In 1996, an extremely interesting book was published in Greek called The Story of Hell, signed by Alice K. Turner, then Playboy Literature Editor-in-Chief. The book was translated into Greek by the religious scholar Vasilis Adrakhtas and published by a separate publishing house that no longer exists, Philistor Publications. Among the thematic sections of the book, a section called “Descent into Hell” stands out. There the author addresses the problem faced in the so-called apocryphal gospels: what Christ saw and did from the moment of death on the cross until the moment of the Resurrection. In other words, what he saw and did in the afterlife. As you know, in the biblical narrative, Jesus dies in the afternoon on Maundy Thursday and returns to life early in the morning on Holy Saturday.

The writings of the church canon are silent about the passage of Christ into another world. In chapter 27.5 of Matthew, it is only mentioned that at the time of Jesus’ death there was an earthquake, the tombs were opened and “the bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.” And in the first letter of Peter (3.19-20) it is said that Jesus preached to imprisoned spirits.

The strangest and most complete of the related narratives does not belong to the Canon. This is an apocryphal gospel of Nicodemus (dating from about the 2nd century AD). This exciting, unexpected text, which can even be considered fiction, consists of two parts: the first tells about the trial of Jesus, and the second about His descent into hell. A relatively recent edition, released in 2018, is published by Zitros, translated by Konstantinos Bozini.

We wrote it again: this idiosyncratic Christian Nekiah is the triumph of Christ in hell, as he frees the patriarchs of the Old Testament, leading them to heaven, first with Adam and then with Abraham, and also, of course, with one of the two thieves. whom they crucified beside him: before he died, he promised it to him on the cross.

But why did they end up in hell? For, until Christ was sacrificed for man, the souls of the dead did not go to heaven, but remained deep inside the Earth, either in hell itself or somewhere in the middle, in limbo: souls imprisoned somewhere between the Earth and the underworld (use purely archaeological term “Hades”).

New characters

The narrative in the apocryphal gospel of Nicodemus is very elegant: the Devil and Hades appear in the novel as ordinary characters. The first calls the second “omnivorous and insatiable” in fact. However, the most interesting is the narrative point of view itself: it belongs to the two dead who were resurrected at the time of Jesus’ death on the cross (an underground connection with the above-mentioned Matthew’s account).

The most characteristic moment is when the prophets remind Hades that they predicted all this, especially Isaiah: “Where was your center?” Where is your victory? Usually: “Die, where is your sting? Damn, where is your victory?

According to Turner, it’s a fascinating story. “According to her, Jesus descended into the underworld as a battle redeemer to save the souls of the righteous.” First of all, death on the cross meant redemption not only for those who live and breathe, for those who follow on Earth, but also for those who left earlier, who remained forever in captivity.

Perhaps it was not included in the Four Gospels, but the story of the “Descent into Hell” is a fundamental concept for the Orthodox Church and symbolizes the triumph over death and the redemption of the dead. And Pope Gregory and Augustine, as Turner reminds us, “literally talked and talked about the Catalysis of Hades, never questioning its historicity and essential significance for the entire history of the Passion.”