sign in sign up
<<
Home , Harrowing of Hell

SUMMONING THE DIVINE: THE HARROWING OF

Psalm 24 (7-10): Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors! that the King of glory may come in. Who is the King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle….Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory.

Meditation: Benedictine Nuns & the Tender Glory of the Harrowing “ is a day out of time, a day for doing nothing, because God is acting — powerfully, incomprehensibly, mercifully — while the earth remains silent and still, awaiting the . In the past/...we are suspended between heaven and hell….Holy Saturday is traditionally associated with the Harrowing of Hell…It is a day of mercy, and all of us live by the mercy of God…. Holy Saturday is a day of waiting, a day when we await the mercy of God. In this small and tender illustration, takes the spirits in by the hand and leads them out into the light…Don’t we all long for God to be merciful to us? Haven’t we enough sins of our own to worry about, without condemning those of others?

....Tonight, during the Exultant, we’ll sing of the felix culpa, the happy fault, the necessary sin of , which brought us such a great Redeemer. It is trembling on the brink of heresy, breath-taking in its conception of God’s wisdom and mercy. Holy Saturday reminds us that sin and are no barrier to God. Christ will lead us into everlasting light, if we will just let him.” “Holy Saturday is a day out of time, a day for doing nothing, because God is acting — powerfully, incomprehensibly, mercifully — while the earth remains silent and still, awaiting the Resurrection. In the past/...we are suspended between heaven and hell….Holy Saturday is traditionally associated with the Harrowing of Hell…It is a day of mercy, and all of us live by the mercy of God…. Holy Saturday is a day of waiting, a day when we await the mercy of God. Blog by Benedictine Nuns, Holy Trinity Monastery, Howton Grove Priory, U.K Source: https://www.ibenedictines.org/2015/04/04/holy-saturday-2015

FAMOUS HARROWING OF HELL I urge you to look a the excellent You-Tube Presentation on Greek Orthodox Harrowing of Hell. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d6Bn6Kqzgg&t=30s 7:41 min.

Icons are considered a written text that assists others to understand the truth through sight and image. “ are symbolic tools. They help is to understand the gospel truth by using our sense of sight.”

This ancient icon celebrates the fullness of what accomplished, beyond bodily rising from the grave. In this Icon, Jesus takes center stage, victoriously robed in a heavenly white robe that flows upward. He has descended immediately into Hades to raise all those worthy ancients, including in red on Jesus’ right and Adam on his left. This is the primary icon of Pascha (Greek ).

Prior to his to his bodily rising from the grave, compassionate Christ entered Hades also known in Hebrew as Sheol. The and Church

April 15, 2021--St. Richard’s Episcopal Church, Winter P ark FL--Dr. Pamela Menke, Facilitator 1 celebrate what is known as the Harrowing of Hell on Holy Saturday. In the Icon, Christ is standing on the now splintered golden gate which he destroyed when entering Hades .In the dark blue area beneath the gate lie the fragments of destroyed keys, chains, and latches that once imprisoned the dead. Even more significantly, Death in chains beneath Christ’s feet. The that anticipates the Risen Christ demonstrates Christ’s Victory over and Death. Here is a short description of this famous Icon.

 The two figures whom Christ has grasped and is pulling from tombs are . Thus, Christ’s victory redeems all humankind even back to the beginning of time. Christ’ action also foreshadows the general resurrection of the body before the Final Judgment.  To the left, we see three characters with halos: Two of them are and , two of Christ’s Hebrew ancestors. We also see, closest to him, John the Baptizer, who was his forerunner in both life and death.  The figures on the right vary from icon to icon, but usually represent Hebrew prophets and saints such as Moses, the shepherd Abel whom Cain killed, and the three youths who were thrown into the fiery furnace (Daniel 3).  The blue shape around Christ is called a Mandorla (Italian for almond). The Mandorla is the uncreated, eternal light of Christ. In the writings of Eastern Orthodox mystics, God is often experienced as light. The same light filled the apostles with wonder when they witnessed Jesus’ Transfiguration. That light now fills the once perpetual darkness of Hades since Christ descended bringing defeating death.

Sources: blogs.ancientfaith.com/walking an ancient path/2019/04/30/theology-in-color-truths-proclaimed-in- the-icon-of-the-resurrection/; Greek Orthodox Diocese of America.]

Primary Source: . Mentioned only in the , the Pharisee Nicodemus is a member of the Sanhedrin. He first visits Jesus to discuss Jesus’ teachings (John 3:1–21). Nicodemus reminds his Sanhedrin colleagues that the law requires a person to be heard before being judged (John 7:50–51). After Jesus’ Crucifixion, Nicodemus brings costly embalming spices and assists in preparing the body of Jesus for burial (John 19:39–42).

An ancient Christian account from the apocryphal (c. 200 A.D.) describes what happened between the time that Jesus died on the cross and his resurrection. Also known as the Acts of Pilate, the surviving version seems to be an official document from , who is reporting the Judean events to Emperor Tiberius. Pilate includes Jesus’ crucifixion and miracles. However, what fascinated medieval and later readers is the account known as the Harrowing of Hell.

2 April 15, 2021--St. Richard’s Episcopal Church, Winter P ark FL--Dr. Pamela Menke, Facilitator 2

Selection from the Gospel of Nicodemus. While Satan and Hades were thus speaking to each other, there was a great voice like thunder, saying: Lift up your gates, O ye rulers; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting gates; and the King of glory shall come in! When Hades heard, he said to Satan: Go forth, if you are able, and withstand him. Satan therefore went forth to the outside. Then Hades says to his demons: Secure well and strongly the gates of brass and the bars of iron, and attend to my bolts, and stand in order, and see to everything; for if he come in here, woe will seize us.

The forefathers having heard this, began all to revile him, saying: O all-devouring and insatiable! open, that the King of glory may come in. David the prophet says: Do you not know, O blind, that I when living in the world prophesied this saying: Lift up your gates, O ye rulers? Isaiah said: I, foreseeing this by the Holy Spirit, wrote: The dead shall rise up, and those in their tombs shall be raised, and those in the earth shall rejoice. And where, O death, is your sting? where, O Hades, is your victory?

There came, then, again a voice saying: Lift up the gates! Hades, hearing the voice the second time, answered as if he did not know, and says: Who is this King of glory? The angels of the Lord say: The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. And immediately with these words the brazen gates were shattered, and the iron bars broken, and all the dead who had been bound came out of the prisons, and we with them. And the King of glory came in in the form of a man, and all the dark places of Hades were lighted up. The material has been edited for modern reader. Here is link if you’d like to read more: https://www.orthodoxroad.com/the-harrowing-of-hades/

John Donne, English Poet and Priest (1572-1631) Donne’s family were quiet closeted Roman Catholic faith even though that faith was considered illegal in England. Young Donne wrote love poetry that continues to be considered the best ever written. He had adventures abroad, served as in Parliament, and secretly married. He and his wife birthed 12 children, but most died. As a Church of England priest, and soon Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, he wrote Holy poetry, meditations, and sermons. His sermons are considered “the most magnificent prose ever uttered in our tongue.” Nobel laureate T.S. Eliot, Irish Poet William Butler Yeats, and many others were profoundly influenced by Donne’s poetry and prose. Today most critics agree that “Donne has had more influence than any other Elizabethan on both English and American poetry.” In the following poem, Donne dismisses Death as foolish, arrogant, and misguided. Death will die, and that he (Donne) will continue eternally.

Death be not Proud 1. Death, be not proud, though some have called thee mighty and dreadful, but thou art not so; --For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow, die not, poor Death, and you canst thou kill me. 2. From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,--much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow, and soonest our best men with thee do go, --Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery. -- 3. Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, --And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell, --And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well --And better than thy stroke. 4. Why swell'st thou then? -One short sleep past, we wake eternally --And death shall be no more; DEATH, THOU SHALT DIE.

3 April 15, 2021--St. Richard’s Episcopal Church, Winter P ark FL--Dr. Pamela Menke, Facilitator 3