Saturday, April 10, 2004
Great and Holy Week Fast
Great and Holy Saturday
9th of Vigil: Isaiah 61:10-62:5 3rd of Vespers: Exodus 12:1-11 Orthros Gospel: St. Matthew 27:62-66
Isaiah 61:10-62:5 LXX, especially vs. 5: "...and it shall come to pass that as a bridegroom will rejoice
over a bride, so will the Lord rejoice over you." The Great and Holy Week services of the Orthodox Church are filled with
anticipation. Expectancy is encouraged in two ways: first, the services occur in advance of their normal order. Hence, at
each evening of Great and Holy Week, the next morning's office is offered in anticipation, i.e., the usual morning services
are celebrated the evening before. Thus, on this Holy Sabbath, Great Vespers, which usually would be sung at sunset that
Saturday, is offered in the morning with a Divine Liturgy.
Second, the language of these services fully anticipates the coming Paschal celebration, so that mention of the Resurrection
occurs repeatedly in the hymns, the Scriptural readings, and in the attendant liturgical texts. For example, as far back as
Lazarus Saturday, such language appears in the Ninth Ode of the Canon at Orthros: "When Thou wentest before, O my
Savior, and verified Thy glorious Resurrection, Thou didst deliver Lazarus from hades." Such anticipatory mention of
'what is coming' permeates even the most solemn of these great and holy days, so that during Sixth Hour on Great and
Holy Friday, just before the Suffering Servant passage is read - that glorious "Fifth Gospel" (Is. 52:13-54:1) - one hears:
"And as our Savior was suffering, He cried, saying, Father, forgive them this sin, that the Gentiles may know My
Resurrection from the dead." Today's reading from Isaiah shares in this quality of "yearning to enter fully into that which
is certain to come." The Prophecy is a Resurrection proclamation in every respect.
The message of joy and salvation bursts upon the reader from the first two. Observe: grammatically the lines are present
tense, and speak of a reality being experienced "out of due time." What shall be true when the Lord rises from the dead, the
Prophet describes as present and fulfilled centuries before, in a prophetic present tense. Already, Isaiah says, I am clothed
"with the robe of salvation" and adorned "with ornaments as a bride" (vs. 10). Careful reading disclose that Isaiah is not
speaking of himself, but has become the voice of the future and joyful Church gathered around her risen Lord. For out of
the post-Resurrection Church, the Lord has caused "righteousness to spring forth, and exultation before all nations" (vs.
11).
As the reading continues, the triumphant Lord of the Church affirms His People's acclamations. "Not holding His peace,"
Christ asserts that, for the sake of the Church, He shall not rest "until her righteousness go forth as light and My salvation
burn as a torch" (vs. 1). All of the Lord's subsequent remarks are then directed to His Church (vss. 2-5).
Beloved of the Lord, as the Church, we live, like Isaiah, both in time and beyond time. So we mourn at His death and
burial, but beyond the boundaries of time, we rejoice because He is risen. The Gentiles, the multitude of the world's
nations who are not in the Church, shall one day see righteousness in the Church, for righteousness is our heritage in Christ.
Furthermore, the People of God now have a new name: we are no longer called "Israel and Jerusalem," but the Holy
Church, the Body of Christ, God's People gathered to Her Lord (vs. 2). Isaiah speaks of our royalty in Christ calling us "a
royal diadem in the hand of...God" (vs. 3), thereby anticipating what the Apostles taught - that we are "a royal priesthood"
(1 Pet. 2:9). The Bridegroom to Whom we sang earlier this week comes tomorrow to rejoice over us (vs. 5). We shall no
more be "Forsaken" and a "Desert," but rather, His "Pleasure" and the "Inhabited Land" (vs. 4).
The King of the ages, having fulfilled the mystery of the Passion, hath rested, keeping the Sabbath in the tomb. Let us hail
Him: Arise, O God and Judge the earth; for Thou dost reign for evermore, O Thou Who possesseth the countless and Great
Mercy.
