Great and Holy Saturday stands at the threshold between the Passion and the Resurrection. The Body of Christ lies in the tomb. The disciples have scattered. It is the quietest day of Holy Week and at the same time the one most filled with mystery.
His soul, united to His divinity, descends into Hades to proclaim salvation to those who from the ages had fallen asleep. It is the Sabbath of God’s rest, after the completion of the new creation of man.
The Passage (Matt. 27:65-66)
“Pilate said unto them: Ye have a watch. Go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.”
Translation
Pilate said to them, “You have a guard. Go, make it as secure as you know how.” So they went and secured the tomb, sealing the stone and setting the guard.
Read & listen to the excerpt from the Holy Gospel here →
The Descent into Hades: The Crushing of Death
According to the teaching of the Church, Christ enters the kingdom of death as Victor. He does not enter as a captive, but as Deliverer. He shatters the brazen gates and the iron bars of Hades, and illumines the darkness below.
There He encounters Adam and Eve, the foreparents of the human race, and raises them out of corruption. The descent into Hades is the true moment of victory over death, for death is conquered in its own domain. For this reason, Orthodox iconography does not portray the Resurrection primarily as Christ emerging from the tomb, but as Christ drawing Adam and Eve up from Hades.
For this reason Great and Holy Saturday is also called the Blessed Sabbath. The Church connects it with the rest of God on the seventh day of creation. Just as then God rested from His works, so now the Only-Begotten Son of God rests according to the flesh in the tomb, having completed the work of salvation. The day therefore has the character of rest, but not of inactivity. It is the rest before the final manifestation of victory.
The First Resurrection: The Message of Life
On the morning of Great and Holy Saturday, the Vesperal Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great is celebrated. This is the so called First Resurrection. During the chanting of “Arise, O God,” the priest scatters laurel leaves throughout the church as a sign of Christ’s victory.
The dark coverings of Great and Holy Friday are replaced by white, and mourning begins to yield to the certainty of life. Though the world outwardly remains silent, all creation already trembles with the hidden joy that the tyrant death has been overthrown. Yet the full paschal proclamation has not yet come. Great and Holy Saturday remains a day of waiting.
The Hymnography of Great and Holy Saturday
The hymnography of the day is filled with awe before the God who sleeps in the flesh.
The Great Prokeimenon, Arise, O God
“Arise, O God, judge the earth, for Thou shalt inherit among all the nations.”
Translation and Meaning
Arise, O God, and judge the earth, for Thou shalt inherit and rule among all the nations. It is the cry of humanity asking the Lord to manifest His power and reclaim the world that had been enslaved to corruption.
Instead of the Cherubic Hymn
“Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and stand with fear and trembling, and think nothing earthly within itself. For the King of kings and Lord of lords comes to be slain, and to give Himself as food to the faithful...”
Translation and Meaning
Let every mortal flesh keep silence and stand with fear and trembling, without thinking on anything earthly. For the King of kings and Lord of lords comes to be slain and to give Himself as food to the faithful. This hymn, sung on Great and Holy Saturday, places the soul in utter inward stillness before the mystery of the divine economy.
Theological Meaning and Experience
Great and Holy Saturday is the day of great expectation. The fast continues, but its quality changes. It has now become the fast of hope. The Church teaches that the tomb of Christ is not the place of death, but the source of our resurrection.
Sorrow over the burial is mingled with the joy of the coming victory. Great and Holy Saturday prepares us to receive the Holy Light, reminding us that Christ destroyed death by death, using the very weapon of the enemy in order to overthrow him. The day reaches its fulfillment at midnight, when the silence is broken by the universal cry, “Christ is Risen.”
The participation of the faithful | Great and Holy Saturday: Expectation
- In the morning: The First Resurrection. At the chanting of “Arise, O God,” the sound of striking and the scattering of laurel leaves proclaim the coming victory.
- At night, at midnight: The Service of the Resurrection. We receive the Holy Light and sing “Christ is Risen.” This is followed by the Paschal Divine Liturgy, the highest point of Christian worship.
- At home: After the Liturgy, we bring the Holy Light into the home, make the sign of the Cross above the door, and set the paschal meal, thus bringing the Lenten fast to its close.
