As we enter the month of April, we are in the culminating portion of Lent know as Passiontide. The preceding Sunday (that is, the 5
th
Sunday of Lent) was previously know as Passion Sunday. Although it’s no longer called that, the Church of England’s
Common Worship Lectionary
states on that day that, “Passiontide begins.” The next Sunday, April 5
th
, is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. During this time we are deep in the dialogue of the Passion, that is the story of the trial and crucifixion of our Lord. Although we know that this will lead eventually to the Resurrection, I have decided to centre this month’s article on the Crucifixion.
The rather obvious name of this icon is “The Crucifixion” (H ⲤⲦⲀⲨⲢⲰⲤIⲤ
in an archaic Greek script
,
shown towards the top). ’Realistic’ Western art likes to concentrate on Christ’s suffering, but here you might notice something different. He doesn’t look so much like he suffered on the cross. He looks undefeated. Rather than sagging from the nails in his hands, he stands strong. His arms are spread and hands lifted as in prayer. In the East, Christ is always depicted on the cross as noble and strong. For the early church, Christ’s work was aimed at Death; he defeated it and set us free. “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 Jn. 3:8). But in the West, Christ’s work is seen as paying the debt for our sins so that we could be forgiven. Originally, salvation was a victory, like the Exodus through the Red Sea, but the Western Church turned it into some sort of a legal or financial transaction.
To emphasise His victory even more, on the top crosspiece, rather than saying “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” (abbreviated in Latin “INRI” or in Greek “INBI”), we see the words ‘ο βασιλιάς της δόξας in highly abbreviated Greek (ⲞⲂⲤⲦⲆⲜ) meaning, “The King of Glory” indicative of His divine kingdom. This expression is found in the Book of Acts, when Saint Peter tells the elders of Israel that they crucified the king of glory. On the major crossbar of the Crucifix we find the letters (IC XC, which are abbreviations for the Greek words for “Jesus Christ”–that is, Jesus the Messiah.
Jesus Christ is nailed to the Cross by the hands and feet. He is on a hill outside of the city walls, which can be seen in the background. At the foot of the Cross stand Jesus’ Mother the Theotokos (ⲘⲢ ⲐⲨ) and the young Apostle John (OⲀ ΙⲰ). Jesus bears the spear-wound on His right side, gushing blood and water, His head is bowed, and His eyes are closed. Although Jesus is clearly shown as dead, He has His halo. Despite undergoing bodily death, and contrary to some heretical teachings, Jesus Christ’s Divinity has not left Him. Even bleeding and physically dead upon the Cross, Christ is still fully divine. He wears a crown of Glory, not a crown of thorns. Indeed, it is difficult to find an Orthodox Icon which shows Jesus Christ wearing the crown of thorns. Such a crown, made for Christ by His mockers, has no place upon this Icon.
Christ’s hands are shown palm upwards, almost in an embrace, much like what our Presiding Bishop means when he says, “Our commitment to be an inclusive Church is not based on a social theory or the ways of the culture, but on the belief that the outstretched arms of Jesus on the Cross are a sign of the very love of God reaching out to
all
of us.”
The Bible says that Jesus was crucified at a place called Golgotha, meaning “the place of the skull”. In church tradition the place of the skull was the burial site of Adam. Symbolically, therefore, Jesus is being crucified directly over Adam’s tomb. In the icon we can see Adam’s tomb being cracked open and exposing his skull.
Originally, Adam, the symbol; of every man, was to live in harmony with God’s creation and to care for it, however, he failed in this and by his sin, Adam brought himself and all creation under the rule of evil and death. This is because in the Bible the following things always go together: sin, evil, the devil, suffering and death. There is never one without the other.
According to Byzantine belief therefore, what Christ defeated at the cross was
death
. Victory over
sin
is symbolised by the blood of Jesus running down off of the cross then covering and purifying the skull and bones of Adam, thus freeing all of sinful humanity.
Article and icon by David Clarke, St. Johns, Vernon
