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The icons of the Orthodox Church derive from liturgical texts and from contemplative reading of them. As theology expressed in images, they are related in their function of revelation to the light of Thabor.10.1 This feature explains the constant contrast they make between light and darkness, the confrontation of heaven and hell.
Among its charisms, the Johannine Orient, so aware of the resurrection, is also aware of the theme of hell, a theme that St. Paul treats in a compact and striking way in Ephesians 4, 9-10: “Now this, `he ascended,' what does it mean but that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended, he it is who ascended also above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.” We see the astonishing range of the itinerary of the winged lamb between the two extremities, the descent to the lowest point--hell--and the ascension to the highest point--heaven. The Orthodox Church in wonder contemplates “the height and the depth” of the mystery of salvation; it sees in it the dimensions of the charity of Christ and his triumphal message: “Ascending on high, he led away captives” (Eph. 4.8).
The office of Passion Saturday sings: “You have descended on earth in order to save Adam, O Master, and not finding him there, you have gone even into hell to look for him.” The icon of the nativity refers to this text and shows the dense obscurity of a grotto, a black triangle where the child Jesus is lying as in the dark bowels of hell. In order to place himself “in the heart of creation”, Christ mystically situates his birth in hell, the point of final despair. Since the time of Adam, men have ended in Sheol, the somber abode of the dead; it is therefore there that Christ will go seeking them.
In its eschatological aspect, the icon of the nativity, as every icon, summarizes in a prophetic way all the events of salvation. By his immobility the Child has already entered into the great silence of the great sabbath. “Life has gone to sleep and hell shakes with fear.”10.2 The swaddling clothes of the infant Jesus have the exact form of the winding cloths that the angel will show to the myrrh-bearing women on the morning of the resurrection. The luminous child stands out in sharp contrast with the black background and anticipates the descent into hell. He is himself “the light shining in darkness”. “The sun has set with him, but the flesh of God under the earth dissipates the darkness of hell.”10.3“Light battles with darkness; life annihilates death.”10.4
From the beginning of his mission, Jesus confronted the cosmic elements that conceal dark powers--water, air, the desert.10.5 An idiomelon of the epiphany represents the Lord saying to John the Baptist: “Prophet, come to baptize me... I am in a hurry to destroy the enemy hidden in the waters, the prince of darkness, in order to deliver the world from his nets in granting it eternal life.”10.6 In speaking of unsanctified waters, the image of the death-deluge, the liturgy calls them a “liquid tomb”.
In fact, the icon of the epiphany shows Jesus entering into the waters of the Jordan as if he were entering into a liquid tomb. This has the form of a cave, containing the entire body of the Lord (an image of burial reproduced in the sacrament of baptism by total immersion--a figure of the paschal triduum), in order “to snatch the head of our race from the dark abode”.10.7 In following the anticipatory symbolism of the nativity, the icon of the epiphany shows the pre-descent into hell. “Having descended into the waters, he bound the strong one.”10.8
St. Ephrem compares the epiphany to the cross and the ladder as the ladder that Jacob saw reaching the gate (f heaven; on it light descended to baptism...”;10.9 and John of Saroug writes: “Christ on the cross kept himself on earth as on a ladder with many rungs.”10.10 The cross is “the tree of life planted on Calvary”,10.11 “the place of the great cosmic struggle”.10.12 The icon of the crucifixion shows in the vertical branch of the cross, the descent and the ascent of the Word. The Acts of Andrew declares: “A part was planted on the earth in order to unite the things on earth and in hell to heavenly things.”10.13That is why on the icons, the foot of the cross is sunk into a black cavern where the head of Adam lies, and this is hell.10.14 Also on the Orthodox cross, the third transversal board under the feet of the Lord is slightly inclined.. The scabellum pedum10.15 inclined downward represents the destiny of the thief on the left, and the other, inclined upward, represent the destiny of the thief on the right. “Scale of justice”10.16 and an opening into eternity, the cross in the middle is like a connecting link between the kingdom and hell.
The icon of the resurrection is that of the “descent into hell”.10.17 As a liberator, Christ, according to St. Peter, announced to the captives the Gospel of salvation.10.18 “You have broken the eternal bars holding the captives.”10.19 In the silence c)f Good Friday, the eucharist is not celebrated, for Christ is in hell. For earth it is a day of sorrow, but in hell this Friday is already Easter; death is vanquished and eternal life is proclaimed. The icon shows Christ, the Living One who holds “the keys of death and of hell”.10.20 He is surrounded by the mandorla, the luminous aureole of glorified bodies. His left hand holds a scroll, the proclamation of the resurrection to those who are in hell: “With my right hand I have given them the baptism of life.”10.21 “And the Lord extended his hand, made the sign of the cross on Adam and all the saints, and holding Adam's right hand, he ascended from hell and all the saints followed him.”10.22 It is not from the tomb that Christ is coming, but “from among the dead”, coming forth from the former hell as from a nuptial chamber.
Primitive catechesis drew attention to an aspect of baptism that has been forgotten in the course of history: baptism by immersion reproduces the figurative curve of salvation, and every baptized person follows the same itinerary in the footsteps of the Lord. The sacrament of baptism is then a real descent with Christ in his death; it is also a descent into hell. St. John Chrysostom clearly says this: “The action of descending into the water and then coming out of it symbolizes the descent into hell and the coming out from that abode.”10.23 The light on the Jordan shines in the baptismal light,10.24 and signifies the illumination of the infernal darkness. Enlightened, the baptized person unites sacramentally with the souls who have mounted with Christ from hell toward eternal life. Thus baptism is not only dying and rising with Christ, but also descending into hell and coming out from there, in following him. This is because hell is more frightful than death. We think of the words of a Father of the Church: “And the nothingness that they seek will not be given to them.” It is here that the definitive victory has been won.
Christ descended there, laden with the sins of mankind, and he bore the stigmata of the cross, of crucified Love. We must forcefully emphasize the final and immediate consequences of this. Every baptized person, risen with Christ, also bears the stigmata of the sacerdotal anxieties of Christ the priest, the stigmata of his apostolic anguish for the lot of those who are in hell. “There are places in our heart which do not yet exist, and it is necessary for suffering to penetrate there in order that they may come into being,” Leon Bloy reminds us. In a vivid image, this care appears in The Shepherd of Hermas10.25 and in the writings of Clement of Alexandria:10.26 the apostles and the doctors descend into hell after death in order to announce salvation and to give baptism to those who ask for it.
Finally the icon of Pentecost shows the apostolic college, seated in a luminous circle, receiving the gift of tongues. The contrast is strongly emphasized. Below in an arc and coming out from darkness, is an old king, holding in his hands a linen cloth. On this linen are placed twelve scrolls. Often the arc is separated by a prison grill that stresses the state of captivity. It is the cosmos personified as an old man satiated with the days from the fall, and held a universal captive by the prince of this world. The obscurity that surrounds him signifies “darkness and... the shadow of death”,10.27the hell from which the non-baptized world stands out; in the brighter portion he aspires to the apostolic light of the Gospel. He holds out his hands to receive grace, and the twelve scrolls symbolize the preaching of the twelve apostles, the universal promise of salvation.
The content of this icon is found in the liturgy of Pentecost. The vespers that follow the liturgy of the Sunday contain three great prayers of St. Basil, which the priest reads before the people on their knees, a sign of particular attention. The first prayer presents the Church to the Father; the second asks the Son to safeguard all the living; the third prays for all who have died since the creation of the world and thus refers to the descent of Christ into hell. “You who on this final day of Pentecost have revealed the mystery of the trinity; you who have sent the vivifying Spirit... true knowledge of God... you who deign to listen to our prayers of expiation for those who are imprisoned in hell, and who give us the great hope of seeing you, grant them deliverance from their torments... give (them) rest in a place of refreshment... make them worthy of deliverance, for it is not those who are in hell who will have the boldness to confess you; but we the living, we bless you and supplicate you and offer you our prayers and sacrifices for their souls.”10.28 The superabundant graces of the feast remove all limits. Once a year, on the day of Pentecost, the Church prays even for suicides. We see once more the breadth of the feast--from heaven to hell, and from hell to heaven.