Descent of St. John the Baptist into Hell

The account of St. John the Baptist’s descent into hell after his beheading derives from apocryphal literature and carries a particular apocalyptic inflection for Old Believers, who consider the end of time to be near. In hell, St. John the Baptist, also known as St. John the Precursor in Eastern Orthodoxy, meets the patriarchs and prophets from the Old Testament to announce those souls that Christ would take away. The artist has portrayed St. John with wings, an indication of his multi-layered sanctity as angel, apostle and martyr.