On Weds night in Sanctus we spent a bit of time exlporing this Icon:
Here are some thoughts on it that I shared on the evening. The Icon was originally painted in the sixth century and has been repainted a number of times throughout Christian history – this example here is far later. I think that we need to view Icons both visually and symbolically - we immediately see the visual and we’ll have a reaction to it, we’ll either like it or not, but underneath that is the symbolism and the theology.
As well as being called the resurrection some call this Icon ‘The Descent into Hell’, in Christian tradition throughout the centuries one theory is that when Christ died he descended into hell, where he finally defeated Satan. At the bottom of the Icon we have an image of hell – two men, (other have images of Satan) representatives of humanity – were trapped their – on either side of them are the broken open gates of hell, around them are fragments of the lock that Christ has broken through. He is helping two people out, pulling them from their coffins to join him, these two people are Adam and Eve, and he is restoring them to God. The fall is being overcome by the resurrection.
In the centre is Christ – he stands on a bridge, in some images the bridge is far some precarious than this one, he is stood in front of a doorway. This is the door way to heaven. It leads to the mountains – the dwelling place of God. Christ is the doorway and shows the way- I am the way the truth and the light no one comes to the father except by me…
There are a number of other figures around the image, to the right of Christ are David and Solomon – the two Greatest Kings of Israel, next to them in John the Baptist. On the other side the left and two great figures of the Jewish faith Moses and Isaiah, and standing next to Christ is a figure who I think is Peter. This is therefore a timeless Icon, whether in the past or the present the door way to heaven is open to all people.
I want you to notice how the light is radiating from Christ – it highlights all the others, they are glowing because of the light of Christ. The light of Christ is so dazzling that Eve cannot even look at him.
This icon can be divided into three, Hell is at the bottom; a waiting place such as purgatory in the centre where, the saints and patriarchs are waiting for entry to heaven; and then at the top is heaven and the way to enter heaven is through the door way opened up by Christ. It is a timeless Icon, through which we cover all of biblical history.
As I seek to interpret this Icon, I find the image of Christ as a bridge helpful. In this picture he opens us Heaven - he becomes the bridge to heaven. He also conquers hell and becomes the bridge out of hell. Finally he bridges the fractured relationship between Adam and Eve. It is often noted that in Genesis Adam quickly seeks to blame Eve for the fall, a sign of human sin and selfishness. Christ seeks to repair this relationship as he seeks to repair all relationship. Therefore this is a Icon of resurrection but not only the physical resurrection of Christ but also the resurrection of dead broken relationships.
