Christ is risen from the dead,
trampling down death by death,

and upon those in the tombs
bestowing life!

Alleluia, Alleluia!

Happy Easter to all! Regular posting will resume Sunday evening.

I have hopes that my wife, Miranda, will start co-blogging here sometime in the relatively near future. In the meantime, we’re going to start making digital versions of some of her liturgical artwork available here. Here’s what she says about the image above:

Resurrection, Miranda Hassett, 2006

This image is my interpretation of the traditional Orthodox icon of the Descent into Hell, or Harrowing of Hell. In the traditional image, Jesus stands upon the broken doors of Hell, with fragments of broken locks and chains scattered across the darkness beneath, while he reaches out to raise up those who had been trapped in the underworld, beginning with Adam and Eve. Here I have focused on the elements of the picture most evocative of the freedom from bondage Christ offers us: the fallen doors and shattered locks of Easter.

Continue reading for a link to the full size version and licensing information.

Click here for a full size version.

She also has some additional pieces available for download on the Episcopal Church “Image Shop” website.

She’s making her images on this site available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License, so you can use it and distribute it as long as you give her credit and keep the license information available, but you need to ask if you want to use it for any commercial or moneymaking purposes, and you also need to ask to alter the image.

And if course, we’d love to hear from anyone who uses this or any of the others! Use the comments below, or email me at:

phil (at) doingpublicwork (dot) org

Fortunately, the Liturgy office of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Jose California provides us with a history of Determining the Date of Easter, and runs some numbers, revealing just how uncommon it is to have Easter this early:

. . . it can be one day earlier, March 22; but that rarely happens. This year is the earliest Easter we will experience in our lifetime.

The next time Easter will be this early, March 23, will be in 2228. The last time it was this early was 1913.

The next time Easter falls a day earlier, March 22, will be in 2285. The last time it was celebrated on March 22 was in 1818.”

Now, if I can only get daylight saving time sorted out, I’ll be set!

(Via Work of the People.)