Negative criticism has been very much concerned with the question whether blood and water could flow from the dead body of Jesus, and have argued that this is impossible, since blood cannot flow from a dead frozen body, because it remains in a liquid state in a dead body for a very short time, not more than an hour, and that the separation of the watery liquid begins only with the onset of decomposition, and even in some diseases. as, for example, in typhoid fever, fever, etc. All these arguments are unfounded. After all, we do not know all the details of the Lord's crucifixion and death, and therefore we cannot judge these details. But it is a well-known fact that the crucified are in a feverish state. And the piercing of the rib itself undoubtedly took place very soon after death, and in any case not more than an hour later, for evening was coming, and the Jews were in a hurry to finish their evil deed. In addition, there is no need to consider this outflow of blood and water as a natural phenomenon. St. John himself, who emphasizes it in his Gospel, apparently notes it as a miraculous phenomenon ("And he who saw testified, and his testimony is true" – 19:35). The purest Body of the God-Man could not have been subjected to the usual law of decomposition of the human body, but probably from the very moment of death began to enter into that state which ended with His resurrection in a new, glorified, spiritualized form. Symbolically, this is the outflow of blood and water of Sts. The Fathers explain, as a sign of the mysterious way of uniting the faithful with Christ in the sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist: "By water we are born, but by blood and body we are nourished" (Bl. Theophylact and St. Chrysostom). St. John, who stood by the cross and saw all this, testifies both that he speaks the truth, and that he himself is not deceived when he affirms this: "And truly is his testimony" (John 19:35).

The outpouring of water and blood from Christ's pierced side is a sign that Christ has become our Redeemer, having cleansed us with water in the sacrament of Baptism and with His Blood, which He will give us to drink in the sacrament of Communion. That is why the same Ap. John in his 1st Conciliar Epistle says: "This is Jesus Christ, who came by water and blood and by the Spirit, not only by water, but by water and blood; and the Spirit bears witness to Him, because the Spirit is truth. For three bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And three bear witness on the earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three are one" (1 John 5:6-8).

"For this happened," that is, not only the piercing of the rib, but also the fact that the Lord's legs were not broken, "that the Scripture may be fulfilled: let not His bone be broken." This was foretold in Book II. Exodus 12:46: The Passover lamb who transformed the Lord Jesus Christ was to be eaten without breaking the bones, and everything that remained was to be given over to the fire. "Also in another place the Scripture predicts: They will look upon Him Whom they have pierced" — this is borrowed from Book II. Zechariah 12:10. In this passage, Jehovah in the person of the Messiah is represented as having been pierced by his people, and this same people, when they look at the pierced one, is represented as bringing repentance before Him with weeping and weeping. These words were gradually fulfilled in the Jews, by whom the Lord was put to death, and will be fulfilled until the end of the world, before which the universal conversion of the Jews to Christ will take place, as St. Paul predicts. Paul in Romans 11:25-26.

The Burial of the Lord Jesus Christ

(Matt. 27:57-66; Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:38-42).

All four Evangelists tell about the burial of the Lord in complete agreement, and each gives his own details. The burial took place at nightfall, but Saturday had not yet come, although it was approaching, that is, it must have been an hour or two before sunset, from which Saturday had already begun. This is clearly indicated by all four Evangelists: Matt. 27:57, Mark. 15:42, Luke. 23:54 and John. 19:42, and St. Mark and Luke especially emphasize. Joseph came from Arimathea, a Jewish city near Jerusalem, a member of the Sanhedrin, as St. Mark testifies, a pious man, a secret disciple of Christ, according to the testimony of St. John, who did not participate in the condemnation of the Lord (Luke 23:51). Coming to Pilate, he asked him for the body of Jesus for burial. According to the custom of the Romans, the bodies of the crucified remained on the crosses and became the prey of birds, but it was possible, with the permission of the authorities, to bury them. Pilate expressed surprise that Jesus had already died, since the crucified were sometimes hanging for several days, but after checking through the centurion, who certified the death of Jesus, he ordered the body to be handed over to Joseph. According to the narration of St. John, Nicodemus also came, who had previously come to Jesus at night (see John 3), who brought a mixture of myrrh and scarlet about 100 pounds. Joseph bought the shroud, a long and valuable cloth. They took down the body, anointed it, according to custom, with incense, wrapped it in a shroud and laid it in a new burial cave in the garden of Joseph, located not far from Golgotha. As the sun was already sinking towards the west, everything was done, though diligently, but very hastily. Having rolled the stone to the door of the sepulchre, they departed. All this was watched by women who had previously stood on Golgotha.

St. Chrysostom, and after him and Bl. According to St. Theophylact, "Mary, James and Josiah's mother" mentioned by the Evangelists is the Most Holy Mother of God, "since James and Josiah were the children of Joseph by his first wife. And since the Mother of God was called the wife of Joseph, she was rightly called the mother, that is, the stepmother of his children." However, others are of the opinion that it was Mary, the wife of Cleopas, a cousin of the Mother of God. All of them sat opposite the entrance to the cave, as St. Matthew testifies (27:61), and then, according to the testimony of St. Luke, they returned, prepared incense and ointments, so that at the end of the Sabbath day of rest they would come and anoint the Body of the Lord, according to the Jewish custom (Luke 23:56). According to the story of St. Mark, these women, called "myrrh-bearers," bought the fragrances not on the very day of the Lord's burial, but after the Sabbath, that is, on Saturday evening. You can't see a contradiction here. On Friday evening, there was obviously very little time left before sunset. Partially, what they managed to cook, they cooked on Friday, and what they did not have time, they finished on Saturday evening.

The Evangelist Matthew reports on another important circumstance that occurred on the day after the burial: "On the next day that follows Friday," that is, on Saturday, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered before Pilate, not even thinking about disturbing the Sabbath rest, and asked him to give orders to guard the tomb until the third day. They motivated their request with the statement: "We remembered that the deceiver, while still alive, said: 'After three days I will rise again'; therefore command that the tomb be guarded until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away and say to the people, "He is risen from the dead"; and the last deception will be worse than the first." "The first deception" they call here what the Lord Jesus Christ taught about Himself as the Son of God, the Messiah, and the "last deception" is the preaching about Him as the Conqueror of hell and death who rose from the grave. They were more afraid of this preaching, and in this they were right, as the entire subsequent history of the spread of Christianity has shown. To this request Pilate answered them dryly: "You have a guard; go, guard as you know." At the disposal of the members of the Sanhedrin during the feasts was a guard of Roman soldiers, which they used to maintain order and tranquility, in view of the great concourse of people from all countries to Jerusalem. Pilate suggests that they use this guard to do everything as they want, so that later they cannot blame anyone for anything. "They went and set a guard at the sepulchre, and put a seal on the stone" — that is, rather, the stone with which it was covered, with a cord and a seal, in the presence of the guards, who then remained at the sepulchre to guard it.

In this way, the worst enemies of the Lord, without suspecting it, prepared indisputable proofs of His glorious resurrection from the dead.

Resurrection

Narrating about the greatest event of the Resurrection of Christ, all four Evangelists say nothing about the mysterious and incomprehensible side of this event, they do not describe exactly how it happened, and how the Resurrected Lord came out of the tomb without breaking its seals. They speak only of the earthquake that took place, as a result of the fact that the Angel of the Lord rolled away the stone from the door of the tomb (after the Lord had risen, which is also emphasized in our church hymns, and not as it is usually thought that the Angel rolled away the stone so that the Lord could come out of the tomb), about the speech of the Angel addressed to the myrrh-bearing women who came to the tomb, and then about a whole series of appearances of the Risen Lord to the myrrh-bearing women and His disciples.

The Arrival of the Myrrh-Bearing Women at the Sepulcher

(Matt. 28:1-8; Mark 16:1-8; Luke 24:1-12 and John 20:1-10).

To the women who were present at Golgotha and then at the burial of the Lord, it seemed that His priceless body had been prepared too hastily for burial, and they were sorry that they did not take part in the usual Jewish anointing of Him. Therefore, having spent the whole Sabbath in peace, according to the commandment, on the first day of the week, already at dawn, they hastened to the tomb in order to fulfill their pious desire and the last duty of love towards their Beloved Teacher. At the head of these deeply devoted women, who went down in history with the name of "myrrh-bearing women," as all four Evangelists testify, was Mary Magdalene; she was followed by "the other Mary," or Mary of James, Salome, and other women who had followed the Lord from Galilee (Luke 23:55). It was a whole host of wives, some of whom walked quickly, almost ran, perhaps others walked more slowly, not with such great haste. It is not surprising, therefore, that the time of their arrival at the tomb is determined differently by the Evangelists, which, at first glance, creates the impression of a kind of contradiction between them, which, in reality, does not exist.