EASTER VIGIL

April 19, 2025

Saints Matthew and Mark, Barrington, R. I.

 

 

It’s not surprising that Christ’s Resurrection is a principal subject of Christian art. In the Western Church, paintings and statues often depict the Risen Jesus emerging triumphant from the tomb, perhaps with the soldiers sleeping on either side of the rolled back stone—such as we have on the back cover of this evening’s bulletin. Another frequent theme is that of his appearing to Mary Magdalene, which we’ll consider tomorrow morning.

 

In the Eastern Church, however, the artistic tradition is very different. On the front cover of the bulletin is an Eastern Orthodox depiction of the Resurrection or Anastasis. It depicts Christ standing astride a great set of fallen gates—which in many versions of the icon have landed in the figure of a cross. With the nail-prints visible in his hands and feet, Jesus reaches down with one hand to grasp the hand of a man rising from a tomb. The man is Adam. Next to him is Eve, rising from her tomb. Other figures stand by, also having risen from their graves, often including King David, John the Baptist, and other great kings and prophets of Israel.

 

This rather strange image depicts symbolically what happened during the interval between our Lord’s death on the cross on Good Friday, and his rising from the tomb on Easter Sunday: namely, his descent into hell. The Apostles’ Creed states that after Jesus died and was buried, “he descended to the dead,” and “on the third day he rose again.” Yet during Holy Week it’s all too easy to go straight from the death and burial on Friday afternoon to the Resurrection on Sunday morning, without pausing to consider anything in between.

 

The Great Vigil of Easter as we now celebrate it has been revived within living memory. Over the years, people have occasionally asked me the same question about the Easter Vigil: Why are we celebrating Easter when it’s not yet Easter morning? Beyond explaining that in Jewish tradition the next day begins at sunset, a good part of the answer is that on Easter Day we celebrate what happens during the daylight: the finding of the empty tomb and the Risen Lord’s appearances to the women and the disciples. But during the Great Vigil we focus instead on the deep mystery of what happens in the dark solitude of Christ’s tomb before dawn. Indeed, at the beginning of the liturgy the church is darkened precisely to resemble the interior of a tomb. On this most holy night, then, it seems appropriate to say something about what our tradition calls the harrowing of hell.

 

The New Testament briefly mentions Christ’s descent into hell in several places. The most detailed reference occurs in the First Letter of Peter. The apostle writes that Jesus was “put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit; in which he went and preached to the spirits in prison” (3:18-19). A bit later, he adds: “For this is why the gospel was preached even to the dead, that though judged in the flesh like men, they might live in the spirit like God” (4:6).

 

Paul writes in his Letter to the Ephesians, that Christ “descended into the lower parts of the earth,” and then that later he “ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things” (4:9-10).

 

In the Acts of the Apostles, Peter, in his sermon on the day of Pentecost, first quotes Psalm 16, “You will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor let your Holy One see corruption,” and then says that in the psalm David “foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption” (2:31). These words suggest that while Christ’s body rested incorrupt in the tomb, his soul went to the abode of the dead, but did not remain there.

 

One final point of importance is that in the many places where the New Testament writers speak of Christ being raised from the dead, the phrase “from the dead” in the original Greek means not “from the state of death,” but rather, literally, “from among the dead ones.”

 

Based on this scriptural evidence, Christian tradition came to understand that when Jesus died and his body was placed in the tomb, his soul left his body and descended into the place known in Hebrew as Sheol, and in Greek as Hades: not the hell of eternal punishment prepared for the unrepentant after the Last Judgment, but rather that shadowy realm where the spirits of the dead were awaiting their Redeemer.

 

Here, instead of becoming a prisoner himself, Christ trampled down the gates, crushed the power of the devil, proclaimed the Good News, and set free the imprisoned souls awaiting their redeemer. Finally, his soul ascended and rejoined his body, lying incorrupt in the tomb awaiting resurrection.

 

This doctrine of Christ’s descent into hell points to at least three truths of importance for us today.

 

First, Jesus truly experienced death. From his conception, he passed through all the stages of human existence, both on this side of the grave and beyond. And this means that he’s present with us and for us in every stage of our life and death. As we go down into the grave, he’s already there waiting for us. Not even death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

 

Second, by descending into hell, Christ has made his presence known in every part of creation, from the highest heaven to the lowest depths. Specifically, by preaching the Gospel to those who died before him, he shows that his offer of eternal salvation extends to all people in all times and in all places, both the living and the dead.

 

And third, by ascending from hell after descending there, he manifests his victory over death: a victory which will become known when he appears to the women and the disciples on the first day of the week; and a victory in which we share by being baptized into his Body, the Church.

 

Tomorrow, we shall celebrate the empty tomb’s discovery and the Risen Lord’s appearances in the full light of day. But this evening, we rejoice, give thanks, and celebrate—for, in the words of the Exsultet: “This is the night, when Christ broke the bonds of death and hell, and rose victorious from the grave.”