There will, of course, be many, many entries, however, they will have substantial similarities with each other.

That similarity is Christ is going up and away.

He is usually alone and those daring to hang around often appear scared out of their wits.

An example is the oil painting by Anthony Van Dyck. Painted c 1631 - 32, the oil hangs in The Wadsworth Atheneum an art museum in Hartford, Connecticut.

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If, on the other hand, you do a similar search and change just one word a great secret is revealed.

The change is from ‘Western' to Orthodox: ‘Resurrection of Christ in Orthodox Art.

The secret, at least for many Western Christians is hidden in the other half of the universal church, in places like Syria, Turkey, Greece, and Egypt; Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, Easter is not usually painted with a solitary Jesus rising from the dead.

Jesus is always surrounded by crowds of people—both haloed and unhaloed.

In fact, in traditional icons, Jesus is pulling people out of Hades.

Hades is not the same as hell, although we sometimes put the two words together, and so we grew up reciting in the creed that "Jesus descended into hell."

Instead, Hades is simply the place of the dead.

There's no punishment or judgment involved.

It's just where a soul waits for God.

So, the Eastern Church was probably much closer to the truth that the resurrection is a message about humanity. It's a message about history.

It's a corporate message for all of us.

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An expression of this Orthodox truth of Jesus pulling people out of Hades is a fresco in the Chora Church in Istanbul, Turkey, (c 14th C).

Take a moment to look at the different energy of the people in both illustrations; in the Van Dyck oil, the Risen Christ is heading up and away from; those in the image are cowering not in awe, but rather in fear.

In the Orthodox fresco, Christ is descending, with people clamouring for touch, to be taken, hold up, to be lifted out of that which holds them in place, inert.

Allow the Risen Christ to "descend" to those places in my life which hold me bound; reach out, and be taken by the hand to a new and life-giving place.

• Gerard Whiteford is Marist priest; retreat facilitator and spiritual companion for 35 years. He writes weekly at Restawhile.nz.

Other religions have similar practices, and it is difficult not to see in certain Jewish traditions the prefiguration of this particular Christian symbol, a physical, outward manifestation of a spiritual attitude.

It is likely that this practice appeared very early in the history of Christianity, and it is striking that its evolution has followed that of the Church.

The tradition that has prevailed in the West and is customary among Latin Catholics is to make the Sign of the Cross by moving the fingers from top to bottom, then from left to right.

Certain cultures join the five fingers, evoking the five wounds of Christ. But this custom is relatively recent and likely differs from the primitive practice, which is still prevalent in the Eastern Christian world.

Indeed, in the beginning, Christians crossed themselves from top to bottom and then from right to left.

The thumb, forefinger and middle finger were joined, evoking the consubstantial and indivisible Trinity, while the ring finger and the little finger folded against the palm of the hand evoke the two natures — human and divine — of Christ.

Like a blessing

The oriental and primitive tradition thus reproduces the gesture of the blessing given by the clergy as in a mirror: the blessing given by the priest or the bishop reproduces the gesture of Christ figured on Byzantine icons, where the thumb of the hand that blesses joins the ring finger, the index finger is upwards, the middle finger and the little finger slightly folded.

Thus the hand of the priest forms the first letters of the words Jesus Christ in Greek — IC and XC — while recalling the association of the three persons of the Trinity and the two natures of Christ.

The hand that blesses thus traces the Sign of the Cross toward the faithful from top to bottom and from left to right.

This movement, which is always that of the blessings given by the clergy in the East as in the West alike, is probably that which has been used from the earliest times. Continue reading

Sources

• Aleteia article by Valentin Fontan-Moret
• Image: El Mensajero