Harrowing of Hell
April 12, 2023
Fr. John Riccardo
There is a favorite icon of the Eastern Church known as the anastasis. Anastasis is the Greek word for resurrection. Icons, we might remember, aren’t paintings. Rather, they are “written” to be something like windows into the mysteries they are depicting. Placing ourselves in front of them, asking the Holy Spirit to come to us, can draw us into whatever it is that is placed before our senses. This week, this Easter octave, this glorious time of celebrating Jesus’ triumph over Sin, Death, and Satan, is a wonderful time to prayerfully linger with this icon.
To offer a bit more “fuel” to that prayer, the following excerpt is a long-time favorite of everyone who prays the Liturgy of the Hours. Much of what’s below is found in the Office of Readings for Holy Saturday, under the heading of “From an ancient homily on Holy Saturday: The Lord descends into hell.” The author of that “ancient homily” turns out to be a man named Epiphanius, the bishop of Salamis, Cyprus, born in Palestine in the early 4th century, and revered as a Church Father.
The full version of the homily Epiphanius gave more than 1500 years ago on Holy Saturday takes nearly 40 minutes to read out loud! I recently stumbled on the full text, and while it’s obviously too long to print, below is a compilation of what is found in the Liturgy of the Hours along with a few other choice quotes in italics from the full version. My goodness, how preaching has changed over the years! Would that we who are tasked with breaking open the Scriptures would lift up Jesus like Epiphanius did, or any of the early Church Fathers for that matter. I pray these words will help us pray with the anastasis and enter more deeply into the glorious mystery of Jesus’ defeat of our ancient foe.
“Something strange is happening—there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.
“Yesterday, he was slapped. Today, he strikes hell's household with a thunderbolt of his godhead. Yesterday, he was bound. Today, he binds fast the tyrant with unbreakable bonds. Yesterday, he was condemned. Today, he grants freedom to the damned. Yesterday, Pilate’s minions mocked him. Today, hell’s porters shutter to see him…
“Let us make haste and journey in mind to Hades, that we may see how there at last he masters with masterly might the most mighty master and tyrant and, with his brilliant lightning, as with a whole army, effortlessly subdues the ranks of that immortal infantry.
“[See how He] shatters the woodless gates of bronze by the wood of the cross…By the nails having broken and sundered the age-old iron bars; by the bonds of his hands having dissolved the indissoluble bonds like wax; and by the spear in his divine side having pierced through the fleshless heart of the tyrant…There breaks he the strength of the bow, when on the bow of the cross he stretched out the sinews of his divine arms like bowstrings.
“Therefore if thou followest Christ in silence thou wilt presently see where he bound the tyrant, where he hung his head aloft, how he raised his dungeon and let out the prisoners; how he trampled the serpent and where he displayed his head; … where he condemned the cruel dragon, where he put Death to death, how he spoiled corruption and restored man to his primal dignity.
“Accordingly, he who yesterday refused the aid of legions of angels…today with God-befitting majesty as warrior and master goes down by means of death to the depth of Death and hell to oppose the tyrant of Death…
“He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him, Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: ‘My Lord be with you all.’ Christ answered him: ‘And with your spirit.’ He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: ‘Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.’
“I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated.
“For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the Jews in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden.
“See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.
“I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.
“Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.”
Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed! Alleluia!