ACC ~ Mark 16 v4

THE STONE COULD NOT HOLD HIM

PRUDENTIUS:

Neither the stone nor the bolts of the tomb could hold Christ a captive;

Death lies conquered by him, he has trampled on hell’s fiery chasm.

With him a throng of saints ascended to heavenly regions,

And to many he showed himself, letting them see and touch him.[1]

SCENES FROM SACRED HISTORY 43, THE SEPULCHER OF CHRIST.[2]

THE STONE AS EVIDENCE

BEDE: [The angel] rolled back the stone not to throw open a way for our Lord to come forth, but to provide evidence to people that he had already come forth. As the virgin’s womb was closed, so the sepulcher was closed, yet he entered the world through her closed womb, and so he left the world through the closed sepulcher. EXPOSITION ON THE GOSPEL OF MARK 2.7. [1]

[1] Cetedoc 1367, 2.7.91; HOG 2:61**. The womb’s opening at his birth is viewed as an analogy to the tomb’s opening at his resurrection.

[1]Cf. Mt 27:52-53; 28:1-10; Lk 24:39-40; Jn 20:27; Acts 1:3.

[2]FC 52:193.