Tag Archives: Harrowing of Hell

A Rider Faithful and True

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The rider Faithful and True on his white horse in the Tolkovy Apocalypse (Moscow, early 17th century).

And I saw Heaven wide open, and behold, a white horse; its rider’s name was Faithful and True and in righteousness he judges and makes war…. he was clothed in a cloak dipped in blood , and he was called the Word of God. (Apoc. 19:11, 13)

Christ, the Word of God, rides into battle and emerges victorious. The Word of God, the Logos, is the divine blueprint for the universe while the Wisdom of God is the practical application of that blueprint.

The New Testament tells us that the Word was made flesh (John 1:14) and the Old Testament tells us that Wisdom leaped down from the heavenly throne in the middle of the night to save the Hebrews in Egypt. This image of Wisdom coming to earth at midnight (Wisdom 18) to slay the enemies of Israel was first used by the Church to describe Christ’s descent into Hell and his Resurrection during the night between Holy Saturday and Easter morning but then the image of Wisdom’s descent to earth at midnight also suggested the birth of Christ at Bethlehem and eventually resulted in our celebrations of “Midnight Mass” on Christmas Eve.

The Word was made flesh. Wisdom came to earth. To say that “Wisdom built herself a house” on earth is the poetic equivalent of saying “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” (Pope St. Leo the Great, Tome 2) The victory of the Word over the enemies of God is the victory of Wisdom over the enemies of God.

Christ is the Wisdom of God made flesh but because Wisdom—“Sophia” as she is identified in the oldest manuscripts of Proverbs—is a woman’s name, Wisdom has also been considered an allusion to Christ’s most pure Mother, the ever-blessed Virgin Mary. The victory of the Word-Wisdom is also the victory of the Mother of God, the Second Eve, treading on the head of the serpent that overcame the first Eve. Our Lady of Victory, although a feast to commemorate a victory over the Turks, is also an allusion to the victorious Mother of God who shares in the victory of her Son. She makes her Son’s victory possible by giving him flesh in her womb.

“I hold the keys of Death and Hades …”

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St. John, in the cave on Patmos, experiences his vision of Christ who holds 7 stars and the keys of Death and Hades-Hell as he is enthroned among the 7 candlesticks. The angels of the 7 churches offer the parishes they protect to Christ.

“Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and–behold!–I am alive for ever and ever! Amen. And I hold the keys of Death and Hades.” (Apocalypse 1:17-18)

In the opening chapter of the Apocalypse, the phrase “I am the First and the Last” is a refrain that occurs several times. First and Last, beginning and the end, alpha and omega (the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet). The original phrase seems to have been “the first and the last, the alpha and the omega;” the words “beginning and the end” seem to have been added in the Latin manuscripts to explain what “alpha” and “omega” were to readers who didn’t know Greek. The phrase is also similar to the famous Ego emi… (“I Am….”) phrases in the Gospel According to St. John: I am the true bread… I am the good shepherd… I am the true vine… etc.

“I am the Living One” is also reminiscent of the Old Testament identification of “the Living God” (Deut. 5:26, Joshua 3:10, Isaiah 37:4, 17). The one who appears to St. John in Patmos is the same Divine Person who revealed himself to Moses at the Burning Bush and repeatedly to the kings and prophets of Israel.

Death and Hades-Hell (Sheol, in some versions) can be understood as two names for the same thing (the experience of separation from God). Hebrew poetry is built on this repetition of ideas and experiences. Many of the psalms repeat themselves in this way.

But Death and Hades are also personified in Apoc. 6:8 as one of the famous Four Horsemen: the fourth rider, who rides a pale horse, is named “Death and Hades.” Early Christian preaching–reflected in the Gospel of Nicodemus–identified Death and Hades as two distinct personages who oversee the land of the dead; they argue as Christ approaches and are overthrown as Christ leads their prisoners to freedom through the gates he has smashed during his Descent into Hell. Some early Christian poetry identify “Death” as a person whiles “Hades” is the place where Death reigns.

Gregory Nanzianzus, commonly known as Gregory the Theologian, thought that the two names Death and Hades referred to the physical and spiritual aspects of death–the result of separation from God. A person can die spiritually many years before they experience death physically–Adam and Eve are examples of people who die spiritually long before their bodies die. Likewise, in baptism people can experience spiritual resurrection before they experience physical resurrection.