Brethren, I may say to you confidently of the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants upon his throne, he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.
Quote by St. Peter, Acts 2: 29-32
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus
Christians all over the world, since the very beginning of Christendom has considered the Resurrection of Jesus as the key element of faith and it has been celebrated by the faithful everywhere. We celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus not only on every Sunday as a remembrance of His victorious act but also on the days following Pascha (Easter). For forty days from His resurrection we celebrate the presence of the Risen Christ among our midst. Orthodox Churches, where icons are more prominent feature of their worship, display the icon of Resurrection in their churches.
The most common form of the Icon of the Resurrection does not show the actual event of Christ coming out of the tomb, but it is actually an image of Christ’s Descent into Hades. The icon does not depict Christ coming out of the tomb, like a superhero, carrying a banner chat says “I cheated death.” It shows our most Merciful Lord, descending into Hades, and raising all those who had fallen through death.
There are various other forms of the Resurrection Icon, which actually depicts the biblical recounting of the event, though they are less common. This is due to the reason that the moment of Resurrection is viewed as a divine mystery, and the manner in which it happened is not fully known to us. Therefore, actually depicting it has its limitations. These forms of the Icon would show the risen Lord outside of the tomb, the soldiers waking from their sleep, one or two angels pointing at the tomb, and the women who came to the tomb. In the rest of this post, we’ll focus on the more common form pertaining to the Descent.
Christ in the Icon
When we look at the icon, there are certain unique characteristics that we need to take note of. First, we find that Christ’s figure is dynamic here with the appearance of swift movement. The feet are spread apart facing different directions, and his clothes appear to be blowing in the wind of the movement of descent.
Next, we notice that his hands and feet show evidence of the crucifixion. This small detail of the wounds of Christ is not always found in the icon, but it is an important one nonetheless. The holes on Christ’s hands and feet serve as proof that he paid the full price for all souls through His death.
Jesus here is also clothed in white, the radiant and heavenly garment spoken of throughout the Bible. Christ is the first to be in white clothing, and through Him we are all given the right to wear this heavenly garment.
Another important feature of the icon is the mandorla surrounding the body of Jesus (the concentric blue circles), is a similar mandorla which is depicted while writing the icon of Transfiguration of Jesus. This mandorla represents the transformation or manifestation of His being into that of a glorified nature. These concentric circles are usually in shades of blue and they get darker as they come closer to Christ. This detail is known as radiant darkness. The radiant darkness is meant to amplify the mystery of God. The darker circles are meant to show that the closer we come to God, the more of a mystery He becomes to us.
Adam and Eve in the Icon
When we look at the icon, apart from Jesus, two other figures who are prominent are Adam and Eve, whom we see being pulled by Jesus by their wrists towards Himself. Adam and Eve signify the first human being that God had fashioned, the symbols of a human race created in the image and likeness of God, who distorted that image through sin. Adam and Eve are usually depicted frail and of old age. It seems as if they had done everything in their weakness to reach out for Christ to save them. This image shows that Christ relieves them after their initial effort by swiftly taking them by the wrists and using His power to save them from the grasp of Hades.
Pulling Adam and Eve towards Himself shows that Christ works to restore the image of man back to His own image. After the fall in paradise, man’s image became increasingly distinct from God’s image due to sin. Here, Christ pulls Adam back towards the mystery of God and restores him to his first estate.
This image of Christ pulling Adam is what happens everyday in our own lives. By our sins, our own image becomes increasingly separate from the image of God in which we were originally made. When we have repentance of our sins, and merely reach out to God, He does the rest by grabbing us by the wrist and pulling us towards His mystery. Jesus, Who is called the “second Adam” in many places, showed that it is possible to live a life in unity with God, demonstrating faith and love, and avoiding temptation. The reward for this life is eternal life, Resurrection from the dead.
Defeat of Hades
Under the image of Christ, we find the gates of Hades in shambles, broken bars of iron, and locks, keys and shackles in piles. These details allude to both Isaiah 45:2 and Psalm 107:16, both of which prophecy of the breaking of the gates of brass, and the cutting down of the bars of iron.
This detail is also amplified in the story of the Descent taken from the Gospel of Nicodemus. There we find that immediately after the angels announced that the Lord Christ is the King of Glory, the brazen gates were shattered, the iron bars broken, and all the dead who were bound became free of their imprisonment.
In some forms of the icon, the gates of Hades are under Christ in the shape of the cross. This is to show, like the holes in Christ’s hands and feet, that He paid the price of entrance by His death on the cross. The gates are also completely broken and can never be closed again.
Under the gates and among the broken keys and shackles, we usually find images of Satan bound up and defeated. This detail is also found in the Gospel of Nicodemus where Christ tells the angels, “With iron chains bind his hands and his feet, and his neck, and his mouth.”
This tying up of Satan is also a type of reference to Mark 3:27 where Christ explains to the pharisees that a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. It is also the same place where Christ states that in order for someone to enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, the strong man must first be bound.
Interestingly in the story found in the Gospel of Nicodemus, the kingdom of Hades is divided as shown through the arguments between Satan and Hades. Additionally, the Lord comes and binds up Satan as the souls of Hades are plundered by Christ’s life giving salvation.
Other Characters in the Icon
Apart from Adam and Eve, we see many figures depicted in the icon, they are the righteous people who preceded Christ. Most commonly depicted along with Adam and Eve are King David, Solomon, and John the Baptist. Other characters that are sometimes depicted include Abel (son of Adam), Abraham, certain prophets and other Old Testament figures. In even more rare depictions you may find the disciples and Paul, making the Descent an image that transcends space and time.
King David and Prophesies of the Descent into Hades
In almost all images of the icon, you will find King David on the right of Christ. He is depicted in the icon for various reasons. First, David is depicted to establish the human lineage of Christ (mentioned in Matthew 1 and Luke 3). This detail serves alongside the holes in Christ’s hands and feet to show that He suffered while fully Divine and Human in the flesh of man in order to grant salvation.
Second, David composed several psalms which alluded to him being in Hades, Sheol, or “the depths” waiting or pleading for salvation. These psalms with particular verses include Psalm 16:10, Psalm 23:4, Psalm 40:2, Psalm 49:15, Psalm 71:20, Psalm 86:13, Psalm 130:1, and Psalm 139:11-12. In many cases, these psalms are considered prophecies of Christ’s Descent into Hades.
King Solomon
Usually next to King David we have a depiction of a younger person, usually beardless, who is meant to be King Solomon. Again, he is depicted to show the lineage of Christ coming from the Kings of Israel and to show that He took human nature to give us salvation.
During the public ministry of Jesus Christ, He while teaching the crowd not to be anxious about anything, He told that even Solomon in all his splendor was not adorned like the lilies in the field. He asked the crowd to turn their thoughts to God, for if He clothes the grass which withers away within a day and is thrown into the flames, how much more would He clothe mankind?
When we look at the mission of Christ, we know that His mission was to bring the focus of our minds to the Kingdom of God and not on the worries of the world. Through Resurrection, Christ has adorned us with His own glory and has provided us salvation, if we simply forget the worries of the world and focus on Him (see also Isaiah 52:1, Isaiah 61:10, Matthew 22:12, Revelation 19:7-8). The Resurrection is also where Christ looks at us and we hear the words from the Song of Solomon 4:7, “You are fair my love; there is no spot in you.”
John the Baptist
The next important character depicted in the icon is John the Baptist who is shown with his characteristic camel skin clothing, leather belt and disheveled hair and beard. John is known as the last of the Old Testament prophets, and he is known as the forerunner who prepared the people for the coming of Christ. If we read the apocryphal gospel, the Gospel of Nicodemus, we find that just as John proclaimed the coming of the Messiah while alive, he did the same with the souls of the dead in Hades.
Patriarchs and Prophets of the Old Testament
When we look at the icon, among the many characters depicted there, because of the unusual freedom the iconographers are granted with the Resurrection icon. Most icons usually depict the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob along with Abel, son of Adam, Isaiah the Prophet, Noah, Joseph, Jonah, the three young men – Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego among others. Below is a brief summary of how each of these figures is a type of Christ:
Abel, son of Adam – Abel, sometimes depicted as a man holding shepherd’s staff was the first man to be killed. Abel showed his faith in God by offering the best portions from the firstborn of his flock in order to show his love for God. Abel looked through his sacrifice of the lamb to the sacrifice of Jesus, an innocent lamb (a symbol of Christ Who is the lamb of God and the true firstborn of every creature in Whose image we are made). Abel’s depiction in the icon is to show that the Lord is just. It reminds us that if we are righteous like Abel was, we can stand next to him by the justice of God. This image reminds us to have faith that every verse we read on the justice of God is true (Deuteronomy 32:4, 2 Chronicles 19:7, Job 34:12, Psalm 9:7-8, Psalm 99:4, Psalm 140:12, Psalm 146:7-9, Isaiah 30:18, Isaiah 61:8, Acts 10:34-35, Romans 12:19, Revelation 20:12-13).
The Patriarchs – The depiction of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is meant to show the patriarchs of the people of God. From discourse between Jesus and the Sadducees in Matthew 22, we know that God “is not the God of the dead, but of the living,” and the statement is the reference to the event of the burning bush where God spoke with Moses and tells him that He is “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” God than proceeds to tell Moses of His plan to free His people from the misery of Egypt.
Of course we know that the story of the Exodus is in itself a story that prophesied the salvation of all mankind from sin. We also now know that the means of this salvation came through the death and resurrection of Christ. This is a reason we also see Moses in the icon as he was the one chosen to lead the people out of Egypt.
Noah – His name means “rest” and it was said about him that he would bring rest and comfort from the toil incurred by the Curse. His family was saved from the flood as Christ came to save his people from the death of sin.
Joseph – He suffered unjustly by his brethren, and went on to save the same people who originally intended to dispose of him.
Jonah – As Jonah was in the belly of the whale, Christ was in the depths of the earth. While in the whale Jonah said, “I cried out for help in the belly of Sheol; You heard my voice” (Jonah 2:2). The word “Sheol” refers to the Hebrew word for the place of the dark underworld. Christ also used this story of Jonah to prophecy His Descent into Hades (see Matthew 12:40).
The Three Young Men – The story of Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego in the fiery furnace has long been viewed as a symbol of Christ’s descent into Hades. Just as the angel descended into the furnace to deliver the three young men from the torment of the flames, Christ descended into Hades to deliver the righteous from the torment of Hades and to free mankind from the grasp of corruption, sin, and ultimately death.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, by this point you would have realized that to study the icon of the Resurrection is to study the whole of the Bible, for the depiction simply does not come from one story, yet it all points to one story. This icon is a pictorial declaration that Christ fulfilled all of the Old Testament prophecies through His life, death, and resurrection.
To contemplate on this icon is to contemplate on the whole of Scripture. You may find that at least one of the characters in the icon may be found inside of you. Whether you are repentant for your sins like Adam and Eve, or whether you preach the Gospel to your fellow man like John the Baptist, or whether you are wrongly persecuted like Abel, When you look at any of the characters in this icon and study their individual stories, you will find yourself feeling the soothing coolness of even the hottest fiery furnace. You will find yourself being led by the King of Glory. You will find yourself looking at salvation through the love of Jesus Christ.
As the world all around us today fights the Covid 19 pandemic, many around us are afraid of the virus and the most frightening thing about the virus is the unexpected manner in which the virus affects each person and causing untoward casualties among the infected. But the promise of the Resurrection was only made possible through the crucifixion of Jesus. An earthly death was required for the Resurrection to happen. In our lives, an earthly death is required in order to inherit eternal life and enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. The depiction in the icon assures us that those who fall through death will be raised to eternal life because of the Resurrection of the Lord. The righteous figures of the Old Testament died with faith that something greater was coming. They did not immediately go to heaven, because Jesus had not yet come and died for them, as He did for us. Through the Resurrection, when we fall through death, we are raised to Paradise by the power and the mercy of Christ.
Death was not cheated by Jesus – but He defeated the power of death. We cannot cheat death either – but we can surely defeat it through the promise given to us in the Resurrection of Jesus. So do not be afraid and anxious of what tomorrow may hold for us or what the virus might do to us, but today entrust your life, your eternal life, to the Grand Master of all living beings.
What do you see in the icon of the Resurrection? Let us know your thoughts and contemplations in the comments section below!
Your brother in Christ Jesus
Jobin George
Sources:
- https://myocn.net/the-icon-of-the-resurrection/
- https://myocn.net/the-icon-of-the-resurrection/
- https://www.orthodoxroad.com/christs-descent-into-hell-icon-explanation/
- https://jesusicon.com/icon-of-the-resurrection-an-in-depth-analysis/
