Three days/three days and three nights - The math of the Triduum

[KitSileya]

I prayed Vesper earlier tonight, and two of the antiphons made me wonder about the math of Triduum and Easter. The antiphons were to the second psalm:

“As Jonah was inside the whale for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be held in the heart of the earth.”

and for the third psalm,

“‘Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up,’ said the Lord. He said this of the temple that was his own body.”

Now, I see that the first antiphon doesn’t claim that the Lord will be held in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights, just that He will be held like Jonah in the belly of the whale, but it is implied, is it not? And the second antiphon claims three days. Is this due to the fact that Jewish days start at sunset, so that they count Good Friday as one day, Holy Saturday as one day, and Easter Sunday as one day - three days altogether? Even tho’ in hours we’re talking about less than 72 - more like 38 (Friday at 1600hrs (they’d need at least an hour to bury Him) to Sunday 0600hrs - Mary Magdalen (my patron saint!) came to the grave so very early only the gardeners were out (or so she thought!))

 

[scottywolf777]

I prayed Vesper earlier tonight, and two of the antiphons made me wonder about the math of Triduum and Easter. The antiphons were to the second psalm:

“As Jonah was inside the whale for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be held in the heart of the earth.”

and for the third psalm,

“‘Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up,’ said the Lord. He said this of the temple that was his own body.”

Now, I see that the first antiphon doesn’t claim that the Lord will be held in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights, just that He will be held like Jonah in the belly of the whale, but it is implied, is it not? And the second antiphon claims three days. Is this due to the fact that Jewish days start at sunset, so that they count Good Friday as one day, Holy Saturday as one day, and Easter Sunday as one day - three days altogether? Even tho’ in hours we’re talking about less than 72 - more like 38 (Friday at 1600hrs (they’d need at least an hour to bury Him) to Sunday 0600hrs - Mary Magdalen (my patron saint!) came to the grave so very early only the gardeners were out (or so she thought!))

Actually you answered your own question. the Jewish rendering is good friday(day before passover) day one, passover sabbath (shabbat ha tov-high sabbath) day two and first day of the week sunday day three. Happy easter!

 

[KitSileya]

Ah, so. In Norwegian it doesn’t make much sense, you see, because in that language there’s a word for day which we don’t have in English ( it includes both day and night - all 24 hrs of a calendar day). So when it says 3 days, one automatically (even bilingual me) thinks 72 hrs.

Happy Easter! (flying high from Easter vigil right now - it is such a Holy Night, and such a joy!)

 

[JohnI]

I have found one explanation that makes a lot of sense and I do not find any opposition the teachings of the Church (but I hope someone will correct me if there is!). The assumption that the “heart of the Earth” is a reference to the tomb may be erroneous. Rather, it may be referring to the the “clutches of the devil,” known the “prowl the Earth, seeking the ruin of souls.” Jesus “passes through” the midst of those trying to throw Him over the cliff but in the Garden of Gesthemane, He does not escape. He tells his disciples at that time that His hour has come. So it seems that this is the time to being counting days and nights. He is taken into the clutches of the devil and dragged about from place to place (just as Jonah was subject to wherever the great fish took him). From that time (Holy Thursday evening), there will pass three nights and three days (all of two and a portion of a third, Sunday).

In the end, the elapsed clock time is not what’s important. Jesus’ triumph over the devil, the glory of the Cross, and His saving Ressurection are what matters.

 

[scottywolf777]

I have found one explanation that makes a lot of sense and I do not find any opposition the teachings of the Church (but I hope someone will correct me if there is!). The assumption that the “heart of the Earth” is a reference to the tomb may be erroneous. Rather, it may be referring to the the “clutches of the devil,” known the “prowl the Earth, seeking the ruin of souls.” Jesus “passes through” the midst of those trying to throw Him over the cliff but in the Garden of Gesthemane, He does not escape. He tells his disciples at that time that His hour has come. So it seems that this is the time to being counting days and nights. He is taken into the clutches of the devil and dragged about from place to place (just as Jonah was subject to wherever the great fish took him). From that time (Holy Thursday evening), there will pass three nights and three days (all of two and a portion of a third, Sunday).

In the end, the elapsed clock time is not what’s important. Jesus’ triumph over the devil, the glory of the Cross, and His saving Ressurection are what matters.

In both the Nicene creed and Apostles’ creed there is a phrase. “He descended to the dead” or “descended into hell” which the church has always understood to be hades or tartaros the place where the dead were kept in prison by Satan. It is there that Jesus preaches to the souls of the virtous dead like Abraham and Adam and Eve and captures them away from Satan’s clutches. In Eastern iconography the Resurrection icon is usually Jesus breaking down the door of “hell” and rescuing the holy souls there where he defeats Satan and opens the gates of heaven to us all by his saving death. It is not without reason that scripture talks about people seeing the souls of the dead after the crucifixion. wandering around Jerusalem.

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and on those in the tomb bestowing life"-Kontakion of Easter Sunday Liturgy of St John Chysostem:byzsoc:

KRISTOS VOSKRES CHRIST IS RISEN!