Cracks in Heaven and Earth: Orthodox Iconography of the Nativity, Baptism, and Transfiguration

In this post I'd like to make a couple of observations regarding the Orthodox iconography of Christ's baptism, the Nativity, and the Transfiguration. Specifically, beyond points of interest in each icon there are common artistic and theological motifs that run through all of Orthodox iconography.

Let's first look at the iconography of Christ's baptism, the first two icons in this post (and just double-click on the images for closer looks). John the Baptist stands on the a bank, blessing Jesus. In the second baptism icon we can see the tree with the ax at the root that we've noted before in John's icons. On the opposite bank are angels waiting to receive Jesus out of the water. If you look close you'll notice that their hands are covered as a sign of respect and adoration for what they are about to receive and touch.



Above Jesus there is a dark crack in the heavens and a dove descending, emerging out of this crack.

Jesus is laying in the Jordan as if it were a grave, a watery tomb. He's often dressed in a way similar to how he is depicted in crucifiction and burial portayals. The Jordan itself is a crack spliting two mountian peaks.

The point of interest for me is this motif of cracks in heaven and earth that is a recurring theme in much of the iconography of Jesus' life.

Jesus cracks Heaven and Earth.

We have already seen this cracking motif in the icons of the Harrowing of Hell, where the earth is cracked open to release those held under Sin's captivity. Further, in the iconography of the Crucifixion we saw the cross cracking open the earth to expose the bones of Adam allowing the saving blood of Christ to cover them. And now we see the cracking motif in the baptism of Christ iconography. The cleansing waters of baptism are seen as filling and washing the wounds of human existence.

This cracking motif is also seen, curiously, in the Nativity icons. The Nativity icons are very busy, in my opinion. Lot's of stuff going on. But the point I'd like to draw your attention to is how Mary sets the baby Jesus in a crack in the earth. This crack is clearly symbolic of hell as some icons portray demons in the crack. The image is clear: This infant is going to be the One who will enter hell and crack it open. This is a clear foreshadowing of the Harrowing of Hell icons. The following two icons are of the Nativity:





The second motif of the baptism icons is the cracking of heaven. The Orthodox call the feast celebrating the baptism of Jesus Theophany. A theophany is a divine appearance or revelation. At Christ's baptism the gospels tell of a theophany, a dove decending and a Voice from Heaven declaring "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well-pleased."

This theophany cracks open heaven as seen in the dark area at the top of the baptism icons. The dove sits in the crack.

Obviously, the grand theophany in the gospel accounts is the Transfiguration of Jesus where God again claims Jesus as his Son. In the transfiguration icons Jesus is standing on top of the mountian. Moses and Elijah are to his right and left. Peter, James, and John are depicted as either bowing in worship or scattered and throw down in the face of the revelation.



Jesus appears to be coming out of a dark crack, now much larger than the one depicted for the baptism.

As Rowan Williams writes, "The dark background against which Jesus is shown is something you will see in other icons as a way of representing the depths of heavenly reality. In the transfiguration, what the disciples see is, as you might say, Jesus' humanity 'opening up' to its inner dimensions. It is rather like the Hindu story of the infant Krishna, told by his mother to open his mouth to see if he has been eating mud; she looks in, and sees the whole universe in the dark interior of his throat. So the disciples look at Jesus, and see him as coming out from an immeasurable depth; behind or within him, infinity open up, 'dwelling of the light', to borrow the haunting phrase from Job 38.19. Mark 1.38 reports Jesus as saying that he has 'come out' so that he can proclaim the good news; and John's Gospel too uses the language of coming out from the depths of the Father (John 16.27-30). Belief in Jesus is seeing him as the gateway to an endless journey into God's love. The often-noted fact that icons show the lines of perspective reversed, so that they converge on your eye, not on a vanishing point in the distance within the picture, is a way of telling us that, once again, what is true of Jesus lies at the heart of all this style of paining: we are being taught to look through into the deep wells of life and truth."