Harrowing of Hell

As a Descent into Hell (Latin descent of Christ ad inferos ) refers to the traditional Christian belief that Jesus was descended in the night after his crucifixion to hell and there or in limbo, the " bosom of Abraham ", the souls of the righteous since Adam was freed.

Background of this idea is the question of where Jesus' soul between Good Friday and Easter was. It refers back to the biblical statements in Ephesians 4.9 EU and 1 Peter 3.19 EU. This respect, the apostolic creed: " ... He descended into the realm of death ... " ( the Greek text reads: " ... εισ τά κατώτατα ... ", which literally with " ... in the lowest depth ... " is to be translated ). In contrast, lead critics of this theory, for example, the biblical statement Luke 23:43 EU in the field.

The most important starting point for the narrative and based thereon pictorial representations of the descent is the belief of the Apostles' and the Athanasian Creed that Jesus " descended into the realm of the dead ," This idea was supported by the church fathers with various biblical statements partly in intended literal, partly in brought allegorical interpretation in conjunction and in the apocryphal literature, especially in the acts of Pilate (Gospel Nicodemi ), embellished with a variety of narrative plot elements. It entered the liturgy and in the medieval afterlife literature, but also in the medieval passion plays that use the dispute with the devils sometimes for wide running comic deposits ( Diablerien ).

In modern times, this notion tradition has often been relativized and revised critical especially in the exegesis of the Bible traditionally associated products. Among the numerous theological reinterpretations is the name as Hans Urs von Balthasar, according to hell, into which Jesus descended, as the abandonment by God is to be understood that Jesus had taken upon himself to be close to the people, the opposite is God had decided.

In the arts

The descent into hell Jesus became one of the most important issues in Christian iconography and provides up today in the Eastern Church the central Easter image dar. Most you see here Jesus ( sometimes accompanied by Dismas, the right thief ) on the broken gates of hell, as he as the winner Adam and Eve as the first of the redeemed leads out of the Hellmouth. In the Western tradition, however, the central Easter pictures are the resurrection of Christ, or the women at the empty grave of Christ. The image on " Christ in Limbo " is found in Western art almost exclusively in detailed image cycles of the life of Christ, where it occurs between the burial and the resurrection. Instead of images of hell overcoming dominated the Baroque images of hell fall of the fallen angels who were held Jesus the Archangel Michael or Mary as the victor over the devil. Special attention was more on the punishment of the wicked as to the salvation of the redeemed.