Flashing like a burst of lightning, Christ appears in Hades as the Master of life and of the cosmos. Victorious over death's abyss, His glorious body is vivified by His divinity. His body now radiates Divine Energies, symbolized in the golden rays; the expression of this Divine dynamism is repeated by His fluttering robes. "Indescribable Light," His entire Being announces the bright dawn of a new day. Having broken the gates of Hell, spread in the form of a cross over the abyss, Christ tramples them underfoot and grasps the hand of Adam, whom He vigorously delivers from the darkness of death.This face-to-face meeting of the first and Second Adam assumes a special meaning. The icon unites with the Byzantine liturgy in strongly stressing that the rising of Christ announces the good news of the Resurrection to all humanity. Hence, there is a close relation between the silhouette of the Risen Christ and that of Adam, whom He carries off into the glory of His Resurrection. With Adam, it is all humanity-his posterity-which is included.
Exhausted after having been wakened from the sleep of spiritual death, Adam stares at His liberator with a look of joy still marked by fatigue. He holds up his free hand in a gesture of welcome and of prayer, drawn toward His Creator just as a flower is drawn toward the sun. In the foreground we also see the kneeling Eve timidly raise her hands covered with an edge of her cloak. Behind her are often seen Moses carrying the Tablets of the Law, the righteous, and those prophets who have announced the arrival of the Savior.
On the left, clothed in robes of royalty, stand David and Solomon, prayerful and welcoming; behind them are a prophet and John the Forerunner, sent to Hades to announce the arrival of the Master of Life. With a movement of his hand John points out Christ, who often holds a Cross, the instrument of His victory. Nails, bolts and locks litter the black hole of hell, whose entrance is surrounded by confining mountains. Christ glorified, transfigured in a spiritual body, escapes the laws of this world whose gravity engenders death and corruptibility. As leader of the human race, He has become forever absolute transparency, openness and communion.
Michel Quenot, The Icon, Window on the Kingdom. St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1991.