Jesus, the Slayer of Death
Today we remember Christ, the conqueror of Hades. For death could not restrain Him, but He broke the bounds of death to bring the faithful departed to eternal life. While His Body lay in the tomb, His soul was liberating the just. Let us praise the Lord's mighty work this day, and let the following words of the great Aphrahat the Syrian (270-345) help us recall Jesus' glorious victory: For when Adam transgressed the commandment whereby the sentence of death was passed upon his progeny, Death hoped that he would bind fast all the sons of man and would be king over them for ever. But when Moses came, he proclaimed the resurrection, and Death knew that his kingdom is to be made void. For Moses said:— Reuben shall live and not die, and shall be in number (Deuteronomy 33:6). And when the Holy One called Moses from the bush he said thus to him:— I am the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob (Exodus 3:6). When Death heard this utterance, he trembled and feared an...