Praying with icons - April 12, 2026
- Apr 9
- 2 min read
Holy Saturday
What happens on Holy Saturday, the day between Good Friday and Resurrection on Sunday? On Holy Saturday, while Jesus' body rests in the grave, his spirit departs and goes to the realm of the dead, the place known as Sheol in Hebrew.
He goes to show his authority over all of creation, even over the spirit's health and prison there.
But he also goes as a final act of solidarity with all the sufferings of the world. So that human beings could never say to God: 'you do not know or understand what I am going through.' Descending to the dead, He comes to the saints who had gone before him. The ones who have awaited his coming. Before this day, women and men of faith died looking for the day when God would bring them from death to life, from Sheol to Zion.
Yet such an ascension could not be had without Christ. That's where Holy Saturday comes in.
When Christ descends on Saturday, He goes to gather the saints waiting for him. So that on Resurrection Sunday, He can bring them into the Holy City on the way to Jerusalem above.
This is what Matthew is describing in his gospel: 'Behold, the curtain of the temple is torn in two, the earth shook, the rocks were split. The tombs were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the tombs after his Resurrection, they went into the Holy City and appeared to many. When the centurion, keeping watch, saw the earthquake and what took place, he was filled with awe and said: truly this was the Son of God.'
In our prayer before this icon, we remember that we gathered to worship God on earth, join the chorus of praise around God's throne in Heaven, and that this chorus is now filled with all the saints.
When Christ went to Sheol, He brought a train of captives up the mountain of God to join him in worship. This promise of Heaven is the fruit of his death on the cross, as well as his descent to Sheol and his ascension to glory.
We give thanks to God for this great cosmic shift that takes place on Holy Saturday.
Across the world, this great event means that those who die in Christ do not go to the realm of death: they go into God. Because Christ has ascended, we can now say that absence from the body means presence with the Lord.
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