Peasant letter icon. The composition is traditional. Painting is primitive. In the middle is the Resurrection and the Descent into Hell, along the perimeter of the middle is 12 holidays. The background of the mullion, the hallmark is yellow. The stroke on the inner perimeter of the mullion is dark brown. The haloes are yellow with red trim. In the margins, explanatory texts.
In the middle of the icon, the Resurrection is represented - the Descent into Hell in an expanded iconographic edition, which is characterized by detailed interpretation main event - with the inclusion of additional plot motifs. In the center of the composition is Christ in glory, standing on the broken gates of hell and holding the hand of Adam rising from the tomb, followed by a procession of the righteous in white robes. Another procession, which includes traditional images of the prophets and forefathers, is presented to the left of Christ, at the top (some of the prophets hold the attributes of their prophecies in their hands). This procession is led by John the Baptist, David and Solomon. For the second time, John the Baptist and David are depicted to the right of Christ, next to the gates of paradise, and David is holding an unfolded scroll in his hands. The second image of Solomon, also with a scroll, is located in the open mouth of hell, next to a group of righteous people in white robes. In the lower right corner of the centerpiece, Christ has risen from the tomb with angels at the gates of hell (sleeping soldiers are also depicted here). Between this scene and the personification of hell, angels are depicted beating numerous demons. In the upper part of the composition, paradise is depicted, at the gates of which a flying seraph and a prudent thief are depicted, talking with Elijah and Enoch (left) and with the righteous entering paradise (right). The story of the prudent thief is preceded by a peculiar paraphrase of his gospel conversation with Christ - an image of Christ handing the cross to the thief.
In the upper part of the composition, in the center, the Resurrection of Christ is represented in the type of "Rise from the tomb". Above is the Ascension; above this scene in the upper field is the New Testament Trinity ("The Throne"). On the sides of the scenes "Rise from the grave" and "Ascension" in the upper half of the icon are depicted: on the left - the Crucifixion, the Assurance of Thomas, the Entombment, the Appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene and the Appearance of an angel to the myrrh-bearing wives; on the right - the Supper at Emmaus, the conversation of the prudent robber with Elijah and Enoch in paradise, the apostle Peter at the empty tomb of the Lord.
At the bottom of the icon is the composition "Descent into Hell", which includes images of angels fettering Satan and saints marching to paradise. In the lower right corner of the icon is depicted the Appearance of Christ to the apostles on Lake Tiberias.
The centerpiece depicts the Resurrection of Christ - the Descent into Hell. There are 12 holidays around the centerpiece: Ascension, Trinity, Entry into Jerusalem, Resurrection of Lazarus, Last Supper, Washing of the feet, Beating at the pillar, Laying the crown of thorns, Carrying the Cross, Crucifixion, Descent from the Cross, Entombment. There are menaion around, 4 on each side, starting from September. Around the menaia are images of revered icons of the Theotokos.
The composition is traditional: in the middle, in a golden frame, the Resurrection and the Descent into Hell on a golden background. The colors of the clothes are scarlet, greenish, ocher with an assist. The letter is miniature, close to Palekh samples. Along the perimeter of the centerpiece in 12 hallmarks are the twelfth holidays.
The Yaroslavl icon is a complex iconographic rendering, including images of the "Resurrection", "Descent into Hell" and Paradise - meetings Prudent robber with the forefather Enoch and the prophet Elijah. A similar composition has become widespread in Rus' since the 17th century.
In the middle of the icon, the Resurrection - Descent into Hell is presented in an expanded iconographic edition, which is characterized by a detailed interpretation of the main event - with the inclusion of additional plot motifs. The main part of the centerpiece is occupied by the frontal figure of Christ standing on the broken gates of hell, Adam and Eve rising from the tombs and a group of prophets and righteous people led by John the Baptist to the right of the Savior.
(7 votes : 4.1 out of 5 )Kopirovskiy A.M., prof.
1. in " Orthodox Encyclopedia. It is about the Resurrection of Christ in general, you need to get acquainted with it in order to navigate the theological understanding of the Resurrection. See in it especially the section "Iconography".
2. . . M., Progress-Tradition, 2001. On the iconography of the "Descent into Hell": pp. 482 - 519.
3. Bobrov Yu.G. . St. Petersburg, AXIOM, 1995. On the Resurrection - Descent into Hell: p.158 - 167.
4. Pripachkin I.A. . M., 2008. (brochure). The concept in it is of little interest: the author is trying to prove that it is wrong to call the iconography "Descent into Hell", it is necessary only "Resurrection", but this is speculation on empty place. But he has many references to the fathers and other literature.
5. Catalogs (see information about the iconography of the "Resurrection - Descent into Hell" in them):
1) Icons of Tver, Novgorod, Pskov: XV-XVI centuries. Collection catalog Center. Museum of ancient Russian culture and art. Andrei Rublev. Issue I / Ed.-stat. L.M. Evseeva, V.M. Forty. M., 2000.
2) Icons of Moscow XIV-XVI centuries. Collection catalog Center. Museum of ancient Russian culture and art. Andrei Rublev. Issue II / Ed. L.M. Evseeva, V.M. Forty. M., 2007.
3) Popov G.V., Ryndina A.V. Painting and applied art of Tver XIV-XVI centuries. M., 1979 (icon painting: p. 7 - 476)
4) Smirnova E.S. Painting of Veliky Novgorod: The middle of the XIII - the beginning of the XV century. M., 1976.
5) Smirnova E.S., Laurina V.K., Gordienko E.A. Painting Vel. Novgorod: XV century. M., 1982.
Iconography options
1. Option 1. Resurrection as the removal of Adam and Eve from hell (Christ moves rapidly from bottom to top, holding their hands). Icon of the 15th century. from Pskov. Located in Gos. Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.
2. Option 2. Resurrection as a descent for people (Christ leans towards Adam and Eve, moving from top to bottom). Daniil Cherny and Andrey Rublev. Icon of 1425-27 from the iconostasis of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
3. Option 3. Resurrection as a manifestation of Christ in glory to those who are in hell (Christ is in the center, depicted frontally between Adam and Eve, whom He holds by the hands). Dionysius. Icon of 1502 from the iconostasis of the Ferapontov Monastery. Located in Gos. Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.
There are many more combinations of 1, 2 and 3, but these are the main ones, the most typical.
4. Option 4, connecting options 2 and 3 (Christ in the center, between Adam and Eve, but leaning towards Adam). Icon from the 1540s from Karelsky Selets, Novgorod. Located in the Central Museum. Andrey Rublev, Moscow.
"The Descent of Christ into Hell"
Let's try to conduct a virtual tour of this wonderful icon from the collection of the Andrei Rublev Central Museum of Ancient Russian Culture and Art, 1540s, Karelskoye Sel'tso, Novgorod.
“The descent into hell” is usually called the icons of such iconography, because it is the image of Christ descending into hell that we see on them. But its name, written in red paint in its upper part, is different: "The Resurrection of Christ." Why?
There is a well-known Western iconography where Christ is depicted rising from the tomb. He holds in his hand a bright banner with the image of a cross - a sign of His victory over death, and next to Him, guards fall to the ground in horror. Such an image seems more understandable, more accessible to perception - but this is an illusion. After all, the Resurrection takes place in secret, it is by no means a spectacular, almost theatrical event. The icon of the Resurrection, like any other, shows not the external side of the event, but its meaning, content: the secret as the obvious, the invisible as the visible. Therefore, on the icon, Christ does not rise from the tomb. He, on the contrary, moves down into the hellish abyss (this can be seen from His posture and fluttering cloak). Hell here is not frying pans, not flames and not ice, as in Dante's Divine Comedy, but absolute darkness. The word itself (from the Greek Ἅδης) literally means "invisible place", or "a place where nothing is visible."
But, nevertheless, we see in the lower part of the icon, under the feet of Christ, some boards, nails, pincers, hammers, locks superimposed on each other crosswise. What it is?
These are hellish doors torn off their hinges, and what they were closed and boarded up with. Now all the bars are broken by Christ entering hell. (Note for yourself: the written source of the image is not the Gospel, where (illustration) there is no such plot, but a later text revered in the church - “The Gospel of Nicodemus”).
Christ is depicted in the radiance of heavenly glory. It is so great that nothing remains of the infernal darkness. Around the head of Christ is a shining golden halo, a symbol of holiness, the fullness of heavenly light. Gold is superimposed here on the icon in the form of very thin leaves (it is called "leaf"). The clothes of Christ are covered with shiny stripes - this is also gold (only "created", that is, dissolved in a binder, liquid like ordinary paint).
Hellish darkness is defeated by this light. People who were in it after death see Christ and rush to Him. This means that the content of the image of the Resurrection is revealed not so much through a description of how it happened, but more through the manifestation of its meaning - the victory of the Resurrected Savior over death.
However, here you can also see surprising concrete details. For example, Christ takes the hand of the man on the right to lead him out of hell. This man is the first man God created, Adam. Take a look: it seems to be unimportant how exactly their hands are connected. But it's not. Christ on the icon takes Adam not by the fingers, but by the wrist - very tightly, with power. At the same time, Adam himself stretches out his hand to Christ somehow uncertainly, as if he were trembling inwardly (the state of “fear of God”). This is not accidental: after all, it was his fall that led to the fact that all people (“the children of Adam and Eve”) die and find themselves in darkness ...
Here we are faced with the need to add general idea about the icon. It is known that an icon, unlike a painting, is conditional, symbolic, and mysterious. And when earlier researchers found some living details in it, they were usually attributed to the elements of realism, which, as they thought, oppose the conventionality of the icon, destroy its figurative structure. But the peculiarity of icon painting is that in it the conditional and the concrete in the normal case do not conflict, but only reinforce the impression of the unusualness of the image.
Let's see how it goes. The arrangement of the figures in the foreground is perfectly balanced, symmetrical: in the center is Christ, to the left of Him is Adam, to the right is Eve. She also stretches out her hands to Christ in a gesture of humble request, covering them with the edge of her clothes (this technique is called “covering hands” in icon painting, this is a sign of reverence). She looks a bit like the Mother of God, doesn't she? The similarity is not accidental. The Mother of God is often referred to in liturgical texts as the "new Eve".
Adam is in dark green clothes, Eve is in bright red. And to the right of them is a man whose clothes combine both of these colors: on his head he has a red hat with a green trim, on his shoulders a green robe, similar to an animal skin. Who is this?
Perhaps their son?
Yes, right. His name is Abel, he is a shepherd, so he has a bent shepherd's staff in his hand. Abel looks at a man standing next to him with a high domed forehead, who is holding something like a book in his hand. But the book almost always has a red edge, but here it is not visible. What is this?
Tablet?
Certainly. A stone tablet, that is, a slab with the Ten Commandments of the Law written on it. So this is the prophet Moses.
And the old man in the crown and the young man standing next to him, also in the crown?
David and his son Solomon.
Right! There are many famous saints here Old Testament. But pay attention - they are all with halos, although they are still in hell, in darkness. This means that the coming of Christ not only brings them back to life, but more than that, it brings them into contact with the divine light. Even Adam and Eve have halos! By this method, the icon painter shows that they, the first sinners, are not only forgiven, but elevated by Christ higher than they were in a state of paradise, before the fall.
And therefore the whole icon is painted in extremely bright, festive colors, saturated with light.
However, the face of Christ is endowed not so much with triumphal as with tragic features. His gaze is full of attention and compassion for Adam, for whom He descended into hell. In other icons of similar iconography, even with the same arrangement of figures, the posture of Christ can be vertical, more solemn. Or much more dynamic: He rapidly descends into hell, or, conversely, just as rapidly brings people who are in hell up from hell.
To the left, behind the figure of Adam, is a man with an ascetic, strict face, sunken cheeks, and disheveled hair. He raises his hand, incredibly thin (also a sign of asceticism, “thinning of the flesh”), and turns it to Christ. But the fingers of the hand are turned to himself: it means that he receives grace from Christ. This is John the Baptist (in Slavonic - "Forerunner", i.e. predecessor). You remembered, of course, the painting "The Appearance of Christ to the People." The location of the figures of John and Christ on our icon and in this picture is the same. But in the icon Christ is in the foreground, John the Baptist is on the side, even behind. And in the picture of Ivanov - on the contrary. The reason is that in the picture the “appearance” of Christ is only expected, but in the icon it has already happened ...
The icon "Resurrection - Descent into Hell", which we have been looking at all this time, gives a feeling of joy, light, spiritual triumph. But it should be noted that the victory of Christ over death and hell depicted on it, at the same time, is full of harmony and inner silence. It is impossible not to pay attention to the surprisingly meek, deep, inwardly profound faces of the saints.
All the people depicted on the icon are not extras, reacting to the manifestation of divine light only externally. On the contrary, they are immersed in it with their whole being, they comprehend it as a revelation, they themselves become its bearers and therefore are transformed.
The icon was painted in the Novgorod lands in the 1540s. Novgorod, more than half a century before, lost its former strength and glory, having been forcibly annexed to Moscow by Ivan III. However, judging by the integrity and depth of the figurative structure of the icon, the icon-painting traditions of both cities were organically combined in it. The Novgorod masters here followed the Moscow masters, but not the modern ones, but the earlier ones: Andrei Rublev and Dionysius. There were no “Ikonniks” who could be compared with these great artists in Rus' at that time. But the spiritual ideal of the time of Rublev and Dionisy, the “golden age of the Russian icon,” as we see, spread far beyond Moscow and remained relevant even many years after their death.
See: Alexander Kopirovsky. Introduction to the Temple. Essays on church art. - M .: Cultural and educational fund "Transfiguration", 2015. S. 193 - 198.
For a long time, the image of Christ, who directly rises in the body, was not used in Orthodox iconography. As a rule, if it was about the Resurrection of Christ, then the icon depicted the plot of the descent into hell, from where the Savior brought all sinners and saints. Such an image had a deep meaning, as it conveyed the idea of granting salvation to everyone and even sinners and represented Christ not only as the one who managed to resurrect, but also the one who managed to resurrect others to eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Modern versions of the icon of the Resurrection of Christ
However, over time, other plots appeared, approximately from the period of the reign of Peter the Great, the icon of the Resurrection also began to be depicted with Christ, who appears in a bright light, and the guards who stood at the cave where He was buried bow before him. In fact, the gospel story is transmitted.
The image itself often contains angels who bowed before the Lord. Behind Him, the dark vaults of the cave, the bed and other details are visible, in His hand He holds a banner as a symbol of victory over death, and the other hand extends in a prayerful gesture.
The general background is a golden color, which emphasizes the solemnity of this event and speaks of the divinity of what is happening.
This writing of the icon goes back to Catholic tradition. Here the image is more artistic and less symbolic, in order to understand what is at stake, just look at the image of the main characters of the icon.
Unique features of the icon
There are no descriptions by the apostles in the Gospels as such, so the icon is indescribable. That is why the initial versions of this image were generally allegorical, that is, they offered the audience various allegories. The most common version was Saint Jonah, who, like the Lord, who spent three days in the tomb, spent three days in the belly of a whale.
It could also be depicted as an icon of the Resurrection of Christ, which speaks of the descent into hell. This has been said before. The history of this plot was taken from the apocrypha from Nicodemus, which the orthodox gradually began to use for their own needs.
In general, in Orthodoxy, an icon is considered a frozen gospel; accordingly, depicting the apocrypha is not entirely acceptable. However, such images as, for example, the icon of the Resurrection of Christ with the holidays gradually entered into church life. They have become part of the tradition of honoring the great miracle that the Savior performed.
As a rule, three main compositions are included in the description of this plot:
- Christ comes out of the tomb;
- Appearance to the myrrh-bearing women;
The first two plots were popularized and were originally used in the Catholic tradition. There they often look like paintings.
As a variation, the composition of the Resurrection of Christ with the Twelfth Feasts can be used - such an icon represents the Gospel in a condensed form, because each of the main church holidays indicates the most significant event from the biography of Christ and the Mother of God. Such an icon is made with hallmarks, that is, small images that are located along the perimeter from the rest.
The image with the twelfth holidays also indicates the endless passage of time. After all, it describes the whole year Christian holidays and the scenes follow each other, remaining looped. They symbolize the endless course of church holidays that glorify the Lord and give hope to believers.
Very interesting is the image with myrrh-bearing women, that is, women who came to rub the body of Christ with peace. They did not find him in the coffin, only his clothes, so the icon only hints at the protagonist. Also, an angel is often depicted there, the presence of which emphasizes special meaning situations.
What helps the icon of the Resurrection of Christ
The meaning of this image is enormous, and it indicates the possibility of choosing paradise for every believer. Therefore, it is easy to understand that the icon of the Resurrection of Christ helps to gain true faith and aim at the highest hope that can only be Orthodox Christian- win the Kingdom of Heaven.
Prayer before the icon "The Resurrection of Christ"
Sunday Hymn: Having seen the Resurrection of Christ, let us worship the holy Lord Jesus, the only sinless one. We worship Thy Cross, O Christ, and we sing and glorify Thy Holy Resurrection: Thou art our God, unless we know Thee otherwise, we call Thy name. Come all faithful, let us worship the saint Christ's resurrection: Behold, the joy of the whole world has come by the Cross. Always blessing the Lord, let us sing of His resurrection: having endured the crucifixion, destroy death by death.
Prayer for Holy Easter
Oh, Most Holy and Greatest Light of Christ, Resplendent throughout the world more than the sun in Your Resurrection! In this bright and glorious and saving laziness of Holy Pascha, all the angels in heaven rejoice, and every creature rejoices and rejoices on earth, and every breath glorifies Thee, its Creator. Today, the gates of paradise are opened, and the dead I am freed into hell by Your descent. Now all is filled with light, heaven is earth and the underworld. May Your light also come into our gloomy souls and hearts, and may it enlighten our existing night of sin there, and may we also shine with the light of truth and purity in the bright days of Your Resurrection, like a new creature about You. And thus, enlightened by Thee, we will come forth enlightened in meeting Thy, who proceeds to Thee from the tomb, like the Bridegroom. And as thou didst rejoice on this most bright day with the appearance of Your holy virgins in the morning from the world to Your tomb who came, so now enlighten the deep night of our passions and shine upon us the morning of dispassion and purity, so that we may see Thee with the hearts of the Bridegroom, redder than the sun, and may we hear Your longed-for voice: Rejoice! And having tasted the Divine joys of Holy Pascha while still here on earth, may we be partakers of Thy eternal and great Pascha in heaven in the non-evening days of Thy Kingdom, where there will be unspeakable joy and unspeakable voice of celebrating and unspeakable sweetness of those who see Thy Face inexpressible kindness. Thou art the true light, enlightening and illuminating every one, Christ our God, and glory befits you forever and ever. Amen.
Date of publication or update 11/26/2017
"Moscow Diocesan Gazette" has repeatedly addressed the theme of the iconography of the Resurrection of Christ. In this note, we will talk about complex iconographic compositions on this topic, which include several plots related in meaning.
The basis for the creation of such compositions was, first of all, the Sunday Gospel conceptions - liturgical readings from the last chapters of all four Gospels, which speak of the appearances of the Risen Christ to the disciples. The Sunday hymn according to the Gospel - having seen the Resurrection of Christ - sounding after reading the gospel conceptions, as if inviting not only to hear the story of the miracle of the Resurrection of Christ, but also to see it. Therefore, the Church from early Christian times sought to show the Resurrection of Christ. It was necessary to talk about it - and, based on the texts Holy Scripture and Traditions, about the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, about the victory of the resurrected Christ over hell and death, the holy fathers wrote, liturgical texts were compiled.
A number of apocrypha are also known. It was much more difficult to depict the Resurrection of Christ itself: eyewitnesses mysterious event was not on earth.
Early Christian art solved this problem on the basis of the texts of Old Testament prophecies - the Lord himself pointed out to the apostles this possibility: starting from Moses, from all the prophets he explained to them what was said about Him in all Scripture (Luke 24:27). Since at least the 3rd century, symbolic images of the Resurrection of Christ through the prototype of the prophet Jonah have been known - in the paintings of the Roman catacombs, mosaics, and on the reliefs of sarcophagi. A century later, there are already not only symbolic, but also historical images illustrating the gospel texts.
It should be noted that the desire for an accurate historical depiction of the Resurrection of Christ sometimes led to unexpected results: early Byzantine images - for example, a diptych of the 5th century BC. from the Milan Cathedral - show not only the events described in the Gospel, but also quite accurately depict the very place where the Resurrection of Christ took place. But by this time, on the site of the Holy Sepulcher, Emperor Constantine the Great had built a temple in honor of the Resurrection. One of the plots of the diptych shows soldiers sleeping at the coffin - but this is not a coffin, but built by St. Constantine rotunda! This, of course, should not be considered an inaccuracy or a mistake, it is a symbol - the Sepulcher of Christ, the source of our resurrection is revealed here as a place that surpasses even the royal palaces in grandeur.
16. Descent of the Holy Spirit.
Thus, on a small icon, the artist placed almost all the plots related to the Easter cycle.
For comparison, let's take a Greek icon of the 16th century. (Crete). Here (No. 100) are depicted all the scenes associated with the myrrh-bearing women. It is noteworthy that the artist arranged all the plots of the composition not in registers, not in stamps, but in one space.
As we see from the above examples, the detailed iconography of the Resurrection of Christ makes it possible to prayerfully contemplate the economy of the salvation accomplished by Christ. These icons not only contain a story about the historical circumstances of the Resurrection of Christ, but also reveal the meaning of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ as a victory over death and sinful forces. This is a powerful call to holiness. Consider the Apostle Paul:
Now, when you have been freed from sin and become servants of God, your fruit is holiness, and the end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 6:22, 23). To this eternal life they call us Orthodox icons Resurrection of Christ.
Bishop Nikolai Balashikhinsky
Material source: Moscow Diocesan Gazette, No. 3-4, 2013
On the icons of the Resurrection of Christ, the ancient canonical Orthodox iconography depicts us, oddly enough, not the sacrament of the Resurrection itself, but the “Descent of our Lord Jesus Christ into hell.” Until the end of the XVI century. in Russian iconography, this was the only iconographic solution for depicting the Resurrection of Christ. The beginning was laid back in the Byzantine icon-painting tradition. The corresponding iconography has evolved since the 7th century. it was based on the Second Epistle of the Apostle Peter (2 Pet.3, 9-13), the Psalter and some other church books.
There are other familiar iconographic images dedicated to the Resurrection of the Savior. For example, "Myrrh-bearing women at the tomb of the Lord." Here we see the scene of the arrival of myrrh-bearing women to the tomb in the morning for anointing with incense (aromas), but they see only an open empty tomb, the body of the Savior is no longer in it.
There are only funeral sheets, and then the Angel of the Lord (or two Angels) appeared and informed them that the One whom they are looking for - Jesus Crucified, He is not among the dead, He is risen! The eyes of the wives are turned to the coffin and the burial sheets, to which the Angel points. Sometimes the resurrected Lord himself is depicted in the background.
Probably the most common icon-painting type is actually the image of the "Resurrection of Christ", where Christ is depicted as ascending from an open tomb (sarcophagus) or leaving a burial cave, or standing on a rolled off tombstone, next to him sleeping or in horror running guards of the high priest. Sometimes in the hands of the Savior there is a white banner with a red cross, next to it are two Angels as witnesses of the Resurrection. This tradition was adopted in the second half of the 17th century. from Western Catholic realistic painting, however, over time “dressed” in a more canonical form and technique. So that it is completely Orthodox, although it does not have ancient roots and symbols, but only illustrates the gospel words iconographically.
However, the most theologically correct is the icon we mentioned above “The Descent of Our Lord Jesus Christ into Hell”. It is more theologically rich and more accurately conveys the meaning of the feast of the Resurrection of Christ. In Rus', a similar iconography of the Resurrection of Christ has been known since the 11th century. In the center of this composition, Christ, in a halo of glory, stands on the destroyed wings of the gates of hell above the black abyss. In addition to the destroyed gates, broken locks, keys, chains are sometimes depicted. Its prince is placed in hell - the figure of Satan, bound by the Angels. On both sides of Christ are the righteous being delivered from hell: kneeling Adam and Eve, led by Christ by the hands from the tombs, behind are kings David and Solomon, as well as John the Baptist, the prophet Daniel and Abel ...
Christ on this icon seems to be absolutely static. He holds the hands of Adam and Eve. He is only preparing to bring them out of the place of affliction. The climb hasn't started yet. But the descent has just ended: the clothes of Christ are still fluttering (as after a rapid descent). He has already stopped, and the clothes are still falling after Him. Before us is the point of the ultimate descent of Christ, from it the path will go up, from the underworld to Heaven. Christ broke into hell, and the gates of hell crushed by him, broken, lie under His feet.
The "descent into hell" shows us how the victory of Christ is accomplished: not by force and not by magic-authoritarian influence, but through maximum self-exhaustion, self-belittling of the Lord. The Old Testament tells how God was looking for man. New Testament, until Easter, tells us how far God had to go to still find His Son.
The entire complexity of the iconography of the Resurrection is connected with the need to show that Christ is not only the Resurrected, but also the Resurrector. She talks about why God came to earth and accepted death. On this icon is given the moment of a turning point, the moment of the meeting of two differently directed, but united in purpose, actions: the ultimate point of the Divine descent turns out to be the initial support of the human ascent. “God became man so that man might become God”—such is the golden formula of the Orthodox patristic understanding of man. These (previously closed) possibilities of transformation open up for a person rapidly - "in a single hour." “Easter” means, translated from the Old Testament Hebrew, “transition”, a swift deliverance. In Old Testament times, Passover bread was unleavened bread - unleavened bread made hastily from dough that had no time even to leaven. The liberation of mankind (already of all mankind, and not just the Jewish people) from slavery (no longer to the Egyptian pharaoh, but to death and sin itself) is being accomplished just as rapidly.
The main meaning of the iconography of the Resurrection is soteriological, that is, testifying to the salvation of man. "The word is true: if we die with Him, we shall also live with Him" (2 Tim. 2:11). “Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too must walk in newness of life. For if we are united to Him in the likeness of His death<в крещении>we must also be united in the likeness of the resurrection, knowing that our old man was crucified with Him… that we no longer be slaves to sin” (Rom. 6:4-6). So says the apostle Paul.
The resurrection of Christ is the victory given to us. Or the victory of Christ over us. After all, we did everything so that Life would not “dwell in us”: we brought Christ outside the city of our soul, nailed Him to the cross with our sins, placed guards at the tomb and sealed it with the seal of unbelief and lovelessness. And - in spite of us, but for our sake - He still resurrected. Therefore, an icon painter, whose task is to convey the experience of the Easter to the Church, cannot simply imagine only the procession of the Savior from the tomb. The icon painter needs to connect the Resurrection of Christ with the salvation of people. Therefore, the Easter theme finds its expression precisely in the image of the descent into hell. Crucified on Friday and Resurrected on Sunday, Christ descends into hell on Saturday (Eph. 4:8-9; Acts 2:31) to bring people out of there, to free the captives.
The first thing that catches your eye in the icon of the Descent is that there are… saints in hell. People in halos surround Christ, who descended into the underworld, and look at Him with hope. Before the coming of Christ, before He united God and man in Himself, the way to the Kingdom of Heaven was closed to us. Since the fall of the first people, a shift took place in the structure of the universe, which broke the life-giving connection between people and God. Even in death, the righteous did not unite with God. The state in which the soul of the dead was, in the Hebrew language is denoted by the word "sheol" - a formless place, a twilight and formless place in which nothing is visible (Job 10:21-22). It is rather a state of heavy and aimless sleep (Job 14:12) than a place of any specific torment. This "kingdom of shadows", this imaginary in its haze hid people from God. The oldest Old Testament books do not know the idea of a posthumous reward, they do not expect paradise. In this regard, in atheistic literature there is an assertion that an impassable gulf lies here between the Old and New Testaments: the New Testament orientation to the immortality of the soul does not find confirmation in the Old Testament and contradicts it. Thus, at a very important point, the unity of the Bible is called into question. Yes, the Ecclesiastes hopelessly peers into the limits human life. The psalmist David weeps about the fleeting nature of human life: “A man is like grass, his days are like a green flower, so bloom, as if the spirit will pass in him and will not be” ... And Job asks, obviously not expecting an answer: “When a person dies, will he live again?” (Job 14:14). Yes, the existence of life after death was not clearly revealed to the people of the Old Testament. They could have anticipated it, longed for it, but apparently nothing had been said to them. After all, to say that life in God awaits them after death, the Kingdom of Heaven means to console and reassure them, but at the cost of deception. For before Christ it could not yet absorb the world into itself, and no one from the world could contain it into itself. But to tell the people of the Old Testament the truth about Sheol meant to provoke in them bouts of hopeless despair or hysterical epicureanism: "Let's eat and drink, for tomorrow we'll die!"
And now the time has come when the hopes, seemingly deceived, were nevertheless justified, when the prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled: “On those living in the land of the shadow, the light of death will shine” (Is. 9.2). Hell was deceived: it thought to accept its lawful tribute - a man, a mortal son of a mortal father, he prepared to meet the Nazarene carpenter Jesus, Who promised people the New Kingdom, and now He Himself will be in the power of the ancient kingdom of darkness - but hell suddenly discovers that not just a man, but God has entered it. Life entered into the abode of death, into the center of darkness — the Father of Light.
However, we will not be able to convey both the meaning and the eventful mood of Easter better than St. John Chrysostom did: “Let no one weep about his misery, for the common Kingdom has appeared. Let no one mourn over sins, for forgiveness has shone forth from the Tomb. Let no one be afraid of death, for the death of the Savior has freed us. Christ is risen and Life abides. Christ is risen and the dead is not one in the tomb!
"The light of Christ enlightens all." Perhaps this is what the ancient icon painter wanted to say, placing on the icon of the Resurrection among the people meeting the Savior not only with halos, but also without them. In the foreground of the icon we see Adam and Eve. These are the first people to deprive themselves of communion with God, but they waited the longest for its resumption. Adam's hand, by which Christ holds him, sagged helplessly: man himself, without the help of God, does not have the strength to escape from the abyss of God-estrangement and death. “Poor man I am! who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Rom. 7:24). But his other hand is resolutely stretched out to Christ: God cannot save a person without the person himself. Grace does not force. On the other side of Christ is Eve. Her hands are outstretched to the Deliverer. But - a significant detail - they are hidden under clothing. Her hands once committed a sin. With them she plucked fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. On the day of the fall, Eve thought to receive communion with the Highest Truth, not loving the Truth itself, not loving God. She chose the magical path: “taste and become”, replacing them with the difficult commandment of “cultivation” ... And now, before her again, the Truth incarnated - Christ. Communion with Her again can save a person. But now Eve knows that communion cannot be approached with self-confidence... Now she understands: the whole being of a person must be pierced by "reasoning" - to whom he is allowed to take communion... And Eve does not dare to touch Christ without authorization. But praying, waiting for him to turn to her.
Before, in paradise, the clothes of people were Divine Glory. Having stripped it off after the fall, after an attempt to acquire the fullness of this Glory in an ignominiously technical way, the need for material clothing actually arose. The light began to expose the nakedness of people from good deeds - and protection was required from it, because in this light, which has now become external to them and from the outside, revealing, "they knew that they were naked" (Gen. 3:7). Clothing served the same thing that cities would later serve - self-isolation, which, alas, became necessary (the city - from "to fence, enclose"). The fact that now (at the moment depicted on the icon) Eve is completely covered from head to toe is also a sign of her repentance, an understanding of her complete separation from God (clothes were given to people after the fall). But that is precisely why Eve was saved. Saved - for she repented. The icon painter always, when it is necessary to show the meeting of man and God - Eternal and temporal - seeks to reveal not only the very fact of the meeting, but also the meaning of man in it: his personal, choosing, believing attitude towards the Met. In this case, this is indicated not only by the face or gestures, but also by the clothes. And since this introduces the theme of repentance, the icon in the soul of the praying person combines Great Saturday (when the Descent into Hell took place) and Easter Sunday. It combines the penitential feelings of the final days of Great Lent and the all-dissolving joy of Easter.
The Resurrection of Christ is not "mythology" or "theoretical theology". After all, which is more in line with human nature: Christian testimony about the Easter miracle or ponderous rationality human mind- it is easy to establish empirically in the upcoming Easter days. Just come to the temple on Easter night and to the priestly exclamation from the open gates: “Christ is Risen!” - will your heart shake in response: “Truly He is risen!” - or will you order him to keep silent? .. Better - believe your heart!
