Thou didst descend...

I am contemplating more hymns from Pascha. Felix has written his anabaptist tome on atonement and it is worth reading. Short on time, I will let the hymns of the church speak for now on the centrality of Pascha and how we are saved through it. The Church, collectively, knows better than me and my meager series of proclamations of "I think" and "I believe" aren't worth a whole helluva lot.

The Church speaks:

Thou didst descend, O Christ to the depths of the earth.
Thou didst break the everlasting bars which had held death's captives,
and like Jonah from the whale on the third day,
Thou didst arise from the grave.

Christ is risen from the dead!

He who saved the three young men in the furnace
became incarnate and suffered as a mortal man.
Through His sufferings He clothed what is mortal in the robe of immortality.
He alone is blessed and most glorious: the God of our fathers.

Christ is risen from the dead!

This is the chosen and holy day,
first of sabbaths, king and lord of days,
the feast of feasts, holy day of holy days.
On this day we bless Christ forevermore.


Christ is risen from the dead!

The angel cried to the Lady full of grace: Rejoice, O pure Virgin.
Again I say: Rejoice. Your Son is risen from His three days in the tomb.
With Himself He has raised all the dead.
Rejoice, rejoice all ye people.

Shine! Shine! O new Jerusalem! The glory of the Lord has shone on you.
Exult now and be glad, O Zion.
Be radiant, O pure Theotokos, in the resurrection,
the resurrection of your Son.

Christ is risen from the dead!

Today, a sacred Pascha is revealed to us,
A new and holy Pascha,
A mystical Pascha,
A Pascha worthy of veneration,
A Pascha which is Christ the Redeemer,
A blameless Pascha,
A great Pascha,
A Pascha of the faithful,
A Pascha which has opened for us the gates of Paradise,
A Pascha which sanctifies all the faithful.


Christ is Risen!

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