{"id":638,"date":"2018-04-11T10:09:00","date_gmt":"2018-04-11T10:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.smallpage.online\/2018\/04\/11\/understanding-orthodox-icons-descen\/"},"modified":"2020-12-17T09:07:31","modified_gmt":"2020-12-17T09:07:31","slug":"understanding-orthodox-icons-descent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/understanding-orthodox-icons-descent","title":{"rendered":"Understanding Orthodox Icons: Descent into Hades"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n

Some key features:<\/h3>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\u2014 Christ\u2019s cape\/robe is flowing upward, this symbolizes his radical descent into Hades to save those who have died in the flesh.<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\u2014 The golden bars by his feet are the gates of Hades, which he has broken and torn apart.\u00a0 There are keys floating in the abyss below, which symbolizes that he has entered and conquered both death and Hades.<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\u2014 You may also note the skeletal figure who is chained up: that is Death and\/or Satan.\u00a0 He has been bound and killed by Christ, which is why all throughout Pascha we sing \u201cChrist has trampled down death by death.\u201d\u00a0 The icon depicts Hebrews 2:14, \u201cthat through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil.\u201d\u00a0 The power of the devil and death have been destroyed through the life-giving death of our Savior.<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\u2014 The two figures whom Christ has grasped and is pulling from tombs are Adam and Eve, symbolizing that his victory redeems all mankind, even back to the beginning. It also foreshadows the general resurrection of the body before the Final Judgment.<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\u2014 To the left, we see three characters:\u00a0 David and Solomon, two of his ancestors according to his fleshly nature.\u00a0 We also see, closest to him, John the Baptizer, who was his forerunner in both life and death.<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\u2014 The figures on the right vary from icon to icon.\u00a0 Initially, I was told that they generic representatives for those who are presently alive, but after further research I have discovered that all of the characters (on the left and right) are Old Testament prophets and saints.\u00a0 Moses is usually depicted on the right as well as other prophets. Additionally, there are the three youth who went into the fiery furnace and a shepherd, the latter of which may depict the ones who first venerated our Lord at His birth.<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\u2014 The blue shape around Christ is called the Mandorla (which is Italian for almond, which describes its shape).\u00a0 The Mandorla is the uncreated, eternal light of Christ.\u00a0 In the writings of the Eastern Orthodox mystics, God is often prayerfully experienced as light.\u00a0 This is not simply a pretty bright light.\u00a0 It is the same light which filled the apostles with wonder when they witnessed His Transfiguration.\u00a0 It is the light which Christ Himself described as the power of the Kingdom of God (Mark 9:1 Matt 16:28 Luke 9:27). It is the light that filled the once perpetual darkness of Hades when Christ descended and brought life into the realm of death.\u00a0 It is also the light that is seen when one purifies their heart and mind (Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.)<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\u2014 The Mandorla becomes progressively darker as it moves toward its center, which is Christ.\u00a0 If God is represented by light, the Mandorla may seem confusing.\u00a0 However, those who seek God will find that the more they know Him, the less they comprehend Him.\u00a0 To know God, to experience Him, is to walk in the darkness of His light, to enter into the mystery of His presence.<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\u2014 One of the key things to remember is that icons are not meant to be \u201cphoto recordings\u201d of what happened.\u00a0 These are symbolic tools that assists us in\u00a0 comprehension of the gospel truth through our sense of sight.<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some key features: \u00a0 \u2014 Christ\u2019s cape\/robe is flowing upward, this symbolizes his radical descent into Hades to save those who have died in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19616,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[58],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iconography-and-icons","tag-iconography-and-icons"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/socshestvie_vo_ad-1.jpg","views":{"total":854,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1768402897},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paPyw9-ai","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33014,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638\/revisions\/33014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}