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One of the unique aspects of the accounts dealing with Jesus' Entry into Jerusalem, an upcoming Feast, is its close relationship with the book of Joshuah. Now, Joshuah (Hebrew for "Jesus&#8217) was responsible for leading the Israelites into the land of Canaan. Jesus also leads us into another Promised Land. I would like to reflect on this event as depicted in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) as they relate to Joshuah. One can notice almost a parallel progression in the accounts though each Evangelist will use different bits and pieces of that progression to highlight his own account. To help demonstrate why I would establish some correspondence between a certain Gospel passage and a particular Joshuah passage, I will give an account of the immediate events before and after Jesus' entry into Jerusalem to help establish reference points. I think the Evangelists attempted to frame the events of Jesus' last days in Jerusalem within the context of Joshuah's initial days spent in the Land of Canaan.


THE TWO SPIES/MESSENGERS

Before reflecting on the account of the Triumphal Entry, we should make note in Matt. 21:1-3 // Luke 19:28b-34 of Jesus' commissioning of the two disciples. Jesus and his disciples were making their way to Jerusalem and:

“When they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me. "If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them." (Matt 21:1-3)

The same account is given in Luke 19 except for two notable differences: in Luke, the disciples were to fetch a “colt,” whereas in Matthew 21 they were to fetch a donkey AND a colt. The other difference is the name of the village or villages. In Matthew, Jesus and the disciples arrive at Bethphage and it was the opposite village that they disciples were to find the donkey and colt. In Luke, they approached Bethphage and Bethany and the disciples were to go ahead to the next village. What was the significance of Bethphage (=house of unripe figs) and Bethany? Well, no one knows to this day where Bethphage was really located, but Bethany was where Lazarus was raised from the dead and where Jesus was anointed.

When we look at the Book of Joshua, we find a similar account given just before Joshua and the Israelites entered Jericho. “Two spies” were sent by Joshua to view the land, especially Jericho (Josh. 2:1). The king of Jericho heard about these spies who found lodging at a harlot's house. The harlot, Rahab, hides the two spies and negotiates a promise that her family is spared of the coming attack. The spies agree (Josh 2:14).

When we reflect again on Matthew and Luke's account of the two disciples who served as messengers, we see that in both cases they were sent ahead of Jesus (Greek for Joshua). In Luke, the owner asks why they were taking the colt; in Matthew, the disciples were not confronted when they took the donkey and the colt.

In Matthew, we are reminded of the prophetic words of Zechariah: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; he is just and endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zech. 9:9). Zechariah's prophecy states that there were two animals, a donkey and a colt. Our Matthew stuck closer to the OT text. The disciples went to spread their coats on the colt and sat Jesus on it (Lk 19:35) or the donkey and the colt as in Matt. 21:7.

What does our Byzantine Church teach us about these events? At Psalm 140 for Palm (Flowery) Sunday, we sing Zechariah's text just mentioned as the second stichera: “Let us gather this day, the new Israel, the Church of the Gentiles, and with the prophet Zechariah, let us say, “Rejoice, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem …” (Tone 6). A modified version is again sung at the Aposticha (Tone 8) and at Psalm 140 again for Sunday Vespers (Tone 8).


THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM

Jesus makes his triumphal march (Matt. 21:8-11 // Lk 19:36-38), thus fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah. Here, Jesus' Entry into Jerusalem is similar to the continuing Joshua drama. In Matthew, we hear the “crowd” shouting stirring exaltations to Jesus after they just spread their coats and branches on the road. In Luke, it was the disciples who spread their coats on the road (no mention of branches). Matthew has the crowd mention David's name in their shouts, but not Luke. We should notice that the shouts from the crowd happen BEFORE Jesus actually enters the gates of Jerusalem. Bethany was on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives and was about two miles from Jerusalem. Luke has the exaltation of Jesus occur “near the descent of the Mount of Olives” (Lk. 19:37) and Matthew mentions the exaltation before Jesus enters Jerusalem (Mt. 21:10a).

Other differences are also noteworthy: notice that in Matthew, the crowds shouted “Hosanna!” before and after “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” Luke does not include the Hosannas. We look back again at Joshua as he and the Israelites entered the land. In Josh 3:6b-7,11 we witness another event of going ahead of the processions, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant, which represented God's presence. This mimics the Crossing of the Red Sea where the Israelites were led by Moses. But the similarity between this Joshua episode and Jesus' entry into Jerusalem was the fact that both were “exalted.” The Lord told Joshua that he would begin exalting him in the sight of Israel on this day of their entry into the land. In Matthew and Luke Jesus was being exalted for the first time by “Israel” or the crowd. It was an entry and it was the beginning of exaltation of Joshua/Jesus. Am I nuts for trying to establish a relationship between Joshua's entry into the land and Jesus' entry into Jerusalem? Well, the Church wasn't nuts for using Joshua's Crossing of the Jordan River for the Feast of Theophany where the “waters stood back” when Jesus was baptized. And this account was not given in any of the Gospels.

Our Byzantine liturgical hymns teach us these things. Again at Psalm 140 for Palm Sunday Vespers, the second stichera quotes the words taken from Matthew: “… as He comes to Bethany. Carrying branches, the Hebrew children welcome Him, saying: Hosanna in the highest; blessed is He who is coming, the King of Israel!” Moment later we sing at the Litija: “When You entered the Holy City, O Lord, … the Hebrew children prefigured your victorious Resurrection; they went before You with palms and branches, saying: Blessed are You, O Savior; have mercy on us.” So, the entry was into Bethany AND Jerusalem. Does it matter? At the Aposticha, the Cherubim sing the Hosanna exaltation. So, it was the disciples (Gospels), the Hebrew children (At Psalm 140) and now the Cherubim (Aposticha) who exalt our Lord. Basically, we all do at every liturgy, East or West when we sing the "Sanctus' after the celebrant finishes the Preface to the Anaphora.

What about Mark? He too mentions the colt story though he states that it was “bystanders” (other translations have “some men&#8221) and not the owner of the colt who asked why the disciples were taking it. Mark writes an interesting passage about what Jesus did after entering the city triumphantly. He writes: “Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple; and after looking around at everything, he left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late.” (Mark 11:11) After “looking around at everything?” Mark gives no indication of much trouble after Jesus' arrival into the temple. Yet, it was at this time that Matthew has Jesus driving “… out all those who were buying and selling in the temple …” (Matthew 21:12 // Luke 19:45). Mark writes that Jesus cleansed the Temple on the next day. John has Jesus cleansing the temple early on in his Gospel (John 2:12-16) with a whip made out of some cord. We are reminded of this even in singing the Canon at Matins on Palm Sunday: “The rebellious multitude of the impious is dispelled from the sacred precincts: for they have made the Lord's house of prayer a den of thieves …” (Ode 3).

But going back to Joshua. Mark's procession of Jesus into might not really use the accounts of Joshua's Conquest of the Land (Josh 3) as his basis. Instead, Mark may have been thinking of the Conquest of Jericho (Josh 6:1-21). Why may this be so? Mark mentions the shouting going on as Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem, similar to the shouting going on by the Israelites as they marched around Jericho (Josh 6:1-15) and on the seventh day they were instructed to “Shout!” They did and the walls of Jericho came tumbling down. The destruction of the city of Jericho by the shouting Israelites is similar to the cleansing of the temple by the shouting Jesus. But this isn't what proves that Mark had Jericho and not Jerusalem in mind when he cast his Triumphal Entrance in his Gospel account. For immediately after the entrance of our Lord, a few interesting verses are given: “When evening came, they would go out of the city. As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. Being reminded, Peter said to Him, "Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered."” (Mark 11:19-21) Now the significance of this is that in Mark's account of the cursed fig tree following the entrance into Jerusalem. Joshua's “curse” comes after their entrance into Jericho: “Then Joshua made them take an oath at that time, saying, "Cursed before the LORD is the man who rises up and builds this city Jericho …” (Josh. 6:26, 27a).


OUR CELEBRATION

There are a lot of other happenings in these narratives that go beyond a few similarities. There are the themes of the raising of Lazarus (Theotokion at the Litija), the branches and palms being contrasted with the cross and instruments of torture (Troparion and Hypakoe), and Christ being the rock of our life and on which the Church was founded (Ode 3 at Matins). But I am not convinced that the Evangelists did not consider Joshua in their accounts of Jesus' Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. Am I wrong here?

Palm Sunday is a wonderful time, the eye of the hurricane as to what will happen later in the week in our commemoration of the Passion Narratives. It is a wonderful time to reflect on Jesus while praying and singing with the rest of the Church:

“Come, all you peoples and nations, and contemplate today the King of heaven. He enters Jerusalem humbly seated upon a colt as upon an exalted throne. O peoples, see the Lord who became flesh to save us, according to the vision of the prophet Isaiah … Hosanna in the highest; blessed is He who brings salvation to us” (At the Praises at Matins).

Today, we celebrate this wonderful event at our Churches. Like the crowds processing with Jesus holding palms and branches, we will process around our churches singing the troparion, kontakion (and maybe some stichera from the Litija?). I hope singing the stichera and hymns at our liturgies with the Scriptures in mind we will realize that our Liturgy, indeed, is a "source" of our faith.


Cantor Joe Thur
Deacon-student

[ 03-24-2002: Message edited by: J Thur ]

Christ - the King of Glory - enters Jerusalem!

Here's a neat web-site I found this morning while looking for info. on why we Slavs uses pussy-willows instead of palms this day.

Enjoy. Link below:

http://members.tripod.com/ResurrectionWillows/index.html#menu

May you know the joy of Blessed Pascha!

Benedictine

[ 03-24-2002: Message edited by: Benedictine ]

Dear Benedictine;

Thanks for the link!

Joe;

You need to get out more often!

Seriously, while I don't deny a link to Joshua and the Synoptics, I think it is too simplistic. Rather, I believe that these accounts (including John's which, for me, provided the clue) actually represent a recapitulation of much of the OT. The following is my meager attempt at highlighting some additional OT sources. I am certain it is not complete as I am no biblical scholar.

Gen 22: Abraham goes to sacrifice Isaac. He says to his servants: "Both of you stay here with the donkey, while the boy and I go over yonder." This is rather weak, but there is an implication that he brought his son using a donkey.

Deuteronomy 26:. ...."Today I acknowledge to the Lord, my God, that I have indeed come into the land which he swore to our fathers he would give us.... 'My father was a wandering Aramean who went down to Egypt with a small household and lived there as an alien...."

Psalm 118: .... "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the Lord's house. The Lord is God and has given us light. Join in procession with leafy branches up to the horns of the altar."...

Isaiah 63: ..."Pass through, pass through the gates, prepare the way for the people; Build up, build up the highway, clear it of stones, raise up a standard over the nations. See, the Lord proclaims to the ends of the earth: Say to daughter Zion, your savior comes! Here is his reward with him his recompense before him. They shall be called the holy people, and redeemed of the Lord, And you shall be called "'Frequented' a city that is not forsaken.

In each of the next three chapters, one can make a link between the entry into Jerusalem as the fulfilment of God's promise:

Jeremiah 31:

Zephaniah 3:

Zechariah 9:

What I find fascinating is that these include images from the Torah, the Prophets, and Wisdom literature, again lending credence to the theory that this "incident" is the fulfilment of OT prophecy. This will be continued through the Passion, Crucifixion, Death, Resurrection, Ascension, and Pentecost stories of the NT.

Just a note about the Matthean usage of ass AND colt. I suspect these were actually the same animal, the colt actually representing a young donkey.

Now a question: Does anyone know of a reference text that outlines the biblical references in our troparia, odes, etc.?

Perhaps needing a little fresh air myself;

John

Dear Joe;

I didn't mean to state that your analysis was simplistic. I enjoyed the way you showed the biblical links to the matins prayers, etc., hence my question above. Your analysis was comprehensive, but, in my opinion, too restrictive to Joshua alone. I hope I didn't offend. The truth of the matter is that you could probably write a Master's or Doctorate thesis on this.

John

Fr. Dcn. John,

I agree. I should get out more often. Maybe this week? There is a liturgy for every day to go to. This will get me out, no?

My bit about Joshua was only one approach to the Triumphal Entry. If I wanted to I can elaborate further with at least six or eight more! Following the order of an OT book is simplistic but does go on through the Passion narratives and Resurrection account. You mention the fulfillment of prophecies. You are right. Matthew is very heavy on prophecy-fulfillment. Just take a look at his infancy narratives.

The Synoptics do have similarities in these things, but what do we make of John, your namesake? He seems to be the odd-ball out. His Gospel is concerned with "signs." I can't help but notice how these signs hark back to the Elias and Eleseus miracles. Such a basis would seem so disjointed when John takes up the Passion accont, where he follows a more Synoptic story line.

Matthew makes Jesus into a New Moses and John makes Jesus into a new Elias. This is not unbiblical at all. It all has to deal with typology, a way of thinking not too uncommon in biblical thought. I believe the Church continued this typological approach in its sacraments and feasts too. Personally, the much traditional understanding of the Byzantine Church Fathers being "allegorical" is over-rated and I think steal the attention away from longer lasting modes of interpretation and Gospel writing. This doesn't mean that the authors 'invented' the Jesus stories, but used what had meaning to the listeners.

I chose Joshua as a possible type for Jesus only because of some similarities in the accounts of the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and the Israelite invasion of the "land" and Jericho under Joshua's leadership. The Jordan Connection is the dead giveaway. Joshua's entrance into the land involved a "turning back" of the waters, similar to the Crossing of the Red See. This imagery of the waters turning back is seen again in our celebration of the Epiphany or Theophany of Jesus. We sing stichera at the blessing of the water with these words:

"Today the nature of water is sanctified. The Jordan is parted; its water cease to flow when it seet its Master being baptized." (Festal Menaion or FM, p.263)

More importantly to my thesis is the hymns sung at the Litija:

"The streams of the Jordan turned back, feeling unworthy to serve You. How could the one who stood in awe of Joshua, the son of Nun, be unafraid to stand before the Creator of Joshua?" (FM 265)

Joshua is a type for Christ. Why did the Jordan waters "fear" the presence of Christ? Why did they turn back on their course? Again, we see in the Joshua account of the invasion, the priests carried the Ark of the Covenant (symbolizing the presence of God), which pushed back the waters.

This crossing and Jesus' own Jordan baptism were types for the sacrament of Baptism in the Christian Church. Other OT personalities appear in our liturgical tradition to add more perspectives on our doctrine of Theosis or deification. For instance, Ode 1 of the Canon for Theophany has this about Adam:

"Adam, who had previously fallen into corruption, was refashioned in the waters of the Jordan by the Lord, the King of ages. Likewise, He shattered the heads of the monsters that were in the sea, for He is covered with glory" (FM 269)

Again, we sing at Ode 5:

“Jesus, the Prince of Life, has come to set free Adam, the first-created; and although as God He has no need of cleansing, for the sake of the fallen human race He is cleansed in the Jordan. He destroyed the enemy in the waters and grants the peace that is beyond all understanding” (FM 270)

Ode 7, which is based on the Canticle found in Daniel (Dan 3:26-56), mentions the Moses link to the crossing of the waters as a type of baptism:

“Moses the Lawgiver, by means of the sea and the cloud, baptized the people of Israel as they journeyed from Egypt, thereby PREFIGURING [emphasis mine] the baptism of God. The sea was the image of the water and the cloud an image of the Spirit by which we are initiated” (FM 272)

The crossing of the sea as a "prefiguring' of baptism is in our traditional understanding. Since the cloud serves as an image of the Spirit it is no wonder why the priest blessing the water on the Feast of Theophany blows on it. Just an observation.

But back to this "prefiguration' thang. During Ode 8, we continue to make typological references to the OT regarding baptism. We sing thusly:

“As the Babylonian furnace poured forth dew, it PREFIGURED [emphasis mine] a wondrous mystery: how the Jordan received in its streams the Immaterial fire and encircled the Creator when He was baptized in the flesh” (FM 272)

But unlike the connection of our Theophanic feast to a crossing of the Jordan (where there is a “turning back” of the waters), the biblical narratives of Jesus' baptism (Matt. 3:13-17 // Mk. 9:1-11 // Lk. 3:21-22) do not have a turning back of the waters and is probably more dependent on the account of the Crossing of the Red Sea (Exodus 14:1-15:21). But that is another issue. The point I would like to make is how the “turning back of the waters” in the Jordan establishes a reference point with the Joshua event more so than the Red Sea event even though both are used as types for baptism, and the Joshua reference is reflected in our liturgical tradition. That's all.


Cantor Joe Thur
Deacon-student

[ 03-24-2002: Message edited by: J Thur ]

Dear Father Deacon John,

A wonderful question! A reference text which outlines biblical sources for language in our liturgical poetry would be a great joy. I do not know of one. The pages of Mother Mary's "Triodion" and "Festival Menaion" have many biblical footnotes (but I am sure it is not exhaustive). I left my copy of their Oktoich in Europe, but I do not think it was noted. Obviously, the text would soon be overwhelmed with sources, as the authors lived and breathed a biblical vocabulary, and every phrase could evoke a whole page of references.

Now with the new electronic bibles (Bibleworks, etc.), with their "search" capability such a project would be much easier, and would be very interesting. It would be fun and enlightening to try to identify even a few key passages. It would be suitable for our new (and much appreciated) biblical forum, to take the eight resurrection tropars, and and say... over eight weeks, see what we come up with? Might gather suitable material for a nice article...

Elias

I like to read the Book of Zachariah (specially min the Holy Week), it's incredible because what you read is about Christ and describes his passion and how he was sold for 30 coins and the potter's field.

9
5 "Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! See, your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, Meek, and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass.
10
6 He shall banish the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; The warrior's bow shall be banished, and he shall proclaim peace to the nations. His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth."

4
1 Thus said the LORD, my God: Shepherd the flock to be slaughtered.
5
For they who buy them slay them with impunity; while those who sell them say, "Blessed be the LORD, I have become rich!" Even their own shepherds do not feel for them.
6
(Nor shall I spare the inhabitants of the earth any more, says the LORD. Yes, I will deliver each of them into the power of his neighbor, or into the power of his king; they shall crush the earth, and I will not deliver it out of their power.)
7
So I became the shepherd of the flock to be slaughtered for the sheep merchants. I took two staffs, one of which I called "Favor," and the other, "Bonds," and I fed the flock.
8
In a single month I did away with the three shepherds. I wearied of them, and they behaved badly toward me.
9
"I will not feed you," I said. "What is to die, let it die; what is to perish, let it perish, and let those that are left devour one another's flesh."
10
Then I took my staff "Favor" and snapped it asunder, breaking off the covenant which I had made with all peoples;
11
that day it was broken off. The sheep merchants who were watching me understood that this was the word of the LORD.
12
I said to them, "If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, let it go." And they counted out my wages, thirty pieces of silver.
13
But the LORD said to me, "Throw it in the treasury, the handsome price at which they valued me." So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the treasury in the house of the LORD.

Dear Esteemed Monk;

(Is that a contradiction of terms or what!)

I'm game. I think it would be fun and informative.

John

Fr. Elias,

That would be a wonderful idea and I will consider it. I will start these threads during the Paschal season.

Joe

[ 03-27-2002: Message edited by: J Thur ]

Dear Father Deacon John, and Joe,

But you know what would be much more fun than the resurrection tropars?

It would be a most beneficial work to take the Akathist (to the Mother of God), and trace down each biblical allusion in the various titles of the Mother of God.

That would be more than an article, perhaps even a book!

Elias

"A biblical commentary on the Akathist Hymn"

...or is the Akathist hymn a magnification of the Scriptures?

Dear Monk Elias;

I actually did the Akathist already. I got carried away during one of my assignments. I don't know how complete it is, but I'll see if I can find it again. Perhaps I can e-mail it to you. Maybe I can enter it piecemeal into the forum. I don't think I can take the time to do it all at one time.

John

Fr. Deacon John,

If you e-mail it to me I can create a special page for it.

Administrator

To all:

Word of caution: Some of the troparia, like the references to Adam and Eve, may not be from the canonical texts of our Bible. Like our Resurrection icon that depicts Christ grabbing a hold of Adam and Eve, we may have to look elsewhere. Also, the hymn may allude to a biblical text and not necessarily quote it.

For instance, my post above mentioned the "turning back of the Jordan water." Though one may look for such a passage in the narratives of our Lord's baptism, one will not find it. One would have to know about the "turning back of the Jordan" in Joshua. What we originally thought to be the place to look ends up not being the source at all. This can lead us to forcing a particular biblical text as a 'source' of a verse from a hymn. This is akin to eisegesis, not exegesis, and we must be careful not to see things that aren't really there. Are we braced to take on such a task?

The same goes for the Resurrection Troparion that mentions freeing Adam and Eve: try finding it in the Resurrection accounts in the Gospels. You won't. Knowing the non-canonical Gospels will help though.

“And the Lord stretching forth his hand, said: Come unto me, all ye my saints which bear my image and my likeness. Ye that by the tree and the devil and death were condemned, behold now the devil and death condemned by the tree. And forthwith all the saints were gathered in one under the hand of the Lord. And the Lord holding the right hand of Adam, said unto him: Peace be unto thee with all thy children that are my righteous ones. But Adam, casting himself at the knees of the Lord entreated him with tears and beseechings …” (Gospel of Nicodemus Part II: The Acts of Pilate: chapter 8 section 1).

And more:

“And the Lord stretched forth his hand and made the sign of the cross over Adam and over all his saints, and he took the right hand of Adam and went up out of hell, and all the saints followed him.” (Gospel of Nicodemus Part II: The Acts of Pilate: chapter 8 section 3).

The same goes for the gates seen on our Resurrection icon. Where in our Gospels do we have knowledge of gates? We have to return to the Gospel of Nicodemus to find out:

“While Satan and Hades were thus speaking to each other, there was a great voice like thunder, saying: Lift up your gates, O ye rulers; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting gates; and the King of glory shall come in. When Hades heard, he said to Satan: Go forth, if thou art able, and withstand him. Satan therefore went forth to the outside. Then Hades says to his demons: Secure well and strongly the gates of brass and the bars of iron, and attend to my bolts, and stand in order, and see to everything; for if he come in here, woe will seize us.” (Gospel of Nicodemus, Part II:5)

And further:

“… the brazen gates were shattered, and the iron bars broken, and all the dead who had been bound came out of the prisons, and we with the n And the King of glory came in in the form of a man, and all the dark places of Hades were lighted up.”

We should also note other Apocalyptic texts regarding Adam and Eve. Our icon also includes Eve. Though the Gospel of Nicodemus does not mention Eve, she does appear in Christ's Descent into Hades in other non-canonical texts.


Following are some Resurrection troparia and kontakia that mention Adam, Eve, the Descent into Hades, etc. With what I just covered above, can we begin to determine what sources the authors were using?

"As God You did rise from the tomb in glory, and You did raise the world together with Yourself. And mortal nature praises You as God, and death hath vanished. And Adam dances, O Master, and Eve, now freed from fetters, rejoices as she cries out: You are He, O Christ, that grant unto all resurrection."

"You did rise from the tomb, O omnipotent Savior, and Hades was terrified on beholding the wonder; and the dead arose, and creation at the sight thereof rejoices with You. And Adam also is joyful, and world, O my Savior, praises You forever."

"You did rise today from the tomb, O Merciful One, and did lead us out of the gates of death. Today Adam dances and Eve rejoices; and together with them both the Prophets and Patriarchs unceasingly praise the divine might of Your authority."

"My Savior and Redeemer has, as God, raised up the earthborn from the grave and from their fetters, and He hath broken the gates of Hades, and, Master, has risen on the third day."

"Unto Hades, O my Savior, did You descend, and having broken its gates as One omnipotent, You, as Creator, did raise up the dead together with Thyself. And You did break the sting of death, and did deliver Adam from the curse, O Lover of mankind. Wherefore, we all cry unto You: Save us, O Lord."

"Having arisen from the tomb, You did raise up the dead and did resurrect Adam. Eve also dances at Thy Resurrection, and the ends of the world celebrate Your rising from the dead, O Greatly-merciful One."

Where in the Gospels is there a description of Christ's Descent into Hades?


The same goes for a lot of stichera and troparia regarding the Resurrection. This is the case for the Feasts of Mary's Nativity and Presentation. These accounts are not given in our canonical Gospels or anywhere in the New Testament. Though we can pick out a few NT references in our hymns, many are theological in nature, which use other available scriptures not used by us today. Where in the NT do we hear about the Apostles flying on clouds to Mary's burial? 'Bibleworks' cannot find sources for allusions.

Also, many of our stichera deal with the lives of the saints, especially from the Festal Menaion. We may have more luck studying the Lenten Triodion and Pentecostarion.

Though this may be a noble task, we might end up learning more about ourselves, our Church, and the process of canonization of the Scriptures. It can get deep. Who knows what sources were being used by the hymn writers and liturgists or where their hearts and minds were, places where we might not really expect. For instance, some may not like the idea that our stichera, especially in the Pentecostarion, always refer to "rock" as our faith in Jesus or as being Jesus himself and never the Papal office. So, there is a lot to learn about ourselves and what is actually celebrated in our Churches from studying the correlations between our hymns and our Scriptures.


Joe

[ 03-27-2002: Message edited by: J Thur ]