Holy Saturday is probably the most ignored day on the Church calendar. Less maliciously, it is certainly the easiest day to forget in the Eastertide season. Holy Saturday–bring it up to a friend, and you’ll get little more than a smirk and a chuckle of sincere confusion. Yet, this disregard and confusion is odd for several reasons–not least of which is that we Protestants have traditionally observed Holy Week along with our Roman and Byzantine brothers and sisters and that we confess the descent of Christ into Hades week in and week out either explicitly in the Apostle's Creed (as the title quotation reminds us) or in the Nicene Creed, which nonchalantly prompts us to say that Christ “was buried.”[1] Evangelical theology, however, tends to jump straight from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Indeed, though we bear with the oddness of the Hades language in the Apostles Creed, few of us would mind if it was taken out; and we would take little offense if the burial language in the Nicene Creed was forgotten. Whatever the reason for our confusion, neglect, or indifference, we must learn anew why exactly it was apparently indispensable for our Fathers in the faith to include the truth of Holy Saturday within the Church’s fundamental creeds, carefully crafted to shape our doctrine and devotion.

Most basically, Holy Saturday is the full day when the Son of God was dead. A sentence like this, however, is not simply intended to inspire pious solemnities, the “isn’t-that-amazing” reaction of someone who is simultaneously trying to convince both himself and others to feel a certain way. Instead, it should raise more questions–among them, how is that possible, where was he, and what was he doing? To these questions, the Apostle Peter tells us that

Christ] went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison,because they formerly did not obey

. . . . The gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh

the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does (1 Peter 3:19-20; 4:6).

This quotation obviously does not automatically clear up every question, but the Apostle’s words allow us to say at least that, on the Sabbath which we call Holy Saturday, Christ went not simply behind enemy lines as he had done in the Incarnation but fully into prison, the enemy’s central command center.

By this prison, of course, Saint Peter means Sheol, the abode of the dead, which is variously called “Gehena,” “the Pit,” “Tartarus,” “Nether Gloom,” “Abraham’s Bosom,” or simply “Hades.”[2] Though the experiences of the dead in this realm differed depending on whether or not one was counted with the Righteous or the Wicked under the old covenant (cf. the story of Lazarus and Dives in Luke 16), we must note here that this place was neither the Hell nor the Heaven of the New Testament, which were products of Christ’s redemption.[3] And even though it was a foretaste of both, a simple Google search of Sheol in the Old Testament will quickly reveal that even the most righteous men of the old covenant were not terribly excited about going there (cf. Ps. 88). Though it could even be called “paradise” (Luke 23:43), the dread of the Righteous over a pleasant Sheol reveals its ultimate incompleteness. For in Sheol, the Righteous Ones of old were still deprived of their ultimate end–namely, the Beatific Vision, the presence of God, being before the face of God, being like God. And they were deprived of this ultimate end precisely because of Sin, which is the power of Death (cf. 1 Cor. 15:56). Though the guilt and the penalty of Sin were removed from Righteous Ones of the old covenant by faith (Ps. 32:1-5; Rom. 4:7-8), the consequence of their Sin remained–namely, descent into Hades.

Thus, as a true man born under the law in the old covenant (Gal. 4:4), Christ descended into the prison of Sheol because He was born and died “in the likeness of sinful flesh” (Rom. 8:4). But to what end? Why was this descent necessary? To this, Peter gives us two answers. First, he went to proclaim; second, he went to preach. Though they seem like synonyms, looks can be deceiving. For when Peter says that Christ Jesus went into Sheol, first, to proclaim, he uses an active-voice verb, which simply means that He says something while he is down there. Though we are not told specifically what He says, we can come up with several good and necessary conjectures. One ancient and anonymous homily of the early Church portrays Christ going to find Adam and saying, “I Who am your God became your Son to raise you up.” Though beautiful, it is even more likely that Christ finished singing the Psalm that he began on the Cross:

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me. . . . I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you: You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him. . . . The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord! May your hearts live forever! . . . It shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;  they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it (Ps. 22:1, 23-24, 31).

For “to proclaim” is not “to convince” but “to tell or inform”; and in Sheol, Christ informed His fathers and brothers, his mothers and sisters, that He was there to take them home. This proclaiming, the simple declaration, leads to Peter’s additional note about Christ’s preaching in Sheol. Far from a redundancy, the grammatical voice of the verb preach in Greek is passive, meaning that Christ did not descend with a sermon but performed an action that was itself a sermon.

What action, you ask? Well, just imagine it: in quiet, dim Sheol, a sudden light shines in the distance, a hum is heard; and before the eyes can even adjust, a Man whose show they’ve known, vaguely resembling Old Adam. Shining Cross in hand, He approaches the Patriarchal band with loud Psalms echoing through the hollow walls of an imperfect paradise. Taking one and then another by the hand with a nod of recognition, they tremble as they’re  raised upright, irresistibly joining the growing swell of songs long-known but elusively hollow. And as the wicked grind their teeth at what was happening across the chasm (cf. Luke 16:26), confirming their reprobation, the beleaguered and blessed Children of Abraham can only say, Of course! It’s Him!

Though He bound him by resisting his temptations and thwarting his power over souls and bodies, Christ Jesus entered Death in order “to plunder his goods” of the Strong Man (Mark 3:24-27 and parallels)–these goods, of course, being nothing less than the souls of the Righteous dead. Indeed, He went down to raise the Righteous up with him and seat them with him in the heavenly places (Eph. 4:8ff). As Pastor Brian McLain recently reminded us, the power of Christ’s death works forward and backward–that is, no man enters into the full presence of Triune God without the fullness of redemption, which only comes in union with the New Man, Christ Jesus.           

Simply put, then, if Jesus did not descend to the Dead, redemption would be incomplete. The Savior had to see the human experience all the way through–not simply to death but through death. For if Christ was the Son of God who shared in Adam’s nature come to ensure that the sons of Adam could share in God’s nature (2 Peter 1:4), then he had to experience not only the act but also the result of Adamic dying–namely, a deprivation of the immediate presence of God due to incompletely covered sin (Heb. 9:13-10:18). But of course, although this New Adam, in full solidarity with Old Adam, willfully experienced what was our unnatural end, Death had no claim on Him because He had no Sin. In its insatiable gluttony, Death swallows, therefore, its own Death like a depth charge; as John Chrysostom colorfully notes, Death vomits up Christ and those who are joined to Him like a poison.[4] And now, for those who have transferred out of the dark kingdom into the kingdom of New Light by baptism, Death’s demand for our slow, silent decay is likewise powerless–both now and forever (cf. Rom. 5-6).

Gregory the Great notes that, on Holy Saturday, Jesus turns what was prison into a pathway.[5] This pathway, however, is not easy; it is still death that we are discussing after all. The road that we are called to walk with Christ as His disciples is, in fact, a daily Cross (Luke 9:23). Being united to Christ, however, doesn’t mean that we are united only to His death and resurrection (Rom. 6:5) but also His burial (Rom. 6:4). If we are called in union with Christ to die daily, it also means that we are called to be interred and entombed daily. What that means is just what we’ve said above: just as Christ, we not only go to death, denying our own desires, but through death–that is, acting in faithful love to God and neighbor on behalf of those long enslaved to darkness. Holy Saturday is the completion of Good Friday as works are the completion of faith (cf. Gal. 5:6; James 2:14-18).

Very practically, this all means that Holy Saturday needs to be a day for us to yearly step back, assess, and renew or redouble our resolve to fulfill our vocation as Christians–and chiefly, as Church tradition goes, to renew our primary vocation to our family, those neighbors whom God has given us to work out our salvation. Christ went down on Holy Saturday to retrieve His Mothers and Brothers (Mar 3:31-35). Holy Saturday is, thus, a time for us to put away all distractions and spend the day with our family. Moreover, it is a day to prepare our family for the resurrection, as Christ did. Let them join you in preparing a ludicrously large Easter Feast, which you’ve invited any and all to join. Sing together. Pray together in preparation and anticipation for the power of the Resurrection to spread in your home and through your home to the world. If your marriage or family is on the rocks, make it a day of repentance, forgiveness, and the kiss of peace. Play games. Paint eggs. Put away any and all work- or school-related activities.

And, as we follow the Spirit of Christ daily into the dazzling darkness with the hope of obedience, we remember, as Elder Jason Cherry has taught us, that all of our tombs are like so many stone standards raised over the battlefield of earth that (pro)claim the victory of the Kingdom of God. United to Christ, our going into the tomb with Him can only mean one thing–coming out with Him on Resurrection Day. For Holy Saturday is, above all, a day of preparation.

Conclusion: A Little Litany for Holy Saturday

Prayer: Father, today the one who holds all creation in his hand is himself held in the tomb, a rock covers the One who covered the heavens with beauty, Life has fallen asleep, Hades is seized with fear, and Adam is freed from his bonds. Glory to your work of salvation; through it you have accomplished the eternal Sabbath rest, and You grant us the gift of your holy resurrection. Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit. One God, unto ages of ages, Amen.[6]

Morning Readings: Psalm 130; Job 14:1-17; John 19:38-42.

            Activities: See above–but generally avoid work for your job; spend time on a family project outdoors; if you are no able to have your own, help another family prepare for their Easter Feast with either money, resources, or time; give the children new clothes; renew your commitment to family worship with the brief nightly litany below; make the liturgy into a fun experience for the kids: go out together and buy a white candle to place in the heart of your home then, before family worship, turn off the lights and set the candle, explaining the Christian hope of Holy Saturday. Then sing the hymn. After Church on Sunday, have the youngest child light the candle before the Easter Feast and direct all to bellow, “Hallelujah, Christ is Risen”!

Music: “O Gladsome Light,” an Orthodox hymn arranged by Reformer Claude Goudimel

(https://singyourpart.app/this-week?hymnal=Cantus_Christi_(2002)&title=O_Gladsome_Light&number=379&psalm=)

“Psalm 88,” a chant arranged by Paul Buckley of the Theopolis Institute (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbUANfrXOsw)

“Psalm 130” and “Psalm 31,” arranged by the husband-and-wife duo known as Poor Bishop Hooper (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCUPG6nz_zE; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YuWaHhQfx4)

Saint Matthew’s Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P21qlB0K-Bs)

“Great and Holy Pascha,” Lenten and Easter music by St. George’s Cathedral Choir (https://open.spotify.com/album/0eUhhLgUp8QHjdCiuJ848M)

Prayer: Father, who promises to lighten the darkness with the radiant glory of the Lord's Resurrection, stir up in Your people by the Spirit of bright hope, so that we may render to you an undivided service. Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit. One God, unto ages of ages, Amen.

Evening Readings: Psalm 31; Gen. 1:1-2; I Corinthians 5:6-8; Matthew 27:62-66.

Hymn: O Sacred Head, Now Wounded

[1]Hughes Oliphant Old, Worship: Reformed According to Scripture (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002), 164ff. Hans Urs Von Balthasar notes that this is because Protestants, building on the legacy of Luther and Calvin, frequently (though wrongly) saw the experience of the cross itself as the experience of hell, making Holy Saturday an unnecessary redundancy. See his Mysterium Paschale, trans. Aidan Nichols (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 1990), 169.

[2]Gen. 37:35; Num. 16:30; Is. 14:9-10; Job 10:21; Ps. 94:17; Prov. 27:20; Eccl. 3:18-21; 9:10; 12:5-7.

[3]Augustine, Literal Commentary on Genesis, XII.63. 

[4]John Chyrosotom, Homily 24 on 1 Corinthians. 

[5]Gregory the Great, Morals on the Book of Job, V.26 (s.v. Job 38:16).

[6]Adapted from the vigil of Holy Saturday according to the Byzantine Matins service.  

Gage Crowder teaches literature and Bible at Providence Classical School in Huntsville, Alabama. In addition to his studies at Birmingham Theological Seminary, he is a contributing member of the Huntsville Literary Association and the Academy of Philosophy and Letters. His poetry and prose can be found in the The Legend, Poem Magazine, the Birmingham Arts Journal, Panoply and elsewhere.