Marco Girolamo Vida: The Lightening of Hell

 Introduction

Christ is risen!  

I intended to post this closer to Pascha, originally on Great and Holy Saturday, but it is still fitting even now.  This poem is a loose translation, close to a paraphrase, of a passage from the Christiad, a Latin epic poem by Marco Girolamo Vida (1485-1566).  Here, he represents the descent of Christ into Hades to free the souls imprisoned there; Vida's description of Hell and Satan, throughout the Christiad, was a key influence on John Milton's descriptions in Paradise Lost.  My translation is written in a kind of four-foot blank verse, an unrhymed, loosely iambic tetrameter.  (True blank verse, as in Milton, is unrhymed iambic pentameter.)  It is not perfectly metrical, but I inclined more towards closeness to the original than to metrical perfection.

There are a number of full English translations of Vida's epic; the 18th-century translations (John Cranwell, Edward Granan) are in heroic couplets; the 20th-century translations by Drake and Forbes (see Source below) and James Gardner (I Tatti Renaissance Library) are in prose. 

The Lightening of Hell

(A Paraphrase of Marco Girolamo Vida’s Christiad VI.198-221)

Behold, there comes, without delay,
Avenger of the greatest might
up to the doors, and light divine
there splendid shines.  Enormous gate,
with hundred bars of bronze, stays shut,
eternal gate.  None availed
to conquer this, no flame, no force,
no strength of hardest iron.  But here
stands God, and strikes with His right hand.
At the blow, earth, terror-struck,
quakes in every place, the stars
which wander all throughout the sky
tremble, darkness’ kingdom’s shadowed
caverns echo the sovereign boom.
From deepest vale, with horrid march,
in haste, light-fliers’ brothers’ band
comes forth, in fear of sound—
human in form unto the groin
and dragons from there—and with unwonted
roar they shout, and dire fire
flows from out their jaws, and all
the house is wrapped in smoke of pitch.
At once the doors are open—behold!—
suddenly the posts from hinges spring,
shaken, shattered by their own will.
Within the house all seems confused,
and, round the highest atria,
the darkness shrinks, and once-blind night
recedes.  For God, thus so beheld,
blinding eyes within the halls
obscure, shines with light divine.
And as a gem in royal chambers,
imitating fire’s glow,
gleams with splendor in the night,
and blackest darkness puts to flight,
and all the place with largesse clothes,
casting round its crimson light—
so is God in Satan’s halls.

Source: Marco Girolamo Vida, The Christiad: A Latin-English Edition, ed. and tr. Gerturde C. Drake and Clarence A. Forbes (Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1978), 250.

Translation ©2024 Brandon P. Otto.  Licensed via CC BY-NC.  Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long as credit is given to the translator.

Pseudo-Augustine: The Biting and Slaying of Hell (Sermon CLX)

 Introduction

It was long a tradition for unknown writers to sign a famous author's names to their works; sometimes, the work was half by the purported author anyway.  The homily translated below is nominally attributed to St. Augustine, but scholars reject it as spurious.  Some pieces of it can be traced to other writers: a large portion of §1 is copied from St. Gregory the Great's Homilies on the Gospels XXII.6 (PL76:1177B-D).  The editor of the Latin text claims portions of §§2-3 are taken, respectively, from the homilies on Pascha and on the Ascension by a certain Eusebius, but I have not yet located the source.  

Sermon CLX

On Pascha II

The Biting and Slaying of Hell

 

1. The Passion or resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, beloved brethren, all of the volumes of the Old Testament spoke of beforehand in many ways, so that, even through the mouth of David the prophet, the Holy Spirit clearly shows this, saying, A God of vengeance is the Lord, the God of vengeance acts to free (Ps 94:1). For He alone acts to free, He Who shows us today what He did. For He acts to free, about which there were many prophecies beforehand, since He became like a man without help, free among the dead (Ps 88:4-5). But do you want to know what He did? Hear what He did. Without any necessity, but by His own will, He permitted Himself to be hanged on the wood, He did not forbid nails to pierce His body, He allowed the putting of His soul to death, He rested His flesh in the sepulchre, and, His soul accompanying Him, He descended into hell. Through this, the elect, who, although they were in the bosom of tranquility, were yet held in the cloisters of hell, were led back to the pleasant plains of paradise. What He said before His Passion, the Lord fulfilled in His resurrection: If I am raised up, He said, from the earth, I will draw all unto Me (Jn 12:32). For He drew all, He Who left none of His elect in hell: He took all away, namely, the elect. For the Lord, arising, did not bring to pardon the unfaithful and those given over to eternal tortures due to their crimes, but he snatched from the cloisters of hell those whom He recognized as His own in faith and acts. Wherefore it is rightly said by Hosea too: I will be your death, O death; I will be your bite, hell (Hos 13:14). For what we slay, we act so that it will not be at all; but, out of that which we bite, we take out a part and we leave a part: therefore, since, among His elect, He completely slew death, there was the death of death; but, since He took a part out of hell and left a part, He did not completely slay, but bit, hell. Therefore He says, I will be your death, O death, as if He openly said, “Since I will completely destroy you in My elect.” I will be your bite, hell, “since, taking away My own, I will cut you into parts.” For, at that time, our Lord Jesus Christ tied up that prince of darkness and death, troubled his legions, shattered the iron bars of hell’s gates, loosed all of the just, who had been tightly held by original sin, called the captives back to pristine liberty, infused with splendid light those blinded by the darkness of sins.

2. Behold, you have heard described how our defender, the Lord of vengeance, acted to free. For, after He was exalted, that is, hung on the Cross by the Jews—so that I might briefly smush everything together—immediately, when He handed over His spirit, His soul, united to his divinity, descended into hell’s depths. And when, like some splendid and terrible despoiler, He reached the end of the darkness, the impious and Tartarean legions, spying Him, terrified and trembling, began to inquire, saying, “Who is this one, terrible and flashing with snowy splendor? Never has our Tartarus received such a one, never has the world vomited such a one into our cavern. He is an invader, not a debtor; He is an demander, not a pleader; we see a judge, not a supplicant. He comes to command, not to succumb, to rip out, not to remain. Why did our porters sleep when this warrior vexed our cloisters? If he were guilty, he would not be so powerful. If any sin had darkened him, never would our Tartarus have scattered at his shining. If he is God, why did he come? If man, how does he presume so? If God, what is he doing in a sepulchre? If man, why does he loose sinners? Did he make a pact with our author, or, perhaps, fight and conquer him, and so ascend to our kingdoms? Certainly he is dead, certainly he is conquered. Our fighter was ridiculed; he didn’t know that this one would obtain the overthrow of hell, that Cross deceiving our joy, giving birth to our damnation. Through wood, we were made rich, through wood, we were overthrown; that power, always formidable to the people, perishes. No living one has entered here, no one has terrified the torturers, never has a joyful light appeared in this filthy and black place, always blinded by fog. Or perhaps the sun has come over from the world? But neither heaven nor stars appear to us, and yet hell shines. We cannot defend the custody of our prison against him. Badly did we enter the contest; we didn’t know how to darken such a light, and, moreover, we are terrified of our downfall.

3. “Wherefore is he so splendid, so strong, so brilliant, and so terrible? That world that was subject to us, and always offered tributes of the dead for our uses, never sent such a one to us, never destined such gifts for hell. Therefore, who is this, who so intrepidously enters our bounds, and not only does not respect our tortures, but even frees others from our chains? Perhaps he is the one of whom our prince spoke a little time ago, who, by his death, would receive power over the whole world? But if this is he, the sentence of our warrior is turned backwards, and, while he saw himself as having conquered, rather was he himself conquered and made prostrate. O our prince, is this the one about whose future death you always congratulated yourself? Is he the one by whose cross you thought the whole world would be subjected to you? Is he the one from whose death you promised such spoils for us? What is it that you’ve done? What is it that you wanted to do? Behold, now he has set all of your darkness to flight by his splendor, and he has shattered all your prisons, cast off the captives, loosed the bound, changed their sorrow into joy. Behold, those who were wont to sigh beneath our torments insult us, having received salvation, and now they not only fear nothing, but they even make threats. Never have captives thus been proud over death, nor at any time been able to be so joyous. Why did you want to lead this one here, he by whose coming all who before were despairing are returned to joy? No one now hears their usual bellowing, no groans resound. But the transaction of the redemption of the captive has been accomplished. O our prince, those riches of yours, which you first acquired through the loss of paradise, you have now lost through the Cross; all your joy perishes, your joys are turned into sorrow. While you hang Christ on the wood, you don’t know how many injuries you suffer in hell. Could you not foresee that you were leading the overthrower of your kingdom into death, without any charge? If you attend to the cause, you require a fault. Him in whom you found no evil, why did you lead him into our fatherland? You brought him free, and you lost all the damned.”

4. After these cries from the cruel infernal ministers, without any delay, at the command of our Lord and Savior, all the iron bars were broken, and, behold, at once innumerable peoples of the saints, who were held captive in death, swarming about the Savior’s knees, with tearful plea, demanded of Him, saying: “You have come, Redeemer of the world; You have come, Whom we, desiring, have daily hoped for; You have come, Whom the Law and Prophets announced to us would come; You have come, giving indulgence to the sinners of the world, living in flesh: loose the dead and captives of hell. You have come after long tears; pull us out, You Who alone suffered for us. Maker of the heavens, You deigned to enter hell; for our sighs called to You, long laments demanded You, wherefore there is hope for the hopeless, wherefore consolation for the tormented. In Your coming, our chains fell, night fled away. At the coming of life, death dies, nor does torturer nor beater remain. The prayers of the damned have succeeded: the Creator rules, not the invader. Chains are wrapped around the tyrant, and our torturer squirms with pain. Loose, Redeemer of the world, the dead and captives of hell. You have descended to hell for us; do not leave us when You return to the realms above. You placed the title of glory in the world; place the sign of victory in hell.”

5. No delay: after He heard the request and discussion of the innumerable captives, at once all the ancient just, at the Lord’s command, received the rights of power, and they immediately turned the torments against their torturers, with humble supplication, with ineffable joy, crying out to the Lord, and saying, “Ascend, Lord Jesus, having despoiled hell, and, having wrapped the author of death in chains, return joy to the world now. Let Your faithful rejoice in Your ascension, beholding the scars on Your body.” Christ did this, as it was said above. Having taken spoils in hell, alive, He departed from the sepulchre; He arose by His own power, and again dressed Himself in immaculate flesh. He appeared to His disciples, so to take doubt away from the unbelieving; He showed the wounds of the nails, so that He would leave no suspicion for the Manichees.¹ Publicly He ate and drank; afterwards, then, He appeared in the sight of many. He ascended into the heavens on a cloud, and set Himself in His seat at the right hand of the Father, from which the Word had never separated. Therefore, let the Christian people exalt, for whom Christ’s blood was shed. Let all rejoice in the Lord, we who solemnly celebrate the resurrection of the flesh in Christ. Let the whole Catholic Church through all the world be glad, since Christ the Lord both diminished nothing of His divinity and freed man whom He had made. Wherefore, exulting, with humble voice, let us supplicate Him, so that He might deign to take us, for whom He did these things, freed from the hand of hell, with Him, when He comes into the world: to Him is honor and glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit unto the ages of ages. Amen.

1The Manichees (or Manicheans) believed that Jesus’ Passion, death, and Resurrection were only in appearance, not in reality, similar to the Docetists, who taught that Jesus’ body, as a whole, was merely an illusion and not real flesh.

 

Source: PL 39:2059-2061.

Translation ©2023 Brandon P. Otto.  Licensed via CC BY-NC.  Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long as credit is given to the translator.

Deus Mundi Conditor: Paschal Candle Blessing from the Gelasian Sacramentary

 Introduction

    The prayers of the Latin Rite Paschal Vigil are ancient, but they were not the only options.  The 8th-century Gelasian Sacramentary from Paris is another source of--often quite different--ancient liturgical prayers.  Among them is the prayer Deus Mundi Conditor, the prayer for the blessing of the Paschal Candle during the Paschal Vigil, somewhat equivalent to the Exultet.  Indeed, the Deus Mundi Conditor may have influenced the Exultet with its "praise of the bee" section, reflected in the Exultet's description of the candle as "the work of bees" and the wax as "drawn out by the mother bees."  Below is a translation of the Deus Mundi Conditor, as well as the original Latin text.

Deus Mundi Conditor  

Prayer for the Blessing of the Paschal Candle from the Gelasian Sacramentary

    God, the world’s creator, author of light, the stars’ maker, God Who perspicuously rewove with light the world fallen into darkness, God through Whom, by ineffable power, the clarity of all takes its beginning, invoking You in Your works, in this most sacred vigil of the night, we, in supplication, offer Your majesty, from Your gifts, a candle, not polluted by beesflesh, not vitiated by profane unction, not touched by sacrilegious fire, but constructed of wax, oil, and papyrus, kindled in honor of Your Name: as an offering of religious devotion we offer it.  Therefore, the great mystery and miraculous sacrament of this night must needs be heaped with worthy praises.  In which, by the miracle of the Lord’s Resurrection, the inveterate shades felt the day introduced to them, and death, which was once in eternal damned night, the light of true blazing being introduced, was stunned to be dragged captive among the Lord’s triumphs, and what, by the dark, prevaricating presumption of the first-formed, was damned in servitude, by the miracle of this night, shone with the splendor of liberty.  Therefore, descending with fervor of spirit, as much as human devotion requires, unto the reverence of this festivity, we display to You, God, lights pleasing with the blazing of flames, so that, while they dissolve, with this faith still whole, they may yet be extolled by the praises of Your creatures.  The flame’s light is indeed to be spoken of, by which the power of Deity deigned to appear to Moses, which revealed, with salvation-bearing light, the path to the people departing the land of servitude, which, by softer caresses, preserved the life of the three boys cast into the furnace by the sentence of the tyrant.  For as, with the grace of this light preceding, the horror of darkness is excluded, so, Lord, by the light-shedding rule of Your majesty, the burdens of sins are dissolved.  Therefore, as we see the beginning of this substance, it is needful that we praise the origin of bees.  For bees are frugal in eating, most chaste in procreation.  They build cells of wax soaked with liquor which the magistral art of human excellence does not equal.  They pick flowers with their feet, and no harm is found on the flowers.  They do not eat their offspring, but, picking up the conceptions by mouth, a swarm of offspring comes out, as, in a miraculous example, Christ proceeds from the paternal mouth.  Virginity is fruitful in them without childbirth, which the Lord, indeed, deigned to follow, who arranged to have a fleshy mother by a love of virginity.  Such gifts, therefore, Lord, are worthily offered on Your sacred altars, by which the Christian religion does not waver in praising You.

    Deus, mundi conditor, auctor luminis, siderum fabricator, Deus qui iacentem mundum in tenebris luce perspicua retexisti, Deus per quem ineffabili potentia omnium claritas sumpsit exordium, te in tuis operibus invocantes, in hac sacratissima noctis vigilia de donis tuis cereum tuae suppliciter offerimus maiestati, non adipe carnis pollutum, non profana unctione vitiatum, non sacrilego igne contactum, sed cera, oleo, atque papyro constructum, in tui nominis honore succensum, obsequio religiosae devotionis offerimus.  Magnum igitur mysterium, et noctis huius mirabile sacramentum, dignis necesse est laudibus cumulari.  In quo Dominicae resurrectionis miraculo diem sibi introductum tenebrae inveteratae senserunt, et mors quae olim fuerat aeterna nocte damnata, inserto veri fulgoris lumine, captivam se trahi Dominicis triumphis obstupuit, et quod praevaricante primoplasto tenebrosa praesumptione fuerat in servitute damnatum, huius noctis miraculo splendore libertatis irradiat.  Ad huius ergo festivitatis reverentiam fervore spiritus descendentes, quantum devotio humana exigit, tibi Deo fulgore flammarum placita luminaria exhibemus, ut dum haec fide integra persolvuntur, creaturae tuae etiam praeconia extollantur.  Flammae lux quippe dicenda est per quam potestas Deitatis Moysi apparere dignata est, quae de terra servitutis populo exeunti salutifero lumine ducatum exhibuit, quae tribus pueris in camino sententia tyranni depositis vitam blandimentis mollioribus reservavit.  Nam ut, praecedente huius luminis gratia, tenebrarum horror excluditur, ita, Domine, lucescente maiestatis tuae imperio, peccatorum sarcinae diluuntur.  Quum igitur huius substantiae miramur exordium, apum necesse est laudemus originem.  Apes vero sunt frugales in sumptibus, in procreatione castissimae.  Aedificant cellulas cereo liquore fundatas quarum humanae peritiae ars magistra non coaequat.  Legunt pedibus flores, et nullum damnum in floribus invenitur.  Partus non edunt, sed ore legentes concepti fetus reddunt examina, sicut exemplo mirabili Christus ore paterno processit.  Fecunda est in his sine partu virginitas, quam utique Dominus sequi dignatus carnalem se matrem habere virginitatis amore constituit.  Talia igitur, Domine, digne sacris altaribus tuis munera offeruntur, quibus te laetari religio Christiana non ambigit.

Source: The Gelasian Sacramentary: Liber Sacramentorum Romanae Ecclesiae, ed. H.A. Wilson (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1894), 80-81

Translation ©2023.  Licensed via CC BY-NC.  Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long as credit is given to the translator.

Myrrh Is Fitting For the Dead

 "Myrrh is fitting for the dead, but Christ has shown Himself not subject to corruption..."

--Troparion of the Myrrh-Bearers

Christ is risen!  He is risen from the dead, He is risen from the tomb!  The rock which once held His Body is now rolled away, and He walks once more among the living, eating with them, speaking with them, proclaiming the Gospel to them.  To so many does He appear: to Peter and John and the rest of the Eleven, to the 500 disciples, to the men on the road to Emmaus...yet He first appears to the myrrh-bearers.  They who were at His side for His burial He honors with the first revelation of His Resurrection.

The Believing Thomas

 The Incredulity of St. Thomas (1601) by Caravaggio (1571-1610)

"Because you have seen Me, Thomas, you have believed."--Jn 20:29

Yesterday we heard the episode related by John the Theologian of that octave of Pascha, the week after Christ's Resurrection.  When He rose, He appeared to many: to Mary Magdalane, to the other myrrhbearing women, to His apostles in the closed room, to His disciples on the Road to Emmaus.  Yet to one in particular He did not appear in that first week: Thomas, called Twin (Didymos).  Why Thomas was not with the rest of the Eleven in the upper room is unknown.  All we know is the fact that he was not there.  Because he was not there, He did not see the Lord's theophany that morning, and it was such a glorious happening that Thomas could not believe the news of it.  Maybe he was a pessimist who was reluctant to believe such news; perhaps he was, as he is often presented now, a man who needed evidence.  Regardless of his underlying thought, we know his declaration: "If not I see in His hands the place of the nail, and place my finger into the place of the nail, and place my hand into His side, not will I believe."  It is such a direct statement that he even wished to touch the rib of Christ, if one translates it such, for it is the same word for that of which Eve was made.  Thomas wanted to touch the rib of Him through Whom all things came to be, the rib revealed by Longinus' lance.

"Jesus met them, saying, 'Rejoice!'"

"Thus then they went to announce to His disciples, and behold!, Jesus met them, saying, 'Rejoice!'"--Mt 28:9

What Paschal message could be more fitting than Christ's own: "Rejoice!" He told the myrrhbearers.  "Rejoice, for I am risen!  Rejoice, for salvation has come!  Rejoice, for death has been trampled!  Rejoice, for the long-suffering just are freed from Hades!  Rejoice, for his grip on you is broken!  Rejoice, for Heaven is open for you!  Rejoice, for the earth rejoices!  Rejoice, for the heavenly rejoice with the earthly!  Rejoice, for all creation exclaims the most joyous and glorious hymn: 'Christ is risen from the dead, by death He trampled death, and to those in the tombs He granted life!'"  What more is there to say today, as we celebrate Pascha anew.  What Gabriel said truthfully and Judas twisted in his betrayal as been brought aright again by Christ, as He brings alright all that is fallen and straightens all that is twisted.  That great Gospel message now resounds in all its fullness: "Rejoice!"  Recalling the words of Ilias the Presbyter, "He who does not rejoice lacks hope," let us exhort one another as did St. Barsanuphius his brethren, "Rejoice in the Lord, my brother!"  For now is the greatest time to rejoice, for Christ our Pasch has been sacrificed, and yet He has been gloriously raised.  I can say nothing more of this glorious time than that one single word: "Rejoice!"  And let us rejoice for all the days of Pascha, the joyful counterpart to the Fast, being instructed by Yovhan Mandakuni as he contrasts the Fast to the Feast:

Pascha: The Blessed Renewal

 

"From on high He came down as Lord,

from within the womb He came forth as a servant;

Death knelt before Him in Sheol,

and Life worshipped Him at His resurrection.

Blessed is His victory!"

--St. Ephraim the Syrian

Christ is risen!  Χριστὸς ἀνέστη!  Christos voskrese!  Today the whole earth rings out its joy, echoing the Paschal hymn, for death is vanquished and our Light has returned from the three-day night.  So all shall praise the all-glorious and life-giving Resurrection of Christ!  One voice, St. Proclus of Constantinople, here echoes from Heaven to proclaim the meaning of this Feast of Feasts.  Christ is risen!

The Atonement of Our True High Priest

Χριστος ανεστι!  Christ is risen!  Indeed, Christ our High Priest has died so we may die to sin and risen that we may rise to eternal life.  He has redeemed us: He has atoned for our sins.  Under the Old Covenant, the Jewish High Priest prayed his hardest and tried all that he could to atone for the sins of himself, his house, and his people, Israel, yet he still had to try to make atonement year after year on Yom Kippur.  The true High Priest, Jesus Christ, had only to suffer once for our atonement, and He has attained all.

In reading the accounts of the Jewish High Priest's preparations for atonement, one can possibly see a type of our true atonement through the Son of God.  As it says in the Mishnah,

"He sanctified his hands and his feet and stripped off his clothes...He went down and immersed himself, came up and dried himself.  They brought him white garments; he put them on and sanctified his hands and his feet" (Yoma 3:6).

Do we not see a resemblance to the actions of Christ?  Though the old High Priest had to immerse himself five times and sanctify his limbs ten times, our Lord had only to do so once (vid. Yoma 3:3).  Let us see how our Lord fulfilled the High Priestly atonement:

"When the soldiers had crucified Jesus they took his garments" (Jn 19:23).  Thus the Scriptures proclaim His Crucifixion, when the nails for driven into His blessed hands and feet, prior to the mention of His stripped garments.  The Mishnah also recalls that Rabbi Meir says the stripping of garments comes prior to the Crucifixion, as is remembered in the Stations of the Cross (vid. Yoma 3:6).  Jesus Christ then immersed Himself in death, descending "into the lower parts of the earth,"
 that is, Hades, or Sheol (Eph 4:9).  Yet He did not stay immersed, but instead rose again, just as we do in Baptism, for "we were buried therefore with Him in baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we so might walk in newness of life" (Rom 6:4).  Upon His most glorious Resurrection, Christ's glorified body was full of splendor as it was at the Transfiguration, when "His face shone like the sun, and His garments became white as light" (Mt 17:2).  When He came to His disciples, it was His sanctified hands and feet that proclaimed to them His bodily nature: "See my hands and feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have" (Lk 24:39).  Not only that, but He sanctifies the Church, who is His one body, that is, His hands and feet (cf. 1 Cor 12:12; Eph 4:15-16).

We can see, then, that Christ is our true High Priest, for He fulfilled our need for atonement.  What the High Priest of the Old Covenant could not achieve through his five-fold actions every year, the true High Priest achieved in one moment on the Cross: He atoned us, once and for all.

"Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession...For Christ has entered, not into a sanctuary made with hands, a copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.  Nor was it to offer Himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the Holy Place yearly with blood not his own; for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world.  But as it is, He has appeared once for all at the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself....We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Heb 4:14; 9:24-26; 10:10).

Let us therefore follow the command of St. Ephraim:

"Ye mortals, exalt and praise Him Who by His death emptied the dominion of death and promised all the mortal race life and resurrection."

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.

Lord Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, have mercy on us!

Novgorod School; dated 15th century; Church of the Dormition at Volotovo Pole, Russia

Nota Bene: This interpretation is my own: if it is in any way incorrect, I am the one to blame.  All Scripture quotations are from the NRSV-CE.  The quote from the Mishnah is from the translation by Herbert Danby, D.D., published by Oxford University Press.  The quote by St. Ephraim is from Psalm 150 of A Spiritual Psalter, or Reflections on God, excerpted by Bishop Theophan the Recluse, translated by Antonina Janda.

Text ©2012 Brandon P. Otto.  Licensed via CC BY-NC.  Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long as credit is given to the author.

Iconic Icons: 'Η Αναστασις (The Resurrection)

Anastasis icon dated 1315 from the Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora in Istanbul, Turkey

  Χριστος ανεστι!  Christ is risen!  (And you, of course, are responding, "Αλειθος ανεστι!  Truly He is risen!")  Today (for those following the calendar of the Catholic Church) is Pascha (Easter, for most English speakers), the most holy day of days, the feast of feasts, the day of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ.  Today is the true Passover, when Christ passed over from death to life, and because of this it truly bears the name Pascha ("Passover" in Greek).  To celebrate this miracle of miracles, the Eastern Church has a festal icon of Christ's Resurrection, just as they have icons for various other feasts.

The icon of Pascha is 'Η Αναστασις, The Resurrection.  (Etymologically, anastasis literally means "standing again," combining ana (again) and stasis (standing).)  Though there are multiple Paschal icons, this is the most prominent, showing what is known in the West as the "Harrowing of Hell" (the technical name of this icon is "Christ's Descent Into Hades").  It represents the line of the Creed that states "He descended into hell," where He rescued the just who came before Him.  (An interesting side note: there are two Greek words often viewed as interchangeable by English speakers: Hades and Gehenna.  Both are commonly held to mean "Hell."  Truly, though, Hades is similar to the Jewish notion of Sheol, a place of the dead with neither pleasure nor pain, more of a resting place before judgment.  Gehenna, on the other hand, is what we usually mean by "Hell": the state of eternal punishment for those who reject Christ.) 

The icon shows Christ lifting Adam and Eve from their graves and bringing them into everlasting life.  Behind Him on the left often stand many patriarchs and prophets, among them John the Forerunner (St. John the Baptist), David, Solomon, Moses, and Abel, and on the right stand contemporaries of Christ.  Beneath Christ's feet are the gates of Hades, crushed by His divine power, and strewn about are the remnants of the locks and keys that kept them closed (these details actually seem to reflect the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus).  Christ Himself bears the marks of His Passion, the marks of the nails in His hands and feet, and around Him is a mandorla, a special iconographic type of nimbus/halo that signifies the glorified body of Christ.  The mandorla is also seen in other icons, such as the Transfiguration and the Ascension; it is usually blue or white and almond-shaped (the word mandorla means "almond" in Italian).  Sometimes the icon also contains Satan or other evil spirits being trampled by Christ or being restrained by angels.

In summary, the Anastasis shows Christ's power over Hades through His Resurrection and how God did not leave those faithful to Him in the past to be left there forever: He even rescued those who first sinned against Him.  Let us praise God for His great mercy in the Resurrection!

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.

Lord Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, have mercy on us!

Nota Bene: Information for this post comes from OrthodoxWiki (Resurrection, Mandorla), Mennonite Life, and Image and Likeness Iconography.

 

Text ©2012 Brandon P. Otto.  Licensed via CC BY-NC.  Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long as credit is given to the author.