The Crucifixion of Jesus emphasize two closely connected aspects of the Christian mystery. First, the participation of the Trinity in the suffering of Christ. In Jesus' desperate cry, "Father, why hast Thou forsaken me?" he perceived the Father abandoning His Son, the Son experiencing as it were, infinite solitude in an instant of eternity, and the Spirit becoming the ineffable Suffering in which the three divine Persons are united. Second, the Cross is also the mystery of the paradoxical weakness of divine omnipotence, which is the only answer to contemporary atheism. The iconography of the Crucifixion adheres either to a strict dogmatic rendering of the scene comprising the participants - Mary and the beloved disciple. In these renderings, a spirit of majesty alternates with dramatic outcries of pain and suffering of all participants. In essence, the images reflect the liturgy of the Passion Week.
In the Resurrection is the response of God the Father to the final epiclesis of Jesus: In the Resurrection God gives to Christ's soul the power to awaken his body from sleep and to be united with Him. In the Resurrection, Christ, by virtue of His obedience to the crucifying love of the Father, acquired perfect deification for his humanity that henceforth entered into immortality. Christ has freely died a real death, and his Resurection is the victory, which suppressed death.
The Ascension represents the final victory over death and hell, and the definitive entrance of all humanity into eternity through Jesus' humanity. It is our externalization and our immortality realized once and for all. In the ascension is the Pentecostal epiclesis, Jesus' invocation addressed to the Father to send the Holy Spirit. Henceforth Jesus' presence becomes interiorized. He is no longer in front of the disciples, but within them: He is present in every manifestation of the Holy Spirit, as He is present in the Eucharist. The icon of the Ascension underlines the following truths: First, the formation of the Church in the image of the Trinity, here represented by the Virgin and the angels. Second, the departing figure of Christ, surrounded by the angels of the incarnation and the cosmic circles, holding in His right hand the Book of Scriptures and imparting a blessing with His left hand, indicating that He is going back to heaven with His earthly body and that He continues to be the source of teaching and blessing even after the Ascension. Third, the preeminent position of Mary in her attitude of prayer toward God and of purity toward the world.
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