The Descent Into Hades of the Risen One
By Metropolitan Chrysostomos III of Mani
By Metropolitan Chrysostomos III of Mani
Christ, by His crucifixion and His subsequent three-day Resurrection from the dead, literally shattered Hades - death itself. This is the supernatural, great event, the divine Mystery of the God-man.
Saint John Chrysostom writes: “The death of the Lord put death to death” (P.G. 62, 58).
A fundamental article and rule of Christian teaching and faith is that Christ descended into Hades.
Christ Himself even foretells His descent into Hades in a parabolic way: “For as Jonah the prophet was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights” (Matt. 12:40; Jonah 1:15–2:1).
It is characteristic that in the introductory prayers of every Divine Liturgy, the priest censes the Holy Table— which symbolizes the tomb of Christ — and says: “In the tomb bodily, but in Hades with the soul as God.”
As Saint John of Damascus writes: “He descends into Hades with a deified soul, so that, just as the Sun of righteousness rose upon those on earth, so also He might shine upon those under the earth, sitting in darkness and the shadow of death” (Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith).
Very characteristically, the resurrectional Apolytikion says: “When You descended to death, O immortal Life, You destroyed Hades with the lightning of Your divinity; and when You raised the dead from the depths of the earth, all the powers of heaven cried out: Giver of life, Christ our God, glory to You.”
Again, the God-bearing Father of the Church, Saint John of Damascus, in order to make this more understandable regarding Christ’s descent into Hades, writes: “Although He died as man and His holy soul was separated from His immaculate body, nevertheless His divinity remained inseparable from both — that is, from the soul and from the body — and thus His one hypostasis was not divided into two… The hypostasis of Christ was always one” (ibid.).
Thus, when His soul was separated from His body at His death and descended gloriously into Hades, His body was taken by Joseph of Arimathea and buried. However, although according to natural laws the body of Christ should have begun to decay, it remained completely incorrupt. As Saint Athanasios says: “Though He died as a ransom for all, yet He did not see corruption; for He rose whole, since His body was not that of another, but of Life itself” (ΒΕΠΕΣ 30, 92).
Therefore we chant on Great Friday: “Christ was shown to be a stranger to corruption.” The incorruptibility of Christ’s body is due to the fact that even after His bodily death, His divinity remained united both with His body and with His soul that had descended into Hades.
Saint John of Damascus emphasizes very clearly: “Christ, being in two natures, suffered in His passible nature and was crucified; for He hung upon the Cross in the flesh and not in His divinity. For if they ask us, ‘Did two natures die?’ we answer, no. Therefore neither were two natures crucified, but Christ — the Word of God who assumed human nature — was born in the flesh, was crucified in the flesh, suffered in the flesh, died in the flesh, while His divine nature remained impassible” (ibid.).
Thus, by His death, Christ conquered the last enemy — death — and shattered the gates of Hades (1 Cor. 15:26).
Hades — the dominion and kingdom of death — was defeated by Christ, because without His descent into Hades and His victory, death would still exist with its boundless power.
For until the crucifixion, death, and Resurrection of the Lord, Hades was “the house for every mortal,” from which no human being could escape. Humanity was bound and captive to Hades. But Christ set us free and became the “firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor. 15:20) and the “firstborn from the dead” (Col. 1:18), so that we might follow Him.
Saint John of Damascus notes: “Through His descent into Hades, the Lord shattered the bronze gates and broke the iron bars, and thus, having loosed those bound from ages past, He led them up again from the dead, opening for us the way of resurrection” (ibid.).
This is also what the Book of Revelation says: “Jesus Christ… the firstborn from the dead” (Rev. 1:5), and it adds: “I am… the Living One; I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades” (Rev. 1:18). That is, when the Lord says that He became dead, He means that His immaculate body died — not His divine nature, for divinity does not die but is immortal. And He says: though I accepted a crucified death, I live unto the ages of ages, and I hold in My hands the keys of death and Hades.
He descended, therefore, “into the lower parts of the earth” (Eph. 4:9), went into Hades, and preached His gospel (1 Pet. 4:6). There He encountered Hades — and there He abolished it. And behold the awe-inspiring thing: when Hades “swallowed” Him, it thought it had received an ordinary mortal. But immediately it was embittered. Saint John Chrysostom expresses this beautifully in his Paschal Homily: “It was embittered, for it was abolished. It was embittered, for it was mocked. It was embittered, for it was slain. Why? Because it received a body and encountered God. It received earth and met heaven. It received what it saw and fell because of what it did not see.”
It is worth presenting this famous homily in a vivid rendering by the hieromonk Athanasios Varouchas († 1708):
“Christ plundered and stripped Hades, for this is why He descended into it. But woe to Hades! For when the tomb received the holy body of Christ, Hades (that is, the demons of Hades) suffered great harm and was embittered. And this was prophesied by Isaiah: ‘Hades was embittered when it met You below.’
Meeting You below, Hades was grieved and embittered. It was embittered because it was poisoned and its power was destroyed. It was embittered because it was deceived and mocked. It was embittered because it was slain. It was embittered because its power was taken away and its kingdom seized, and it can no longer rule the righteous, but only sinners. It was embittered because it was bound in chains.
It took the body of Christ and thought it weak like other remains, but it was united with the divinity of Christ, and it was caught like a fish by a hook (like bait on a hook) and was cast down from its throne. It received something earthly that decays, and encountered something heavenly that does not decay but destroys its enemies. It took what it saw and was overcome by what it did not see. Where is your sting, O death? Where is your power and victory, O Hades?
Christ is risen — and you are overthrown.”
Indeed, the descent of Christ into Hades and His glorious Resurrection clearly manifest His divinity. And not only do they manifest it, but they are also the guarantee of our own resurrection and eternal life.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
