Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life. (Paschal Troparion)It is seductively easy to think that it is Christ's resurrection that destroyed death, but this is not what the hymns of the Church express. In the Troparion for the feast, we're told that death is defeated by death, not by life. We don't sing, "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by life. That would be a very different teaching. Christ doesn't come with bigger weapons than the enemy, so as to overpower it. He enters the battle against death the same way he entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday: meek and humble. He resolutely refuses the power structures of this fallen world, refusing to enter into combat on the enemy's terms. He does not fight fire with fire: anger with anger, violence with violence, sarcasm with sarcasm. He instead leads us in the most excellent mystery, beyond our comprehension: "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (Jn 12:24).
In the hymns for Agape Vespers today we sing an expanded version of this teaching:
On your cross you annulled the curse of the wood; in your burial you destroyed the dominion of death; and in your rising, you enlightened the human race. Therefore we cry out to you, O Christ our God, glory to you. (Sticherion from "Lord I call")Here the cross and burial are associated with overcoming death and it's power, but the resurrection with enlightening all humans. Similarly in the Aposticha for today's Vespers we sing, "Your resurrection O Christ Savior, illumines the entire inhabited world, and calls back your own handiwork (plasma)." The resurrection provides light for us to see the darkness of this world, of our own souls, for what it really is, and--having seen this spiritual reality--to be called back to him who created us; that is, to repent, to return to him, to prefer light over darkness.
The Kontakion of the feast also emphasizes that the burial overcomes the power of death: "Though you descended into the grave, O Immortal One, you destroyed the power of hades." The more common theme expressed in the hymns, however, is that the burial (descent into hades) is Christ's work of leaving no place untouched by his glorious presence.
In order to fill all things with your glory, you descended into the depths of the earth; for my person (hypostasis) in Adam is not hidden from you, and by being buried you renewed me from corruption, O Lover of man. (Ode 1 of the Paschal Canon)From the time of Adam and Eve hiding behind a tree in the garden, Christ has been the good shepherd who comes out to search for his wandering sheep. Adam, where are you? We are in Adam, but we are not hidden from Christ, not even when we attempt to hide behind trees, even the cursed tree of death. For he comes looking for us even in hades, the place of death. And when he enters hades, he fills it with his glory so that there would be no place deprived of divine light, no place to which we can flee from his presence, no place to hide.
A concise, albeit cursory, summary of the Paschal hymnography's teaching, then, is this:
- By his death, Christ destroys death and its power over us.
- By his burial (descent into hades), Christ fills all things with his glory.
- By his resurrection, Christ enlightens us to see the spiritual reality of this world.
Our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ did not come to die instead of us, so that we would not have to die, but to die with us, so that united to him death would have no power over us. He was buried so that even in hades we would not be separated from his glorious presence. He rose from the dead to enlighten us to follow the most excellent way of humility, of freely choosing to be a grain that falls into the ground and dies with him so that we too might not remain alone but rather bear much fruit.
