Great & Holy Saturday

These were just a few verses that we sang in church last night and this morning that really kind of blew my mind (bold emphasis my own): From the Canon of Great & Holy Saturday: "The Life of All accepts burial in the tomb, And the tomb becomes the source of resurrection Unto the salvation of us who sing: Blessed are you, O God, our redeemer!" This verse hit me because, not only did Christ defeat death by His death (paradoxical enough), He made it His slave (essentially) by wielding it to be a new source of life. That even though we all die, we're no longer held captive by death. Whoa! From the Liturgy on Great & Holy Saturday: "Today hell cries out groaning: I should not have accepted the Man born of Mary. He came and destroyed my power. He shattered the gates of brass. As God, He raised the souls that I had held captive. Glory to Thy cross and resurrection, O Lord. "Today, hell cries out groaning: My dominion has been shattered. I received a dead man as one of the dead, but against Him I could not prevail. From eternity I had ruled the dead, but behold, He raises all. Because of Him do I perish. Glory to Thy cross and resurrection, O Lord." Fr. Alexander Schmemman of blessed memory describes Christ's time in hell as an "active repose." Interesting contrast. Have a wonderful Pascha!