"And many women who followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him, were there looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's sons.
Now when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the Body to be given to him. When Joseph had taken the Body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed. And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb.
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You Who clothed Yourself with light as a garment, Joseph with Nicodemus, brought down from the Cross, and seeing You dead, naked, and unburied, felt deeply a sympathetic lament, and in grieving said: "Woe to me, sweetest Jesus! Whom, but a short while ago, when the sun beheld You hanging on the Cross, enshrouded itself in darkness, and the earth quaked in fear, and the veil of the Temple was rent asunder. But lo, I now see, that You willingly underwent death for my sake. How then shall I array You for burial, my God? Or how shall I wrap You in a shroud? And with what hands can I touch Your sacred Body? Or what dirges shall I chant for Your funeral, O Merciful One? I magnify Your Passion; I praise in hymn Your Burial, with Your Resurrection, crying aloud: Lord, glory to You."
From Great Friday Vespers ~ The APOKATHELOSIS
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