This icon depicts fourteen scenes from the pre-Crucifixion “Passion” (
Stradanie) of Jesus:
(Courtesy of Zoetmulder Ikonen:
http://www.Russianicons.net)
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Though it does not bear an overall title, the little inscriptions by
each image identify the various scenes. As is common in icons, one
begins at the upper left corner, moves right, then back to the left side
and across again. Let’s get a quick overview
of the images:
Here, “the Jews consult to kill Jesus Christ”:
Here Judas (at left) betrays Jesus to the Jews for 30 pieces of silver:
Here Mary (standing before the other two Marys) implores Jesus “Not to enter Jerusalem”:
Jesus delivers his mother into the keeping of Mary and Martha:
Here is the “Mystic Supper” — the “Last Supper” of Jesus with his disciples:
Here is the “Washing of the Feet” — Jesus washing the feet of his
disciples. Note that Judas, just to the left of the kneeling Jesus, has
no halo because of his betrayal of Jesus, in this and other scenes:
Here Judas receives his 30 pieces of silver and informs on Jesus to the Jews:
Here is the “Prayer of the Cup,” the prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane:
Here Jesus tells his sleepy disciples to watch and pray:
Here Judas comes with the soldiers who are to arrest Jesus:
Here Judas gives the kiss that identifies and betrays Jesus to the soldiers:
Here the soldiers take the identified Jesus, as Peter cuts off the ear of Malchus:
Here the soldiers bring Jesus before the Archpriest Annas:
Here Annas questions Jesus as Peter denies knowing him three times:
Having done that, let’s focus on one particular fellow in this visual
narrative: Judas. He is the little guy at left in this image, without
a beard. We see his name written above is head: IЮДА —
IOUDA — “Judas.”
Here he sits at the table of the “Last Supper”:
Judas is easily identifiable at the table, because he has NO HALO;
and again, his name is written above his head. He sits in the
foreground between Peter at right, and Bartholomew at left.
Now there is something significant to note in this little image. You
will often hear it said (and read in books) that saints in icons are
never shown in a complete side profile. Well, you can see for
yourself, from this image, that it is not always true. We here see
saints Bartholomew, Peter, and Andrew in full side profile.
Now oddly enough, Judas not only causes trouble for Jesus in the
story of the passion, but he also has caused, and still causes, a good
deal of trouble for biblical scholars, because he is something of a
confusing mystery.
Some believe that Judas had no historical reality, but was a
fictional creation in early Christian writing. Why might one believe
that?
You may recall that in 66 c.e there was a major revolt of the Jewish
people against the Roman authorities at Jerusalem. This began the
Roman-Jewish war, which last from 66 until 73 c.e. Near the beginning
of this revolt, the Romans plundered the Temple
in Jerusalem, which only incited further rebellion, and Jewish rebels
not only defeated a Roman military legion but also slaughtered some
6,000 Romans. The matter came to an end with the taking of Jerusalem by
Titus Flavius (son of Emperor Vespasian) in 70
c.e. and the destruction of the Jewish Temple, and the last resistance
was wiped out at the fortress of Masada in 73 c.e.
Needless to say, Jews were not popular among Romans during this
time. And early Christianity — which was just getting under way — was
not yet clearly distinguished from the other segments of belief and
antagonistic factions among the Jews. After the destruction
of the Temple, Christians differed from other Jews in believing that the
reason for that destruction was the refusal of the Jews to accept Jesus
as the Messiah; non-Jesus-accepting Jews, on the other hand, believed
the reason was failure to observe the Torah.
How does all this relate to Judas? Well, the name
Ιουδα — Iouda — (Judas) given the betrayer of Jesus in the New Testament — is just the Greek spelling of the Hebrew name
Yehudah — Judah. In short, a “Jew” (
Yehudi) is one from the Tribe of Judah — and the Jews in general are
Yehudim (plural form). So the name “Judas” can be understood
to be representative of the Jewish people as a whole in the New
Testament — so goes the theory, which posits that this was an early
Christian way of taking the blame for the death of Jesus
away from the Romans and putting it on “the Jews,” from whom the
Christians now wanted to distance themselves.
The earliest Christian writings in the New Testament are those of
Paul. And in all his writing, Paul never mentions that Jesus was
betrayed by someone named Judas. In fact he nowhere says that Jesus was
specifically “betrayed.” In the King James Version,
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:23:
“For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread…”
The Greek word translated “betrayed” by the KJV translators in the 17th century, however, is
παρεδίδετο (paradideto),
which means “handed over,” rather than specifically “betrayed.” So
Paul — the earliest Christian writer — never mentions Judas, nor does
he say specifically “betrayed.”
The theory, then, is that “Mark,” (actually the anonymous writer of
the Gospel we call “of Mark) when writing after Paul, decided to
introduce a character into the story of Jesus who not only betrayed him,
but who could be understood as a representative
of the Jewish people as a whole (“Judah”) — again, to take the blame for
the death of Jesus away from the Romans, and put it on the Jews. This
decision, so the theory goes, was the New Testament root of the
Antisemitism that has caused so much trouble over
the last two millennia.
There is much more to this theory, which includes reference to Old
Testament texts that look to have provided details of the “betrayal by
Judas” story, including the thirty pieces of silver — but I will leave
further investigation to those interested in
this matter. It takes us too far afield from iconography.
And speaking of iconography, where else do we find Judas in Eastern
Orthodox icons? We find images of his hanging of himself (actually,
Matthew 27:3-8 says he hanged himself, while Acts 1:16-19 says he fell
in a field and split himself open) in monastic
frescos such as this one from the Gelati Monastery in Georgia (the
country, not the state):
The other icon type in which we find Judas, you may recall, is that
of the “Terrible Judgment,” which shows the naked Judas sitting in the
lap of Satan in Hell:
Often he is shown — as here — still with his bag of silver still in his hand:
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