Christ's descent into Hades

Church of the Holy Savior, Constantinople

In John Damascene we find lines which sum up the development of the theme of the descent of Christ into Hades in Eastern patristic writings of the 2^nd¾8^th centuries:

The soul [of Christ] when it is deified descended into Hades, in order that, just as the Sun of Righteousness rose for those upon the earth, so likewise He might bring light[28] to those who sit under the earth in darkness and the shadow of death: in order that just as he brought the message of peace to those upon the earth, and of release to the prisoners, and of sight to the blind[29], and became to those who believed the Author of everlasting salvation and to those who did not believe, a denunciation of their unbelief, so He might become the same to those in Hades: That every knee should bow to Him, of things in heaven, and things in earth and things under the earth[30]. And thus after He had freed those who has been bound for ages, straightway He rose again from the dead, showing us the way of resurrection[31].

According to John Damascene, Christ preached to all those who were in hell, but His preaching did not prove salutary for all, as not all were capable of responding to it. For some it could become only ‘a denunciation of their disbelief’, not the cause of salvation. In this judgement, Damascene actually repeats the teaching on salvation articulated not long before him by Maximus the Confessor. According to Maximus, human history will be accomplished when all without exception will unite with God and God will become ‘all in all’[32]. For some, however, this unity will mean eternal bliss, while for others it will become the source of suffering and torment, as each will be united with God ‘according to the quality of his disposition’ towards God[33]. In other words, all will be united with God, but each will have his own, subjective, feeling of this unity, according to the measure of the closeness to God he has achieved. Along a similar line, John Damascene understands also the teaching on the descent to Hades: Christ opens the way to paradise to all and calls all to salvation, but the response to Christ’s call may lie in either consent to follow Him or voluntary rejection of salvation. Ultimately it depends on a person, on his free choice. God does not save anybody by force, but calls everybody to salvation: ‘Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him’[34]. God knocks at the door of the human heart rather than breaks into it.

In the history of Christianity an idea has repeatedly arisen that God predestines some people for salvation and others to perdition. This idea, based as it is on the literary understanding of the words of St. Paul about predestination, calling and justification[35], became the corner-stone of the theological system of the Reformation, preached with particular consistency by John Calvin[36]. Eleven centuries before Calvin, the Eastern Christian tradition in the person of John Chrysostom expressed its view of predestination and calling. ‘Why are not all saved?’ Chrysostom asks. ‘Because… not only the call [of God] but also the will of those called is the cause of their salvation. This call is not coercive or forcible. Every one was called, but not all followed the call’[37]. Later Fathers, including Maximus and John Damascene, spoke in the same spirit. According to their teaching, it is not God who saves some while ruining others, but some people follow the call of God to salvation while others do not. It is not God who leads some from hell while leaving others behind, but some people wish while others do not wish to believe in Him.

The teaching of the Eastern Church Fathers on the descent of Christ into Hades can be summed up in the following points:

1) the doctrine of the descent of Christ into Hades was commonly accepted and indisputable;

2) the descent into Hades was perceived as an event of universal significance, though some authors limited the range of those saved by Christ to a particular category of the dead;

3) the descent of Christ into Hades and His resurrection were viewed as the accomplishment of the ‘economy’ of Christ the Saviour, as the crown and outcome of the feat He performed for the salvation of people;

4) the teaching on the victory of Christ over the devil, hell and death was finally articulated and asserted;

5) the theme of the descent into Hades began to be viewed in its mystical dimension, as the prototype of the resurrection of the human soul.

Excerpted from:  Christ the Conqueror of Hell, The Descent of Christ into Hades in Eastern and Western Theological Traditions by Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev.  Entire article appears here: http://orthodoxeurope.org/page/11/1/5.aspx

What Happened on the Cross
by St. John of Damascus (7^th century)

 Icon courtesy of Uncut Mountain Supply

By nothing else except the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ has death been brought low:

The sin of our first parent destroyed,
hell plundered,
resurrection bestowed,
the power given us to despise the things of this world,
even death itself,
the road back to the former blessedness made smooth,
the gates of paradise opened,
our nature seated at the right hand of God,
and we made children and heirs of God.

By the Cross all these things have been set aright...

It is a seal that the destroyer may not strike us,
a raising up of those who lie fallen,
a support for those who stand,
a staff for the infirm,
a crook for the shepherded,
a guide for the wandering,
a perfecting of the advanced,
salvation for soul and body,
a deflector of all evils,
a cause of all good,
a destruction of sin,
a plant of resurrection,
and a tree of eternal life.

 
...the crown of thorns, the robe, the reed, the blows, the smiting on the cheek, the spittings, the irony.  These things, if continually meditated on are sufficient to take down all anger; and if we be mocked at, if we suffer injustice, let us still say, "The servant is not greater than his Lord."

 He did everything without being troubled, speaking with the disciple concerning His mother, fulfilling prophecies, holding forth good hopes to the thief .... Let us, then, not tremble at death.

For "there came forth water and blood." Not without a purpose ... did those founts come forth, but because by means of these two together the Church consisteth. And the initiated know it, being by water indeed regenerate, and nourished by the Blood and the Flesh. Hence the Mysteries take their beginning; that when thou approachest to that awful cup, thou mayest so approach, as drinking from the very side. St. John Chrysostom

The precious and life-giving

Cross of Christ
From a sermon by St. Theodore the Studite, 9^th century

17th century, Dionysiou Monastery

How precious the gift of the cross, how splendid to contemplate!  In the cross there is no mingling of good and evil, as in the tree of paradise: it is wholly beautiful to behold and good to taste.  The fruit of this tree is not death but life, not darkness but light.  This tree does not cast us out of paradise, but opens the way for our return.

This was the tree on which Christ, like a king on a chariot, destroyed the devil, the lord of death, and freed the human race from his tyranny.  This was the tree upon which the Lord like a brave warrior wounded in hands, feet and side, healed the wounds of sin that the evil serpent had inflicted on our nature.  A tree once caused our death, but now a tree brings life.  Once deceived by a tree, we have now repelled the cunning serpent by a tree.  What an astonishing transformation!  That death should become life, that decay should become immortality, that shame should become glory!  Well might the holy Apostle exclaim: Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world!  The supreme wisdom that flowered on the cross has shown the folly of worldly wisdom's pride.  The knowledge of all good, which is the fruit of the cross, has cut away the shoots of wickedness.

The wonders accomplished through this tree were foreshadowed clearly even by the mere types and figures that existed in the past.  Meditate on these, if you are eager to learn.  Was it not the wood of a tree that enabled Noah, at God's command, to escape the destruction of the flood together with his sons, his wife, his sons' wives and every kind of animal?  And surely the rod of Moses prefigured the cross when it changed water into blood, swallowed up the false serpents of Pharaoh's magicians, divided the sea at one stroke and then restored the waters to their normal course, drowning the enemy and saving God's own people?  Aaron's rod, which blossomed in one day in proof of his true priesthood, was another figure of the cross, and did not Abraham foreshadow the cross when he bound his son Isaac and placed him on the pile of wood?

By the cross death was slain and Adam was restored to life.  The cross is the glory of all the apostles, the crown of the martyrs, the sanctification of the saints.  By the cross we put on Christ and cast aside our former self.  By the cross we, the sheep of Christ, have been gathered into one flock, destined for the sheepfold of heaven.

CONTEMPLATING THE LORD'S PASSION From a sermon by Leo the Great, 5th century

Icon courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Boston

True reverence for the Lord's passion means fixing the eyes of our heart on Jesus crucified and recognizing in him our own humanity.  

The earth - our earthly nature - should tremble at the suffering of its Redeemer. The rocks - the hearts of unbelievers - should come forth, the massive stones now ripped apart. Foreshadowings of the future resurrection should appear in the holy city, the church of God: what is happen to our bodies should now take place in our hearts.   

No one, however weak, is denied a share in the victory of the cross. No one is beyond the help of the prayer of Christ. His prayer brought benefit to the multitude that raged against him. How much more does it bring to those who turn to him in repentance.
   

Ignorance has been destroyed, obstinacy has been overcome. The sacred blood of Christ has quenched the flaming sword that barred access to the tree of life. The age-old night of sin has given place to the true light.  

The Christian people are invited to share the riches of paradise. All who have been reborn have the way open before them to return to their native land, from which they had been exiled. Unless indeed they close off for themselves the path that could be opened before the faith of a thief.  

The business of this life should not preoccupy us with its anxiety and pride, so that we no longer strive with all the love of our heart to be like our Redeemer, and to follow his example. Everything that he did or suffered was for our salvation: he wanted his body to share the goodness of its head.  

First of all, in taking our human nature while remaining God, so that the Word became man, he left no member of the human race, the unbeliever excepted, without a share in his mercy. Who does not share a common nature with Christ if he has welcomed Christ, who took our nature, and is reborn in the Spirit through whom Christ was conceived?  

Again, who cannot recognize in Christ his own infirmities? Who would not recognize that Christ's eating and sleeping, his sadness and his shedding tears of love are marks of the nature of a slave?  

It was this nature of a slave that had to be healed of its ancient wounds and cleansed of the defilement of sin. For that reason the only- begotten Son of God became also the son of man. He was to have both the reality of human nature and the fullness of the Godhead.  

The body that lay lifeless in the tomb is ours. The body that rose again on the third day is ours. The body that ascended above all the heights of heaven to the right hand of the Father's glory is ours. If then we walk in the way of his commandments, and are not ashamed to acknowledge the price he paid for our salvation in a lowly body, we too are to rise to share his glory. The promise he made will be fulfilled in the sight of all: Whoever acknowledges me before men, I too will acknowledge him before my Father who is in heaven.

On the Holy Eucharist

151 AD: St. Justin Martyr

We call this food Eucharist, and no one else is permitted to partake of it, except one who believes our teaching to be true and who has been washed in the washing which is for the remission of sins and for regeneration [i.e., has received baptism] and is thereby living as Christ enjoined. For not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these, but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nurtured, is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus.

180 AD:  St. Irenaeus of Lyons

So then, if the mixed cup and the manufactured bread receive the Word of God and become the Eucharist, that is to say, the Blood and Body of Christ, which fortify and build up the substance of our flesh, how can these people claim that the flesh is incapable of receiving God's gift of eternal life, when it is nourished by Christ's Blood and Body and is His member? As the blessed apostle says in his letter to the Ephesians, 'For we are members of His Body, of His flesh and of His bones' (Eph. 5:30). He is not talking about some kind of 'spiritual' and 'invisible' man, 'for a spirit does not have flesh an bones' (Lk. 24:39). No, he is talking of the organism possessed by a real human being, composed of flesh and nerves and bones. It is this which is nourished by the cup which is His Blood, and is fortified by the bread which is His Body. The stem of the vine takes root in the earth and eventually bears fruit, and 'the grain of wheat falls into the earth' (Jn. 12:24), dissolves, rises again, multiplied by the all-containing Spirit of God, and finally after skilled processing, is put to human use. These two then receive the Word of God and become the Eucharist, which is the Body and Blood of Christ.

He has declared the cup, a part of creation, to be his own blood, from which he causes our blood to flow; and the bread, a part of creation, he has established as his own body, from which he gives increase unto our bodies. When, therefore, the mixed cup [wine and water] and the baked bread receive the Word of God and become the Eucharist, the body of Christ, and from these the substance of our flesh is increased and supported, how can they say that the flesh is not capable of receiving the gift of God, which is eternal life — flesh which is nourished by the body and blood of the Lord and is in fact a member of him? 

350 AD:  St. Cyril of Jerusalem

The bread and the wine of the Eucharist before the holy invocation of the adorable Trinity were simple bread and wine, but the invocation having been made, the bread becomes the body of Christ and the wine the blood of Christ.

 
Do not, therefore, regard the bread and wine as simply that, for they are, according to the Master's declaration, the body and blood of Christ. Even though the senses suggest to you the other, let faith make you firm. Do not judge in this matter by taste, but be fully assured by faith, not doubting that you have been deemed worthy of the body and blood of Christ. . . [Since you are] fully convinced that the apparent bread is not bread, even though it is sensible to the taste, but the body of Christ, and that the apparent wine is not wine, even though the taste would have it so. . . partake of that bread as something spiritual, and put a cheerful face on your soul.

Icons courtesy of Uncut Mountain Supply

On Orthodox Christian Healing

On this day when Holy Unction is offered in many Orthodox Churches, offered here is an article by Dr. George Morelli on the topic The Ethos of Orthodox Christian Healing:

http://www.antiochian.org/morelli/the-ethos-of-orthodox-christian-healing

On the Wise and Foolish Virgins

Below you will find the April 19, 2011 entry from John Sanidopoulos’ web blog, Mystagogy:

3 Holy Fathers On the Parable of the Ten Virgins

Saint Macarios the Great

The five wise virgins, watchful and alert, had taken oil in the vessels of their heart. That oil, not part of their own nature, means the grace of the Spirit. They were enabled to enter with the Bridegroom into the heavenly bridal chamber.

The other five virgins, however, were content with their own nature. They neither watched nor busied themselves to receive the oil of gladness [Ps. 44:6] in their vessels, while they were yet in the flesh. Instead, they sank into sleep through carelessness, slackness, idleness, and ignorance, or even fancied righteousness. Hence, they were shut out of the bridal chamber of the Kingdom, unable to give satisfaction to the heavenly Bridegroom. Held fast by their tie to the world, and by some earthly affection, they did not give their whole love or passionate devotion to the heavenly Bridegroom; thus they were not provided with oil.

Souls that seek the sanctification of the Spirit, which is outside of nature, fasten all their affection upon the Lord. It is in the Lord that they walk, pray, and employ their thoughts, turning away from all else. For this cause, they are priviledged to receive the oil of heavenly grace. This enables them to succeed in coming through without falling, giving perfect satisfaction to the spiritual Bridegroom. Those souls, however, content with what belongs to their own nature, creep upon the earth in their thoughts. Not only do they employ their thoughts upon earth, but their minds have their whole existence upon earth. In their own estimation, they appear to belong to the Bridegroom, and to be adorned with the ordinances of the flesh. Nonetheless, they have not been born of the Spirit; and they have not received the oil of gladness.

(Fifty Spiritual Homilies, Homily IV)

Saint John Chrysostom

This parable admonishes us to remain diligent in almsgiving. It counsels us to help our neighbor by every means available to us, since it is impossible to be saved in any other way....

For nothing is more sullied than virginity without mercy ... What was the profit of virginity, when they saw not the Bridegroom? Even when they knocked at the door, they did not obtain; instead, they heard the fearful saying, "Depart, I know you not". When he said this, nothing else but hell is left, and that intolerable punishment....

This parable was spoken with respect to mercy in almsgiving ... It is also that we might learn how close Christ is joined unto virgins that strip themselves of their possessions; for this indeed is virginity.

(Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew, Homily LXXVII)



Saint Gregory the Great

As it is written: "The day of the Lord shall come as a theif in the night" (1 Thess. 5:2). Then the virgins shall awake, because both good and wicked are roused from the sleep of death. They shall trim their lamps, that is, they shall count the number of their good works for which they hope to receive the reward of eternal happiness. However, the lamps of the foolish virgins shall fail. This is because their works, seen so clearly by men, shall wane and vanish at the coming of the Judge. From God, they shall receive no recompense, for men gave them the praise they esteemed so highly.

The blessed will rejoice in their recompense, when they enjoy that vision of Him in Whose presence the elements tremble. They will then go in with Him to the marriage. As they rejoice in the nuptials of the Bridegroom, they themselves will be the bride; for in the bridal chamber of the eternal Kingdom, they are united forever to their God. Thenceforth, that vision can never be snatched from them. The door of the Kingdom will close forever upon those left outside, who then will weep.

However, that same door is now open to all penitents. There will be repentance then, but it will be fruitless. When the Bridegroom comes, those that wasted time that might have be used for repentance shall not find pardon. Thus St. Paul warns us: "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2). The Prophet Isaiah says: "Seek ye the Lord, and when ye find Him, call upon Him" (Is. 55:6).

(Parables of the Gospel, "The Ten Virgins")