This service recounts the Harrowing of Hell, at which time, according to Orthodox theology, the righteous dead were raised from Hades and entered into Paradise. This Good News of Christ's triumph over death, the Church teaches, was at that time revealed only to the departed. The revelation to the living occurred when his tomb was found empty ``very early in the morning, on the first day of the week'' (Mark 16:2) and this vigil recounts that discovery of the empty tomb.
Christ
Mark