Did Jesus Go to Hell?

This piece was originally posted on Dr. Eugenia Constantinou’s blog here.

I have been working on a book about the Resurrection of Christ, as a follow up to the crucifixion book. I pray that it will be as good as The Crucifixion of the King of Glory, in both style and substance. One subject I will address is what happened to Christ between the time he died and he rose. I assumed that all Orthodox Christians – or at least those who attend Church regularly – knew about this. But I decided to test my assumption by asking random Orthodox Christians after the divine liturgy if they knew what happened to Jesus after he died. I was surprised at how many did not know, in spite of the fact that numerous hymns refer to this event. Do you know? After Jesus died in the body, he went to Hades and preached to the dead. This is frequently mentioned in the Resurrection apolytikia (“dismissal hymns”) and other hymns of the Sunday services. Of course, this is also a theme of Great and Holy Saturday and it is the “subject matter” of the Resurrection icon, known as the “Harrowing of Hell” or the “Harrowing of Hades.”

The early Church taught that Christ went to Hades and preached to the dead on Saturday. This is one reason why Saturdays in the Orthodox Church are the day that we remember the dead, hence “Soul Saturday” or Psychosavvaton. Christ’s descent to Hades was mentioned by early Church Fathers and it has always been the belief of the Orthodox Church. But I had no idea the variety of opinions over this event that prevails among other Christians. A great deal of the confusion arises from the fact that in the West, the words “Hades” and “Hell” are treated as synonymous, interchangeable terms. But they are not. But because these terms became confused in Western Christianity this understandably led to confusion in theology. “Hades” is a term from ancient, pagan Greece and we still use this term in the Church. Hades is simply the “place of the dead,” all of the dead. We like to think that when our loved ones die they are immediately with the Lord, but that is not the case because the Last Judgment has not occurred yet. The Jews also had a similar concept. The Old Testament speaks of “Sheol,” the place where everyone went when they died., both good and bad. The pagan Greeks did believe that there might be places in Hades where people were tormented and the Jews also believed in an eventual reward and punishment after death. But both Jews and ancient Greeks mostly had a vague concept of the afterlife as a shadowy existence “down there,” in the underworld. “Hell,” on the other hand, is the place of eternal torment where the devil, his angels and unrepentant sinners will be eternally after judgment.

Most amazing was learning of the significant disagreement currently in the Catholic Church over this question, which arose in the 20th century but became an issue for ordinary Catholics rather recently. In 2010 a new English translation of the Mass was implemented for Catholics. The new translation was more accurate. For example, when the priest said, “Peace be with you,” Catholics had responded, “And also with you.” The new translation changed the response to “And with your spirit,” a literal translation of the Latin phrase. The confusion among the Catholic faithful over where Jesus “went” when he died began when the new translation changed the “Apostles’ Creed.” Catholics do not always recite a creed at a Mass. Sometime, when they do recite a creed, it is the “Apostles’ Creed,” not the Nicene Creed.

The Apostles’ Creed was not written by the apostles. It probably originated in Rome and dates from the late fourth or fifth century. The East did not adopt it. It was probably intended to be a shorter version of the Nicene Creed, but it contains statements that the Nicene Creed does not have. Since I have always been an Orthodox Christian, I do not know the Apostles’ Creed. In fact, even though I have been to many masses over the decades, I had never heard the Apostles’ Creed. The only time I have heard it was on one occasion when I asked a Catholic student to recite it for me in class.

Here is why confusion has arisen among some Catholics regarding what happened after the death of Jesus. The previous English translation of Apostles’ Creed said that after Christ died he “preached to the dead.” But the new English translation, more literal, states that after Christ died, he “descended to hell.” You can only imagine the confusion that this caused among people who for decades had only been saying that he “preached to the dead.” They understandably wondered, “Why would Jesus go to hell? Isn’t that where sinners go?” The Latin phrase is “descensus Christi ad inferos” and the new translation rendered the word inferos as “hell.” But even prior to this confrusion, Catholic theologians debated whether Jesus went to hell and why. Some maintain that he went only to a certain part of hell, where the righteous were. This question is complicated by many Catholic ideas including, purgatory, limbo, ideas about the partitioning of hell for different types of people who did not qualify to go to purgatory. (Purgatory is not hell. Catholics believe it is a place of purification by fire before one can go to heaven.)

The most fascinating position of all was vigorously promoted by a famous 20th century Catholic theologian, Hans Urs von Balthasar, who actually championed the idea that Jesus was tormented in hell. He devoted his entire life to this belief which he based on the “visions” of a certain Swiss woman. Von Balthasar supported this teaching with typical rational Western logic, and by this we see how detrimental the Western notion of sin is and how it distorts all of theology. Von Balthasar believed, like most Western Christians, that sin is a crime or offense against God which must be punished because God is just. Jesus saved us by suffering the penalty for us. Jesus suffered on the cross in the body for our sins, but in order to save us his soul had to suffer the consequences of sin also in hell, von Balthasar reasoned. He was encouraged in this belief by a Catholic woman who claimed she had vision of Jesus being tortured in hell. This is an utterly blasphemous belief. It is not widespread among Catholics but many are or were persuaded by it, including Joseph Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI . Ratzinger was a famous theologian and a good friend of Von Balthasar. (He actually gave the eulogy at Von Balthasar’s funeral.) Although Ratzinger did not like to believe that Jesus was tormented in hell, he remarked that he could not disagree with Von Balthasar’s “logic.” (How theology becomes distorted when subjected to human logic!) However, later, as pope, thankfully, Benedict XVI, was introduced to the Eastern understanding of the Descent into Hades and unequivocally rejected Von Balthasar’s ideas. What is the Orthodox view? Jesus Christ went to Hades with the light of his divinity and conquered Death and Hades, smashing its bars and gates, and liberating the souls being held captive. The Lord was not a victim who was tormented in Hades but triumphant, victorious God.