Homily on Great Saturday
Discourse 1
By Saint Innocent, Archbishop of Kherson and Tauride
Discourse 1
By Saint Innocent, Archbishop of Kherson and Tauride
“The great Moses mystically prefigured this day, saying: and God blessed the seventh day. For this is the blessed Sabbath; this is the day of rest, on which the Only-begotten Son of God rested from all His works, through the dispensation of death, keeping the Sabbath in the flesh, and returning again to what He was” (Great Saturday Vespers, sticheron idiomelon 4).
Such is the greatness of the present day! The past days were great by labors and activity, but this one is great by rest. Great: for in it He rested Who is above all and everything; He rested when He had accomplished all; He rested in order thereafter never to rest for the good of the human race. The Church herself, throughout all ages from the beginning of the world, finds only one day with which the present may be compared. That is the seventh day of creation, on which, according to Moses, “God… rested… from all His works which He had made” (Gen. 2:2). How great must that day be! Yet even it was less than the present. Today’s rest is greater than that; for the second labor was greater than the first. It was easier to create the whole world and man than to redeem them: in Paradise there was no cross for man; but on Golgotha there was the cross even for the God-man. And after this great labor of the Cross, this very day was chosen for rest! God the Creator, after six days of work, rested on one — the seventh; and God the Redeemer, after many days of labor, chose for rest no more than a single day — the same seventh! O sun, stand still; prolong, precious day! Let the rest of the Divine Sufferer be prolonged! Let these wounds be closed! Let the blood cease to flow!
But what cry is this heard amid the mortal silence? Are not the Myrrhbearing women coming to anoint the body of Jesus? Yet the Sabbath rest has not yet passed; and it must keep silence “according to the commandment” (Luke 23:56). Who then dares to disturb the rest of the Lion of Judah? — The same who disturbed it most during His life: “Today,” sings the Church, “Hades, groaning, cries aloud” (Great Saturday Vespers, sticheron idiomelon 1). But why should it groan, when it has attained what it desired? Why cry out, when everything has fallen silent before it? Does it wish to seize also the soul of the Crucified, as it seized through the hands of the Jews His body and sealed it in the tomb? But it was not given power even over the soul of Job; can the soul of Jesus be left in Hades?
Let us listen more closely, however, to the cry of Hades: not without reason has it become so powerful, that though it arises in the heart of the earth, it is heard to the ends of it; not without reason is it so tormenting that the one crying cannot conceal it even in its deepest darkness. “Today Hades, groaning, cries, saying: it would have been better for me if I had not received Him born of Mary.” Thus, here is the cause of Hades’ bitter cry: it is caused by Him Who Himself lies silently in the tomb! What then does this Dead One do to you, O Hades? With this head crowned with thorns, with these pierced hands and feet, what can He do to you? Everything, everything, answers the tormented one: “Having come upon me, He destroyed my power, shattered the gates of bronze; the souls which I held before, being God, He has raised.” O, after this you must groan and cry out — groan forever and cry forever! But how did all this take place? How, while resting bodily in the tomb, did the God-man descend into Hades? Was He not elsewhere also at this time? Did He not accomplish something else besides destroying the strongholds of Hades? Who can answer this? Clearly, Hades is a poor witness in this case: from torment it can only cry, not narrate. Let us turn to the eyewitnesses and servants of the Word resting in the tomb — the apostles.
Let Peter stand at this tomb! To him more than to others should be known the deeds of the soul of Jesus after death; for he himself promised to go with Him to death and to lay down his life for Him. True, amid the hellish darkness of Caiaphas’ courtyard his sight grew dim, and he denied his Teacher three times; but bitter tears have already washed the dust from his eyes, and now he sees more clearly than before. Now he is able not only to bear the keys, to open and shut (Matt. 16:19), but also to feed the lambs with the sheep (John 21:17).
What then will you tell us, O chief of the apostles, about the deeds of Christ’s soul? — “Christ,” he says, “was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, by which also He went and preached to the spirits in prison” (1 Pet. 3:18–19). Thus the Savior, while His most pure body lay in the tomb, truly was in Hades; for what else can the “prison of spirits” mean in the apostle, if not Hades, or rather its deepest and darkest region? — And into this very depth, in every sense the lowest, the God-man descended with His spirit after death! — He descended not as a sufferer (for the Cross ended the series of sufferings), but as the conqueror of death and Hades, that He might, as the Church says, “fill all things.” Heaven was filled with His divine glory; the earth already full of His sufferings; it was necessary that Hades also be filled with His power.
What then did the God-man do in Hades? — “He preached,” answers Saint Peter. Where Jesus is, there is preaching! It was necessary to show in deed that He is the “light” of the whole “world.” But to whom did He preach in Hades? — “To the spirits,” continues Peter, “who formerly were disobedient, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared” (1 Pet. 3:20). But if these unhappy sinners, after suffering more than two thousand years in a dreadful prison, became at last capable of hearing the preaching of the Redeemer to their benefit, then how much more must those prisoners of Hades have longed to hear it who in their lifetime did not show the stubbornness and impiety of Noah’s contemporaries, and therefore were nearer than they to the gates leading out of that dreadful prison. For this reason the Holy Church, as the knower of divine love, boldly sings today in honor of her Bridegroom: “Hades reigns, but not forever over the human race… You, being laid in the tomb, have opened the keys of death and have proclaimed to those who slept from the ages a true deliverance.”
What was the subject of the preaching in Hades? — The apostle does not say directly. But what else could be the subject of the Savior’s preaching except salvation? The end of the work reveals its nature; and the end of the preaching in Hades — even for the most stubborn souls, such as Noah’s contemporaries — must have been, according to the clear testimony of the apostle, that having “received judgment in the flesh as men,” they might now “live in the spirit” (1 Pet. 4:6). Those who came to life in the spirit could no longer remain in the dwelling of death, and the Conqueror of death, having descended into Hades alone, must have led many out with Him. If anyone should doubt this testimony of Hades, complaining that on this occasion it “lost all the dead over whom it had ruled from the ages,” he cannot doubt the witness of the Church, which confidently proclaims that by the descent of her divine Bridegroom into Hades “all the kingdoms of Hades were emptied.”
Judge for yourselves, brethren, what joy must have accompanied the departure from the dreadful “prison of spirits,” when even those freed from earthly prisons often cannot contain themselves for joy! Then was fulfilled in full force the saying of the Savior: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance!” (Matt. 9:13). Then the whole world learned how the Seed of the woman crushes the head of the serpent. And for the great Conqueror of death, the destruction of Hades’ strongholds and the liberation of its prisoners was undoubtedly the most delightful of all His works. If accomplishing the salvation of mankind according to the Father’s will was, in His own words, His “food” (John 4:34), then in this He tasted manna.
After His departure from Hades, the Savior with His most pure soul was in Paradise. This we know from His own words: for when the thief crucified with Him asked to be remembered in His Kingdom, He replied: “Today you will be with Me in Paradise.” It was necessary that the Savior Himself personally bring into Paradise those who had been freed from Hades; for only before His face could the flaming sword guarding the gates of Paradise turn away; only at His almighty voice could the Cherub withdraw from the tree of life and allow the new inhabitants of Paradise to partake of its food. There was also another work in Paradise: the “grain of wheat,” fallen into the earth and having died on Golgotha, was to bear “much fruit” (John 12:24); the Savior of the world, lifted up on the Cross, was to draw “all” to Himself (John 12:32). Thus it was necessary to survey all the expanse of Paradise and to assign, by the hand of the Master of the house, sufficient dwelling places in the house of the Heavenly Father for His new children (John 14:2).
If, brethren, there was triumph in Hades at the destruction of its strongholds, then all the more in Paradise, by the tree of life. There it was time for David to thunder a new psalm upon the ten-stringed psaltery and to dance before the ark of the New Covenant with a new and holy dance, for which no one would condemn him (2 Sam. 6:16). There the desire of Moses was fulfilled — to see God face to face; for he beheld the Only-begotten Son, in whom “all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily” (Col. 2:9). There also the holy request of Abraham was fulfilled — not to destroy the sinners for the sake of the righteous (Gen. 18:32–33); for now, for the sake of one Righteous One, forgiveness was granted to all sinners.
We may also think that the God-Man, having died, was with the Father; for He Himself repeatedly said to His disciples: “I leave the world and go to the Father” (John 16:28). We have heard with what feeling He confessed before His sufferings: “Father, I have finished the work which You gave Me to do” (John 17:4). With how much greater joy must these words have been repeated in heaven when the Conqueror of death appeared before the throne of the Father with the sign of victory — not intended, but accomplished — the Cross! O how often, after this new baptism of blood, must the voice have resounded in the heavens: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17). “Hear Him!” — not only men, but “all the angels of God” (Heb. 1:6), all creation (Mark 16:15). For on Golgotha heaven and earth saw that the Lamb who was slain is “worthy to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing” (Rev. 5:12).
Let us not continue to depict the great activity of Jesus on this day of rest; for Scripture gives us no further guidance, and without such guidance how can we speak of the mysteries of the invisible world? After what we have seen and heard, who will not say that “truly great is this Sabbath day,” and worthy to be prefigured by all the Sabbaths of the Old Testament! And all this was accomplished, brethren, while the body of Jesus rested peacefully in the tomb; while that tomb was sealed with the seal of Caiaphas and surrounded by Roman guards! The seven seals of the book of destinies were broken at that time (Rev. 5:5), while the seal of Caiaphas remained intact! All the hosts of Hades were put to flight, while four Roman soldiers still stood guard! Thus under the simple veil of the visible may be hidden a multitude of invisible wonders! Thus also in our graves a great work may be taking place, when our coarse senses perceive nothing in them but inactivity.
But what should we do while our Lord does so much for us and for our sake? We should follow Him in spirit with faith and love.
The Lord is in Hades: let us descend with Him in thought into Hades, that we may not descend there in reality; let us place ourselves for a time in the condition of those imprisoned spirits, and learn to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Those who lived before Christ appeared in the flesh saw Him in Hades: who will guarantee that those will see Him there who voluntarily descend into Hades after Christ has ascended into heaven? The present preaching of Christ in Hades is clearly not repeated; for His separation of soul from body is not repeated. Therefore it is better and safer to work out our salvation “while it is day”; for “the night comes” for each one, in which — according to the word of the unceasing Worker — “no one can work” (John 9:4).
The Lord is in Paradise: let us also dare, in His name, to enter with Him in thought into Paradise — not for idle curiosity, like those spies of the promised land who were condemned for it to die in the wilderness (Num. 14:37), but to double and triple our efforts to enter in reality through the gates of Paradise opened by the Cross for all. O how many dwellings are prepared there! And each is open to everyone! There is the dwelling of faith and hope — Abraham calls you there, who by faith offered his son upon the altar. There is the dwelling of voluntary poverty and self-denial — Moses calls you there, who chose rather “to suffer with the people of God” than, being called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, “to enjoy the temporary pleasures of sin” (Heb. 11:24–25). There is the dwelling of patience and submission to the will of God — Job dwells there, who knew how to bless the name of the Lord upon the dunghill. There is the dwelling of purity and chastity — Joseph and Susanna invite you there, who preferred persecution and death to the pleasures of lust. There is the dwelling of zeal for God and virtue — Phinehas and Elijah offer it, who were zealous for the Lord God of Israel when almost all others were zealous only for their passions. There is the dwelling of mercy — the Lord Himself, most merciful, calls you there: “Come… inherit the kingdom prepared for you” (Matt. 25:34); for what you did to the poor, you did to Me.
The Lord is with the Father: let us not hesitate, brethren, to stand before Him there as well. But with what shall we stand? Either with virtue, or with repentance: the Heavenly Father receives both, if only both are sanctified in the blood of His Son. Let us stand and say to the Heavenly Father about His and our Joseph what was once said of the son of Jacob: we intended evil against Him, but You intended it for good for Him and for us. Now “forgive them their iniquity and their sin” (Gen. 50:20,17); for from now on we shall have no other guide in life except Him, the Savior and Lord given to us by You.
In such and similar reflections, brethren, we must spend our time at this tomb. And what time could be better for this than the silence of the present night, which for this very reason is chosen by the Church from all nights, to be wholly devoted to prayerful communion with the crucified Savior? But, unfortunately, many of us make no use of this beautiful institution of the Church. How many nights are spent in vanity and amusements! And one night we cannot spend at the tomb of our Savior; He remains almost alone, and we come only to His resurrection! Ah, brethren, what if He should leave us thus when we lie in the grave? I do not say this “to condemn” (2 Cor. 7:3), but to show how little attention we pay to the means of our sanctification. He who loves his Savior will not leave His tomb. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
