device is used as in the previous one; but if in the previous part there was nothing to say about hell, then here it is “impossible” to say; there the author does not want to peer into the darkness of hell - here he does not overstep the secrets of heaven; “Christ is risen” - in these words everything is already revealed, and Chrysostom “brings closer” to the mystery, listing the consequences of the resurrection:
Christ is Risen
and you (hell) have fallen
Christ is Risen
the angels rejoice
Christ is Risen
life lives
Christ is Risen
not one dead person in the grave,
Christ has risen
The use of antonymous nouns also makes verbs contextual antonyms, and, thus, stylistic devices permeate not only the “horizontal” rows of the text, but also the “vertical” ones:
Ave. vr
Present vr.
you have fallen
(hell)
(life)
lives
padosha
(demons)
(angels)
rejoice
With strict compositional and structural accuracy, it is necessary to note the absence of any “decorations” in the lexical plan. There are no tropes of speech in our usual ancient sense; in relation to this work one cannot talk about comparison, metaphor or metonymy. All words are used in their literal meaning. “The Householder” is, first of all, literally the “master of the house” - but then, plan by plan, other, conceptually more important meanings arise (master, Lord), which is the distinctive characteristic of the symbol.
Before us are images of the parables told by Christ - these are the parables of the winegrowers, the parable of those invited to the supper, the parable of the wedding feast, and the parable of talents. They are especially important in the first two parts of the Lay. The Word begins with an indirect quotation from the Gospel (cf. Matthew 25.21: “His master said...: “Well done, good and faithful servant... enter into the joy of your Lord”).
The third part is the most mysterious, there are almost no references to Scripture, no quotations, only images behind which lies the entire Old Testament and New Testament history, and which cannot be understood without recognizing them as symbols. The fourth and fifth parts are constructed fundamentally differently and contrast with the previous ones with their dynamism; they begin with quotations, which determine the entire structure of the part. In terms of content, this is more than just a literary device.
Let's consider the relationship of structural and semantic fragments of the text with each other.
Parts 1 and 2 correspond to the teaching of the church about synergism, the mutual movement of God and man towards each other: God calls (part 1), and if a person responds, then He Himself approaches him (part 2).
Part 3 – “wedding feast”, which in the context of the symbols of the gospel means the Kingdom of Heaven, the meeting of man with God, the meeting. In the context of the symbols of the New Testament, this is heaven, the sacrament of the Eucharist, the sacrament of marriage.
The 4th and 5th parts are amazing in their possibility of “omniscience”, they are written as if from that point from which everything is already visible and everything is known: and that “hell is grieved”, and “not a single dead man is in the grave”, and that “angels rejoice” - these parts are about “heaven” and “earth”, a vertical line from heaven to hell. It is significant that the 4th part begins with a quotation from the prophet Isaiah, and an explicit one: “This is what Isaiah cried out for” - as you know, a reference to the source of the quotation was not necessary, and if it is indicated, then who said it is almost as important as what is said. The name of Isaiah is used as 1) an Old Testament prophet, 2) a prophet who awaited the Mother of God and the Messiah, 3) it introduces us to the service of the sacrament of marriage (“Isaiah, rejoice”). According to the teachings of the church, the souls of all those who died before the resurrection of Christ remained in hell, awaiting their liberation, because... after the Fall, the path to Eden was closed to humanity; Christ, having died, descended into hell and brought out all the Old Testament righteous people. It is as if we are making the path to Heaven with Isaiah and at the same time with the entire Old Testament, freed with him from hell.
Part 5 begins with a double quotation - both from the Old Testament and from the New Testament (the prophet Hosea is quoted by the Apostle Paul, and then by John Chrysostom) - here is a “choir” of the Old and New Testaments, a meeting of the old with the new - but at this moment it is a “meeting” with modern listeners, with the modern Church too.
Schematically, the connection between the parts looks like this:
5 hours “Christ is Risen”
|
1 hour “Come...” --> 3 hours “feast of faith” <-- 2 hours “The Lord of the House Receives”
|
4 hours “hell died”
"The dead are not alone in the grave"
This is a cross hidden in the composition (it should be noted that in the “Word” itself neither the word “cross” nor “death on the cross” is mentioned even once).
When compared with the icon of the Resurrection (the “Descent into Hell” icon), general patterns emerge: compositionally, the icon is built according to the same principle as the “Word”, and this is also manifested in the image space. In the center is Christ (the Eucharist, the Kingdom of Heaven), on both sides are the righteous liberated from hell (this moment, as a rule, is depicted most dynamically, sometimes even an “effort” on the part of Christ is depicted, as if he is “pulling up” Adam and Eve); below is a defeated hell with broken gates and “utter darkness,” i.e. not falling on Resurrection:
"angels rejoice"
|
(or iconic slides signifying the heavenly world)
|
righteous – (Adam) – Christ – (Eve) – righteous
|
"hell died"
“The Word...” and the icon are also connected by the principle of relationship with the addressee – the one listening to the “Catechetical Word...” or looking at the icon. Instead of depicting a scene that the viewer can only look at from the side, but in which he does not participate, liturgical art depicts persons related to each other by the common meaning of the image, but also connected to the viewer. The main thing in the image is not so much the relationship of the shown persons, but their communication with the addressee and his inclusion in what is happening.
This method of depiction in icon painting is called reverse perspective. The syncretism of Christian art gives the right to apply this term to works of literature. Just as an icon painter transforms space, and thereby places the viewer inside the image, the reader or listener is drawn into participation by the author in the literary plot. “The Word...” of John Chrysostom is addressed to those who are now hearing it - the present tense of imperative verbs refers them to those listening and thus includes them in the narrative itself.
Saturated with symbols, the “Word for Easter” itself becomes a symbol, an image that reveals the meaning of the words “Christ is risen”, an image, i.e. verbal icon of the holiday.
Notes
*Attributed writing.