The Tomb, the Throne, and the Fire: A Theological Reading of the Pentecost Icon

In traditional Christian iconography, Pentecost is associated with the image of tongues of flames, fire, or even doves, which signify the Holy Spirit in Christian scriptures and interpretations. It is quite rare to find a visual portrayal that depicts this theme using different ways of representation. The Descent of the Holy Spirit icon (Figure 1) is a significant departure. It does not represent merely a singular occurrence, the day of Pentecost described in Acts 2; instead, it shows the entirety of the ‘Christ event,’ holding the whole saving work of Jesus Christ. The icon teaches that the Church is not a human invention added at the end. Instead, the Church is born from the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, and on the day of Pentecost, it receives its breath. In the following lines, I present a reading of the icon that shows the meeting of the Creator and the church, in which the Holy Spirit rekindles life in a world about to perish.

In the icon, two tall golden buildings frame the scene, joined at the top by a central arched structure with a green-blue band along its upper edge. They are painted in the style of Byzantine and Slavic architecture, with small, dark windows along their sides. In iconographic language, this enclosing arrangement of buildings reveals that the event happens indoors: setting the scene in the upper room in Jerusalem, where the disciples ‘were all together in one place’ (Acts 2:1).

But the artist does not give the room a normal roof. Above the apostles seated in the image is a gold arc with a green-blue band, opening into imagery of heaven. In Christian iconography, gold represents God’s uncreated light, which has no source in this world. The room’s closed sides and open top can be read as an architectural image of the embodied Church itself: a well-ordered, assembled community on earth that remains open to heaven.

Fig. 1: The Descent of the Holy Spirit icon does not represent merely a singular occurrence but shows the entirety of the ‘Christ event’.

God has always come down to meet his creation: walking with Adam in the garden of Eden, speaking from the burning bush, descending in fire on Sinai, filling the tabernacle and temple with his glory, and ultimately taking on flesh in Jesus Christ as ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us’ (John 1:14). The open roof indicates that this long history of meetings continues. The same God who descended as fire on Sinai now descends as fire on the apostles.

At the very top of the icon is a dark half-circle. Rays of light shine down from it toward the apostles, like a sunburst. These rays signify the ‘divided tongues, as of fire’ that ‘rested on each one of them’ (Acts 2:3). The one Spirit fills many people; each apostle receives the whole gift.

The apostles sit in a wide semicircle that opens out toward the viewer. The shape invites the viewer in, as an invitation to the gathering. At the top of the curve, the highest central seat is empty (Figure 2). In this kind of icon, that empty seat is called the ‘prepared throne’: it is the place kept for Jesus Christ (Figure 2, Figure 3).¹

At the bottom of the icon, there is a black arch which holds a crowned figure holding up a white object. This is the most important part of the icon, which sets it apart from other icons depicting Pentecost. It is here that the whole saving work of Christ can be seen. The black arch symbolises the tomb. It also alludes to the darkness of the world and the shadow of death where humanity lived before the Good News came in the form of Jesus Christ (Luke 1:79). The white object that the crowned figure lifts up can be understood as the burial cloth, or the coffin, of Jesus. It is now empty, because Jesus has risen. The crowned figure can be understood as a sign of God’s victory standing at the open tomb. It is the Father ‘who raised him from the dead,’ in the words of Galatians 1:1—the One who calls the apostles is the same One who raised the Son.²

This lower part of the icon (Figure 4) resembles another well-known icon: the Resurrection Icon (Figure 6), in which Christ stands over a dark cave of death and lifts the aged Adam and Eve out of their tombs. Here similar shapes are present: a dark cave, a white cloth, and a figure lifted out of darkness into the light above (Figure 5). This bears the same message of Christ’s journey into hell, breaking the curse of death open from the inside. This is what the early Christians meant by salvation as victory: death itself was ‘swallowed up in victory’ (1 Corinthians 15:54). On the cross and in the resurrection, Christ defeated the powers of sin and death, ‘triumphing over them’ (Colossians 2:15).³

In visual analysis of the elements of the Descent of the Holy Spirit icon, the whole work of Christ is evident. The incarnation—when God became human—is shown in the open roof, where God comes down to live with humanity. Christ’s death is present in the dark arch, which symbolises the tomb. (A Patristic reading of John 19:34 even posits that the Church was born from the wound in Christ’s side, just as Eve was once formed from the side of Adam.).⁴ The resurrection is revealed in the white cloth lifted out of the tomb; the Ascension, when Christ returned to heaven, is symbolised by the empty throne at the top of the apostles’ semicircle; and the gift of the Holy Spirit, filling the apostles with fire, is the result. The risen and ascended Christ ‘poured out’ the Spirit (Acts 2:33). The Church is born from this complete work of Christ, not from one single moment alone.

The icon does not paint the three persons of the Trinity as separate figures. Even so, the whole life of the Trinity is at work in the visual representation. The Father is the source of the rays that pour down from is also the One who raises the Son. The Son is recognised by the empty throne, risen and ruling, sending his Spirit. The Spirit is the fire that rests on each apostle. In this way, the icon is a celebration. The Triune God has won the victory over death, and he now rejoices with the Church and pours his own life into her.⁵ This is also the answer to the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples: ‘Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven’ (Matthew 6:10). The icon illustrates that God wills a people gathered into one, filled with one Spirit, and able to understand the language of God. Pentecost is heaven coming down to earth; the unity that belongs to God is poured into a human community.

The colours of the icon make the same statements.⁶ Gold covers almost everything, because the whole scene is filled with God’s light. The apostles wear strong reds and greens. Red is the colour of fire, the colour of blood, and the colour of the life that God shares with us. Green represents the Spirit and new growth, the freshness that Pentecost brings to a dry, tired world. Against all this brightness there is one real patch of black, shut at the very bottom of the icon, inside the tomb. That darkness is not ignored or removed; instead, it is depicted in the icon confirming the death of the old world, and its position in the painting is purposeful as a reflection of God’s victory over death itself.

This is how sōtēria (salvation) is presented in the Descent of the Holy Spirit icon. It is not about escaping from this world, but about the world being set on fire with the life of God. The early Church called this ‘sharing in the divine nature’ (2 Peter 1:4). Humanity does not stop being human, but is transformed by God’s own light. The grey, dying world is pulled out of its grave and made to shine.⁷ The same fire that could destroy has come down instead to give life. The tomb of the old world becomes the doorway to a new world. Christ, who is no longer visible on his empty throne, is more present than ever in the Spirit he sends. Here we find death and life meet, and in the Trinitarian work, life wins. The Church stands as the place where heaven’s unity is poured out on earth.