Explain Joyous Saturday Using These Resources
The time is almost here for the church to celebrate Christ’s descent to Hades and His victory over death. Holy Saturday. The Harrowing of hell.
As strange as it is for me to write and internalize, there are a couple thousand “Anastasis: The Harrowing of Hades” books around the world right now. As with most things I make, I don’t want the story to stop there.
Just like icons, illustrations and books inspire me to create, I want this book to do the same. To expand on your experience of the Anastasis story, I ask you to take it and retell it any way you can. Here are some resources to help out:
- Retreat plan by Elissa Bjeletich
- Colouring book by Elissa & her daughter Vasi (Part I, Part II)
- Anastasis play script
Harrowing of Hades Good Friday retreat plan & colouring book
Elissa made a wonderful and thought provoking program that unpacks the graphic novel and asks the right question to direct discussions to the heart of the story. It includes:
- Background for teachers
- General retreat structure
- Guidelines to position Anastasis for different age groups
The colouring book, on the other hand, is made by Elissa’s daughter Vasi to tell the story in a much brighter and lighter way – appropriate for younger ages. It’s beautiful!
Click here to read Elissa’s blog for more context and links to these materials.
Anastasis play script
I put together a play script based on the graphic novel’s script. It has a cast and characters section to help you divide the roles. Anastasis works really well as a play because it all (pretty much) takes place in one place. It’s also quite the dramatic story!
If you plan a retreat, lesson or play around the Harrowing of Hades, please please share with me images or videos! I would love to see all the different ways this story can be told. 🙂
If you haven’t yet, be sure to grab a copy of my graphic novel “Anastasis: the Harrowing of Hades” and if you’ve read it, leave a quick review on Amazon and be sure to tell your friends and parish about it! 🙂
