In this article I have been sharing ideas about Jesus Christ that have been derived from such Eastern Fathers of the Church as John of Damascus. I would continue sharing these ideas.
The three days when Christ’s humanity suffered the common fate of man (i.e., death) and yet remained mysteriously en-hypostasized in the one divine hypostasis of the Logos, is graphically represented in the traditional Byzantine icon of the Resurrection, that is Christ trampling down the gates of Hades (i.e., Sheol) and lifting Adam and Eve back to life. It should be noted that in the Western world the Resurrection is always represented by Christ coming out of the tomb. In the Eastern world, the Resurrection is always represented by the impact that the Lord’s resurrection had on creation, namely restoring life to Adam and Eve who, since Genesis, were seen as the original parents of humanity. Better than any conceptual language and better than the image of any particular event or aspect of the mystery — such as the empty tomb or even the crucifixion itself – this icon points to the dynamic, soteriological dimension of Christ’s death: God’s intrusion into His creation. The mystery of the hypostatic unity, which remained unbroken in death itself, is also expressed in the Byzantine liturgy of Great and Holy Week. Our Church prays at Jerusalem Matins, which are traditionally prayed on the evening of Great and Good Friday:
The fall of Adam resulted in the Death of a man, not God. For, though the substance of Your earthly body suffered, Your Divinity remained passionless, transforming the corrupt to incorruptibility and, by Your Resurrection, You uncovered the incorrupt fountain of life. AND…
Mourn not for me, Mother, as You behold Me in the grave. For I, Your Son, Whom you conceived in your womb without seed, shall rise and shall be glorified and, being God, will ceaselessly exalt and ennoble those who, in faith and longing, magnify you. AND… The earth, O my mother, has hidden me by my own will and the gate-keepers of Hades trembled at behold Me clothed with a robe spattered with revenge. For I, being God, have vanquished my enemies with the Cross and I will rise again and magnify you.
The hidden, yet decisive, triumph over death permeates all of the Great Week liturgical celebrations. Our Church never sees the crucifixion separate from the resurrection. One discovered in the texts of our services the ultimate reason why Cyril’s theopaschite formula became a criterion of eastern theology in the sixth century: death was vanquished precisely because God Himself had tasted of it hypostatically in the humanity which He had assumed. This is the paschal message of Christianity.
Hopefully this idea will enhance not only our journey of preparation for the Great Day (Easter) but also cause us to be filled with great joy when we come to celebrate the Lord’s Resurrection.