"Let all mortal flesh keep silent..."

Christ descending to Hades to free the dead from all time (source)

  
Let all mortal flesh keep silent and in fear and trembling stand, pondering nothing earthly-minded. For the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords comes to be slain, to give himself as food to the faithful. Before him go the ranks of angels: all the principalities and powers, the many-eyed cherubim and the six-winged seraphim, covering their faces, singing the hymn: Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
-Divine Liturgy of St. Basil, Great and Holy Saturday***
(source)
  
***Note: This ancient hymn is also chanted during the Divine Liturgy of St. James, and during the Divine Liturgy at the Consecration of a Church. However, it is perfectly suited to be chanted on Great and Holy Saturday (see here for more info).
  

The Body of Christ offered on the Holy Altar (source)

  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

Homily on Great and Holy Friday, by Metropolitan Avgoustinos Kantiotes

The Crucifixion of Christ (source)

  

Homily on Great and Holy Friday, by Metropolitan Avgoustinos Kantiotes (+2010)

It is Holy Friday today, my beloved and brethren fellow-sinners, a holy day full of memories, a day which calls forth strong emotions and tears. Let us, at this hour, cleanse our heart and mind of every worldly idea, every evil thought and idea, let us cleanse our mind, and with the wings of imagination let us go back centuries, and let us noetically visit the Holy Lands.
  

One can go there, but not be there, while one might not travel bodily to the Holy Lands, but be there spiritually. Therefore, let us go with our thought to that place which is called the place of the Skull, called Golgotha. There is playing out the drama of dramas, where the great battle was waged between the light and the darkness, truth and falsehood. There on Golgotha, the Redeemer of the world is now being crucified.
  

Many behold His sacrifice from heaven, the ranks of the holy Angels and Archangels, the Cherubim and Seraphim, who from the theoria of eternity behold the drama, and were ready with their flaming swords to slaughter the executioners. From the earth, that mass beheld Him, the people who four days before, on Palm Sunday, cried out: “Hosanna” (Matthew 21:9, Mark 11:9-10, John 12,13) and now they are below the Cross mocking Him. Beholding Him also are the idolatrous soldiers, the regiment which was headed by the Centurion, who received the command to ascend the place of the Skull to fulfill the judgment of the Judean court. These wild Romans, who had fought battles and were used to human blood being shed, remained unmoved, or more properly, not unmoved, but continuing the mocking which thy began in the Praetorium of Pilate.
  

Following the events, they were casting lots below the Cross and drinking...But straightaway the middle one among those three being crucified, Jesus of Nazareth, caught their attention. They saw that He was different from the others. They were blaspheming, condemning the day that they were born, throwing out sharp insults against everyone, while the Crucified One was silent. His silent is mysterious, a silence which is moving. Christ is silent. And when He opens His spotless mouth to say the seven words of the Cross, His words are not condemnation, but blessings, words which made a deep impression on everyone who heard and saw Him. These words were noted by those who crucified our Christ. The soldiers heard Him say: “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34), they heard “I thirst” (John 19:28), they heard: “Eli, Eli, lama sabacthani?” (“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”) (Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34), they heard: “It is finished” (John 19:30).
  

All of these they heard and they thought: “Who is this, who appears totally different than the other convicts...” And when at noon they saw the sun turn dark, and darkness cover all of creation, and the earth quake, and the graves open, then they believed.
  

There remained not a single hesitation or doubt, and together with the Centurion they said in fear: “Truly, this was the Son of God” (Matthew 27:54). This was truly not by chance, but He has a supernatural origin, He is the Son of God, the true God.
  

From the time that the Centurion said those words, about twenty centuries have passed. And this witness and confession does not remain alone. It is continued until today. Many, countless witnesses say that Christ is God, the God-man. Do we have examples? We have. What are they? Let me offer a few.
  

“Truly this was the Son of God.” First, His teaching cries out. Open the books of all the religions, read all the books of the philosophers, hear the words of the greatest rhetors. You will see that the teaching of Christ surpasses, is incredible. I don't doubt that the others said important things, but their words resemble small flecks of gold mixed into a ball of various metals. They resemble a small light, like the light of a candle, before the sun. The words of Christ are light and life, and always made a great impression.
  

Even His enemies who heard Him were compelled to confess: “No man ever spoke like this man” (John 7:46). "Let the human spirit goes forth", as someone said, "let science progress, let discoveries occur, for humanity will never reach the height of the teaching of Jesus Christ". And someone else said: "I don't know if there are other rational beings on other planets, but even if we hypothesize that they exist and dwell there, they could not possibly have a higher religion that that which was preached by Christ".
  

“Truly, this was the Son of God.” His teaching cries out, and so do His wonders. The wonders of Christ! Wherever He stretched forth His hands, wherever His divine command was heard, there the wind stopped, the sea was calmed, the demons fled, the blind saw, the deaf heard, the dumb spoke, the lepers were cleansed, the paralytics stood up, and even the dead were raised from their graves. True wonders, not fantasies. Wonders which occurred not at night in some unseen corner, but before the eyes of the multitude, and sometimes even by the enemies, who saw these and said in astonishment: “We never saw anything else this before” (Mark 2:12). The wonders of Christ are countless. And even if the sea would become ink and heaven paper and the trees pens, it would not be enough to recount all of the wonders that our Lord Jesus Christ worked, that He works, and that He will work until the end of the ages.
  

“Truly, this was the Son of God”. His spotless life further cries this out. Christ is holy, not in a relative sense like many men, but in the absolute sense. It is He Who never committed any wrong or vice, “there was no guile in His mouth” (Isaiah 53:9, I Peter 2:22), it is He Whose life was radiant from every angle, He Whose virtue “covered the heavens” (Amb. 3:33) Which virtue of Christ should we offer first? His poverty and simplicity, for no one else lived so humbly that He had not even “a place to lay His head” (Matthew 8:20)? His meekness and forbearance before His enemies and crucifiers? His boldness and lack of fear before rulers and Pilate when He proclaimed the truth? His humility, to the point that He bent to wash the feet of His disciples? Or before all, His love towards God and men who were suffering? All of these create the greatest icon of the life of Christ on earth. Some tried to find fault, they searched the Gospels, they scratched their heads, but they couldn't find any blemish. The sun even has its spots, but Christ is the Spotless Sun. It is He who said: “Who convicts me of sin?” (John 8:46), and the question remains unanswered throughout the centuries.
  

“Truly, this was the Son of God”. This is shown by His teaching, His wonders, His holiness of life, and ultimately by the witness of the centuries. The Centurion was not alone in bearing witness to this. Generations of generations of Saints bear witness. Small children like St. Kerykos, who were held in the arms of their mothers, chaste virgins, simple workers like fishermen, wise scientists: all confessed that Christ is truly God.
  

We also today, my beloved, behold the Passion of our Savior. How are we following this divine drama? Like the Angels, with love and worship, or like the multitude, who cried out “Hosanna”, and then “Crucify Him, crucify Him” (John 19:6)? Let us follow like the Centurion, who abandoned hesitation, and believed and confessed the Son of God. If there is any who have any doubt regarding the person of Christ, he only needs to approach, to test, to study with sincerity. And then, like the Centurion, he will be led by realities to confess also that Christ is “truly the Son of God”, that He is one of the three persons of the Holy Trinity, that He is the God-man and Redeemer. Him, O children of the Greeks, let us hymn and greatly praise, unto all the ages. Amen.

(+) Bishop Avoustinos

Recorded homily which occurred in the Church of St. Panteleimon, Florina, on April 24^th, 1981.

(amateur translation of text from source)
  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

"I gave my back to scourgings..."

Christ being scourged, and being led to be crucified (source)

  

I gave my back to scourgings, while I did not turn away my face from spittings. I stood at Pilate’s judgement seat and endured the Cross for the salvation of the world.

-Matins of Great and Holy Friday

(source)

  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

"I have come to serve Adam who has become poor..."

Icon of Christ "Behold the Man", with the Theotokos and "a sword piercing her heart". In the background is a portion of the Pillar on which Christ was flogged. These are treasured by the Patriarchal Church of St. George, Constantinople (source)

  

Myself rich in godhead, I have come to serve Adam who has become poor, whose form I, the Creator, have willingly put on, and to lay down my life as a ransom for his, I who am impassible in my godhead.

-Troparion from the First Ode of the Canon of Holy Monday

(source)

  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

"This is our God and there is none like Him"

Christ entering Jerusalem (source)

  

This is our God and there is none like him. He has found out every just way and given it to Israel his beloved. But after this he appeared and lived among mankind. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, our Saviour.

-Troparion from the 9th Ode

from the Canon of Palm Sunday.

(Also see Baruch 3:35-37)

(source)

  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

Excerpt from the Homily on the Raising of Lazarus by St. Amphilochius of Iconium

The Raising of Lazarus (source)

  
Excerpt from the Homily on the Raising of Lazarus by St. Amphilochius of Iconium (amateur translation)

Bring the Evangelist John once again into our midst,

For it is good to relate of the beginning of the Resurrection.

For you heard when he perfectly said:

“Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom He raised from the dead.”

Do you see that the beginning of the Resurrection is depicted before-hand with Lazarus, whom the whole multitudes of the faithful knew?

The multitudes knew him, and the chief priests reviled the wondrous work, transforming it into guile. Truly, they reviled the resurrection of Lazarus, because after his resurrection, as you have heard, they took counsel together to put him to death.

Do you see this utter guile?

He whom the Lord raised, him they thought to put to death, not understanding that even if they would put him to death, again the Lord could have resurrected His friend.

They took counsel together to put Lazarus to death.

Nothing had astonished the Judeans like the resurrection of Lazarus. This wonder alone they were unable to slander.

They slandered the sight of the man born blind, saying that it wasn't him, but it was someone like him.

They slandered the raising of the daughter of Jairus, saying that she was passed out, not totally dead.

They slandered the resurrection of the son of the widow [of Nain] saying that he appeared to be dead, not that He had taken him from the tyranny of death.

They slandered the withered fig tree, saying that it was picked clean, and not that the word of the Master had withered it.

They slandered the transformation of the water into wine, saying that those at the dinner were drunk, and did not see that they were joking.

Only the resurrection of Lazarus were they unable to slander.

They knew who Lazarus the man was. They followed in his funeral, they saw his tomb sealed, they and they talked about him at supper with Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus.

They knew that he laid in the tomb for exactly four days, and that a person four-days-dead always began to have his flesh decompose, his bones rot, his nervous system dissolve, his internal organs separate, and his belly to become bloated.

This they kept in mind when they saw that Lazarus had been resurrected, and was complete, perfect as if from a lathe, standing in his former biological state, and they were astonished...

(source)
  
Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

Excerpt from the Homily on the Annunciation by St. John of Damascus

The Annunciation of the Theotokos (source)

  

Excerpt from the Homily on the Annunciation by St. John of Damascus (amateur translation)

The present precious, radiant and surpassingly-glorious royal gathering, let us hymn O faithful of all races and tongues, and of every rank and surrounding people, rejoicing in soul, and spiritually, let us celebrate, and let us speedily weave God-pleasing hymns for the Queen from [David's seed], and let us gather for a new feast of spring, and the celebration of all celebrations of our hope.
  

Today, therefore, truly the noetic Powers of the Heavens reclined, and invisibly celebrate together with those on earth.
  

Today, the prophecy of David is fulfilled, which says: “Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad.” For behold, the greatest joy has filled her who is Full-of-grace.
  

Today, from the cold winter, the warm and flowery spring has shown forth, and the golden sun of rejoicing and happiness has dawned for us.
  

Today, God-planted Eden is re-opened, and God-fashioned Adam, due to His goodness and love for man, enters again to dwell within.
  

Today, the forefather's condemnation of sorrow is dissolved, and the corrupting exile and arduous penance of Eve ceases.
  

Today, the ranks on high gather together with those on earth to dance together for this Holy gathering, and the world shines with light.
  

Today, the spotless Church of God is magnified in form, and is adorned as with golden garments by the beauty of this day.
  

Today, the much-seen and holy city of Jerusalem rejoices with those below and those above, and New Sion prophetically is joyful.
  

Today, Bethlehem, the famed birth-place of David, is shown to be as heaven, and is adorned with a radiant bridal garment.
  

Today, the city of Nazareth, and the precious Gethsemane, and every city and land hastens towards this wholly-bright feast.
  

Today, kings of the earth and all people of this incomparable Royal city [Constantinople], royally celebrate the blessed memory of the Mother of God.
  

Today, daughters of kings and queens, gather for the memory of the King's Bridal Chamber, from the rising of the sun till dusk.
  

Today, young men and maids, mothers and virgins, and noble people of every rank, bless the Mother and Virgin and nourishment of our life.
  

Today, the Holy of Holies is hymned by everyone, as heaven and earth and all creation celebrates together.
  

Today, the holy book of the Prophets from all time, is brought amidst us, and each of them proclaims before-hand the grace of this Feast.
  

Today, the Patriarch Jacob rejoices, who spoke of you prophetically as that mystical ladder leading from earth to heaven.
  

Today, that former Prophet and defender of the people of Israel [Moses], speaks of you as that bush which was burning, but not consumed.
  

Today, Zacharias, the noteworthy among Prophets, through his own prophecy cries out: “And behold a golden lampstand, and the radiance above it.”
  

Today, Isaiah, the great preacher among the Prophets, prophecies with great voice: “A rod will raise by from the root of Jesse, and a flower from the root will come forth.”
  

Today, Ezekiel the wondrous cries out: “Behold, the gate was shut, and none can enter through it nor exit, except for the Lord God alone, and it remained shut.”
  

Today, Daniel the sublime, proclaims the future as the past, as he cries out: “The stone was cut from the mountain without hands,” in other words, without a man.
  

Today, David, the melodist who escorts the bride, speaking of her virginity like a truly adorned city, says: “Glorious things have been spoken of you, the city of the Great King.”
  

Today, Gabriel the Taxiarch, descends from the vaults of heaven to the greatly-hymned Virgin and Theotokos, and greets her crying out: “Rejoice, O Full-of-grace, the Lord is with you.”
  

Today, we and all men take up the Angel's voice, and offer encomiums like his, to her who is the forerunner of the taking away of the curse, saying:

Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Joachim and Anna, who spotlessly gave birth to you with prayer, and who hasten also at this time to her who lived under their roof.
  

Rejoice greatly, O Theotokos and Virgin, for you truly heard the encomium of the Angel: Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
  

Rejoice, O Full-of-grace, from the royal line of David, and from the Levitical line from Anna the godly-minded one, who sprouted forth beyond all hope.
  

Rejoice, O Full-of-grace, who from infancy was raised in the Holy of Holies.
  

Rejoice, O Full-of-grace, who through an angel received tidings of joy, and became the forerunner of unspeakable and indescribable joy for the whole world.
  

Rejoice, O Full-of-grace, for the King of all was adorned with a body [through you] as if adorned with a royal purple robe.
  

Rejoice, O Full-of-grace, who bore within your womb the radiance of the goodness of the Father, and that Light that nothing can contain.
  

Rejoice, O Full-of-grace, the fragrance-bearing earth and life-bearing vessel and new myrrh container of the Spirit, which filled the world with fragrance like a myrrh-seller.
  

Rejoice, O Full-of-grace, the exalted and established Throne of the Creator and Redeemer of all, Who holds heaven and earth in His hand.
  

Rejoice, O Full-of-grace, the spiritual temple of the majestic glory of Him Who was incarnate for us, and Who put on flesh for our salvation.
  

Rejoice, O Full-of-grace, who bears life and light as a new-born babe, and nurses with milk Him Who poured forth honey formerly from the rock.
  

Rejoice, O Full-of-grace, the rejoicing in soul of the whole world and the universal reverence, and the good intercessor for all sinners.
  

Rejoice, O Full-of-grace, O gate of those troubled and hope of those without hope, and the awesome protection for those who with good heart confess you to be the Theotokos.
  

Rejoice, O Full-of-grace, you who bore the Master Who loves man for the salvation of our common race of men, and who entreats Him on behalf of everyone, as a Mother.
  

Rejoice, O Full-of-grace, the wondrous and sympathetic refuge of all Christians, and the most-exalted vision of greatly-worked beauty...

(source)
  

The Annunciation of the Theotokos (source)

  

Most-holy Theotokos, save us! Amen!