HOLY AND GREAT SATURDAY At Vespers and Saturday Matins

Troparia, Second Tone:

The noble Joseph, having taken Thy most pure Body down from the Tree and wrapped It in pure linen and covered It with spices, laid It in a new tomb. When Thou didst descend unto death, O Life Immortal, then didst Thou slay hades with the lightning of Thy divinity. And when Thou didst also raise the dead out of the nethermost depths, all the Hosts of the heavens cried out: O Life-giver, Christ our God, glory be to Thee. Unto the Myrrh-bearing Women did the angel cry out as he stood by the grave: Myrrh is meet for the dead, but Christ hath proved a stranger to corruption.

Kontakion, Second Tone:

He that shut up the abyss is seen as one dead, and like a mortal, the Immortal One is wrapped in linen and myrrh, and placed in a grave. And women came to anoint Him, weeping bitterly and crying out: This is the most blessed Sabbath day wherein Christ, having slept, shall arise on the third day.