Where'd Jesus go on Saturday?

Ah, the Saturday before Easter. The birds are singing, the Easter eggs are ready to go, and I'm hurriedly finishing my Spring Break homework before I have to start making pavlovas. So what was Jesus doing all those years ago, on the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday? As it turns out, this has been a bit of a hot topic for a while now. Even Augustine couldn't quite twiddle out this brain teaser.

As Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and many Protestant traditions hold, Jesus spent his day off in hell, saving souls. This dramatic image of Jesus breaking down the doors of Hades has spawned countless works of fanart and fanfiction, including Dante's Inferno, and the delightful image below:

Indeed, Jesus's descent was even added to the Apostle's Creed, which is apparently not just a video game, by a chap named Rufinus in the 4th century.

In keeping with the historical side of Jesus, it's likely that his followers said he went to the Jewish underworld Sheol after he died, to ensure that his resurrection was not seen as a resuscitation. As people's understandings of hell became more complicated, the questions grew: which layer of hell did Jesus visit? Whom did he save? Did he suffer in hell to fully atone for the sins of humanity?

There's a modern movement to remove the "ad inferna" bit from the Apostle's Creed. I believe the video game I'm actually thinking of is called the Assassin's Creed, though, so at least there won't be that mix-up.

The full article can be found here.