The short answer
- Meaning: The Christian tradition that Christ entered the realm of the dead between his death and resurrection and delivered its captives.
- Biblical roots: First Peter 3 and 4, Ephesians 4 and Acts 2 contribute to the tradition, but none narrates the complete later story.
- Full narrative: The second part of the Gospel of Nicodemus presents the testimony of two risen sons of Simeon, Karinus and Leucius.
- Worship: The descent is especially associated with Holy Saturday, between Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
The Harrowing of Hell is the Christian tradition that Christ descended to the realm of the dead between his death and resurrection and freed those held there. Its biblical roots appear in several passages, while the Gospel of Nicodemus gives it an extended narrative form. The Apostles' Creed affirms the descent, and the tradition became a subject of medieval poetry, plays and Eastern Christian images of the Resurrection. Churches differ in how they explain its meaning.
This guide moves from the meaning of the name to the New Testament passages and creeds, then to the witnesses and events in the apocryphal narrative. It follows the story into art and literature, summarizes several church interpretations, and closes with related guides.
The short answer: a deliverance from death
Harrowing here means plundering or despoiling, not causing distress. The name presents Christ's descent as the breaking of captivity. Hell in these accounts often means the abode of the dead rather than the place of final punishment. That distinction explains why the tradition can describe the deliverance of righteous figures from Israel's scriptures without describing the release of the damned.
The descent is especially associated with Holy Saturday, the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Its place in that interval connects Christ's death with his resurrection. The tradition was already discussed by Christian authors such as Irenaeus before the surviving Gospel of Nicodemus took shape. The apocryphal narrative therefore gives story form to a belief that did not originate with that work.
What the New Testament and the creeds say
First Peter 3:18–20 describes Christ proclaiming to imprisoned spirits who had been disobedient in Noah's time. Christians have interpreted the identity of those spirits in different ways. First Peter 4:6 refers to the gospel being proclaimed to the dead. Both passages contribute to discussion of the descent, but neither supplies the complete sequence of events familiar from the later Harrowing narrative.
Ephesians 4:8–10 connects Christ's ascent with an earlier descent to the lower regions. Interpreters disagree over whether this means the realm of the dead or Christ's coming to earth. Acts 2:27–31 applies Psalm 16's language about not being abandoned to Hades to Christ's resurrection. These passages give the tradition several scriptural points of reference rather than one continuous biblical account.
The Apostles' Creed affirms Christ's descent to the dead, traditionally expressed in English as a descent into hell. This clause was not present in all early forms of the baptismal creed that developed into the Apostles' Creed. The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed has no explicit descent clause. The history of the wording is therefore distinct from the history of the narratives that Christians associated with it.
The story in the Gospel of Nicodemus
The Gospel of Nicodemus is an anonymous Christian apocryphal work outside the New Testament canon, not a gospel written by the biblical Nicodemus. It commonly combines an account of Jesus' trial with a second section about the descent. The surviving Greek trial account is usually dated to the fourth century; the descent narrative is a later addition. Greek and Latin forms of the descent survive, with differences in their details.
The narrative frames its account through two sons of Simeon who return from the dead and give written testimony about what they witnessed. They are commonly called Karinus and Leucius, although spellings vary across the textual tradition. Their father is identified as the Simeon who received the infant Jesus in the temple in Luke's Gospel. Their testimony supplies the narrative's account of events in the underworld.
Adam and other scriptural figures await deliverance, while John the Baptist heralds Christ's coming. A dispute between Satan and the personified ruler of the underworld dramatizes the approaching conflict. Christ's arrival brings the breaking of the gates and the release of prisoners. Psalm 24 supplies an important gate-opening motif. Adam's rescue connects humanity's fall with Christ's victory over death, giving the deliverance a significance beyond the fate of individual captives.
The Harrowing in art, poetry and mystery plays
The Gospel of Nicodemus circulated widely through medieval vernacular translations and adaptations. It helped shape English biblical drama depicting Christ's victory at the gates of hell, with Harrowing episodes in the York, Chester and Towneley play collections. William Langland's Piers Plowman gives the Harrowing an extended treatment. Dante's Inferno recalls the descent as the event that released biblical figures from Limbo.
In Eastern Christian art, the Resurrection image known as the Anastasis typically shows Christ raising Adam and Eve from the realm of the dead. Broken gates beneath his feet are characteristic of the image. Scholars study the Harrowing through these connections among biblical interpretation, apocryphal narrative, worship, literature and visual art. Its history belongs to all these fields rather than to the study of one text alone.
How churches understand the descent today
Roman Catholic teaching distinguishes descent to the abode of the dead from releasing the damned from final punishment. Eastern Orthodox worship emphasizes the defeat of death and Hades. Lutheran confessional teaching presents the descent as victory over the devil and hell's power. The Heidelberg Catechism interprets the creedal clause in terms of Christ's anguish and suffering, especially on the cross. These are distinct explanations of the descent's meaning.
Where to go next
The guide to the Gospel of Nicodemus covers the work to which the descent narrative belongs. The guide to the Gospel of Peter concerns a separate apocryphal gospel, not another name for this descent account. The descent narrative is anonymous and is not an authenticated work of the apostle Peter.
The edition on this site is titled The Descent of Christ into Hell, and the library also holds The Acts of Pilate. For another apocryphal treatment of Adam and Eve, the Book of Adam and Eve guide concerns a narrative of exile, temptation and hope after Eden.
Keep exploring
Hear it before you decide
Every book’s page plays the opening of its audiobook. Open The Descent of Christ into Hell below and press play.
The Descent of Christ into HellAttributed to the Apostle PeterHear a sample
The Acts of PilateAttributed to various early Christian authorsHear a sample
The Gospel of PeterAnonymous (Early Christian Apocrypha)Hear a sample
The Conflict of Adam and Eve with SatanAnonymousHear a sample
Questions about the Harrowing of Hell
What is the Harrowing of Hell?
It is the Christian tradition that Christ entered the realm of the dead between his death and resurrection and delivered its captives. Harrowing means plundering or despoiling. In this setting, hell often denotes the abode of the dead, not final punishment. The tradition is especially associated with Holy Saturday.
Is the Harrowing of Hell in the Bible?
The Bible contains passages used to support the tradition, but no single passage tells the complete later story. First Peter 3:18–20 and 4:6, Ephesians 4:8–10 and Acts 2:27–31 are central references. Interpretations differ, particularly over the imprisoned spirits in First Peter and the meaning of the descent in Ephesians.
What does the Apostles' Creed say about Christ's descent?
The Apostles' Creed affirms Christ's descent to the dead, traditionally rendered in English as descent into hell. The clause was absent from some early forms of the baptismal creed from which it developed. The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed does not explicitly state a descent, and churches interpret the Apostles' Creed's clause in different ways.
Which ancient text tells the story of the Harrowing of Hell?
The second part of the Gospel of Nicodemus gives an extended account of the Harrowing. This anonymous apocryphal narrative was added later to the trial account that forms the work's first part. It survives in differing Greek and Latin forms and stands outside the New Testament canon.
Who are Karinus and Leucius?
Karinus and Leucius are the two risen sons of Simeon who give written testimony in the descent narrative. The story identifies their father with the Simeon of Luke's temple account. Their names have variant spellings in the textual tradition, and their testimony describes what they witnessed among the dead.
