The Passion of the Christ

This article by Mahmoud Zibawi traces the evolution of the representation of the Passion of Christ in Eastern Christian art, from its origins to the post-Byzantine period. Proceeding through a historical and iconographic study, the author shows how early Christian art, initially reluctant to depict the crucifixion, gradually developed a visual vocabulary centered on the glorious cross before incorporating the figure of the Crucified. The central idea is that the Christian East constantly maintains the balance between the humanity and divinity of Christ: while the emphasis shifts from the divine to the human over the centuries, both dimensions remain inseparable. Unlike the Renaissance West, which veers into a dolorist humanism, Eastern iconography transfigures suffering without erasing it, preserving the theological tension between kenosis and glory, between death and resurrection, in accordance with the dogmatic affirmations of the Church Fathers.