From an ancient homily for Holy Saturday
The Lord's descent
into the underworld
Something strange is happening – there is a great
silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps
silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God
has fallen asleep in the flesh, and he has raised up all who have slept ever
since the world began. God has died in the flesh, and hell trembles with fear.
He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a
lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the
shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he
who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross,
the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him, Adam, the first
man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: “My
Lord be with you all.” Christ answered him: “And with your spirit.” He took him
by the hand and raised him up, saying: “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the
dead, and Christ will give you light.”
I am your God,
who for your sake has become your son. Out of love for you and for your
descendants, I now, by my own authority, command all who are held in bondage to
come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to
arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a
prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up,
work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this
place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person, and
we cannot be separated. For your sake, I, your God, became your son; I, the
Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended
to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I
became like a man without help, free among the dead. For your sake, who left a
garden, I was betrayed to the Jews in a garden, and I was crucified in a
garden.
See on my face
the spittle I received to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See
there the marks of the blows I received to refashion your warped nature in my
image. On my back, see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the
burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a
tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree. I slept on
the cross, and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and
brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My
sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has
sheathed the sword that was turned against you.
Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out
of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will
enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life,
but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to
guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The
throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal
chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are
prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of
heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.
“I was dead, and
now I am to live forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and of hell”.
