Easter-Even.
The Collect.
GRANT, O Lord, that as we
are baptized into the death of thy blessed Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, so by
continual mortifying our corrupt affections we may be buried with him : and
that through the grave, and gate of death, we may pass to our joyful
resurrection ; for his merits, who died, and was buried, and rose again for us,
thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Old
Testament Reading: Job 14.1-14
Psalter:
Psalm 16
Epistle
Reading: 1 Peter 3.17-22
Gospel
Reading: St. Matthew 27.57-66
Easter-Day.
{For Easter Vigil:
http://orderofcenturions.org/easter.html}
{At
Morning Prayer, instead of the Psalm, O come, let us sing, &c.
these Anthems shall be sung or said.}
CHRIST our passover is
sacrificed for us : therefore let us keep the feast; Not with the old leaven,
nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness : but with the unleavened bread of
sincerity and truth. 1 Cor. v. 7
Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more :
death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin
once : but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also
yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin : but alive unto God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Rom. vi. 9
Christ is risen from the dead : and become the
first-fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death : by man came also
the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die : even so in Christ shall
all be made alive. 1 Cor. xv. 20.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the
Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world
without end. Amen.
The Collect.
ALMIGHTY God, who through
thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome death and opened unto us the
gate of everlasting life; We humbly beseech thee, that as by thy special grace
preventing us thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by thy continual
help we may bring the same to good effect; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who
liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without
end. Amen.
Old
Testament Reading: Isaiah 25.1-9
Psalter:
Psalm 2, 57, 111 | 113, 116, 117
Epistle
Reading: Colossians 3.1-7
Gospel
Reading: St. John 20.1-10
St. Athanasius: “For that death is destroyed, and that the Cross is
become the victory over it, and that it has no more power but is verily dead,
this is no small proof, or rather an evident warrant, that it is despised by
all Christ’s disciples, and that they all take the aggressive against it and no
longer fear it; but by the sign of the Cross and by faith in Christ tread it
down as dead. For of old, before the divine sojourn of the Saviour took place,
even to the saints death was terrible, and all wept for the dead as though they
perished. But now that the Saviour has raised His body, death is no longer
terrible; for all who believe in Christ tread him under as nought, and choose
rather to die than to deny their faith in Christ. For they verily know that
when they die they are not destroyed, but actually [begin to] live, and become
incorruptible through the Resurrection. And that devil that once maliciously exulted
in death, now that its pains were loosed, remained the only one truly dead. And
a proof of this is, that before men believe Christ, they see in death an object
of terror, and play the coward before him. But when they are gone over to
Christ’s faith and teaching, their contempt for death is so great that they
even eagerly rush upon it, and become witnesses for the Resurrection the
Saviour has accomplished against it. For while still tender in years they make
haste to die, and not men only, but women also, exercise themselves by bodily
discipline against it. So weak has he become, that even women who were formerly
deceived by him, now mock at him as dead and paralyzed. For as when a tyrant
has been defeated by a real king, and bound hand and foot, then all that pass
by laugh him to scorn, buffeting and reviling him, no longer fearing his fury
and barbarity, because of the king who has conquered him; so also, death having
been conquered and exposed by the Saviour on the Cross, and bound hand and
foot, all they who are in Christ, as they pass by, trample on him, and witnessing to Christ scoff at death, jesting at
him, and saying what has been written against him of old: “O death, where is
thy victory? O grave, where is thy sting”” (“The Incarnation of the Word, Para.
27).
