Great and Holy Saturday, Sunday of Pascha:

Christ Conquers Death by His Death by His Resurrection

            The Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ begins on Holy Saturday at the Vesperal Divine Liturgy, not at midnight when we sing “Christ is Risen.” This marks the beginning of the celebration of the event that changed the world, and bears such significant theological meaning that one would think it would be the best attended service of all Holy Week. In reality, it is sadly the least attended, appreciated and understood. We have tasted of Christ’s death in the flesh on the Cross, and have started our descent with Him into Hades to watch Him annihilate Satan, Death and Sin. Now, on Holy Saturday, we truly understand that the Crucifixion and Resurrection are one act that cannot be separated.

            The Holy Saturday Vesperal Divine Liturgy is the only Vesperal Liturgy that can be offered on a Saturday—all others occur on weekdays, because the Church cannot celebrate Vesperal Liturgies on days that pertain to Christ’s victory over Death (Saturdays) and His Resurrection (Sundays); they must be full Liturgies. Holy Saturday is special because we start with a celebration of Vespers for Pascha, but we add Liturgy to that because of the holiness of the day itself. Ordinarily, this Vesperal Liturgy would start at 4:00 P.M., but the Church is again merciful to take our earthly schedules into account, so we start on Saturday morning, knowing that we will need to rest before the late evening services of Midnight Office, Orthros and Divine Liturgy.

            We again turn to the hymnography of this glorious service to find out what Christ is doing for us at this exact moment in history, starting with “O Lord, I Have Cried”:

Today Hades groans crying aloud: Would that I had not received Mary’s Son, for He has come to me destroying my dominion. He has broken in pieces the gates of brass; and being God, He has raised up the souls that I had been holding captive. O Lord, glory to Thy Cross and to Thy Resurrection.

AND

My dominion has been swallowed up; the Shepherd has been crucified, but He has raised Adam. I am deprived of those whom once I ruled; and all those whom I swallowed up in my strength, I throw them up. He Who was crucified has emptied the tombs, and Death has no more dominion. O Lord, glory to Thy Cross and to Thy Resurrection.

The Devil is now wailing. The one who causes us to wail, sin and fall away from God has been humiliated by Christ. His Spirit rushed into Hades and freed everyone who had been held captive there. The Church teaches that Adam, Eve and the righteous figures of the Old Testament dwelt in hell before Christ carried their souls to Heaven. In the first verse above, Satan wishes he never saw Christ Who destroyed His dominion. In the second verse, Satan knows he has lost all of his strength because Christ proved stronger. “Death” with a capital “D”, meaning sin, cannot overpower humanity anymore, thanks to both the Cross and to the Resurrection.

            Right before the Little Entrance, we once again sing “Great Moses”, like we did on Friday night, to remind us that Christ’s body is still resting in the tomb. Then, we come to the Old Testament readings, and we will dwell on three of them. The first is the Creation Story as told in the first chapter of Genesis: “In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1-13). We read this passage at the Great Vespers for Pascha on Holy Saturday, and also for Christmas and Epiphany. We are reminded that God created everything pure and unblemished, but fallen humanity transformed everything for the worst. Thus, God sent His only-begotten Son into the world to save it, after being born, revealed to the world and baptized; and after He died and rose from the dead.

            The next reading is from Exodus (12:1-11). God speaks to Moses and tells him how to properly celebrate the Jewish Passover, the precursor to the Christian “Pascha”, which is the Greek word for “Passover.” The lamb made for a sacrifice is to be male, without blemish and no broken bones—a pre-figuration of Christ, Who died on the Cross without a broken bone on His body (John 19:36, Exodus 12:46). Though God sets a time for sacrifice (the tenth day of the first month of the year), Christ had come as the termination of all time and the end of the Law (Hebrews 9:26, Romans 10:4), so we have a different day for our celebration of Pascha. In Exodus, the lamb’s blood over the Hebrews’ doorposts (12:7) signaled the Spirit of the Lord to pass over their homes because they obeyed the Lord, while the unworthy and disobedient Egyptians watched their first-born sons die. In the New Testament, as St. Gregory the Theologian teaches, the blood signals our markings over the doors to our hearts that we have enacted our New Covenant with the Lord by partaking of His blood as He commanded at the Last Supper. Then, the Hebrews were told to eat the lamb in its entirety, entrails and all, not leaving any part behind (12:9). We eat Christ’s body every time we partake of Holy Communion, and we cannot leave any part of it behind lest it be consumed by the unworthy.

            We have now realized that Christ is the New Passover/Pascha. Instead of fleeing from Egypt across the Red Sea like the Israelites, we flee Sin and Death under the waters of our baptisms and by drinking the blood that Christ shed for us on the Cross. The journeys have changed, as have the liquids used, yet the action in Old Testament and New remains the same. The major difference in all of this is Christ.

            The final reading is perhaps the most famous of all. It comes from the Book of Daniel, and tells the story of the Three Holy Youths cast into the fire (Daniel Chapter 3). In summary, King Nebuchadnezzar builds a massive golden idol and commands his people to worship it. However, the Three Holy Youths—Shedrach, Meshach and Abednago (Hananiah, Azariah and Mishael in Hebrew)—refused, even though they were officers of the king. The Youths worshipped only the true God, and made that crystal clear to the king. So Nebuchadnezzar ordered the men to be thrown into the furnace and burned alive, to be made an example of what happens to the disobedient. The Youths went into the furnace not in a panic, but in a spirit of prayer and repentance, willingly going to their planned deaths to enter into the joy of their Lord. Part of the lection is known as the “Prayer of Azariah”:

Blessed art Thou, O Lord, God of our fathers, and worthy of praise; and glorious is Thy Name forever! For Thou art just in all Thou hast done; all Thy works are true, and Thy ways right, and all Thy judgments are true…. For we have sinned and broken Thy law in turning away from Thee; in all matters we have sinned grievously.

Even as Nebuchadnezzar threw the Youths unjustly into the flames, they continued to bless God and confess their sins, begging God to deal with them according the abundance of His mercy (Daniel 3:42). Then, as the flames raged, an Angel of the Lord (note the capital “A”) came into the flames and turned them into a cool, dewy breeze that did not burn the men (Daniel 3:49-50). Now we hear the part of the lection known as “The Hymn of the Three Holy Youths”:

Blessed art Thou in the temple of thy holy glory, and to be extolled and highly glorified forever. Blessed art Thou Who look into the depths from Thy throne on the cherubim, and to be praised and highly exalted forever.

And immediately the choirs join in “Thy Hymn”, continuing the prayer almost as it appears in the Book of Daniel.

Bless the Lord, sun and moon; Praise the Lord and exalt him unto all the ages.

Bless the Lord, stars of heaven; Praise the Lord and exalt him unto all the ages.

Bless the Lord, all rain and dew; Praise the Lord and exalt him unto all the ages.

Bless the Lord, all you winds; Praise the Lord and exalt him unto all the ages.

Bless the Lord, fire and heat; Praise the Lord and exalt him unto all the ages.

Bless the Lord, winter cold and summer heat; Praise the Lord and exalt him unto all the ages.

King Nebuchadnezzar recognized this miracle, declared God to be the only God, freed Shedrach, Meshach and Abednago, and made them rulers of the Babylon .

            This passage pre-figures Holy Saturday perfectly. The Three Holy Youths went into the fiery furnace like they had been cast into depths of hell. All of our souls would have been there too, had it not been for the “Angel”—the “Lord Jesus”—Who went into hell Himself, obliterated hell’s powerful, fiery captivity by reducing it to a cool breeze, and rescued the Youths just as He rescues us. The capital “A” when referring to an “Angel” in Holy Scripture is Jesus Christ Himself, the Son of God. Even King Nebuchadnezzar recognized this after seeing a fourth Person with the Youths, calling Him “the Son of God” (Daniel 3:92). The Youths emerged from the flames unharmed, just as we emerge from sin unharmed when we repent of it so that Jesus can obliterate it.

            The first time Orthodox Christians repent of their sins is in baptism. The baptism washes off the Original Sin and Death so that we may become members of the body of Christ and alive in Him. This is part of the reason we do not sing the usual Trisagion Hymn in this Liturgy (“Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal: have mercy on us). Instead, we sing “As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” This provides us a glimpse back into the ancient Church, when catechumens were better organized and the Church only performed baptisms of converts and children at certain times of the year: Lazarus Saturday, Holy Saturday in time for Pascha, Christmas and Epiphany. Thus, we sing “As many as have been baptized” to welcome those newly baptized into the Faith, and recall our own baptisms when, as St. Paul puts it in this Liturgy’s Epistle lection, we were baptized into His death (Romans 6:3). And only if we are baptized into His death, St. Paul teaches, can we walk with Him in the Resurrection. We must suffer like Christ suffered so that the “old man” (Romans 6:6)—our former sinful selves—is crucified, and can walk in the new spirit and age of the Resurrection. Finally, toward the end of this Epistle lection from Romans, St. Paul exclaims what we have known all along: Death no longer has dominion over Him (Romans 6:9).

            Almost immediately, the church puts off the “joyful sorrow”, lamenting and somber atmosphere of Holy Week. The feasting and celebration now begin, as the church sings from Psalm 81 with loud, boisterous voices:

Arise, O God, Judge the earth: For Thou shalt inherit all the nations.

The priests throw fragrant bay leaves all over the church, the ancient symbol of victory. At this moment, Christ has triumphed over Death. Interspersed in the hymn are more verses from Psalm 81 revealing Christ’s might and judgment over everyone in all nations. God calls us “gods” with a lower-case “g”: “God stands in the divine council; He holds judgment in the midst of the gods.” Though we are now becoming gods with God in light of the Resurrection and “children of the Most High” (Psalm 81:6), we still have to care for the poor, fatherless and needy (81:3-4) if we are to walk worthily with Him in this newfound life post-Resurrection.

            The Gospel reading comes from St. Matthew (28:1-20), in which Jesus rises from the dead. This is the moment we celebrate Christ’s Spirit coming back into His body, not the midnight services of Pascha. Though we are present with Christ on every single step of His journey to His death and victory over Death, we are not with Him at the Resurrection because no one was—the guards at the tomb, the women who watched Christ die on the Cross, His Disciples that ran, or anybody else along that path. An angel of the Lord (note the lower-case “g” and that this was not referring to Christ) had rolled the stone away for Jesus to walk out of the tomb, and the women encountered the angel when they went to see the tomb. Eventually, Jesus met up with all of them and lived among them again until His Ascension.

            We close our study of Holy Saturday with a quick examination of the special Cherubic Hymn. On two days of the year the Church replaces “We who mystically represent the Cherubim” with something more fitting (the first day being Holy Thursday):

Let all mortal flesh keep silence and stand in awe and trembling; let it take no thought for any earthly thing. For the King of Kings and Lord of Lords will be put to death and given as food to the faithful. The choirs of the angels lead the way with all the spiritual powers.

We must keep silent so that we can focus on the Lord without any distraction. He is our only protection when doing battle against the Devil. When looking upon Jesus for help, constantly remembering His death and Resurrection, all we can do is “stand in awe and trembling.” Nevertheless, we will attain Christ’s holiness with angels leading the way and removing stumbling blocks like the one who rolled away the stone in front of Christ’s tomb (Matthew 28:2).

            Late night Holy Saturday leading into the Sunday of Great and All-Holy Pascha, the church serves Midnight Office, singing the Canon of Holy Friday from the night before. It is the last taste of the sorrow and darkness that we have before celebrating the resurrected Christ. Great Lent and Holy Week come to an end when we begin Paschal Orthros, and we hear the words of the priest: “Come take light from the Light that is never overtaken by night. Come, and glorify Christ Who is risen from the dead.” He distributes the flame to the entire congregation in the darkened church so that we can walk in the light of the Resurrection. We immediately process outside the church in the “rush procession” (hajme in Arabic), rushing to the empty tomb just as Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome did. They found the stone rolled away and encountered an angel, who told them that Jesus was risen (Mark 16:1-8), the first being in the universe to proclaim that “Christ is risen.” Then the whole church sings with him:

Christ is risen from the dead trampling down Death by death;

and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!

All of Holy Week has led up to this moment, as in one voice we sing the most fundamental theological statement in all of Orthodox Christianity. After the singing and the Great Ektenia, the priest bangs on the doors of the church and dialogues with the “gate-keeper” using the words from Psalm 23:

Priest:         Lift up your gates, O princes; and be lifted up, O everlasting gates, that the King of glory may come in.

Response:   Who is this King of glory?

Priest:         The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in war. And the final time, he says:

Priest:         The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory.

Now that we are illumined with the light of the Resurrection, we can enter into the bright Kingdom of God on earth: the Orthodox Church. This also signals our eventual entry into the Heavenly Kingdom . Inside the church, all the lights are turned on and people still bear candles as they hug and kiss one another with the greeting “Christ is risen.”

            Everything we sing in Paschal Orthros bears witness to the glorious Resurrection. Everything is sung glowingly and triumphantly, from the Canon all the way through the end the Divine Liturgy. We feel the brightness and effervescent joy of the Kingdom, tasting this now instead of the death that we beheld our Savior endure just days before.

            We continue to mark our crossing from the “old” life to the “new” in these hymns and Scripture readings. We recall the Reading from Exodus (12:1-11) in the Holy Saturday Vesperal Liturgy and how the Israelites were instructed to eat the Passover Lamb. In the Ninth Ode of the Paschal Canon, we sing: “Christ is a new Pascha, a living Sacrifice, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.” This Sacrificial Lamb we consume in every Divine Liturgy to be one with Him, bearing in mind that He is the last sacrifice ever offered, because His death was well-pleasing to God the Father so that He can destroy Sin and “grant Resurrection to all who are fallen” (Kontakion of Pascha).

            Another way we know Christ is the new Pascha is by comparing the Book of Genesis to the Gospel of St. John. We read from Genesis 1:1 that

“In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the earth.”

God created this world perfect and complete, with His creation needing nothing more than what He provided it. But Adam and Eve disobeyed God, partaking of the “Tree of Knowledge” and casting themselves into bitter, painful darkness. God gave them the gift of “Free Will”, but the couple squandered it. God knew this would happen, and from the beginning of time, God had a plan to save humanity from itself. We read of this plan in the Paschal Divine Liturgy from John’s Gospel, starting, so fittingly, at verse 1:1:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.”

The “Word” is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Who existed before all times. He is co-eternal with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, and is God. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us… full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). He took on flesh to endure our same sufferings in this life in order to save us, without sacrificing His divinity. Before Christ took flesh, He still existed, as evidenced another Old Testament reading from Holy Saturday: Christ was the “Angel” that saved the Youths from the fiery furnace (Daniel 3:92). The most comforting message in all of this, perhaps, is that God knew all along humanity would fall into sin and death, yet He planned all along to send us His only-begotten Son to save us, Who was, is and ever shall be with us until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20) as our Deliverer.

            The Paschal Agape Vespers is a continuation of the celebration from the night before. We still sing “Christ is risen” and other hymns based on the Resurrection; we have another procession for the children who could not stay up late the night before; and we even proclaim the Resurrection of Christ in the Gospel from St. John (20:19-31) in as many languages as possible to reveal its universality. In several years, we also celebrate the memory of St. George on this day. His usual Feast Day is April 23, but if it falls before Pascha, it is transferred to Agape Vespers and Bright Monday celebrations. St. George died in his love for Christ, and he too will be raised from the dead in the same glory that Christ rose in. This is in store for us if we embrace the Gospels and constantly partake in the sacramental life of the Church. Our chief examples of both, as we have well seen by now, flow through the veins of Holy Week and Pascha.

CONCLUSION

            As stated in the introduction, this series of articles spanning Lazarus Saturday to Agape Vespers, which bookend Holy Week, were written in the hopes of encouraging more of the faithful to attend these sacred services more knowledgeable for the fullest participation in them. Sadly, we may not be able to attend them all, but we must strive to be present for some, if not most. The Church has presented us an average of three services per day during this time so that we can attend, no matter what our schedules are. Nevertheless, St. John Chrysostom, in his famous Paschal Homily recited each year in every single Orthodox Christian parish, reminds us that God is merciful.

If anyone has arrived even at the eleventh hour, let him not fear on account of his delay. For the Master is gracious and receives the last, even as the first; He gives rest to him that comes at the eleventh hour, just as to him who has labored from the first. He has mercy upon the last and cares for the first; to the one He gives, and to the other He is gracious. He both honors the work and praises the intention.

May we fulfill our intention to participate worthily and knowledgeably in all the sacred services of Holy Week, knowing what we pray and why, thus joining Christ on His saving journey beyond the Cross and into the Kingdom.

CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY, HE IS RISEN!