Holy Saturday: The Harrowing of Hell, the Night of Fire
Silence, Expectation, and the Breaking of the Gates
The Medieval Holy Week Series:
Holy Saturday was a day of paradox: Christ lay physically in the tomb, yet He was also believed to be storming the gates of Hell. Medieval Christians saw Saturday as this dichotomy of mourning and waiting, grieving and hoping.
For monks it was a day of silence and fasting and more psalmody along with preparing for the Vigil. For laity, it was a day to begin preparing Easter foods. Eggs and dairy were forbidden during Lent so eggs would be saved up during Holy Week (and likely before), to be decorated or dyed, a symbol of new life and Resurrection. In England, they might be preparing for the Hocktide festival and games and sports that followed Easter week. There would be plays and dramas centered on the Passion.
We dyed our chickens so we don't have to dye the eggs.*
*This is a joke. Please do not dye your chickens.
The Harrowing of Hell
In the medieval view, Christ was quite busy on Holy Saturday:
He descends into Hell
He breaks the bronze gates
He frees Adam, Eve, and the righteous dead
Demons flee in terror
The story was beloved in medieval art and drama. It was not merely a story, however, not something just made up out of whole cloth. It is based in Scripture and apocryphal and patristic sources:
Christ preached to the spirits in prison in 1 Peter 3:18-20. Ephesians 4:9 tells us He descended into the lower parts of the earth. From Matthew 27:52-53, we learn Many bodies of the saints...were raised.
The Apostles' Creed from the 2nd century references Christ descending into hell.
Ignatius of Antioch (c. 110), Irenaeus (c. 180), Tertullian (c. 200) and Origen (c. 230) affirm the teaching that Christ descended into hell. The Odes of Solomon, (late 1st - early 2nd century) is a very early collection of Christian hymns that describes Christ breaking the gates of Sheol.
The Gospel of Nicodemus, purportedly written by the Pharisee who visited Jesus at night, is broken into two sections--The Acts of Pilate and The Descent into Hell. In the second section, Jesus's visit to the underworld is recounted. It is one of the earliest known written sources giving this account.
His descent into hell was affirmed by St. Augustine (354-430), St. Jerom (342-420)e, and St. John Chrysostom (342-420).
It was also a busy night for the medieval Church....
No Mass was celebrated until night. At night, however, things started happening. The church kindled a new fire, often struck from flint:
It symbolized creation renewed
People carried embers home for protection
The Paschal Candle was lit from it
The deacon chanted the Exsultet, a long proclamation of the Resurrection
The candle was marked with incense grains representing Christ’s wounds.
Holy Saturday was the traditional night for:
Baptizing catechumens
Performing exorcisms
Blessing water
Reading salvation history by candlelight
The vigil stretched long into the night.
Holy Saturday held medieval Christians in sacred suspense. It was the night when darkness began to crack, when Hell trembled, and when the first light of Easter glimmered on the horizon--when they who knew the end of the story, hovered between His death and the knowledge that within hours they would be joyfully saying, He is risen!
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