👉🏽👉🏽👉🏽A Holy Contemplation on #Kedame #Sour ( #Holy #Saturday)
“For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matthew 12:40)
Dearly beloved children of light,
Grace and peace be multiplied to you through our Lord Jesus Christ, who through His Cross has broken the bonds of sin and death. Let us now turn our hearts with reverence to the sacred mystery of Kedame Sour, that is, Holy Saturday, the day between the Cross and the Resurrection, a day solemn and filled with profound spiritual silence and awe.
1. The Name and Meaning of Kedame Sour
This Saturday is unlike all other Saturdays. It is not simply a day of rest, but a day of fasting and mourning, a day of divine mystery. It is called Kedame Sour, meaning Abrogated Saturday, for on this day the regular joy and festivity of Sabbath rest is suspended. Instead, we mourn and fast, remembering the unspeakable sufferings that our Lord Jesus Christ endured for our sake. He was crucified, buried, and descended into the depths of Hades to shatter the bonds that held Adam and his descendants captive under the tyranny of the devil.
What a mystery! On this day, God Incarnate rested in the tomb according to the flesh, even as He descended into Sheol according to His divinity, trampling down death by death. The one who formed Adam from the dust now lies in the dust to raise him up again.
2. The Fast of the Abrogated Sabbath
Why do we fast on this Saturday? Because it is not a rest of ease or idleness, but a rest of divine struggle. This Saturday does not point to the seventh day of creation, but to the seventh day of redemption, where Christ, having completed His salvific work on the Cross, now rests in the tomb. But His soul is active—liberating the righteous who had awaited Him from ages past.
It is a Sabbath not of law, but of fulfillment; not of the letter, but of the Spirit. We fast, not because we mourn like those without hope, but because we gaze upon the slain Body of our Lord with trembling love and awe, and because we wait for the dawn of the Resurrection.
3. The Crown of Thorns and Lemme Qedame
On the eve of this day, we enter the sacred rite called Lemme Qedame. In this holy vigil, the priests give the faithful a crown of thorns, a symbol of both suffering and kingship. Just as the wicked soldiers mocked Christ by placing a crown of thorns upon His holy head, we now embrace it in reverence, tying it upon our own heads in imitation of His humility and Passion.
But do not mistake this act for mere remembrance it is a participation in His suffering. We, the faithful, take upon ourselves the sign of the Cross, becoming sharers in His death, that we too may share in His Resurrection. This crown, which once mocked, now becomes a symbol of victory. As the Church chants the ancient Yaredawi hymn, “Gebre Selame Mesekhelu Tsensaehu Aghade,” we proclaim: “The Lord has made peace through His Cross and has revealed His Resurrection to us.” Truly, the thorns have become a diadem of glory.
4. The Sign of the Dove: From Noah to Christ
Marvel now at the divine harmony between the Old and New Covenants. For just as in the days of Noah, when the dove announced the end of the flood and the beginning of peace, so too now, in Christ, the true Dove, the waters of sin have ceased. The flood of iniquity is over, and the dry land of salvation is revealed through the Resurrection.
In Noah’s time, the dove returned with a sign of hope. Today, the Church proclaims the ultimate hope: the death of death itself, accomplished by Christ through His descent into Hades. As the dove of old soared above the waters, Christ, the true Peace-bringer, descends below the earth, that He might rise again and lift all creation with Him.
Continues 👇🏽