Notes on Holy Saturday, the Descent into Hades

Notes for a possible homily on Holy Saturday

The significance of the readings at Holy Saturday’s vesperal divine liturgy, the “proto-Anastasis”, lie in their indirect prophetic references to Christ’s sojourn in the realm of the dead and the salvation he has affected in his descent. In connection with this it is important to remember that the icon proper for Holy Saturday is not that of the myrrhbearing women discovering the empty tomb. Rather it is that other icon more commonly called “Anastasis”, the harrowing of Hades.

The readings for this feast begin with the reading from Genesis, chapter 1. This concerns the first three days of creation, from the making of Light, to the creation of the earth and seas and the flowering plants. This reading purposely mimics the three days in which Christ lies in the tomb. They also link to the theme of light going into darkness that is present throughout Holy Week, “Let there be light!”. The division of the primal waters and the rising of the land, in addition to connection with the hymn of Holy Friday, “He who hung the earth upon the waters”, brings to mind the Lord’s descent into the earth, and his division of life from death. Further, it is on the third day that life, the green herb and its seed, sprout forth from the ground. In nature we are seeing images of the Lord’s descent into Hades bodily, and his bringing forth life out of the barren earth.

It is further worth mentioning that, in ancient times, the book of Exodus was read on this day, though it is no longer. This makes the imagery of water and earth, light in the night and the defeat of darkness even more poignant. The Canon of Holy Saturday is replete with such cosmic imagery, all relating back to Genesis, the Exodus, and the entire old dispensation. “Of old thou didst bury the pursuing tyrant beneath the waves of the sea, now the children of those who were saved bury thee beneath the earth,” from the first ode, and likewise, “Be amazed o heavens, and be shaken o foundations of the earth!”, from the eighth, point to these allusions.

The second reading continues on these cosmic themes, but adds something of the Lord’s own words, namely his constant reference to the “sign of Jonah”. Jonah, three days in the belly of the whale, is the sign the Lord proclaimed he would show forth. The Lord permits only this for this sinful and wicked generation, but by doing so he likens us to that other wicked generation, the people of Nineveh. Jonah sang from the belly of the beast that he had sunk down “to the foundation of the earth”, in other words he was closer to the heart of the sea and the earth, he was nigh to death. There the Lord meets him again and saves him. The God of Israel uses, in his prophets, even the unwilling to show forth the greatness of his salvation. Here Jonah, unwilling though he be, like any man, to face death, and having a sense of justice not wishing the Ninevites to be spared in their wickedness, doesn’t understand the message. We learn at the end of the book of Jonah, during God’s rebuke, the same Lord who made heaven and earth is continually caring for it, and he pities even the cattle of the great city which only at the last moment escaped destruction. We too are like that city, saved from the brink by the mighty act of the Lord. Our image is no longer the shadow, the unwilling prophet come to pronounce doom and repentance to the wicked city, but it is now God Himself come into flesh to save the corrupted creation.

The third and last reading, the reading from Daniel, consummates these cosmic references to our salvation in Christ’s sojourn into hades. The youths in Nebuchadnezzar's court are the virtuous remnant of Israel. Shedrach, Meshach, and Abednago refuse the impious decree to bow before graven gods and are thrown into the furnace. They are given over to death and the underworld. There they walk in the midst of the deadly flames, just as Christ walks in Hades, free among the dead. Indeed they are seen with one with “the semblance of a son of man” who defends them, the pre-incarnate Logos according to some of the Fathers. He shows what he shall do later in the consummation of time, walking unburnt in the midst of the withering death. And what are the youths inspired by this presence to do? They sing! They sing in the midst of death, praising the Lord of Hosts on behalf of all the creation; the celestial lights, the plants and beasts, the people and the priests are all called upon to praise Creation’s God, who saves his own from the midst of death. 

From the beginning the Lord intended to be he who was free among the dead, to go down to the shades and declare liberation to the captives, to reach down to the very foundations of the earth. In the words of the Apostle, he has becomes the fullness of all things “above the earth, on the earth, and below the earth”. The Lord is the one that fills all things with green and growing life, and he is the one that cares even for cattle. Let us then sing with the youths in the furnace, let us sing to he who has descended to the depths bearing light, let us sing to him that has raised up the fallen world, and lifted upon his own shoulders the weight of mortality, and by so doing carried it into immortality. Praise him who conquered death by death, o youths! Praise him who descending into the earth raises all to life, o priests! And let us who have received the benefit of so great a salvation praise him above all forever, amen!