Great Vigil of Easter 2009
Hagios athanatos, eleison imas
Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us.
A number of years ago, in order to build the new hydroelectric dam at Niagara Falls, the river feeding these massive and loud natural wonders had to be diverted. This was done in the middle of the night and it woke up thousands of people many of whom had no idea what disturbed them. The constant noise generated by the Falls was suddenly gone and in the darkness, newly awakened human beings knew something was very different.
Like the deep rumblings of Niagara Falls, we know that something very deep and very wonderful has happened. What has changed in the darkness of this night?
The stillness and permanence of death has been replaced by ‘Alleluia’ and ‘resurrexit.’ Immortality has returned to the root of our existence. Jesus Christ is the Immortal One who “has trampled down death by death” as the Eastern Church sings this night. Life eternal has entered the temporal world. This is our faith; this is our reason to celebrate Easter.
But there is something not quite right here. We live in a world where people die. We see so many around us living out their particular hopelessness by creative self-destruction. Where are the trumpets or the Angels or lilies reflecting beams of glory?
The faith of Easter goes deeper. Immortality is not easily presented but obscurely perceptible. It is a creed we share that defies the quick and quickly forgotten demands of world living only for the moment. What is at work here changes everything from within.
It is hard to describe it because mercy is about the greatest love that has smashed the barriers of anything imaginable. Perhaps one of the earliest attempts to understand what the Athanatos, the Deathless One, accomplished and for which this night we praise Him, is the best. Written in the 2nd Century, this is a timeless classic.
Something strange is happening – there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.
He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: “My Lord be with you all.” Christ answered him: “And with your spirit.” He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”
I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated. For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the wicked in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden. See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.
I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.
Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.