The

SPECTACLE

A Lenten devotion on the

Passion of Jesus Christ
“The works of the LORD are great,
Studied by all who have pleasure in
them”
Psalm 111:2

“there was NO incidental detail of this ritual abuse and

humiliation; each was an action toward Christ meeting the
criteria of a sin-offering as prescribed by God Himself.
Both the Jews and Romans contributed unwittingly to
fulfilling every prophetic foreshadowing in the sacrifice-
liturgy of the Temple. There was no length to which Christ
did not go to be our Saviour . . .‖
PROLOGUE
In this last installment of the series, we take a slight
departure from the emphasis on archeological and historical
evidence that validates or contextualizes the Gospel
accounts. This will be more of a theological journey into a
profound spiritual reality, invisible to human eyes.
One emphasis that remains critical is recovering how the
Apostles understood all of the OT as pointing to Christ‘s
ministry and works. As Paul said:
Acts 24:14 ―But this I confess unto thee, that after the
way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of
my fathers, believing all things which are written in
the law and in the prophets.‖
Acts 28:23 And when they had appointed him a day,
there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he
expounded and testified the kingdom of God,
persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the
law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning
till evening.
Some of this teaching is preserved in the NT itself. Much
more was passed on to the next generation of disciples by
the Apostles, as evidenced by the early Church fathers.
Even the ancient liturgies and lectionaries associated with
Holy Feast days commemorated Christ‘s works as
foreshadowed in the OT. So we begin this journey….
CHAPTER 6: The ―Harrowing of Hell‖
The Eastern Orthodox preserve a liturgy known as the
―Great Vespers on Holy Saturday‖ of Passion week, in
which the 15th reading is the story of the ―Three Hebrew
Children‖ from Daniel 3, and the singing of the ―Hymn of
Azariah.‖1 The associated icon can be seen in this modern
example:

1
The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Young Men appear between Dan 3:23 and Dan 3:24 in Greek, Syriac, and Latin
translations of Daniel. Most modern scholars conclude on the basis of internal evidence that there probably was an original Semitic
edition of these additions to Daniel. K. Koch (Deuterokanonische Zusätze zum Danielbuch, 1:19-39) has argued that the Aramaic text
is preserved in the medieval Jewish Chronicle of Jerahmeel. The date of composition of the song is also uncertain, although most
scholars favor a date either in the second or first century B.C. This material shows clear literary affinities with certain Old Testament
compositions, especially some of the Psalms, and it was in fact probably modeled after such biblical compositions.
Sacred icons are timeless in the sense that they faithfully
preserve traditions going back many centuries. In this
particular case, they even go back to the first centuries of
Christianity. We find this image a recurrent theme among
frescoes of the third century, preserved in the catacombs of
Rome. Often, it is juxtaposed with the image of ―Daniel in
the Lions‘ Den,‖ as in the following:

Catacomb of Vigna Massimo fresco

One of the earliest examples of Christian artwork is in a

cubiculum of the catacombs of Priscilla, where a prophetic
figure points to the ―Three Hebrew children‖ in the furnace.

But why was this image so conspicuous among early

Christians wanting to express their faith in Christ as Lord
and Savior? And what is the connection with the Liturgies
of ―Holy Saturday‖?
They often used OT imagery to express their faith to
fellow-believers, while trying to evade persecutors. They
used those stories and images that might be mistaken as
merely Jewish [a religio licita, unlike Christianity], but that
specifically foreshadowed Christ in some way, based on
Apostolic teaching. Sometimes, they also combined generic
―Gentile‖ imagery, as in the juxtaposition of the ―Three
Hebrew Children‖ with the story of the Phoenix:2

Our first clue comes from Clement of Rome [the fellow-

laborer of Paul, Phil 4:33], who in his epistle4 calls the
Phoenix ―a wonderful symbol from the east‖5 [ad Cor 25:1-
2] of the resurrection. Tertullian elaborates:

2
The story respecting the phœnix is mentioned by Herodotus (ii. 73) and by Pliny (Nat. Hist., x. 2.). The history of the phoenix can be
found in early Egyptian inscriptions (2500 BCE in the Heliopolitan mythology of Atum/Re).
3
ORIGEN [Comm. John 1:29] identifies Paul‘s Clement with the bishop of Rome. There are references to his letter by the middle of
the next century in the works of Hegesippus and Dionysius of Corinth (apud Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 3.16; 4.22; 4.23).
4
JAT Robinson dated the epistle to early AD 70 [Redating the New Testament (1976)]. Alvar Ellegård has argued for a date as early
as the sixties of the 1st century in his Jesus [Overlook TP (April 1, 2002)].
5
The Jewish tragedy writer, Ezekiêlos, agrees more nearly with the statement of Arabia being the home of the phoenix.
 ―God even in His own Scripture says: "The righteous
shall flourish like the phoenix;" [justus velut phoenix
florebit] that is, shall flourish or revive, from death,
from the grave-to teach you to believe that a bodily
substance may be recovered even from the fire‖ [de
resurrectione carnis, xiii].

Tertullian refers to the Septuagint version of Psalm 92:12

[δίθαηος ὡς φοῖνιξ], similar to Job 29:18 - "I shall multiply
my days as the [‫ ]כחול‬phoenix" (Job 29:18).6

This recurrent theme of ―fire‖ is clarified by Jerome in the

4th century, in his commentary on the book of Daniel.
Referring to the account of Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego, he preserves the traditional teaching of the early
Church when he states:
―But as for its typical significance, this angel or son of
God foreshadows our Lord Jesus Christ, who

6
The Septuagint [φοίνικος], and Jewish interpreters [Gen. R. 19:15.2; Midrash Sam. 12; Yalkut in loc. par. 1. fol. 152.2] favor the
translation, "the phoenix bird"; "Nest" in the parallel clause supports the reference to a bird; Jarchi in loc; cf. Sanhedrin 108b,
according to which ‫ חול‬is only another name for the bird ‫ ;אורׁשינא‬cf. De Ave Phoenice (Lactantius, ca. 300 CE)
 descended into the furnace of hell, in which the
souls of both sinners and of the righteous were
imprisoned.‖7

Etching of ancient Christian sarcophagus depicting Christ in the midst of the fire
with the “Three Hebrew Children”

Jerome is referring to the ancient Church symbolum of the

Christian faith, the Apostles’ Creed, and specifically lines 4
and 5: ―…crucified, died, and was buried. 5. He descended
into hell.‖8 Though this line embarrasses some modern
Christian thinkers, it was a core doctrine since apostolic

7
He adds, ―7: His throne consists of fiery flames, in order that sinners may tremble before the severity of the (669) torments [of hell],
and also that the just may be saved, but so as by fire… And in the Psalms we read: "Fire goeth before Him, and He shall set aflame all
His enemies round about Him" (Ps. 96:3). A rushing, fiery stream proceeded from before Him in order that it might carry sinners to
hell (Gehenna).‖
8
―crucifixus, mortuus, et sepultus, descendit ad ínferos” cp. Eph 4:9 Vulgate: descendit primum in inferiores partes terrae;
θαηειζόληα εἰς ηὰ θαηώηαηα Compare Ephesians 4:9, "θαηέβε εἰς ηὰ θαηώηερα κέρε ηῆς γῆς"
times. In the first recorded sermon preached by Peter, we
find him quoting Psalm 16:10,
Acts 2:27 ―‗Because thou wilt not leave my soul in
hell [αδοσ - Hades9], neither wilt thou suffer thine
Holy One10 to see corruption‘11….Acts 2:31 ―He
seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ,
that His soul was not left in hell [αδοσ – Hades],
neither did His flesh see corruption.‖
In the Latin version, the phrase in the Apostles‘ Creed,
"descended into hell" uses the same word as in Acts,
chapter 2: inferno. Peter is thus the first witness that Psalm
16:10 is a reference to the two-fold nature of the disposition
of Christ‘s Body and Soul after death. In a similar way,
Irenaeus clarifies that,
―This event was also an indication of the fact, that
when the holy soul of Christ descended [to Hades],
many souls ascended.‖12
Irenaeus‘ witness is valuable because he often refers to the
―tradition of the elders‖ in his interpretation and
explanation of OT passages. He was a disciple of Polycarp,

9
The Textus Receptus here reads εης αδοσ (genitive case) like the Attic idiom with δοκολ (i.e., ―in the abode of Hades‖) understood.
In Luke 16:23, it is applied to the place where the rich man was after death, in a state of punishment: ―In hell (Hades) he lifted up his
eyes, being in torments.‖
10
. The reading here in the Hebrew text is in the plural, ―thy holy ones‖; the marginal reading in Qeri‘, is in the singular, ―thine Holy
One.‖ The singular form is followed by the Aramaic Paraphrase, the Latin Vulgate, the Septuagint, the Arabic, and in the New
Testament, Ac 2:27. The Masoretes have also pointed the text as if it were in the singular. Many manuscripts and earlier editions of
the Hebrew Bible, and all the ancient versions, read it in the same manner.
11
Corruption here means putrefaction in the grave. The word which is used in the Psalm—shahath, is thus used in Job 17:14: ―I have
said to corruption, Thou art my father,‖ etc. The Greek word can mean destruction or putrefaction from δηαθζεηρφ, old word, but in
N.T. only here and Ac 13:34-37
12
Frag. 27, on 2Kgs 6:6
the bishop of Smyrna (one the famed ―churches of Asia‖ to
which Revelation was addressed), who was a personal
disciple of the Apostle John.13 Polycarp reminded the
Philippian brethren that,
―our Lord Jesus Christ, who for our sins suffered even
unto death, ‗whom God raised from the dead, [Christ]
having loosed the pangs of Hades‘‖ [1.2, cp Acts
2.24].
Ignatius of Antioch [another disciple of the Apostle John14]
referred to this two-fold aspect of His passion on ―Holy
Saturday‖:
―He descended, indeed, into Hades alone….During the
Sabbath He continued under the earth in the tomb in
which Joseph of Arimathæa had laid Him. At the
dawning of the Lord‘s day, He arose from the dead,
according to what was spoken by Himself, ‗As Jonah
was three days and three nights in the whale‘s belly,
so shall the Son of man also be three days and three

13
Irenaeus: ―But Polycarp also was not only instructed by apostles, and conversed with many who had seen Christ, but was also, by
apostles in Asia, appointed bishop of the Church in Smyrna, whom I also saw in my early youth, for he tarried a very long time, and,
when a very old man, gloriously and most nobly suffering martyrdom, departed this life, having always taught the things which he had
learned from the apostles, and which the Church has handed down, and which alone are true‖ [Adv. Haer., III.3.4]; I can even describe
the place where the blessed Polycarp used to sit and discourse-his going out, too, and his coming in-his general mode of life and
personal appearance, together with the discourses which he delivered to the people; also how he would speak of his familiar
intercourse with John, and with the rest of those who had seen the Lord; and how he would call their words to remembrance.
Whatsoever things he had heard from them respecting the Lord, both with regard to His miracles and His teaching, Polycarp having
thus received [information] from the eye-witnesses of the Word of life, would recount them all in harmony with the Scriptures. These
things, through, God's mercy which was upon me, I then listened to attentively, and treasured them up not on paper, but in my heart;
and I am continually, by God's grace, revolving these things accurately in my mind‖ [Ep. ad Florinus]; ―For neither could Anicetus
persuade Polycarp to forego the observance [in his own way], inasmuch as these things had been always [so] observed by John the
disciple of our Lord, and by other apostles with whom he had been conversant; nor, on the other hand, could Polycarp succeed in
persuading Anicetus to keep [the observance in his way], for he maintained that he was bound to adhere to the usage of the presbyters
who preceded him.‖ [Ep. ad Pope Victor]
14
According to Jerome‘s version of Eusebius‘ Chronicon; according to Theodoret [Dial.Immutab. I.4.33a], he was ordained successor
to Evodius as bishop of Antioch by Peter [affirmed by John Chrys. Hom in St.Ig 4, Natalis Alex. 3.12.15]
 nights in the heart of the earth‘‖ Matt. xii. 40 [ad Trall
9.2].
John Damascene15 penned lines which sum up the descent
of Christ into Hades [as foreshadowed in Old (and fulfilled
in the New) Testament] in Eastern patristic writings from
the 2nd8th centuries:
The soul [of Christ] when it is deified descended into
Hades, in order that, just as the Sun of Righteousness
rose [Mal 4:2] for those upon the earth, so likewise He
might bring light to those who sit under the earth in
darkness and the shadow of death [Isa 9:2], in order
that just as he brought the message of peace to those
upon the earth, and of release to the prisoners, and of
sight to the blind [Isa 61:1-2, Luke 4:18-19], and
became to those who believed the Author of
everlasting salvation and to those who did not believe,
a denunciation of their unbelief, so He might become
the same to those in Hades: That every knee should
bow to Him, of things in heaven, and things in earth
and things under the earth [Phil. 2:10.]. And thus after
He had freed those who had been bound for ages,
straightway He rose again from the dead, showing us
the way of resurrection [The Exact Exposition of
Orthodox Faith 3, 29].
In Eastern Christianity, Holy Saturday is also known as the
―Great Sabbath‖ – the day when, as regards the Body, our
Lord rested from all His works, and yet accomplished so
much as regards His Soul. Ignatius also clarifies why the

15
Arab Christian monk and priest (c. 676 – 4 December 749); http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Damascus
most popular image by far,16 among Christians expressing
their faith in the resurrection, was the story of Jonah.

Third century “Jonah Sarcophagus” showing Jonah fed to the great fish, being
vomited ashore, and resting beneath a gourd

Christ did not parallel solely the length of the stay, but also
the state and nature of Jonah‘s time in the ―depths‖. As
quoted in the liturgy of the ―Great Vespers,‖
―From the bowels of Hades my cry; you heard my
voice.17 You cast me into the depths of the heart of the
sea....Water encompassed me, even to my soul:18 the
final Abyss closed round me. My head19 went down to
the clefts of the mountains. I descended into the earth,
whose bars are eternal barriers‖ [Jon 2:2-6, LXX].

16
David Balch, Chapter 8. ―From Endymion in Roman Domus to Jonah in Christian Catacombs: From Houses of the Living to Houses
for the Dead. Iconography and Religion in Transition.‖ Commemorating the Dead Texts and Artifacts in Context. Studies of Roman,
Jewish and Christian Burials, ed Saller, R, [Berlin, New York (Walter de Gruyter) 2008, Pages 273–302.
17
(Tertullian, de Orat. Section 17. p. 311. Oxford Translation) ―Not of the voice but of the heart is God the Hearer, as He is the Seer.
Do the ears of God wait for sound? How then could the prayer of Jonah from the inmost belly of the whale, through the bowels of so
great a creature, out of the very bottomless depths, through so great a mass of waters, make its way to heaven?‖ (Augustine in Psalm
30) ―Loud crying to God is not with the voice but with the heart. Many, silent with their lips, have cried aloud with their heart; many,
noisy with their lips, could, with heart turned away, obtain nothing. If then thou criest, cry within, where God heareth.‖ (Gregory in
Psalm 6. Poenit. L.) ―Jonah cried aloud to God out of the fish‘s belly, out of the deep of the sea, out of the depths of disobedience; and
his prayer reached to God, Who rescued him from the waves, brought him forth out of the vast creature, absolved him from the guilt.
Let the sinner too cry aloud, whom, departing from God, the storm of desires overwhelmed, the malignant Enemy devoured, the
waves of this present world sucked under! Let him own that he is in the depth, that so his prayer may reach to God.‖
18
So the Targum, "the waters surrounded me unto death.''
19
In the Hebrew, he was bound motionless, ―the weed was wrapped around my head, like a grave-band.‖
Jonah shifts perspective a number of times in his prayer,
between the state of his body and the state of his soul. In
the above relief, we also find a depiction of Noah, receiving
the returning dove into his ark.20 The apostle Peter also
connected the story of Noah with Christ‘s ―descent into
hell.‖

1Pet 3:18-22 For Christ also hath once suffered for

sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to
God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by
the Spirit: By which also he went and preached
unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were
disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God
waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a
preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved
by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth
also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of
the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward
God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: Who is gone
into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels
and authorities and powers being made subject unto
him…. 4:5-6 who shall give account to Him that is
ready to judge the quick and the dead. For this cause
the gospel was preached also to them that are dead,

20
Jewish midrash also connected the symbolic meaning of Jonah‘s and Noah‘s narrative; see Shalsheleth ha-Kabalah 74a-75b,
Josippon 1.239,379,385.
 that they might be judged according to men in the
flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

This passage is part of the Common Lectionary for the

Saturday of Holy Week. Clement of Alexandria - the pupil
of Pantaeus, who was a hearer ―of some the Apostles
themselves‖21 – clearly understood Peter referring to
Christ‘s descent into hell. Commenting on 1 Pet. 3:1821,
Clement expresses the conviction that the preaching of
Christ was addressed to all those in hell who were able to
believe in Christ:
―Do not [Scriptures] show that the Lord preached the
Gospel to those that perished in the flood, or rather
had been chained, and to those kept ‗in ward and
guard‘?…. the Saviour also exerts His might because
it is His work to save; which accordingly He also did
by drawing to salvation those who became willing, by
the preaching, to believe on Him, wherever they were.
If, then, the Lord descended to Hades for no other end
but to preach the Gospel, as He did descend, it was
either to preach the Gospel to all or to the Hebrews
only‖ [Stromateis 6, 6.].22

21
According to Photius (Cod 118); head of the theological school founded by St Mark in Alexandria [Eus Ecc.Hist 5.10.1; Jerome
de.Viri.Ill 36, and Ad.Magnus 4]; Clement of Alexandria states he was among those ―preserving the true tradition of the blessed
doctrine, directly from the holy apostles.‖ (via Eusebius EH 5.11). Anastasius of Sinai (7th cent.), in his Contemplations on the
Hexaemeron even links Papias and Pantaenus among the earliest Christian commentators of Genesis. head of the theological school
founded by St Mark in Alexandria [Eus Ecc.Hist 5.10.1; Jerome de.Viri.Ill 36, and Ad.Magnus 4]
22
Clement taught this preaching did not prove salutory for all to whom Christ preached in hell: ‗Did not the same dispensation obtain
in Hades, so that even there, all the souls, on hearing the proclamation, might either exhibit repentance, or confess that their
punishment was just, because they believed not?‘ [ibid]. An elaborate teaching of the descent of Christ into Hades is found in
Maximus the Confessor. In his analysis, Maximus takes as a starting point the words of St. Peter: ‗For this cause was the gospel
preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit‘:
As the sarcophagi and catacomb artwork demonstrate, early
Christians saw ―Daniel in the Lions‘ Den‖ foreshadowing
line 4 [―was buried‖], while Nebuchadnezzar‘s fiery
furnace typified line 5 [―He descended into hell‖] of the
―Apostles‘ Creed.‖

1st century depiction of “Daniel in the Lions’ Den” in Christian catacomb of Domitilla

Besides these ―foreshadowings,‖ the Apostolic Church saw

direct prophecies of the descent in the OT. By divine
revelation (Christ‘s own teaching), the Apostles knew
Psalm 68 referred to the Messiah. Commenting on 68:18,
Paul writes: ―Now that he ascended, what is it but that he
also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?‖ [Eph
4:9].

―These people were punished not so much for their ignorance of God as for the offences they imposed on one another. It was to them,
according to [St Peter] that the great message of salvation was preached when they were already damned as men in the flesh, that is,
when they received, through life in the flesh, punishment for crimes against one another, so that they could live according to God by
the spirit, that is, being in hell, they accepted the preaching of the knowledge of God, believing in the Saviour who descended into hell
to save the dead. So, in order to understand [this] passage in [Holy Scriptures] let us take it in this way: the dead, damned in the
human flesh, were preached to precisely for the purpose that they may live according to God by the spirit‖ [Questions-answers to
Thalassius 7.]
The word for "lower parts" (the comparative form: ηὰ
θαηώηερα) is similar to the word used for "Hell" in the
Greek version of the Apostles Creed (the superlative form:
ηὰ θαηώηαηα, English: "lowest [places]"). And on whose
behalf did he do this? According to Irenaeus,
He aroused them, and made them stand up, in token
that His passion is the arousing of His sleeping
disciples, on whose account ―He also descended into
the lower parts of the earth‖ [Adv Haer 4.22.1].

Paul goes further. In Rom. 10:7 he asks, ―‗who will go

down to the abyss?‘(that is, to bring up Christ from the
dead),‖ referring to the same abyss to which Jonah‘s soul
descended, and which the legion of demons so feared that
Christ might send them [Luke 8:30-31]. Here, Paul
connects Deut 30:12-13 with the story of Jonah as type of
Christ, in a manner similar to a Jewis interpretation in the
Jerusalem Targum on Deuteronomy:
―The law is not in heaven that it should be said, ‗Oh
that we had one of us, as Moses the prophet, who
could go up to heaven and bring it to us!‘ Nor is it
beyond the great sea, that it should be said, ‗Oh that
we had one of us, as Jonah the prophet, who could
descend into the depths of the great sea," [abr amy
yqmwel twxyyd] and bring it to us.‘‖
 Detail of “Jonah Cycle” that forms centerpiece of 3rd century Jewish
Synagogue mosaic, beneath the Basilica of Aquileia23

Irenaeus refers to the two-fold nature of Christ‘s suffering,

―Since the Lord thus has redeemed us through His own
blood, giving 1) His soul for our souls, and 2) His flesh for
our flesh‖ [Adv Haer 5.1.1]. In this statement, Irenaeus is
passing on the same Apostolic teaching as Clement of
Rome, who writes:
―On account of the love He bore us, Jesus Christ our
Lord gave His blood for us by the will of God; His

23
See Samuel Kurinsky, ―The Jews of Aquilea A Judaic Community - Lost to History‖
http://www.hebrewhistory.info/factpapers/fp028_aquilea.htm
 flesh for our flesh, and His soul for our souls‖ [ad Cor
49.6].
This goes to the heart of His Passion, and the nature of our
redemption. Irenaeus, passing on ―the tradition of the
elders,‖ writes:

And therefore,… all those who have been enrolled for

life shall rise again, having their own bodies, and
having also their own souls, and their own spirits, in
which they had pleased God. [Adv Haer 2.33.5]; But
every one will allow that we are [composed of] a body
taken from the earth, and a soul, receiving spirit from
God [3.22.1]; Man, and not [merely] a part of man,
was made in the likeness of God. Now the soul and the
spirit are certainly a part of the man, but certainly not
the man; for the perfect man consists in the
commingling and the union of the soul receiving the
spirit of the Father, and the admixture of that fleshly
nature which was molded after the image of God
[5.6.1]; For this [―mortal body,‖ Rom 8.11] it is which
dies and is decomposed, but not the soul, or the spirit
[5.7.1
This understanding of the nature of Man was universal in
the early Church,24 based squarely on the teachings of the

24
Justin Martyr on the Resurrection X: ―The resurrection is a resurrection of the flesh which died. For the spirit dies not; the soul is in
the body, and without a soul it cannot live. The body, when the soul forsakes it, is not. For the body is the house of the soul; and the
soul the house of the spirit‖; APOLOGY of ARISTIDES [to Hadrian]: VII. ―And those who believed of the men of the past, that
some of them were gods, they too were much mistaken. For as you yourself allow, O King, man is constituted of the four
Apostles. Writing to the Thessalonians, Paul expresses his
desire that ―the very God of peace sanctify you wholly‖
[1Th 5:23]. What constitutes this ―wholeness‖? He clarifies
by continuing: ―I pray God your whole spirit and soul and
body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ.‖

The epistle to the Hebrews confirms that the distinction

between ―soul‖ and ―spirit‖ - though more subtle - is very
real: ―His Word can cut through our spirits and souls, and
through our joints and marrow, until it discovers the desires
and thoughts of our hearts‖ [Heb 4:12]. So, by analogy:

elements[=physical body], and of a soul, and a spirit (and hence he is called a microcosm), and without any one of these parts he
could not consist‖; Tatian to the Greeks 15: ―The bond of the flesh is the soul; [δεζκὸς δὲ ηοῦ ζαρθὸς υστὴ.] that which encloses the
soul is the flesh. Such is the nature of man‘s constitution; and, if it be like a temple, God is pleased to dwell in it by the spirit‖;
Macarius Magnes Apocritica xvii: ―Why then should not Christ similarly compare the kingdom of heaven to "leaven"? For it is the
small leaven that fits large quantities of meal for man's food, and this is the way the kingdom affects human society. The woman who
took the meal is obviously creation, and the "three measures" of it are either present, past, or future; man's body, soul, and spirit‖;
Augustine wrote: "... there are three things of which man consists - namely spirit, soul, and body" [Faith and the Creed XX:23], et al.
Paul speaks analogically of man‘s threefold nature when he
asks, ―What? know ye not that your body is the temple of
the Holy Ghost which is in you‖ [1Cor 6:19].
Diagrammatically:

Adam was created unique among creation, bearing the

―image of God‖ [Gen 1:27] - and most especially as regards
the soul:
When Adam sinned, and did so knowingly (1Tim 2:14),
this image became corrupted in all its aspects – body, soul,
and spirit. He became mortal, and incapable of perfect
communion with his Creator. His own ―fallen image‖ was
all that Adam was capable of passing on to his offspring:
―And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a
son in his own likeness, after his image‖ [Gen 5:3].

This ―fallen image‖ is all that we are capable of inheriting:

Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into
the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon
all men,….1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die,…
Though fallen, he retains a distinguishing imago dei25
[James 3:9, 1Cor 11:7], by which he is capable of (and
responsible for) his own free moral choices. Scripture
reveals that humanity is supernaturally invested with a
―conscious‖ [another aspect of the ―image of God‖
imprinted on the soul, Rom 2:14-15] that convicts each
individual of what is moral and immoral behavior. Despite
this, the ―fallen image‖ is incapable of doing good:
Gen 6:5 And God saw that the wickedness of man
[Adam] was great in the earth, and that every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil
continually.
Ecc 9:3 Yea, also the heart of the sons of men [Adam]
is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they
live, and after that they go to the dead.
Psa 14:2-3 The LORD looked down from heaven upon
the children of men [Adam], to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God. 3 They are all gone
aside, they are all together become filthy: there is
none that doeth good, no, not one.
In his great letter to the monks of Constantinople,
Theodoret states, "the Only-Begotten Son of God taking
both body and soul...," and adds,

25
Cyril of Jersualem Catech. 14.10 ―At that time God said, ‗let us make man after our image and after our likeness‘ [Gen 1:26], And
the image he received, but the likeness through his disobedience he obscured. At the same season then in which he lost this the
restoration also took place. At the same season as the created man through disobedience was cast out of Paradise, he who believed
was through obedience brought in. Our Salvation then took place at the same season as the Fall: when the flowers appeared, and the
pruning was come‖ [On the tradition that the Creation took place at this season, see S. Ambrose, Hexæmeron, I. c. 4, § 13]. Melito
―Yes, man was divided up into parts by Death. Yes, an extraordinary misfortune and captivity enveloped him: he was dragged away
captive under the shadow of death, and the image of the Father remained there desolate‖ [Peri Pascha 56].
 "For if the body only of Adam sinned, it would have
needed that this alone should reap the cure; but since
the soul not only sinned with it but also before it (for
thought first outlines the sin, then works it through the
body), it were right that it too obtain healing" (Ep. 145
init.).
Thus, Christ‘s complete sacrifice of body, soul, and spirit
was required to redeem the ―whole man‖ – body, soul, and
spirit. What exactly did Christ accomplish by His Soul‘s
descent to Hades/Sheol?

Anastasis icon, Theophanes of Crete, 1535

Here again, iconography gives us a starting point. At the
bottom, we see two huddled figures commiserating in
despair, along side the broken gates of brass [Psa 107:16].
This element was not due to creative license of the 16th
century iconographer. We find the same two huddle figures
in the 5th century depiction of the Harrowing of Hell,
sculpted on the columns of the Ciborium in the Basilica S.
Marco:

But we can go back further. Melito [who inherited the seat

of ―the angel of Sardis‖26 in the 2nd century] identified these
two figures when he wrote, regarding Christ‘s descent into
hell,
―‗Who is my opponent? I,‘ he says, ‗am the Christ. I
am the one who destroyed Death, and triumphed over
the enemy, and trampled Hades under foot‘‖ [Peri
Pascha 102].

26
A letter of Polycrates of Ephesus to Pope Victor about 194 (Eusebius, Church History V.24) states that "Melito the eunuch [this is
interpreted "the virgin" by Rufinus in his translation of Eusebius], whose whole walk was in the Holy Spirit", was interred at Sardis,
and had been one of the great authorities in the Church of Asia. His name is cited also in the Labyrinth of Hippolytus as one of the
second-century writers who taught the duality of natures in Jesus. St. Jerome, speaking of the OT canon of Melito, quotes Tertullian's
statement that he was esteemed a prophet by many of the faithful.
While modern Christians are trained to take such imagery
as poetic, or metaphorical, the ancient Church took them
quite seriously – and literally. This was based on the
apostolic revelation in the New Testament itself. For
example, we learn that ―Death‖ [Thanatos] & ―Hell‖
[Hades] are not merely states or locales, but the powers and
principalities over those realms as well:
―And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name
that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with
him. And power was given unto them27 over the fourth
part of the earth‖ [Re 6:8].

We also learn that these spirit-powers, just like the beast

and false prophet [19:20], and the devil28 [20:10], will also
be cast into the ―lake of fire‖ [20:14], ―prepared for the
devil and his angels‖29 [Matt 25:41]. But Revelation also
documents one of the most critical events of Christ‘s
descent into hell:

1) Acquistion of the keys of life & death.

27
These very names were used by the Jewish translators of the Septuagint for the Hebrew forms, where ―Mot‖ [twm] = ―Death‖ and
―Sheol‖ [lwas] = ―Hell‖. Isaiah prophesies that in the last days, Israel will actually make a covenant with these supernatural powers:
Isa 28:15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with Death [LXX: Thanatos], and with Hell [LXX: Hades] are we at
agreement; 28:18 And your covenant with Death [LXX: Thanatos] shall be disannulled, and your agreement with Hell [LXX: Hades]
shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. Paul tells us that ―Death‖
actually reigned as a king among men from the time of Adam, while deposed at the time of Moses [Rom 5:14,17; cp. Jude 9]; he was
actually enshrined as such in the Phoenician pantheon, according to Sanchoniathon: ―this (Muth=Heb. twm) the Phœnicians esteem the
same as Death [Thanatos] and Pluto.‖
28
The Jews have a tradition in Pesikta rabbetha in Yalcut Simeoni, par. 2, f. 56, that the Death & the devil should be destroyed by the
Messiah! "Satan said to the holy blessed God: Lord of the world, show me the Messiah. The Lord answered: Come and see him. And
when he had seen him he was terrified, and his countenance fell, and he said: Most certainly this is the Messiah who shall cast me and
all the nations into hell, as it is written {#Isa 25:8}, ‗The Lord shall swallow up death for ever.‘"
29
Tertullian, writing in AD 211, identified the rider on the white horse of Rev 6 as ―the angel‖ [de Corona 15], thus correctly
identifying the nature of the first of a series of supernatural beings that influence [possess?] their earthly counterparts.
 ―I am He that liveth,30 and was dead; and, behold, I am
alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys31 of hell
(Hades) and of death (Thanatos).‖ [1:18]
Prior to Christ‘s descent into hell, Thanatos and Hades
would collect the souls of individuals at death, as described
in the OT. As David saw his life in peril, God also gave
him a vision of what the soul faces at death:
―The ropes of Mot/Thanatos closed around me, and
the floods of Belial [cp Rev 12:15]….the ropes of
Sheol/Hades encircled me, while the snares of
Mot/Thanatos lay before me.‖ [Psalm 18:4-5, cp
116:3]
Once the soul is thus ―corralled,‖ it is led past the gates of
the underworld [Job 38:17, Psa 9:13], which are bolted
behind them [Jon 2:6, Job 17:16].

Once ―the Man, Christ Jesus‖ [1Tim 2:5] acquired the keys
to these gates, Thanatos and Hades no longer had any
power or claim over the souls of those who believe in
Christ. The departed souls of believers no longer go down
to Sheol, but remain united with their spirit,32 which both

30
Theodoret: [Being fully God]"To Him belongs absolute being, as contrasted with the relative being of the creature; others may
share, He only hath immortality: being in essence, not by mere participation, immortal"
31
Keys to the respective gates: Ps 9:13 Have mercy upon me, O LORD; consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, thou
that liftest me up from the gates of death [Thanatos, LXX]; Isa 38:10 I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the
grave [Hades, LXX]: I am deprived of the residue of my years, etc; and keys to their various levels: De 32:22 For a fire is kindled in
mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell [Sheol], and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations
of the mountains [where Jonah‘s soul went, Jon 2:6]; Re 9:1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the
earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit; Re 20:1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the
bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand;
32
Job 32:8 But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding; Pr 20:27 The spirit of man is
the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly. Zec 12:1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the
LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. 1Co 2:11
ascend33 united, to join the company of ―just men made
perfect‖ in the Heavenly Jerusalem [Heb 12:22-23], who
await re-unification with their body at the Resurrection.

Those who trust in Christ can claim and exclaim the verse
―O death (Thanatos), where is thy sting?34 O grave(Hades),
where is thy victory?‖ [1Cor 15:5535] This was the goal of
the incarnation, that the Word would become flesh, and
―through [His own] death, He might destroy him that
had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lifetime
subject to bondage‖ [Heb 2:14-15].

Another aspect of what Christ accomplished is illusrated in

the following icon:

For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the
Spirit of God.
33
Job 12:10 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath [spirit] of all mankind. . . . 34:14 If [God] set his heart
upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath; Ecc 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit
shall return unto God who gave it; Ec 3:21 Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth
downward to the earth? Ps 31:5 Into thine hand I commit my spirit; Lu 23:46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said,
‗Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit:’ and having said thus, he gave up the ghost; Heb 12:9 Furthermore we have had
fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of
spirits, and live? Ac 7:59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, ‗Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.‘
34
Thy sting (sou to kentron). Old word from kentrew, to prick, as in Ac 26:14. In Re 9:10 of the sting of locusts, scorpions. The
serpent death has lost his poison fangs.
35
These words, taken out of Ho 13:14 the ancient Jews acknowledge, belong to the times of the Messiah, the Targum interprets them
of the Memra, or Word of God, thus, ―my Word shall be among them to kill, and my Word to destroy; ‖ in the prophet they are thus
read, "O death, I will be thy plagues, O grave, I will be thy destruction"; between which, and the apostle‘s citation of them, there is
some difference; the word yha, which we render in both clauses, "I will be," the apostle translates "where," and that very rightly, and
so it is by the LXX, who render it "where is thy revenge, O death? where is thy sting, O grave?" and so the Arabic version of Hosea
[still nearer the apostle] "where is now thy victory, O death?" or "where is thy sting, O grave?" and even Targum on Ho 13:14 reads,
Na Kklm, "where is thy king?" and Aben Ezra, a Jewish writer of great note, on Ho 13:14 observes, that there are some that say the
word is to be inverted as if it was xya, "where," and he adds, and it is right; a like observation he makes on those words in #1Co 15:14
and that that is the true sense of the word in both verses, is attested by Ebn Jannahius Tanchuma {Apud Pocock. Not. Miscellan. ad
Port. Mosis, p. 69, 70}; it is further to be observed, that Paul instead of "thy plagues," reads, "thy sting"; among the many things
which rbd signifies, as it must be owned it does signify the plague, or pestilence, [see Ps 90:6] and which perhaps is so called, from
the venomous nature of it, and the poisonous sting that is in it, so likewise a sting; certain it is, that bees are called Myrbd, and as
Cocceius {Lex. Heb. in rad} observes, from their sting; and so in the Chaldee and Arabic languages, a bee, or a wasp, is called arbd
Here, Christ strides above a single figure, bound hand and
foot. Continuing Melito‘s quote, he is identified:
‗Who is my opponent? I,‘ he says, ‗am the Christ. I am
the one who… bound the Strong One.‘ [Peri Pascha
102]
The allusion is to Matthew 12:29,
―how can one enter into a strong man‘s house, and
spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man?‖
This is another specific spiritual principality, over a
specific region of Hades, as Paul‘s reference to the
Harrowing of Hell reveals:
―And having spoiled principalities and powers, he
made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in
it‖ [Col 2:15].
We see the Strong Man practically naked in this icon
because, as Christ says in Luke‘s gospel,
―When a strong man, fully armed, keepeth his palace,
his goods are in peace: But when a stronger than he
shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh
from him all his armour36 wherein he trusted, and
divideth his spoils‖ [Luke 11:21-22].
The realm of the Strong Man is thus described as a well-
armed, peaceful palace. The Jews referred to this part of
Hades/Sheol as the ―bosom of Abraham‖37 [cp Luke
16:22], or the ―Paradise‖38 [cp Luke 23:43] where the
righteous of Israel were taken, guarded and guided by its
own ―angel‖:
"There are two angels which preside over death: one is
over those who die out of the land of Israel…the other
is he who presides over those who die in the land of
Israel‖ [Tob ha’Arets, fol. 31].
Clarence Larkin diagramed it thusly:

36
Recall the well-armed locusts from the Abyss of Abadon [Rev 9]
37
Echa Rabbati, fol. 49.4, Sepher Emanah c.1,p.20, T.B Bava Bathra fol. 58.1; TB Kiddushin fol. 72.2; Juchasin fol. 75.2.
38
Robertson‘s: ―Some Jews did use the word for the abode of the pious dead till the resurrection, interpreting "Abraham‘s bosom"
(Lu 16:22) in this sense also‖
Tertullian explained this in the 2nd century:
Thus, too, Lazarus in Hades [apud inferos], attaining
refreshment in Abraham’s bosom, and the rich man,
on the other hand, set in the torment of fire,
compensate, by an answerable retribution, the
alternate outcomes of evil and good [on Idolatry 13];
For us, the lower regions are not supposed to be a bare
cavity, nor some subterranean sewer of the world, but
a vast deep space in the interior of the earth, and a
concealed recess in its very bowels; inasmuch as we
read that Christ in His death spent three days in the
‗heart of the earth,‘ Matt. xii.40 that is, in the secret
inner recess which is hidden in the earth, and enclosed
by the earth, and superimposed on the abysmal depths
which lie still lower down. Now although Christ is
God, yet, being also man, ―He died according to the
Scriptures,‖ 1 Cor. xv.3. And ―according to the same
Scriptures was buried.‖ver.4. With the same law of
His being He fully complied, by remaining in Hades in
the form and condition of a dead man; nor did He
ascend into the heights of heaven before descending
into ‗the lower parts of the earth,‘ that He might there
make the patriarchs and prophets partakers of
Himself [on the Soul 55].

Binding this Strong Man was crucial for the spoiling of his
realm, which was the second major work of the descentus,
and it remains a consistent feature in every icon of the
Anastasis:
2) The redemption of Adam and the patriarchs. Irenaeus
preserves this understanding of the Apostles‘ teaching:
―It was for this reason, too, that the Lord descended
into the regions beneath the earth, preaching His
advent there [1Pet. iii.19-2039] also, and the remission
of sins received for those who believe in Him‖ [Adv
Haer IV.27.2].

―He thus declares His death and descent into hell,

saying: ‗And the Lord the Holy One of Israel,
remembered His dead, which aforetime fell asleep in
the dust of the earth; and He went down unto them, to
bring the tidings of His salvation, to deliver them.‘40
In this place He also renders the cause of His death:
for His descent into hell was the salvation of them that
had passed away‖ [Proof of the Apostolic Preaching
78].

In depictions of the Jonah story, the monster spewing Jonah

out [below, right] was seen as a type of the souls of OT
saints being rescued by Christ from the ―jaws of Hades‖
[Isa 5:14, Psa 49:14]. We even see parallels in images of
Jonah and the medieval ―Harrowing of Hell‖ [below, left]:

39
Irenaeus‘ disciple Hippolytus (170-235) commenting on Deuteronomy 33:26 says: ―He is the One Who pulled up from the lowest
Hell the first man who was from the earth and had been lost, having been held captive by the bonds of death. He is the One Who
descended from above and brought above him who was down below. He is the One Who preached the Gospel to the dead [1Pet 3;19-
20] and redeemed the souls.‖
40
Justin Martyr quotes this passage (Dial. 72) as well [as Irenaeus does on four other occasions Adv Haer III, xx.4, IV,xxxvi.i, v.31],
from a version of the Book of Jeremiah no longer available to us.
The Jonah Cycle represented not only the soul‘s descent
into the Abyss. Jonah reclining beneath the gourd typified
the ascension of the souls of the OT saints [Ps 68:18, Col
2:15] to paradise, now in ―the third heaven‖ [2Cor 12:2-4].

Two more examples of Jonah reclining in “paradise”; [L] Phrygian marble41

statuette; [R] Sta Maria Antiqua sarcophagus [both from c. AD 270]

Ignatius of Antioch exhorted the Magnesians:

―How shall we be able to live apart from Him, whose
disciples the prophets42 themselves in the Spirit did
wait for Him as their Teacher? And therefore He
whom they rightly waited for, being come, raised them
from the dead…. The prophets were His servants, and
foresaw Him by the Spirit, and waited for Him as their

41
See http://www.doaks.org/research/byzantine/doaks_byz_fellowship_reports.html#doaks_byz_fellowship_report_27
42
Ignatius refers specifically to Abraham [John 8:56-58]; cp Gen 20:7, which mentions him as the 1st prophet in the OT
 Teacher, and expected Him as their Lord and Saviour,
saying, He will come and save us‖ [Isa. xxxv. 4].
Mic 2:13 ―The Breaker43 is come up before them: they
have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and
are gone out by it: and their king shall pass before
them, and the LORD on the head of them.‖ [cp. Psa
107:16 ]
An anonymous ancient homily, preserved among the
writings of Epiphanius, preserves a beautiful summary of
this work of Christ:
God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has
trembled. Truly, He goes to seek out our first parent
like a lost sheep; He wishes to visit those who sit in
darkness and in the shadow of death. He goes to free
the prisoner Adam and his fellow-prisoner Eve from
their pains, He who is God, and Adam's son. The Lord
goes in to them holding His victorious weapon, His
cross. When Adam, the first created man, sees Him,
he strikes his breast in terror and calls out to all: 'My
Lord be with you all.' And Christ in reply says to
Adam: ‗And with your spirit.‘ And grasping his hand,
He raises him up, saying: ‗Awake, O sleeper, and arise
from the dead, and Christ shall give you light‘[Eph
5:14]. [Homily II, ―Sancto et magno Sabbato‖ of the
Homiliæ septem in PG.43 col 439ff]; 44

43
I.e., the Messiah, apud Mattanot Cehunah in Bereshit Rabba, parash. 85. fol. 75. 2. Vid. Galatia. Arcan. Cathol. Ver. l. 3. c. 30.
44
It continues, ―‗I command you: Awake, sleeper, I have not made you to be held a prisoner in the underworld. Arise from the dead; I
am the life of the dead. Arise, O man, work of my hands, arise, you who were fashioned in my image. Rise, let us go hence; for you in
me and I in you, together we are one undivided person. For you, I your God became your son; for you, I the Master took on your form;
that of slave; for you, I who am above the heavens came on earth and under the earth; for you, man, I became as a man without help,
free among the dead; for you, who left a garden, I was handed over to Jews from a garden and crucified in a garden. ‗Look at the
spittle on my face, which I received because of you, in order to restore you to that first divine inbreathing at creation. See the blows on
my cheeks, which I accepted in order to refashion your distorted form to my own image. See the scourging of my back, which I
accepted in order to disperse the load of your sins which was laid upon your back. See my hands nailed to the tree for a good purpose,
for you, who stretched out your hand to the tree for an evil one. I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side, for you, who slept in
paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side healed the pain of your side; my sleep will release you from your sleep in
 Fra Angelico’s depiction of the Harrowing of Hell, with Christ pulling Adam out of Sheol; fresco
from the 1400’s in San Marco’s of Florence

The legal significance of redeeming Adam [and by

extension, all of humanity] is alluded to in the ―victorious
weapon, His cross.‖ This is the next major work of Christ
in hell:
3) The nullification of the Cheirograph.

Hades; my sword has checked the sword which was turned against you. But arise, let us go hence. The enemy brought you out of the
land of paradise; I will reinstate you, no longer in paradise, but on the throne of heaven.‘
 ―Blotting out the handwriting [ceirografon-
cheirograph45] of ordinances [dogmasin-legal decree]
that was against us,46 which was contrary to us, and
took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.‖
The Eastern Church understood Paul‘s reference to the
Cheirograph through a matrix of NT passages in Paul,
Peter, and Revelation based on the tradition of Adam‘s
contract with humanity‘s enemy. This is depicted in the
following Italian icon:

Here we see the downtrodden enemy yielding up a scrap of

paper, as Christ upholds the Cross. The next sequence
shows Christ after having retrieved the Cheirograph, right
before He nullifies it:

45
Very common in the papyri for a certificate of debt or bond, mainly of the original ceirografa (handwriting, "chirography"). See
Deissmann, Bible Studies, p. 247. The signature made a legal debt binding.
46
Jews call bwx rjv, "the writing of the debt," {Tzeror Hammor, fol. 87.1.3} and is the very phrase the Syriac version uses here.
The exact nature of this legal process is vividly describe in
the ancient Insular Latin text, On the Apostle’s Discourse:
Because it was customary among the ancients for
every contract that was cancelled to be raised up high
on a shaft in the middle of the city,47 before the entire
people, so that each might know, that it had been
cancelled, afterwards, it was erased by water and
burned by fire.

47
Melito emphasizes this point a number of times in his discourse on the Passion
John Chrysostom, in his Homily 6, on Col 2 [PG 62:340],
explains the multiple levels of meaning and understandings
on Paul‘s reference:
Did He allow them to remain? No, He even wiped
them out; He did not scratch them out merely; so that
they could not be seen. ―In doctrines‖48 [ordinances],
he saith…. Seest thou how great His earnestness that
the bond should be done away? To wit, we all were
under sin and punishment. He Himself, through
suffering punishment, did away with both the sin and
the punishment, and He was punished on the Cross.
To the Cross then He affixed it; as having power, He
tore it asunder. What bond?....[Paul] means that the
devil held possession of it, the bond which God made
for Adam, saying, ―In the day thou eatest of the tree,
thou shalt die.‖ (Gen. ii. 17.) This bond then the devil
held in his possession. And Christ did not give it to us,
but Himself tore it in two, the action of one who
remits joyfully.
Macarius the Egyptian49 gives a dramatic portrayal as to
how this cheirograph arose, and was finally destroyed:
―When the first Adam transgressed the commandment,
Death reigned over his children without exception….
Here the Lord comes to Death, and discourses with
him, and bids him bring the souls out of hell and
death, and give them back to Him. Behold then,
Death, troubled at these things, goes in to his
ministers, and gathers together all his powers; and the

48
‖ ηοῖς δόγκαζηλ. Theodoret also takes it so, but the use of δογκαηίδεζζε, in ver. 20, agrees better with E.V. ―The handwriting [bond]
in ordinances,‖ and the Vulgate, Chirographum decreti.
49
(ca. 300-391) an Egyptian Christian monk and hermit; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macarius_of_Egypt
 prince of wickedness produces the bond-deeds, and
says, ‗See, these obeyed my words; see how men
worshipped us.‘ But God, who is a just judge, displays
His justice here also, and says to him, ‗obeyed thee,
and thou didst take possession of all the hearts of him.
Humanity obeyed thee. What is My body doing here?
This is without sin. That body of the first Adam was
under obligation to thee, and thou hast a right to keep
the bond-deeds of it; but to Me all bear witness that I
never sinned. I owe thee nothing, and all bear witness
that I am the Son of God…. Therefore I purchase the
body that was sold to thee through the first Adam; I
cancel thy bonds. I paid the debts of Adam, when I
was crucified and descended into hell; and I command
thee, O hell and darkness and death, bring out the
imprisoned souls of Adam.‘ Thus the evil powers,
stricken with terror, give back the imprisoned
Adam.‖50
After Adam abdicated his Lordship of the earth [Gen 1:26],
Thanatos claimed it for a period [Rom 5:14], and Satan
now exercises that authority [Luke 4:5-6, 1Pet 5:851]. In
nullifying this cheirograph Christ has complete legal
standing to say: ―All power is given unto me in heaven and
in earth‖ [Matt 28:18], but chooses to exercise it in a
progressive manner:

50
A similar tradition is preserved in the apocryphal Slavonic Life of Adam xxxiv.1-4: ―Then the devil approached and stood before the
oxen, and hindered Adam in tilling the field, and said to Adam: " Mine are the things of earth, the things of Heaven are God's; but if
thou wilt be mine, thou shalt labor on the earth; but if thou wilt be God's, pray go away to paradise." Adam said: "The things of
Heaven are the Lord's, and the things of earth and paradise and the whole universe." The devil said: "I do not suffer thee to till the
field, except thou write the bond that thou art mine." Adam replied: ―Whosoever is lord of the earth, to the same do I belong and my
children." Then the devil was overcome with joy. But Adam was not ignorant [explaining] that the Lord would descend on earth and
tread the devil under foot. The devil said: "Write me thy bond." And Adam wrote: "Who is lord of the earth, to the same do I belong
and my children."‖
51
Compare Job 1:7,2:2,, Rev 12:9; Paul recognized this legal status: 1Cor 5:5, 1Tim 1:20
 ―Therefore, [Christ] being by the right hand of God
exalted, . . . The LORD said unto my Lord, ‗Sit thou
on my right hand, Until I make thy foes thy footstool‘
[Acts 2:33-35]; Whom the heaven must receive until
the times of restitution of all things, [Acts 3:21]; For
He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His
feet‖ [1Cor 15:25].
In fact, as a result of what He accomplished during His
descent into Hell, Christ now holds the new cheirograph,
the new ―title-deed‖ to the Earth, as depicted in the
monumental mosaic in the apse of the Basilica San Vitale:
We see the risen and ascended Lord Jesus Christ, seated
above the Celestial sphere, and holding the scroll of the
seven-seals, just as Revelation describes:
―Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the
Root of David, hath prevailed to open the scroll, and
to loose the seven seals thereof‖ [5.7].
Christ ―prevailing‖ is an allusion to all the works of Christ
that qualified Him to claim this new cheirograph, and all
that it entitles Him to:
―A scroll written within and on the backside, sealed
with seven seals‖ [Rev 5:1]; ―Thou art worthy to take
the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast
slain‖ [5:9]; ―Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to
receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength,
and honour, and glory, and blessing‖ [5:12].
By accepting Christ‘s sinless soul, Death and Hades
violated the terms of the original cheirograph, or as Paul
put it, ―none of the principalities of this age knew: for had
they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of
glory‖ [1Cor 2:8]. Rufinus, in his commentary on the
Apostles’ Creed, explains:
The divine virtue of the Son of God, as though it were
a hook concealed beneath the form and fashion of
human flesh (He being, as the Apostle Paul says,
found in fashion as a man), might lure on the Prince of
this world to a conflict, to whom offering His flesh as
a bait, His divinity underneath might catch him and
hold him fast with its hook, through the shedding of
His immaculate blood. For He alone Who knows no
stain of sin has destroyed the sins of all, of those, at
least, who have marked the door-posts of their faith
 with His blood. As, therefore, if a fish seizes a baited
hook, it not only does not take the bait off the hook,
but is drawn out of the water to be itself food for
others, so he who had the power of death seized the
body of Jesus in death, not being aware of the hook of
Divinity enclosed within it, but having swallowed it he
was caught immediately, and the bars of hell being
burst asunder.52
But there is one final aspect of Christ‘s work in descending
into hell that qualified Him for the particular worthiness
described in Revelation;
―Worthy art thou to take the scroll, and to open the
seals of it, because thou wast slain, and didst redeem
us to God in thy blood, out of every tribe, and tongue,
and people, and nation‖ [5:9].

4) The satisfaction of the wrath of an infinitely loving and

passionately just God.
This is perhaps the most challenging aspect of Christ‘s
work in His descent to Hell. It forces us as sinners to
confront the true weight of the penalty for our sins that
Christ had to bear, in order to redeem us from our just
deserts. How is God‘s surpassing love for us [1John 4:16]
to be reconciled with His righteous wrath against us as
sinners [Rom 2:5]? The ―paradox‖ is succinctly stated:

52
Rufinus refers to Job 41:1 as the source of this imagery: ―And Job in like manner witnesses of the same mystery, for he says in the
person of the Lord speaking to him, Will you draw forth the dragon with a hook, and will you put your bit in his nostrils?‖ Gregory of
Nyssa developed this imagery in one of his Easter sermons on ‗The Three-Day Period of the Resurrection of Christ,‘ judging by its
contents, a homily intended for Holy Saturday: ―As the ruler of darkness could not approach the presence of the Light unimpeded, had
he not seen in Him something of flesh, then, as soon as he saw the God-bearing flesh and saw the miracle performed through it by the
Deity, he hoped that if he came to take hold of the flesh through death, then he would take hold of all the power contained in it.
Therefore, having swallowed the bait of the flesh, he was pierced by the hook of the Deity and thus the dragon was transfixed by the
hook.‖
 Herein is love: not that we loved God, but that He
loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation [the
appeasement53 of His just wrath] for our sins. [1 John
4:10].54
Calvin expresses the dilemma, and its solution:
―If Christ had died only a bodily death, it would have
been ineffectual. No — it was expedient at the same
time for him to undergo the severity of God‘s
vengeance, to appease his wrath and satisfy his just

53
BARNES: ―The proper meaning of the word is that of reconciling, appeasing, turning away anger, rendering propitious or
favourable. The idea is, that there is anger or wrath, or that something has been done to offend, and that it is needful to turn away that
wrath, or to appease.‖
54
Theresa of Avila was one of the key individuals in the Catholic reformation of the 16th century, and the 1st female ―Doctor‖ of
Theology recognized by the Catholic Church. See describes her experience of a vision of hell: ―I was at prayer one day when
suddenly, without knowing how, I found myself, as I thought, plunged right into hell. I realized that it was the Lord's will that I should
see the place which the devils had prepared for me there and which I had merited for my sins. This happened in the briefest space of
time, but, even if I were to live for many years, I believe it would be impossible for me to forget it. The entrance, I thought, resembled
a very long, narrow passage, like a furnace, very low, dark and closely confined; the ground seemed to be full of water which looked
like filthy, evil-smelling mud, and in it were many wicked-looking reptiles. At the end there was a hollow place scooped out of a wall,
like a cupboard, and it was here that I found myself in close confinement. But the sight of all this was pleasant by comparison with
what I felt there. What I have said is in no way an exaggeration. My feelings, I think, could not possibly be exaggerated, nor can
anyone understand them. I felt a fire within my soul the nature of which I am utterly incapable of describing. My bodily sufferings
were so intolerable that, though in my life I have endured the severest sufferings of this kind -- the worst it is possible to endure, the
doctors say, such as the shrinking of the nerves during my paralysis and many and divers more, some of them, as I have said, caused
by the devil -- none of them is of the smallest account by comparison with what I felt then, to say nothing of the knowledge that they
would be endless and never-ceasing. And even these are nothing by comparison with the agony of my soul, an oppression, a
suffocation and an affliction so deeply felt, and accompanied by such hopeless and distressing misery, that I cannot too forcibly
describe it. To say that it is as if the soul were continually being torn from the body is very little, for that would mean that one's life
was being taken by another; whereas in this case it is the soul itself that is tearing itself to pieces. The fact is that I cannot find words
to describe that interior fire and that despair, which is greater than the most grievous tortures and pains. I could not see who was the
cause of them, but I felt, I think, as if I were being both burned and dismembered; and I repeat that that interior fire and despair are the
worst things of all. In that pestilential spot, where I was quite powerless to hope for comfort, it was impossible to sit or lie, for there
was no room to do so. I had been put in this place which looked like a hole in the wall, and those very walls, so terrible to the sight,
bore down upon me and completely stifled me. There was no light and everything was in the blackest darkness. I do not understand
how this can be, but, although there was no light, it was possible to see everything the sight of which can cause affliction. At that time
it was not the Lord's will that I should see more of hell itself, but I have since seen another vision of frightful things, which are the
punishment of certain vices. To look at, they seemed to me much more dreadful; but, as I felt no pain, they caused me less fear. In the
earlier vision the Lord was pleased that I should really feel those torments and that affliction of spirit, just as if my body had been
suffering them. I do not know how it was, but I realized quite clearly that it was a great favour and that it was the Lord's will that I
should see with my own eyes the place from which His mercy had delivered me. It is nothing to read a description of it, or to think of
different kinds of torture (as I have sometimes done, though rarely, as my soul made little progress by the road of fear): of how the
devils tear the flesh with their pincers or of the various other tortures that I have read about -- none of these are anything by
comparison with this affliction, which is quite another matter. In fact, it is like a picture set against reality, and any burning on earth is
a small matter compared with that fire. I was terrified by all this, and, though it happened nearly six years ago, I still am as I write:
even as I sit here, fear seems to be depriving my body of its natural warmth. I never recall any time when I have been suffering trials
or pains and when everything that we can suffer on earth has seemed to me of the slightest importance by comparison with this; so, in
a way, I think we complain without reason. I repeat, then, that this vision was one of the most signal favours which the Lord has
bestowed upon me: it has been of the greatest benefit to me, both in taking from me all fear of the tribulations and disappointments of
this life and also in strengthening me to suffer them and to give thanks to the Lord, Who, as I now believe, has delivered me from such
terrible and never-ending torments. Since that time, as I say, everything has seemed light to me by comparison with a single moment
of such suffering as I had to bear during that vision. I am shocked at myself when I think that, after having so often read books which
give some idea of the pains of hell, I was neither afraid of them nor rated them at what they are. What could I have been thinking of?
How could anything give me satisfaction which was driving me to so awful a place? Blessed be Thou, my God, for ever! How plain it
has become that Thou didst love me, much more than I love myself! How often, Lord, didst Thou deliver me from that gloomy prison
and how I would make straight for it again, in face of Thy will! [Autobiography of Teresa of Avila, ca 1562]
 judgment. For this reason, he must also grapple hand
to hand with the armies of hell and the dread of
everlasting death. A little while ago we referred to the
prophet‘s statement that "the chastisement of our
peace was laid upon him," "he was wounded for our
transgressions" by the Father, "he was bruised for our
infirmities" [Isaiah 53:5]. By these words he means
that Christ was put in place of evildoers as surety and
pledge — submitting himself even as the accused —
to bear and suffer all the punishments that they ought
to have sustained. All — with this one exception: "He
could not be held by the pangs of death" [Acts 2:24].
No wonder, then, if he is said to have descended into
hell, for he suffered the death that, God in his wrath
had inflicted upon the wicked! [Inst. II.xvi.8]
Though Calvin (a lawyer before he was a theologian) saw
the clear legal implication of ―propitiation,‖ he could not
bring himself to believe in a literal ―descent into hell.‖ But
then, what was ―all the punishment they ought to have
sustained‖? What did God‘s wrath ―inflicted upon the
wicked‖ consist of? Revelation 14:
―the wrath of God, which is poured out undiluted into
the cup of His indignation; and that individual shall be
tormented with fire and brimstone…. And the smoke
of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and
they have no rest day nor night‖ [vv. 10-11].
Compare Christ‘s own words:
―Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand,
‗Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire,
prepared for the devil and his angels‘‖ [Matt. 25:41].
As the stories of the ―Three Hebrew Children‖ and the
Phoenix foreshadowed our Lord‘s fiery Passion, so did the
system of Temple sacrifices:

For each & every transgression,55 a seperate sin-offering

was required. Each was not only to be slaughtered &
exsanguinated, but burned before the face of the Temple
until reduced to ashes, with the smoke ascending to God.56
We learn from Rev 14:10-11 that this system was patterned
after what actually occurs in God‘s throne room [cp. Ex
25:9, 40; 1Chr 28:11-12; Heb 8:5]. We can imagine the
pathos of Christ accepting Abel‘s burnt offering, knowing

55
As Hebrews 10:26 points, only unintentional transgressions were thus covered, under the Mosaic covenant. Wilfull sin required the
death penalty
56
Hebrew olah; i.e., ―ascending‖; A burnt offering is one that is consumed by fire, and regarded as ascending to God while being
consumed. Part of every offering was burnt in the sacred fire, but this was wholly burnt, a ―whole burnt offering.‖ It was the most
frequent form of sacrifice, and the only one mentioned in the book of Genesis. Such were the sacrifices offered by Abel (Gen. 4:3-4,
here called minhah; i.e., ―a gift‖), Noah (Gen. 8:20), Abraham (Gen. 22:2, 7-8, 13), and by the Hebrews in Egypt (Ex. 10:25).
it was merely a type of his own suffering as the ―Lamb that
takes away the sins of the world‖ [John 1:29, cp. 1Jn 2:2].

Christian sarcophagi depicting Jesus [in whom “dwelleth all the

fullness of the Godhead, bodily,” Col 2:9], representing the Triune
God accepting the offering of Abel, while rejecting Cain’s

This was also true at the national level, as we have seen in

the Azazel goat and Red Heifer rituals that foreshadowed
Christ‘s passion. Returning to the 1st century Epistle of
Barnabas:
―Now what do you suppose this to be a type of, that a
command was given to Israel, that men in whom sins
are perfect,] should offer a heifer, and slay and burn
it…. The calf is Jesus.‖
According to Tertullian, the Azazel goat ‗driven into
perdition‘ [cp Rev 17:8,11, 2Pet 3:7] marks the Lord‘s
suffering [Adv Jud 14]. In the Mishnah, this ―perdition‖ is
called Bet Chaduda [Yoma 6.8] - not a locale in Judaea, but
Dudael, the place of darkness where fallen angels are
imprisoned, according to 1Enoch 10:4, an abysmal ―valley
burning with fire‖ [53.1].

Even the medieval Jews who had access to a Hebrew

version of the Gospel of Matthew57 understood the wider
significance of Christ descending to hell. At Matt 16:18,
their tradition did not read merely the ―gates of Sheol‖ - but
Mnyhg yres – ―the gates of Gehenna.‖ In other words, after
enduring the infinite and just wrath of God in the ―Fires58
of Gehenna‖59 itself - on our behalf – the same gates could
not prevail [katiscusousin – prove to be superior in
strength] against or contain our Lord. Thomas Aquinas saw
this event in light of the prophetic Psalms:
Accordingly it is written (Psalm 23:7): "Lift up your
gates, O ye princes," which the gloss thus interprets:
"that is--Ye princes of hell, take away your power,
whereby hitherto you held men fast in hell"; and so "at
the name of Jesus every knee should bow," not only

57
As transcribed by Shem Tov in 1380 as part of his polemic, Eben Bohan; see José-Vicente Niclós: ―Šem t.ob ibn Šaprut. «La piedra
de toque» (Eben Bohan). Una obra de controversia judeo-cristiana. Introducción, edición crítica, traducción y notas al libro I‖.
Bibliotheca Hispana Bíblica 16. Madrid 1997.
58
De 32:22 For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and
set on fire the foundations of the mountains; Matt 5:22 shall be in danger of hell fire thn geennan tou purov, Matt 10:28 fear Him
which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell geennh, Mt 23:33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the
damnation of hell thv geennhv? Mark 9:47 it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to
be cast into hell fire thn geennan tou purov, James 3:6 and it is set on fire of hell. flogizomenh upo thv geennhv
59
Cp the distinction to Paradise/Abraham’s Bosom and Ge‘hinnom in the Jewish Pirqe Aboth 5.21ff : ―The disciples of Balaam [from
Rev 2:14] the wicked go down to Ge‘hinnom, as it is said: "But Thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction;
bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days." [Ps 55:23] But the disciples of Abraham [Gal 3:29,cp.1Pet 3:6] our
father shall inherit the Garden of Eden, as it is said: "That I may cause those that love Me to inherit substance, and that I may fill their
treasuries." [Prov 8:21] Jehuda ben Tema said: "Be strong as a leopard, and swift as an eagle, and fleet as a hart, and courageous as a
lion, to do the will of thy Father which is in Heaven." [Matt 6:9, etc] He used to say: "The fierce of countenance for Ge‘hinnom, and
the modest of countenance [Matt 5:3,5] for the Garden of Eden." This passage, and others are highly influenced by NT Apostolic
teaching.
 "of them that are in heaven," but likewise "of them
that are in hell," as is said in Philippians 2:10.
As Paul pointed out, Christ did not merely descend into the
limbus patrum of ―Abraham‘s Bosom,‖ but into the ―lower
parts,‖ [Eph 4:9,60 Prov 30:4 , Ps 63:9], even the Abyss
itself [Rom 10:7, thn abusson]. Christ experienced – and
harrowed - every part of hell. As Clarence Larkin
summarized it diagrammatically:

60
Irenaeus Adv Haer 5.31.2: ―If, then, the Lord observed the law of the dead, that He might beome the first-begotten from the dead,
and tarried until the third day ―in the lower parts of the earth;‖ Eph. iv. 9. then afterwards rising in the flesh, so that He even showed
the print of the nails to His disciples, John xx. 20, 27. He thus ascended to the Father;—[if all these things occurred, I say], how must
these men not be put to confusion, who allege that ―the lower parts‖ refer to this world of ours, but that their inner man, leaving the
body here, ascends into the super-celestial place? For as the Lord ―went away in the midst of the shadow of death,‖ Ps. xxiii. 4. where
the souls of the dead were, yet afterwards arose in the body, and after the resurrection was taken up [into heaven], it is manifest that
the souls of His disciples also, upon whose account the Lord underwent these things, shall go away into the invisible place allotted to
them by God [e.g. Rev 6:9], and there remain until the resurrection, awaiting that event; then receiving their bodies, and rising in their
entirety, that is bodily, just as the Lord arose, they shall come thus into the presence of God. ―For no disciple is above the Master, but
every one that is perfect shall be as his Master.‖ Luke vi. 40. As our Master, therefore, did not at once depart, taking flight [to heaven],
but awaited the time of His resurrection prescribed by the Father, which had been also shown forth through Jonas, and rising again
after three days was taken up [to heaven]; so ought we also to await the time of our resurrection prescribed by God and foretold by the
prophets, and so, rising, be taken up, as many as the Lord shall account worthy of this [privilege].‖
This is the significance of the following icon, illustrating
the fulfillment of Job 26:6, ―Hell [Sheol] is naked before
him, and destruction [Nwdba – Abaddon] hath no covering.‖

We can see Christ trampling on an inhuman figure bereft

of clothing. The temptation to dismiss Job‘s prophecy as
poetic personification is disproven by Revelation
Abaddon61 is not merely a state, but the spirit being that
ruled the Abyss62 [Rev 9:11]. Revelation also shows that,

Aka, "Apollyon" - the same with "Apollo," a ―god‖ of the Heathens who has his name from destroying [Phurnutus de Natura
61

Deorum, p. 92. Macrob. Saturnal. l. 1. c. 17.

after the harrowing of hell, Abaddon became a prisoner in
his own domain [Rev 9:1].
Hippolytus, the disciple of Irenaeus, explained why Christ
had to endure every agony of every part of Hell on our
behalf. Because Christ did descend to hell,
You shall escape the boiling flood of hell‘s eternal
lake of fire [Rev 20:15] and the eye ever fixed in
menacing glare of fallen angels chained in Tartarus
[2Pet 2:4] as punishment for their sins; and you shall
escape the worm that ceaselessly coils for food around
the body whose mouldering has bred it [Mark 9:48].
Now, such (torments) as these shalt thou avoid‖63
[Refut. 10.30].
Such was the mystery of the ―Suffering God‖ preserved
and preached by the early Church. Tatian, the disciple of
Justin Martyr,64 lamented those unbelievers who were
―rejecting the ministry of the Suffering God‖ [Address to
the Greeks 13]. This teaching goes back to the 1st century,
62
TB Erubin, fol. 19. 1. Zohar in Gen. fol. 47. 2. & in Numb. fol. 74. 2. Yalkut Simeoni, par. 2. fol. 47. 3. & 93. 4. Raziel, fol. 14. 2.
& 35. 2.
63
By contrast, the fate of those who do not accept the works of Christ on their behalf are described in an anonymous Strain on the
Lord’s Judgment, preserved among the works of Tertullian: ―375 Into deep darkness ye shall go of fire and brimstone; doomed to
suffer glowing fires in torments just. God bids your bones descend to penalty eternal; go beneath the ardour of an endless raging
Gehennæ. 380 Be urged, a seething mass, through rotant pools of flame; and into threatening flame He bids the elements convert; and
all heaven‘s fire descend in clouds. Then greedy Tartarus With rapid fire enclosed is; and flame 385 is fluctuant within with tempest
waves; And the whole earth her whirling embers blends! There is a flamy furrow; teeth acute are turned to plough it, and for all the
years. The fiery torrent will be armed: with force 390 Tartarean will the conflagrations gnash their teeth upon the world. There are
they scorched in seething tide with course precipitate hence flee; thence back are borne in sharp career; The savage flame‘s ire meets
them fugitive! 395 And now at length they own the penalty Their own, the natural issue of their crime. And now the reeling earth, by
not a swain, is by the sea‘s profundity, at her farthest limit, where the sun 400 (His ray out-measured) divides the orb, And where,
when traversed is the world, the stars are hidden. Ether thickens. O‘er the light spreads sable darkness; and the latest flames stagnate
in secret rills. A place there is 405 Whose nature is with sealed penalties fiery, and a dreadful marsh white-hot with heats infernal,
where, in furnaces horrific, penal deed roars loud, and seethes, And, rushing into torments, is up-caught 410 by the flame‘s vortex
wide; by savage wave and surge the turbid sand all mingled is with miry bottom. Hither will be sent, groaning, the captive crowd of
evil ones, and wickedness (the sinful body‘s train) 415 to burn! Great is the beating there of breasts, by bellowing of grief
accompanied; wild is the hissing of the flames, and thence the ululation of the sufferers! And flames, and limbs sonorous will outrise
420 afar: more fierce will the fire burn; and up to the upper air the groaning will be borne. Then human progeny its bygone deeds of
ill will weigh; and will begin to stretch Heavenward its palms; and then will wish to know 425 the Lord, whom erst it would not know,
what time to know Him had proved useful to them.
64
Ca. 110-180; http://www.earlychurch.org.uk/tatian.php
as attested by the Judaeo-Christian apocryphon, the
Testament of the XII Patriarchs:65
―Now, therefore, know that the Lord will execute
judgment upon the sons of men; because when the
rocks are rent, [Matt. xxvii. 51–53.] and the sun
quenched, and the waters dried up, and the fire
trembling, and all creation troubled, and the invisible
spirits melting away, and HADES spoiled in the
SUFFERING of the Most High, men unbelieving will
abide in their iniquity‖ [T.Levi 4:1].

The investigation into the spectacle of Christ‘s Passion

began with a play on words in Luke‘s account, and we
return to the beginning of the Passion, where Luke again
preserves Christ’s own bilingual play on words.
And he said unto them, ―With desire I have desired66
[epiyumia epeyumhsa] to eat this Passover [pasca]
with you before I suffer [payein]‖ [Luke 22:15]
A rough sense of the rhythm in English might be, ―I have a
consuming passion to pass this Passover with you, before
my Passion.‖ The ―desire,‖ epiyumia, was truly a
consuming one, derived from the root yumov [―wrath‖], in
turn derived from yuw [―slay,‖ used specifically in

65
―Regarded as a sort of Jewish surrender to Justin's argument with Trypho, this book is interesting, and represents, no doubt, the
convictions of thousands of Jewish converts of the first age.‖ [http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/info/patriarchs.html] Besides
allusions in Tertullian (Adv. Marcionem, v. 1; Scorpiace, 13; cf. T.Benj. 11c. 200), a mention of them by name occurs in Origen
("Homilia, XV. in Josuam," ch. vi., citing T.Reub 2-3), and Jerome (Tractatus de Psalmo 15). There are versions in Greek, Syriac,
Slavonic, Gerogian, and Armenian [it once having deuterocanonical status in that tradition].
66
According to the Jewish canons, it was judged that a man should not eat much the day before the Passover, that he might be hungry,
and eat the Passover, Nwbatb, "with desire‖ or with an appetite [Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Pesachim, c. 10.1]
reference to the Paschal lamb67]. The suffering, [payein,
aorist active infinitive of pascw], was essentially the
same as the transliterated word for Passover [pasca], as
well known in the early Church.68 But it does not stop
there.Christ then took a cup, probably inscribed in Greek
with the phrase eipen autw etaire ef w parei [―Friend,
wherefore art thou come?‖ Matt 26:5069], and says,
―This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is
poured out for you. But, behold, the hand of him that
betrayeth me is with me on the table.‖ [Luke 22:20-
21]
All these verbal ironies culminate in an allusion to a
prophecy of His Passion, which would not be complete
without His descent into hell. As Thomas Aquinas put it:
Because it was fitting, when the devil was overthrown
by the Passion, that Christ should deliver the captives
detained in hell, according to Zechariah 9:11: "Thou
also by the blood of Thy covenant hast sent forth Thy
prisoners out of the pit."

67
Ex 12:22 LXX, Mark 14:12, Luke 22:7, etc
68
Thus Irenaeus tells that ―Moses was not ignorant of the day of the Passover but figuratively foretold it, calling it by the name of
Pascha; and on that very occasion which so long ago had been foretold by Moses, our Lord suffered in fulfillment of the Passover‖
[Adv Haer 4.10.1]; "Moyses oracularly foretold that they were to eat the solemn feature of this day with bitter herbs; and he added the
words 'It is the Pascha of the Lord,' i.e. the Passion of Christ." [Tert. adv. Jud. 10]
69
―There has recently come to light the remarkable discovery that the words which Jesus used to Judas at the time of the actual
Betrayal (Matt. xxvi. 50) […] ‗Companion, what are you here for?‘ were a familiar legend on drinking glasses in the first century and
in the East. Thus the speech of Jesus to Judas is history and not editorial fiction: the words were taken off the margin of the glass cup
out of which they had drunk together.‖ J.R. Harris, Eucharistic Origins [Cambridge, 1927], p. 21; referring to the fourth edition of
Deissmann's Licht vom Osten; "In Jerusalem itself about 40 PERCENT of the Jewish inscriptions from the first century period (before
70 C.E.) ARE IN GREEK. We may assume that most Jewish Jerusalemites who saw the inscriptions in situ were able to read them"
("Jewish Funerary Inscriptions -- Most Are in Greek," Pieter W. Van Der Horst, BAR, Sept.-Oct.1992, p.48).
St John of the Cross wrote an ode on John 1:1
which includes this dialogue between Christ and the Father.
In it, Christ tells the Father:
I will go and tell the world,
spreading the word
of your beauty and sweetness
and of your sovereignty.
I will go seek my bride
and take upon myself
her weariness and labors
in which she suffers so;
and that she may have life,
I will die for her,
and lifting her out of that deep,
I will restore her to you.

And while Christ was accomplishing all these works in

Hell, the guards outside the tomb, unbeknownst to them,
were waiting to be witnesses of His EASTER
SPECTACLE, because, “after the SUFFERING OF HIS
SOUL, He will see the light…‖ [Isa 53:11, NIV].