More Devotion and Literary Coinciding

Here is another portion of a hymn, sung in the Orthodox Church in a Holy Saturday (between Good Friday and Easter) service.  More good writing, the use of juxtaposition and imagery, to drive home a point.

Today a tomb holds Him who holds
creation in the hollow of His Hand.
A stone covers Him who covered the heavens with glory.
Life sleeps, and hell trembles.
Adam is set free from his bonds.
Glory to Thy plan of salvation!
By it Thou hast fulfilled all things,
granting us an eternal Sabbath rest:
Thy most holy resurrection from the dead.

(from The Matins of Holy Saturday)

Here is another image from Holy Saturday Orthodox hymnody that is especially vivid for me: 

The Seed that gives life to the world,
Twofold in nature,
Sown today with tears in earth’s dark furrows,
Tomorrow will sprout forth life.

(from the Matins of Holy Saturday)

This is a reference to Jesus’ words in John 12:24: “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”  As a gardener, I witness the power of seeds, how one seed, planted, grows and produces scores, hundreds or more of new seeds.  This stanza from the hymn compares Jesus, buried, with a seed, planted: both will come out of the ground and be the source of new life.

About literarylee

I sling words for a living. Always have, always will. Some have been interesting and fun; most not. These days, I write the fun words early in the morning before the adults are up and make me eat my Cream of Wheat.
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