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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
Athanasius of Alexandria
They also act absurdly who embalm the bodies of their dead, and do not bury them, even supposing them to be holy. For what can be more holy or greater than our Lord's body? And yet this was placed in a tomb until it rose again the third day. For it follows, And he laid it in a hewn sepulchre.
Cyril of Jerusalem
We seek to know exactly where he was buried. Was his tomb made with hands? Does it rise above the ground, like the tombs of kings? Was the sepulcher made of stones joined together? What is laid upon it? O prophets, tell us exactly about his tomb. Where is it? Where should we look for it? They answer, "Look at the solid rock that you have hewn." Look and see. You have in the Gospels, "In a rock-hewn tomb." What is next? What kind of door does the sepulcher have? …
Western Saints
Ambrose of Milan
Nor without meaning has one Evangelist spoken of a new tomb, another of the tomb of Joseph. For the grave is prepared by those who are under the law of death; the Conqueror of death has no grave of His own. For what fellowship hath God with the grave. He alone is enclosed in this tomb, because the death of Christ, although it was common according to the nature of the body, yet was it peculiar in respect of power. But Christ is rightly buried in the tomb of the just, that He may rest in the habitation of justice. …
Bede
And he wrapped it up in a shroud and placed him in a hewn tomb, in which no one had yet been laid. And from the simple burial of the Lord, the ambition of the rich is condemned, who cannot be without wealth even in their tombs. But we can also, according to spiritual understanding, sense this: that he wraps Jesus in a clean shroud who receives Him with a pure mind. Moreover, He is placed in a new tomb, so that after the resurrection, with other bodies remaining, another would not be pretended to have risen. …
Bonaventure
Secondly, as to the honor of the burial, he adds: And having taken him down, he wrapped him in a clean linen cloth: for this was most fitting for the most pure flesh of Christ. Whence it was instituted in the Church that corporals should be of simple linen cloth, clean, not dyed nor colored with various colors. For just as the altar bears the figure of the cross, and the chalice that of the tomb, and the paten that of the stone placed over it, so the corporal bears the figure of the burial cloth. …
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