Jesus, ‘the Author of life’, by dying destroyed ‘him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and [delivered] all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage.’~8~ Henceforth the risen Christ holds ‘the keys of Death and Hades’, so that ‘at the name ofJesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.’~86 Today a great silence reigns on earth, a great silence and a great stillness. A great silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began... He has gone to search for Adam, our first father, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow Adam in his bonds and Eve, captive with him — He who is both their God and the son of Eve... ‘I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. . . I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead.’~8~ IN BRIEF 636 By the expression ‘He descended into hell’, the Apostles’ Creed confesses that Jesus did really die and through his death for us conquered death and the devil ‘who has the power of death’ (Heb 2:14). 637 In his human soul united to his divine person, the dead Christ went dou’n to the realm of the dead. He opened heaven’s gatesfor the just who had gone before him. Paragraph 2. On the Third Day He Rose from the Dead 638 ‘We bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this day he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus.’~88 The Resurrection of Jesus is the crowning truth of our 90 faith in Christ, a faith believed and lived as the central truth by the first Christian community; handed on as fundamental by Tradi tion; established by the documents of the New Testament; and preached as an essential part of the Paschal mystery along with the 651, 991 cross: Christ is risen from the dead! Dying, he conquered death; To the dead, he has given life.~8~