Great and Holy Saturday. Our Venerable Father Hypatius, Bishop of Gangra (312-37)
Great and Holy Week. Abstention from meat and foods that contain meat. The Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great is celebrated today.
Read
Matins – Ezekiel 37:1-14; 1 Corinthians 5:6-8; Galatians 3:13,14; Matthew 27:62-66; Vespers – Genesis 1:1-13; Isaiah 60:1-16; Exodus 12:1-11; The Book of Jonah; Joshua 5:10-15; Exodus 13:20-15:19; Zephaniah 3:8-15; 1 Kings 17:8-24; Isaiah 61:10-62:5; Genesis 22:1-18; Isaiah 61:1-9; 2 Kings 4:8-37; Isaiah 63:11-64:5; Jeremiah 31:31-34; Daniel 3:1-23 and the Song of the Holy Children (Apocrypha); Liturgy – Romans 6:3-11; Matthew 28:1-20
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
In this Gospel from the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew we have the first proclamation of Christ’s Resurrection. It is proper and fitting that we read this Gospel at the Vesperal Liturgy of St. Basil, the vigil liturgy of Pascha, and that we greet its proclamation with the first stirrings of festive joy. But what of Great and Holy Saturday? What is this day about?
The only mention of this intervening Sabbath day, between Christ’s Passion and Death on the Cross and His Resurrection, are these vague references to a day that has past. Here in Matthew’s Gospel we read “Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day the week…” In Mark’s Gospel (16:1) we read “When the Sabbath was past…” In Luke’s Gospel (23:56) we read “On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.” And finally in St. John the Theologian’s Gospel the Sabbath in not even mentioned, only the text “Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early…” Saturday is more or less entirely glossed over in the Holy Scriptures, yet it is such a very important day. It is important for two reasons, both with deep theological and spiritual meaning for us as Christians. Firstly, it is on this day as Christ lies silent in the tomb in his dead earthly body that his Divine person continues the work of our salvation having descended into the realm of the dead and liberated all imprisoned there and all the righteous who were patiently awaiting His Glorious Resurrection. It is on this day that Our Lord’s triumphant work of conquering sin, death, and corruption and restoring us to God the Father is completed. For the apostles, this first Holy Saturday must have been a day of great sorrow, confusion, fear, anxiety, defeat, loneliness, abandonment, and for Peter great guilt. For us, with full knowledge and the experience of Christ’s Resurrection, Great and Holy Saturday has been transformed to the great day of expectant silence. We know of the glorious Pascha about to dawn, but we must wait on this day, silently, as Our Lord lies silently in the tomb carrying about His salvific work.
Silence. This silence is a great gift that is given to us. We are drawn into it in a mystical way so that we might contemplate the awesomeness of God. Throughout the Old Testament God is found in silence, such as in Moses’ encounter with God on the top of Mount Sinai or the Prophet Elias experiencing God in the “still small voice” or “in the sheer silence.” In the hymn “Let all mortal flesh keep silence” sung in today’s liturgy we are specifically called to keep silent this day. St. John of the Ladder tells us that “intelligent silence is the mother of prayer, freedom from bondage, custodian of zeal, a guard on our thoughts, a watch on our enemies,…, a companion of stillness, a growth of knowledge, a hand to shape contemplation, hidden progress, and the secret journey upward.” In our Byzantine tradition through the Jesus Prayer we nurture our inner life calling Jesus to dwell in our hearts, in a place of blessed silence. In our frantic, anxiety-ridden world of today let us seek this blessed silence all the more. Let this expectant silence of Great and Holy Saturday be our starting point as we journey upward in Paschal joy always conscious of God’s presence in silence. Let us not fear this silence and what we might confront in it as we learn more about our own sinfulness and weakness. For Our Lord Jesus Christ has conquered sin and He is there with us in our weakness, calling us evermore into communion with Him and the Most Holy Trinity.
O Lord, the spiritual powers and angelic hosts stand in silence, overcome with wonder before the awesome mystery of Your tomb.