Death Shook When He Saw the Noble One Moving Straight Toward Him.

I am still in the afterglow of Easter, or Pascha, as my husband’s Greek Orthodox tribe calls it. We just finished Thomas Sunday, and the fact that both the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church read the same Gospel text, John 20:19-31, makes this even sweeter to me. St. Thomas confessing, “My Lord and my God!” is enough to make me shudder with the sweetness of my faith in the resurrected Lord Jesus.

The power of the Syriac Orthodox Easter hymns make this clear:

With great power the Almighty rose from the tomb. The prophet approached Him, was amazed, and asked, ‘My Lord, what happened to You? Why are Your clothes red, Your side rent, and Your hands pierced?’
‘In Sheol I fought alone, valiantly tread the winepress, and was splattered with blood. I rose in victory.
Halleluiah.’

- Qom Gaboro Mén Qabro

Today, the First-born of the dead rose and gave life to humanity. He rose in glory and victory. He rose after He was dead.
Death shook when he saw the Noble One moving straight toward him. He reached Hades’ gates, and its walls collapsed.
He descended into Sheol, the deep pit, and killed death in his house. He triumphantly rose on the third day like a warrior who has shaken off the effects of wine.

- Qom Bukhro Ddamké Yawmono

The Lion’s Cub roared in Sheol, and death and Satan trembled. His light lit the gloomy abyss, and the night of darkness fled. Those forever-buried dead received life and hope from His glorious splendor. He declared salvation, and the captives were freed from death’s bonds. On the third day, He rose in might and victory, shaming the crucifiers.

- Nham ba-Shyul Guryo Daryo

While Your glorious tomb was open, Sheol sat in mourning. The women arrived crying and saying, “Indeed, why did they take Him out of the tomb and put Him into another? Who will tell us about the Resurrection of the Almighty?”
Suddenly, a radiant angel said to these women, “Behold, Christ the Lord is risen! Behold, He is not here. Go tell the apostles that He goes before you to Galilee. There you will see the miracle of His Resurrection.”
After the modest women heard the new tidings, they ran to tell the apostles in the Upper Room. “Behold, the Lord killed death, and by His death He freed the captives. Go, assemble in Galilee and you will see Him.”

- Kad Qabrokh Shbiho

What glorious news for those of us here on Earth! We do not have to fear death because Christ has conquered death by His own death. The primary hymn (troparion) in my husband’s Greek Orthodox Church at and after Pascha states it like this: "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and on those in the tombs bestowing life!"

One of the things I have been learning more and more about in Orthodoxy is the difference from Western theology. What a different picture Orthodoxy paints of Christ’s sacrificial death for us. In the West, Christ died to pay a price for the sins of the world. In the East, Christ died to descend to Sheol, defeat death by His own death, and set the captives free.

If you look at the icon at the top of the page or this one below, you see that Christ is grabbing the wrists of those who were held captive in Sheol. He is grabbing them - not they Him! Glory be to God! Christ’s death allowed the path back to God by defeating that which Satan thought would defeat God: death. We inherited a nature from Adam that was prone to sin, but when we are baptized and chrismated, we are liberated from that nature. We did not inherit Adam’s sin; that is a very important distinction. We inherited his fallen nature. Because Christ defeated death by His own death, we are now invited back into a restored relationship with Him. Again, Glory be to God!

I wanted to share another life-giving realization for me:
You know that one of my motivating factors in life is to move the Oriental Orthodox Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church closer together through everything in my power, which admittedly isn't much… One thing that filled me with joy this Easter/Pascha was realizing that we share the same traditions in both branches of Orthodoxy, even though we have been separated for over 1,500 years since the Council of Chalcedon. Maybe a picture is worth a thousand words. Here are both traditions on Good Friday. See any similarities? Syriac Orthodox on top; Greek Orthodox on bottom.

Christ's death, burial, and resurrection - and the very important part of what He did in the middle when He descended into Sheol are the important pieces of God’s good news toward us! In the Lutheran church Nick and I attended before we became Orthodox/returned to Orthodoxy, we said the Apostles’ Creed frequently. It's a very early summary of the Christian belief, probably originating from early baptismal confessions of the second and third centuries. It was developed and expanded in the fourth century and beyond to address heresies, much like the Nicene Creed. Here are the words - look what's sandwiched in the middle:

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

I shared this on Facebook the other day, and I’ll close with this to highlight the importance of getting this right in conversations with those asking about the Orthodox faith:

“Christ is risen!” is the most liberating pronunciation of God’s grace the world has ever heard.
Today, a young man found his way to our Orthodox church here in Prescott. A couple of us spoke with him briefly after the Agape Vespers. He was holding his Bible and a couple of books that had been given to him about Orthodoxy.
He shared with us that he had been very frustrated with what he perceived in Protestantism over the years. In particular, his reading of Scripture did not suggest that God was willing to send millions to hell. And if that was a true picture of God that He would send them to hell, then he should rend his clothes and share with everybody he encountered that they would be eternally lost. That should be his life’s profession, rather than seeking to know God more deeply himself and through his life draw others to Christ.
He felt that was a complete disconnect from the God that he encountered in the pages of the Bible. There he was reading about a God who loves His creation. He started reading about the ancient Christian faith. When he encountered Orthodoxy today, he heard about a God that loves mankind. A Christ who conquered death by his own death and broke the shackles of the captives in Sheoul. And it was liberating confirmation to him.
“Christ is risen from the dead, by death trampling down upon death, and to those in the tombs He has granted life.”
Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!