Katabasis

Katabasis (descent) has two primary theological uses. First: the descent (katabasis) of Christ into Hades — the harrowing of hell by which Christ freed the righteous who had died before his coming. The Anastasis icon is explicitly a katabasis icon: Christ descending into the depths to raise Adam and Eve. Second: in hymnography, the katabasis is the closing stanza of each ode in a liturgical canon — the verse that 'descends' to wrap up the ode, often sung at the end of the canon.