Beautiful icon! Do you happen to know what is it called and who wrote it?

Sorry! I forgot to sign my name.

-Cullin R. Schooley

This icon is a traditional Byzantine representation of the Resurrection (sometimes called "The Harrowing of Hell" in the West). Since no one witnessed the actual moment of Christ Jesus' resurrection according to the gospels, Eastern Christians instead chose to depict symbolically its effect: and so we see Christ Jesus here, trampling down the gates of Sheol (the underworld of death, Hades, hell) to free the Old Testament righteous held there, yanking Adam and Eve from their very tombs, while Satan is chained underfoot, in the pit of darkness. In this icon we see a visual confession of what Hebrews 2:14 teaches: that in Christ God took on our humanity in order to die, "so that by his death he might destroy the one who holds the power of death -- that is, the devil." Or as we profess in the Apostles' Creed: "I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord, who... was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended into hell. On the third day he rose again..."

Gregory and Cullin,

There are certainly interpretations of Adam and Eve in this icon as representing "the Old Testament righteous" ones, and this particular icon includes King David, John the Baptist, and Moses, so emphasizes that interpretation, but the constant in this iconic type is Adam and Eve, and I think very early evidence (and icons explicitly remembering this tradition) that the resurrection icon teaches Christ's rescue of all humanity from condemnation. There's plenty of good witness from early Christian teachers to this understanding of redemption. Here's a good example in a hymn-collage from Harrowing of Hell texts in the Second Century Odes of Solomon:

“The Gates of Hell,” a Song from the Odes of Solomon

I burst into the pit, and hell could not bear my face.
I had gone to free the prisoners - - I longed for them all.
Lost, despairing and dead,
I would leave none behind.
Crying, they ran to me,

“Pity us, Son of God, free us from this darkness!
We see death has no hold on you -
Open the gate so we can dance free with you.”
Iron bars melted at my burning love; no more bolted gates -
I made my outstretched hands a gate for all beings,

Now with living lips I speak to the dead,
“Keep my secret, you are kept by it.
Keep my faith, you are kept by it.
Learn what I know, my truth knows you.
Love with my love, you are my love.”

I make of the dead an assembly of the living, for I am risen.
I mark their foreheads with my sign.
I lay my yoke of love on them - - I am with them.
NOW their voice and mine are one.
NOW they are free and we are one.

This version of the "Anastasis" icon is unusual (in a good way) in that there is an additional female figure besides Eve, who wears the red. Usually this icon is filled with an almost exclusively male cast of characters. Note that Jesus has Adam by the arm but not Eve. Interesting.

While we're noting details of this icon, take a look at all the bits of hardware strewn beneath the doors and around the bound figure. That's the remains of Hades' lock, which was blown to smithereens when Our Lord kicked in the doors.

There are other versions, Peter, where Jesus (sans cross) is grasping Adam&Eve by each hand. "Harrowing" is one of my favorite icons (my former parish has a Harrowing stain-glass window: interesting mix of East&West!).

JC Fisher

An image search on google for "resurrection icon" gives some interesting variations on the theme, including this inside/outside version: http://redtreetimes.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/resurrectiondionysiou.jpg

And JC is right - if Jesus isn't holding the Cross, the general rule seems to be that he holds both Adam and Eve by the hand.

After an admittedly quick look at the results on the first page, I could only identify two that had women other than Eve being raised from Hades, though.