Friday, April 09, 2004

There are so many awesome hymns from Holy Friday it's difficult to choose only a few but this one, from one of the later services, is beautiful:

When the pious Joseph saw that the sun had hidden its rays, and the veil of the temple had been rent at the death of the Savior, he did approach Pilate and did plead with him, crying and saying:

Give me this stranger who from his youth has wandered like a stranger. Give me this stranger whom his kinsmen killed in hatred like a stranger. Give me this stranger at whom I wonder beholding him as a guest of death. Give me this stranger who knoweth how to take in the poor and stranger. Give me this stranger whom the Jews in envy estranged from the world. Give me this stranger that I may bury him in a tomb, who being a stranger hath no place whereon to lay his head. Give me this stranger to whom his mother, beholding him dead, shouted, crying, “O my son and my God! Even though my vitals have been wounded and my heart burns as I behold Thee dead, yet trusting in Thy resurrection, I magnify Thee.”

In these words the honorable Joseph pleaded with Pilate, took the Savior’s body, and with fear, wrapped it in linen and balm, placing Thee in a tomb, O Thou who grantest to all everlasting life and the great mercy.


And then here is a dialogue sung between Christ and His mother modeled after the Magnificat (My soul magnifies the Lord, etc.):

Mourn not for me, Mother, as thou beholdest me in the grave; for I thy Son, whom thou didst conceive in thy womb without seed, shall rise and shall be glorified. And being God, will ceaselessly exalt aennobleble those who in faith and longing magnify thee.

My eternal Son, I escaped sufferings at thy strange birth and was supernaturally blessed. And now, beholding Thee, O my Son, dead and breathless, I am pierced with a spear of bitter sorrow. But arise Thou, that I may be magnified by Thee.

The earth, O my Mother, hath hidden me by mine own will. And the gate-keepers of Hades trembled at beholding me clothed with a robe spattered with revenge; for I being God, have vanquished mine enemies with the Cross, and I will rise again and magnify thee.

Let all creation rejoice, and all the earthly be glad; for Hades and the enemy have been spoiled. Let the women meet me with myrrh; for I redeem Adam along with Eve and all their descendants, and will rise on the third day.

Mourn not for me, Mother, as thou beholdest me in the grave; for I thy Son, whom thou didst conceive in thy womb without seed, shall rise and shall be glorifies. And being God, I will ceaselessly exalt and ennoble those, who in faith and longing magnify thee.


Already, on the evening of Good Friday, you can hear the first rumblings of Hell, and begin to smell the fragrancence of the Resurrection.

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