Holy Saturday is not Easter Sunday.
The DESCENT INTO HELL.
The Liturgical and personal celebration of Holy Saturday conveys more clearly the starkness, the vacancy, the void ness of any kind of assurance of consolation in the dying of Jesus. Even the Cross of Good Friday is stripped away, images are veiled, the Tabernacle lies empty, bells are mute, monks’ make none of the usual choir salutations.
Hans Urs von Balthaser, drawing inspiration from the mystical theologian, Adrienne von Speyr, in whose spirituality plays the Descent into Hell plays a massive part, wrote that he aimed not to leave this neglected article of the Old Roman Creed out of account.
In the entrance to the Holy Sepulchre (Church of the Resurrection) in Jerusalem the Pilgrim’s first ‘welcome is at the marble slab, the Stone of Unction, where in the Orthodox tradition elderly people bring the shroud they hope will be used in their dying hours.
On the facing wall is a mural painting depicting of the scenes of (1) the Descent into Hell, (2) the Anointing of Jesus’ Body, (3) the Entombment.
As the most central basilica of Christendom it is known most popularly and most aptly as the HOLY SEPULCHRE. The silence of Holy Saturday, the ominous emptiness of the tomb, pervades the hours of bereft mourning and a sense of expectation of the unknown. It is not anticipation. Anticipation of Easter Sunday is premature. Holy Saturday is not to be ushered a side Chapel.
It is difficult to accept the full reality of Jesus’ death and descent into hell, even for those few hour of prayer. Not many concentrate on the experience of such a one as Adrienne von Speyr in her union with Christ in his Passion and especially in the mystical entering into the Holy Saturday abyss of god-forsakenness.
Not being able to accept too much reality, it is easier to veer quickly into the more visual and audio perception we create in representations of the more comforting glories of the Resurrection.
Hasty anticipation expresses not Jesus’ utter abandonment in death but the instant anticipation of a triumphant awaking of the dead in a victorious release, rescue and recovery. Even St. John takes a leap forward, “after his resurrection, these came out of the tombs”,
(“Mat 27:51 And suddenly, the veil of the Sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom, the earth quaked, the rocks were split,
Mat 27:52 the tombs opened and the bodies of many holy people rose from the dead,
Mat 27:53 and these, after his resurrection, came out of the tombs, entered the holy city and appeared to a number of people”).
Our understanding of the question is helped by Joseph Ratzinger who wrote a book called Eschatology:
“God himself suffered and died . . . He himself entered into the distinctive freedom of sinners, but he went beyond it in that freedom of his own love which descended willingly into the Abyss. Here the real quality of evil and its consequences become quite palpable, provoking the question . . . whether in this event we are not in touch with a divine response able to draw freedom, precisely as freedom, to itself. The answer lies hidden in Jesus' descent into Sheol, in the night of the soul which he suffered, a night no one can observe except by entering this darkness in suffering faith . . . It is a challenge to suffer in the dark night of faith, to experience communion with Christ in solidarity with his descent into the Night. One draws near to the Lord's radiance by sharing his darkness”.
Stone of Unction upon which the body of Jesus was anointed.
To the rear a mural, (modern iconography), depicts 3 scenes, the Descent into Hell, far right, the Anointing of Jesus’ Body, the Entombment.
The Liturgical and personal celebration of Holy Saturday conveys more clearly the starkness, the vacancy, the void ness of any kind of assurance of consolation in the dying of Jesus. Even the Cross of Good Friday is stripped away, images are veiled, the Tabernacle lies empty, bells are mute, monks’ make none of the usual choir salutations.
Hans Urs von Balthaser, drawing inspiration from the mystical theologian, Adrienne von Speyr, in whose spirituality plays the Descent into Hell plays a massive part, wrote that he aimed not to leave this neglected article of the Old Roman Creed out of account.
In the entrance to the Holy Sepulchre (Church of the Resurrection) in Jerusalem the Pilgrim’s first ‘welcome is at the marble slab, the Stone of Unction, where in the Orthodox tradition elderly people bring the shroud they hope will be used in their dying hours.
On the facing wall is a mural painting depicting of the scenes of (1) the Descent into Hell, (2) the Anointing of Jesus’ Body, (3) the Entombment.
As the most central basilica of Christendom it is known most popularly and most aptly as the HOLY SEPULCHRE. The silence of Holy Saturday, the ominous emptiness of the tomb, pervades the hours of bereft mourning and a sense of expectation of the unknown. It is not anticipation. Anticipation of Easter Sunday is premature. Holy Saturday is not to be ushered a side Chapel.
It is difficult to accept the full reality of Jesus’ death and descent into hell, even for those few hour of prayer. Not many concentrate on the experience of such a one as Adrienne von Speyr in her union with Christ in his Passion and especially in the mystical entering into the Holy Saturday abyss of god-forsakenness.
Not being able to accept too much reality, it is easier to veer quickly into the more visual and audio perception we create in representations of the more comforting glories of the Resurrection.
Hasty anticipation expresses not Jesus’ utter abandonment in death but the instant anticipation of a triumphant awaking of the dead in a victorious release, rescue and recovery. Even St. John takes a leap forward, “after his resurrection, these came out of the tombs”,
(“Mat 27:51 And suddenly, the veil of the Sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom, the earth quaked, the rocks were split,
Mat 27:52 the tombs opened and the bodies of many holy people rose from the dead,
Mat 27:53 and these, after his resurrection, came out of the tombs, entered the holy city and appeared to a number of people”).
Our understanding of the question is helped by Joseph Ratzinger who wrote a book called Eschatology:
“God himself suffered and died . . . He himself entered into the distinctive freedom of sinners, but he went beyond it in that freedom of his own love which descended willingly into the Abyss. Here the real quality of evil and its consequences become quite palpable, provoking the question . . . whether in this event we are not in touch with a divine response able to draw freedom, precisely as freedom, to itself. The answer lies hidden in Jesus' descent into Sheol, in the night of the soul which he suffered, a night no one can observe except by entering this darkness in suffering faith . . . It is a challenge to suffer in the dark night of faith, to experience communion with Christ in solidarity with his descent into the Night. One draws near to the Lord's radiance by sharing his darkness”.
Stone of Unction upon which the body of Jesus was anointed.To the rear a mural, (modern iconography), depicts 3 scenes, the Descent into Hell, far right, the Anointing of Jesus’ Body, the Entombment.
B
Below picture of the Adam Chapel situated farther to the right, under which lies Golgotha.
This mural forms a link from the Adam Chapel to Christ’s Tomb further left.
Note the tradition of the Adam Chapel commemorates the burial site of our common father, Adam, and that on the day of the Crucifixion the blood of the Redeemer fell upon that first guilty head. This has given rise to the custom, mainly in the Greek Church, of representing at the foor of the Crucifies a skull and cross-bones.
Below picture of the Adam Chapel situated farther to the right, under which lies Golgotha.This mural forms a link from the Adam Chapel to Christ’s Tomb further left.
Note the tradition of the Adam Chapel commemorates the burial site of our common father, Adam, and that on the day of the Crucifixion the blood of the Redeemer fell upon that first guilty head. This has given rise to the custom, mainly in the Greek Church, of representing at the foor of the Crucifies a skull and cross-bones.
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
He summons Adam and his generation,
brings light where darkness endless seemed;
He frees and claims his own, so long held captive
who, with the living, are redeemed.
brings light where darkness endless seemed;
He frees and claims his own, so long held captive
who, with the living, are redeemed.
Hymn Divine Office
Father Donald,
ReplyDeleteYour piece on "Holy Saturday is not Easter Sunday" touched me deeply. Saturday is "not anticipation... anticipation of Easter Sunday is premature". We must 'identify' with "the full reality of Jesus’ death and descent into hell". "Not being able to accept too much reality..." is very much the mind of our world, unwilling to face the "challenge to suffer in the dark night of faith, to experience communion with Christ in solidarity with his descent into the Night."
I listen silently when people speak of the death of their relatives or friends and their conversation concentrates on words like "release" and 'avoids' identification with the intense suffering in solitude that the bereaved will have endured. I see the same at Easter, for "it is easier to veer quickly into the... perception we create in representations of the more comforting glories of the Resurrection". And yet, the FULL meaning of the resurrection can only be known by entering Christ's solitude..."One draws near to the Lord's radiance by sharing his darkness”. We must journey through the darkness of our own estrangement and share in Christ's desolation. Let us grieve for Him. After all, our urgent desire is that He will be the companion of our last hours.
Thank you.
William