The first Sunday after Easter is called Fomino Resurrection. Why is it that Thomas, and even nicknamed the Unbeliever, is specially allocated a resurrection immediately following the Resurrection of Christ? Not Peter, as the head of the community of the apostles, not Andrew, who was called the very first, not even John, who was the beloved disciple of Jesus, but Thomas.

The scene "The appearance of an angel to the myrrh-bearing women" is the earliest image of the Resurrection. He was depicted in icons, in mosaics and frescoes, in book miniatures and applied art. Irina YAZYKOVA disassembles the fresco of the dome of the temple of Pantokrator of the Vysokie Dečany monastery in Kosovo

The fourth Sunday of Great Lent is dedicated to St. John of the Ladder. Why is the author of the book of the same name, St. John of the Ladder, depicted without a halo on the icon “Ladder”? Why don't the demons go out of their way to drag the monks down, while the angels seem to keep aloof? Our correspondent tried to understand what is happening with the help of specialists.

An icon is, first of all, a holy image before which we stand in prayer, a visibly expressed experience of the life of the saints. It is also a work of art that conveys to us the idea of ​​our ancestors about beauty. But among other things, the icon is also an important historical source that tells about forgotten traditions. What, for example, does the earring in the ear of the Christ Child mean? We recall the unusual details of the icons on the eve of tomorrow's memory of the first icon painter - the apostle and evangelist Luke.

A unique exhibition has opened in the Dormition Belfry of the Moscow Kremlin, where icon painting lovers will have the opportunity to see the entire iconostasis of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery for the first time. The fact is that today the icons from this famous iconostasis are stored separately in three different museums in the country. Visitors to the exhibition will see the iconostasis as it was in the 15th century

In the chapter on the iconostasis, the textbooks of the Law of God or the OPK usually talk about a tall Russian five-tiered iconostasis. But if we go into the temple, we will not always see five rows of icons in front of us, corresponding to the scheme from the book. Why, for the story about the iconostasis, its five-tiered form is chosen, says Archpriest Sergiy PRAVDOLYUBOV, rector of the temple Life-Giving Trinity in Golenishchev (Moscow), and Larisa GACHEVA, icon painter, teacher at PSTGU

The federal law “On the Transfer of Property for Religious Purposes to Religious Organizations,” adopted a year and a half ago, became a milestone in property relations between the Church and the state. The next stage of such a transfer was the return of the famous Iberian icon to the Church. Mother of God in May of this year. Whether the Church will cope with the "museum" functions - time will tell, but for now, the "NS" followed the fate of the most famous lists in Russia of the Iberian and other icons of the Virgin

The memory of one of the saints most beloved by our people - St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, Bishop of the World of Lycia in church calendar It is celebrated twice: in winter on December 19 and almost in summer on May 22. Byzantine iconography has preserved many images of St. Nicholas. What did he look like? PHOTO GALLERY.

On May 24, on Vasilyevsky Spusk, Patriarch Kirill will perform a prayer service before the revered Iberian Icon of the Mother of God, which the state returned to the Church at the beginning of the month. What role in Russian history played precisely this list of the icon of the “Good Goalkeeper”, what is the significance of its transfer to the Novodevichy Convent and what is the fate of other icons of the Mother of God, well-known in Russia, the “NS” understands

I noticed that there are different icons in the iconostases, but in almost all churches the Annunciation is depicted on the Royal Doors. Why? Answered by Archpriest Nikolai CHERNYSHEV

Despite the fact that the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is one of the oldest holidays of the Christian Church, neither the exact time nor the circumstances of its occurrence are reliably known. In art Ancient Russia images of the Exaltation of the Cross were widespread, often included in the festive row of iconostases, while in Byzantium individual icons with a similar plot are not found

The iconography of the most revered saint after the Virgin Mary - John the Baptist - is extensive and complex. The most common icons are the beheading and acquisition of his honest head

In the exhibition halls of the Russian Academy of Arts - the Zurab Tsereteli Art Gallery, the "People's Icon" was opened. Among the 400 exhibits were both naive copies of Byzantine images and "classical illustrations" of ancient heresies or non-Orthodox dogmas. The boundaries of the concept of “folk” and “non-canonical” icons are still being discussed mainly by secular specialists. Theological comments on the exhibition ahead

Celebration in honor miraculous icon"Three-handed" is performed twice in July - on the 11th and 25th (according to the new style). Many legends are connected with this image, telling about where the third hand appeared on the image of the Mother of God, and how the icon ended up on Mount Athos. Art critic Svetlana LIPATOVA talks about the veneration of an unusual icon of the Mother of God

There are many icon painters in the calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church, but the most famous, of course, is Andrei Rublev. Probably everyone knows this name in our country, even not the most educated person, and it is well known outside of Russia, especially after Tarkovsky's film, but what do we know about the great icon painter? Irina YAZYKOVA, a well-known historian of Christian art, tells about this.

On Orthodox icons, the image of the Savior rising from the coffin, around which sleeping soldiers lie, appeared late. Traditionally, the Resurrection of Christ is conveyed either by the composition “The Descent of Christ into Hell”, or “The Myrrh-Bearers and the Angel at the Sepulcher”.

Resurrection of Christ. Mosaic of the temple of the monastery of St. Luke in Phokis (Osios Loukas). 11th century

Descent into hell. Mosaic of the Cathedral of Venice - St. Mark's Basilica. Venice. 11th century Christ tramples on the allegorical figure of Hell - this motif is often found in iconography

Easter or the Resurrection of Christ is not just a holiday. This event, the fact from which Christianity began. The word "Easter" means the transition: from non-existence - to being, from hell - to heaven, from sin and death - to life and immortality.

Resurrection of Christ. A fragment of the epistyle of a templon with images of holidays from the monastery of St. Catherine at Sinai. 12th century

The main fact of the Resurrection of Christ is undeniable: Christianity is more than 2000 years old. Despite the persecutions ancient and new. Despite the theory of evolution, space flights, promises to show the last priest in the 80s of the 20th century. Shaken by an unprecedented event - the resurrection of their Teacher who died on the Cross, the apostles could not remain silent and spread the message to many countries. The apostles recorded the news of the resurrected Christ in the book "Gospel" (from Greek - Good News).

Resurrection of Christ. Image of the Suzdal Golden Gates. 12th century

Appearance of Christ to myrrh-bearing women and Resurrection. Fragment of an ivory diptych. Constantinople. 10th century

Resurrection of Christ. Miniature of a manuscript from the Athos monastery of Iviron. XIII century

Angels on the Holy Sepulcher, Appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene. Fresco by Giotto in Assisi. OK. 1320 g

Resurrection of Christ. Fresco by Manuel Panselin in the Protatus Cathedral on Mount Athos. Late 13th century

Appearance of an Angel to the Myrrh-Bearing Women. Fresco of the Vatopedi monastery on Mount Athos. Early 14th century

Resurrection of Christ. Fresco of the Vatopedi monastery on Mount Athos. Early 14th century

Resurrection of Christ. Icon from the festive row of the Stavronikita monastery on Mount Athos. Mid 16th century. Master Theophan of Crete

Appearance of the Angel to the Myrrh-Bearing Women after the Resurrection of Christ. Icon from the festive row of the Stavronikita monastery on Mount Athos. Mid 16th century. Master Theophan of Crete

Appearance of Christ to the Myrrh-Bearing Women (Our Lady and Mary Magdalene) after the Resurrection. Icon from the festive row of the Stavronikita monastery on Mount Athos. Mid 16th century. Master Theophan of Crete

Thomas' assurance. Icon from the festive row of the Stavronikita monastery on Mount Athos. Mid 16th century. Master Theophan of Crete

But even the apostles did not all immediately believe that Christ had risen from the dead. And one, Thomas, later nicknamed the unbeliever, even asked Christ to touch the wounds on His body with his hands. The resurrected God allowed him to do this. And he answered: “You believed because you saw Me; blessed are those who have not seen and believed” (John 20:28-29). The Lord said this to all those who have not seen the historical Christ, but who are given heartfelt, experiential communion with the risen Christ in the sacrament of Communion.

The Resurrection of Christ and the Descent into Hell (in two different scenes) with scenes of the Procession of the Righteous to Paradise, the Miraculous Catch of Fish by the Apostles, and the Prudent Thief in the Bosom of Abraham. Russian icon of the second half of the 19th century

Appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene. Painting by A. Ivanov. 1835

Resurrection of Christ. Palekh icon of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries

Resurrection of Christ. Mosaic of the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood (St. Petersburg). Turn of XIX-XX centuries

“If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not risen, and if Christ has not risen, then both our preaching and our faith are in vain,” writes the Apostle Paul. There are people who believe in Christ but do not believe in His resurrection. Such faith is really vain, empty. Christ and the Resurrection are inseparable. It was by His resurrection that Christ conquered evil and death. And only by believing in the Risen Lord, we partake of this victory. That is why the Resurrection of Christ is the core of the Orthodox faith, which is expressed in the Easter greeting: "Christ is risen - truly risen!".

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 tell about this - and, based on the texts of Holy Scripture and Tradition, the holy fathers wrote about the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, about the victory of the resurrected Christ over hell and death, and liturgical texts were compiled.

A number of apocrypha are also known. It was much more difficult to depict the Resurrection of Christ itself: there were no eyewitnesses of the mysterious event 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). By at least since 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, this 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). Orthodox icons of the Resurrection of Christ call us to this eternal life.

Bishop Nikolai Balashikhinsky

Material source: Moscow Diocesan Gazette, No. 3-4, 2013

(7 votes : 4.1 out of 5 )

Kopirovskiy A.M., prof.

1. in the "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”, only “Resurrection” is needed, but this is speculation from scratch. 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 spend virtual tour based on this remarkable 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 is here - not frying pans, not flames and not ice, as in " Divine Comedy» Dante, 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 supplement the general idea of ​​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 of the Old Testament here. 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 Russia at that time. But the spiritual ideal of the times 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.

Purify the senses and see impregnable
shining with the light of Christ's resurrection...

(Canon of the Resurrection, Canto 1)

The wondrous Paschal canon - “a solemn song of joy about the Conqueror of death and hell” - along with deep theological reasoning, contains such vivid and figurative descriptions of the very event of the Resurrection of Christ that this creation of St. only to the icon painters themselves, but also to those who seek to understand the meaning of the depicted event.

Let us follow the call cited as an epigraph to our note: let us try to see what was conveyed to us and about which the holy evangelists were reverently silent.

“Now everything is filled with light, heaven and earth and underworld” (Ode 3)… Before turning to the consideration of the plots of the Resurrection of Christ that are rarely found in modern church life, let us dwell on the well-known “Descent into Hell”.

The plot "The Resurrection of Christ - Descent into Hell" can no doubt be called one of the most common iconographic plots. For the Orthodox consciousness, the light of the Resurrection of Christ, which shone even to the underworld, is the same visible reality as the light of Tabor in the iconography of the Transfiguration of the Lord.

Early images of the Descent into Hell date back to the 10th century - these are miniatures of handwritten Gospels (in the Iberian monastery on Athos, etc.) and Psalters (for example, Khludovskaya of the 9th century, which is in the collection of the State Historical Museum). There is an established opinion that the literary basis of the iconography of the Descent into Hell is the Apocrypha - the so-called. "The Gospel of Nicodemus". This work, attributed to the secret disciple of Christ Nicodemus (John 3:1-9, 7:50, 19:39), belongs to the 2nd century, and the second half of the apocrypha may have appeared even in apostolic times. This is precisely the story on behalf of the two resurrected after the Resurrection of Christ sons of the righteous Simeon the God-Receiver about the Descent of Christ into hell: “And a voice was heard like the voices of thunder: Take your gates, princes, and rise up, faiths of hell, and the King of glory will enter.

And the prince of the underworld, seeing that this voice was repeated twice, said, as if not understanding: Who is this King of Glory? David, answering the prince of the underworld, said: I know the words of this exclamation, for they are the same with which I prophesied under the inspiration of His Spirit ... And now, vile and terrible prince of the underworld, open your gates, let the King of Glory enter them. When David spoke these words to the prince of the underworld, the Lord of Majesty descended in the form of a man and illuminated the eternal darkness, and destroyed the inseparable bonds, and the help of invincible power visited us, sitting in the depths of the darkness of sin and in the shadow of the death of sinners.

In the sixteenth century, Saint Macarius completely revised the Russian translation of the Book of Nicodemus and included it in his Great Menaions. So the text of this work spread to Russia; he is known in many lists. The text expanded by Saint Macarius contains not only a vivid description of the event of the Resurrection of Christ; Christ is shown here as the Righteous Judge, to whom the souls of the righteous, saved by Him from the hell of the underworld, offer their prayers.

But it will be fair to note that the Book of Nicodemus is not the only source of the iconography we are considering. About the Descent into hell they say, for example, the prophetic texts of the Psalter: You brought my soul out of hell and revived me (Ps. 29:4); If I ascend to heaven - You are there; if I go down to hell, and there you are (Ps. 139:8). In the prophet Isaiah we read: Hell has set in motion for your sake, to meet you at your entrance (Is. 14:9). The Apostle Peter, addressing the men of Israel and all who live in Jerusalem (Acts 2:31–32), as well as in his epistles, says that, having been revived in the spirit, Christ came down to those in prison and was preached (1 Pet. 3 :18–19). Interpreting the 19th verse of the 67th psalm, the apostle Paul says: "He ascended," what does it mean, if not that He also descended before into the lower places of the earth? He is also the one who ascended above the heavens to fill everything (Eph. 4:9-10); The victory of the Risen Christ over death and hell is also spoken of in 1 Epistle to the Corinthians: ... death was swallowed up in victory. Death! where is your pity? hell! where is your victory?.. Thanks be to God, who gave us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! (1 Cor. 15:54, 55, 57).

Sacred Tradition contains many references to the destruction of hell by the Savior descending into it; St. John Chrysostom, in the “Discourse of the catechumens”, following the prophet and the apostle, exclaims: “Grieve hell… for it has been abolished. Grieve, for you have been mocked. Grieve, for you are dead. Grieve, for lay down... Where is your, death, sting? Where is your, hell, victory? Christ is risen, and thou hast fallen. Christ has risen, and the demons have fallen…” For John of Damascus, who created his creations in the 8th century, the Savior’s descent into hell is already an indisputable fact: “We celebrate the death of death, hellish destruction…” (Song 7).

Let us pay attention to the words of the ikos: “Even before the sun, the Sun, which sometimes entered the tomb ...” In the traditional iconography of the Descent into Hell, the Savior is depicted descending into the underworld, surrounded by radiance, pierced by rays, celestial circles (mandorla) - signifying His divine dignity and glory. The Savior on this icon is, as it were, the sun descending into the underworld. Everything in the Savior is full of rapid movement. The edge of the garment flutters and is lifted by the wind, signifying the lightning speed of the Savior's descent into hell.

The description of the icon of the Descent into Hell that we have given belongs to the monk Gregory (Krug), an outstanding icon painter of the Russian Diaspora. However, together with another remarkable scientist and icon painter, L. N. Uspensky, monk Gregory believed that of all the plots of the Resurrection of Christ, known since early Christian times, “the only appropriate is the image of myrrh-bearing women at the Sepulcher.” Here are his thoughts:

“Repeatedly, disagreements arose in the Church about how this or that holiday, this or that saint, this or that divine-human concept should be depicted on the icon. Cause disagreement and various, accepted in church life, icon images of the Resurrection of Christ. The question arose and continues to arise as to which icons of the Resurrection of Christ correctly express the meaning of the sacred event, and which icons are less perfect and desirable, and which, finally, are completely unacceptable for worship and veneration as false, completely distorting the meaning of the event of the holiday and leading away consciousness believers on the dark paths of false images, feelings and ideas, hindering the comprehension of the event, being an insurmountable barrier to it, and not a door leading into the bright chamber of church celebration.

Supporting the opinion of Leonid Uspensky, monk Gregory writes: “The Resurrection of Christ is a sacrament completely unknown and incomprehensible and cannot be depicted, for in this way the most mysterious nature of the event would be diminished.”

But they tried to depict everything described in the Gospel with sufficient (or rather, accessible for their time) completeness, at least starting from the 3rd century. From the early symbolic images of the Resurrection of Christ - through the prototypes contained in the Old Testament - to documentary illustrativeness, historically accurately reflecting the Gospel texts. Further - the theological understanding of the victory of Christ over hell and death, which made it possible to create wonderful compositions of the Descent into Hell - multi-figured, very expressive (an example is the icon of the late XIV century from the Resurrection Cathedral of the Kolomna Kremlin, now located in the Tretyakov Gallery). A lot of icons depicting the Descent into Hell have been preserved, and this undoubtedly indicates that the theological understanding of the “mystery of the unknown and incomprehensible” was constantly in demand - in demand precisely in the iconographic aspect. In the 17th century the complicated iconography of the Descent into Hell is gaining ground: under the influence of Western painting, the plot “The Rise of Christ from the Sepulcher” is introduced into the composition, and this last plot is increasingly replacing the Descent into Hell familiar to Russian churches. “Rising from the grave” the Savior is usually shown naked, girdled; He hovers over the coffin, holding in his hand a flagpole with a cross on it. There are no serious theological grounds for such a composition.

Historical compositions clearly illustrating the Gospel texts about the apparitions of the Resurrected Savior have not remained only the property of history - they are found both in temple paintings and on icons, however, much less frequently than the Descent into Hell or the Rise from the Tomb. Let's try to trace how the iconography of these, which have become quite rare, plots developed, starting from the moment they appeared.

One of the earliest depictions is a Roman ivory relief plate dating from about 400 (kept in the Bavarian National Museum in Munich).

In a single composition, the Resurrection of Christ and the Ascension are presented here. On the left side, below, the tomb of the Lord is depicted in the form of an ancient mausoleum. It is a cubic brick base with a graceful carved cornice; next to the double-leaf locked door there is a small niche with a relief image of the full-length figure of the buried. The top of the coffin is a rotunda with a carved cornice and decorative two-column arches, above which there are relief shoulder images of the buried's ancestors in medallions. The rotunda is crowned with a dome with a carved decoration in the form of a rosette. A tree (olive) rises above the coffin.

Next to the coffin are sleeping soldiers: one leaned a spear against the coffin and stands with his eyes closed, leaning his elbows on the base of the coffin; the other put his head on his folded arms and sleeps, leaning comfortably on the coffin. Three myrrh-bearing women approach the tomb; their figures express timidity and surprise: they saw an angel sitting at the entrance to the tomb. An angel (at that time angels were still depicted without wings) with a pointing gesture announces to the myrrh-bearing women about the Resurrection of Christ.

The scene of the Ascension is depicted in the upper right part of the relief. The Savior (He is depicted as a beardless youth) climbs the mountainside; the right hand of God the Father is stretched out towards Him from the cloudy segment. A little lower, also on the slope of the mountain, there are two apostles. One of them reverently covered his face with his hands and knelt down; the other, clasping his hands in astonishment, kneels down.

Separate plots of this composition received further development and are found in later images, but there are no direct analogues of this composition.

In later images of the myrrh-bearing wives at the tomb, an angel points them to the shroud lying in the open tomb. The image of the Angel, announcing the Resurrection of Christ to the myrrh-bearing women standing at the empty tomb, for several centuries remained in Byzantine iconography the only image of the Resurrection.

In a famous fresco in the Serbian monastery of Mileshev (c. 1236), an angel in shining white robes sits at the open entrance to a tomb cave and points to a shroud lying there. The image of the Angel corresponds to the description given by the Evangelist Matthew: the Angel of the Lord, who descended from heaven, having approached, rolled away the stone from the door of the tomb and sat on it; his appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were as white as snow (Matt. 28:2, 3).

“This icon depicts wives bringing ointment to the tomb of the Savior and being certified by an angel about the Resurrection of Christ. In front of the wives, the empty coffin of the Savior is depicted with the swaddling clothes left and the holy sir lying separately. An angel in snow-white robes, seated on a rolled-off stone of the tomb, proclaims to the wives good news. Sometimes not one, but two Angels are depicted. Based on the gospel narratives, the Angel or Angels are the first witnesses and eyewitnesses of the Resurrection of Christ, one must think, the first interlocutors of the Savior after His Resurrection.

The described composition is fully consistent with the text of the Hypakoy of Holy Easter: “Having anticipated the morning even about Mary and found the stone rolled away from the tomb, I hear from the Angel: in the light of the ever-present Existing with the dead, what are you looking for, like a person? You see graven sheets: preach to the world, as the Lord has risen, killing death ... ”This text also fully explains the fact that in the Orthodox tradition the moment of the Resurrection of Christ was considered indescribable.

The moment of the Resurrection was considered indescribable, but not the meeting with the Risen Christ, described in detail by the evangelists. The first of them, described by John the Theologian (John 19:11-17), is known in iconography (of Western origin) under the name "Noli Me tangere" - "Do not touch Me!" (John 19:17).

It is interesting to compare the liturgical texts with the peculiarities of the iconography of this and subsequent meetings of the disciples with the Resurrected Savior. The plate from the Munich Museum described above echoes the Sunday troparion of the 1st tone: “The stone is sealed from the Jews ...” Mary Magdalene standing at the tomb is mentioned in the troparion of the 6th tone (“...and Mary stood in the tomb, looking for Your Most Pure Body”). The Descent into Hell is spoken of in the troparion of the 2nd tone: “When thou hast descended to death, Life Immortal, then thou hast slain hell with the radiance of the Divine…”; 6 voices: "Thou hast captivated hell..."

The rites of the Weeks after Easter contain reminiscences and comprehension of the meetings of the disciples with the Risen Christ; these appearances of the Risen One are also reflected in iconography. The most famous composition is "Assurance of Thomas". The composition has been spreading since the beginning of the 11th century; the earliest monument is the mosaics of the cathedral of the monastery of Hosios Loukas in Phokis. By the middle of the XI century. relates the image of the Assurance of Thomas on the fresco of St. Sophia of Kiev. The “Blessed Twin”, testing the perforated ribs of his Resurrected Teacher with his “curious right hand”, has become one of the most frequently encountered characters in compositions dedicated to the Resurrected Savior.

Somewhat less common are compositions with Mary Magdalene (“Do not touch Me!”) and with myrrh-bearing wives. Of the earliest images, one can name beautiful mosaics

6th century Cathedral of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna and the frescoes of St. Sophia of Kiev.

We note an interesting detail of the composition with Mary Magdalene, which confirms the Western origin of this plot. Mary Magdalene was depicted on her knees, with her hair loose. This is how Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary is depicted on a Cretan icon of the 16th century. and on a fresco of the same time in the Cathedral of St. Nicholas of the Athos Monastery of Stavronikita.

Another rare story related to the appearance of the Risen Christ to His disciples is a meeting in Galilee; it is also called "Sending Disciples to Sermon." The earliest depiction is in our St. Sophia of Kiev.

The cycle of frescoes of the 16th century is very interesting. depicting the apparitions of the Resurrected Christ in the Stavronikita monastery already mentioned: it practically illustrates the Sunday gospel readings. These frescoes immediately follow the depiction of the Passion of Christ. After the plot of the Lamentation of Christ and the Entombment, the composition “Myrrh-Bearing Wives at the Tomb” follows. In contrast to the ancient relief image, the details of the gospel story are presented here quite accurately: the tomb of Christ, carved into a rocky mountain, is covered with a heavy stone; the stone is “sealed from the Jews” - tied twice with a strong rope, over which a seal is applied.

In another part of the composition, the Angel “sitting on the stone of the tomb” shows the myrrh-bearers to the linens lying in the tomb and the head-cloth, which was on His head, not lying with linens, but especially entwined in another place (John 20: 7).

This is followed by the plots "Assurance of Thomas", "The Appearance of the Risen Christ to the Apostles in Galilee", "The Appearance at Emmaus". All compositions are saturated with a mass of subtle details, not only illustrating, but sometimes commenting on the gospel story. So, in the plot “The Apparition at Emmaus”, silent witnesses of the conversation of Christ in Luke and Cleopas appear - these are servants serving food to the participants in the wonderful dinner at Emmaus. There are three of them: a maid leaning out of the window and serving bowls of food to the servants, and two servants bringing dishes to the table. They are in characteristic headdresses - one in a Syrian head scarf, the other in a high fur hat.

In the cycle of frescoes illustrating the gospel readings of the Weeks after Easter, there are also scenes of the healing of the paralytic (week 4), the conversation with the Samaritan woman (week 5), the healing of the blind (week 6). Another image, amazing in its laconic expressiveness, is the third appearance of the Risen Christ to His disciples (The Miraculous Fishing of John 21:1-14). This composition has been known since the 13th century, for the first time it is found in the painting of the Hagia Sophia in Trebizond. On the Athos fresco, as always, a lot of interesting details are shown: this is the net abandoned on the right side of the boat - the apostles-fishermen unsuccessfully try to pull it out. This is the Apostle Peter, “girded with an ependite”, swimming to the shore, this is a fish laid out on fire. The frescoes of Stavronikita were painted in the 16th century. Cretan artist Theophanes.

Further development of the iconography of the Resurrected Christ followed the path of complicating the composition and introducing additional details into it. Such, for example, is the Yaroslavl icon “The Rise of Christ from the Sepulcher and the Descent into Hell” of the late 17th century. from the church of Elijah the Prophet. Along with the familiar stories of the Resurrection of Christ and the apparitions of the Resurrected Christ, the Yaroslavl icon presents a huge number of characters and new stories.

Here are some of these new composition details. In the lower left corner of the icon there is a dungeon, against the background of which angels beat the personified hell or Satan. In the upper right corner, an angel leads a long line of saved righteous people to paradise. The first to enter Paradise, where Enoch and Elijah are already, is the prudent thief; he holds a cross in his hand.

The upper part of the icon - Western iconography - is the "Rise of Christ" with the guards who fell on their faces and the Savior hovering above them. The lower half is the Descent into Hell of traditional Orthodox iconography. In addition to scenes related to the Resurrected Christ, the icon also presents scenes of the passionate cycle: the Crucifixion, the Entombment. Above the "Rising of Christ" is a miniature Ascension of the Lord. Apparently, iconographic innovations can be explained by the desire to illustrate in detail the liturgical texts of Pascha; in a brief form, their content is presented in the Paschal kontakion: “Yes, you descended into the grave, Immortal, but you destroyed the power of hell, and you rose again like a conqueror, Christ God. Prophetic to the myrrh-bearing women: Rejoice, and grant peace to your apostle, give resurrection to the fallen.

The long historical path of the formation of the iconography of the Resurrection of Christ provides examples of unexpected artistic decisions related to the theological understanding of not only the texts of Holy Scripture, but also its patristic interpretations, liturgical texts, as well as borrowings from the Western iconographic tradition - not always justified, but sometimes very interesting.

Archpriest Nikolai Pogrebnyak

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