Passion cycle

Passion cycle in art, the depiction of the last events in the life of Jesus. The Passion was a favorite subject of medieval and Renaissance artists and was considered the most ambitious of projects. The scenes depicted generally include the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, the washing of his feet, the Last Supper, the Agony in the garden, the betrayal, the denial of Peter, Jesus before Pilate, the flagellation, the mocking of Jesus, the road to Calvary, the 14 Stations of the Cross (developed in the 14th cent. as a separate Crucifixion cycle), the Deposition, the Pietà (or Lamentation), and the Entombment. The scenes may be represented singly, as in Michelangelo's Pietà, or as a suite, as in Giotto's frescoes in the Arena Chapel at Padua. The artists' interpretations of what was to be represented in each scene were strictly circumscribed by convention and were usually limited to biblical descriptions of the events.

Passion, the. The term is used absolutely of the Lord's redemptive suffering during the last days of His earthly life, and especially of His Crucifixion.

Passion (Lat., passio, ‘suffering’). The events of Jesus' last days as recounted in the gospels, culminating in his crucifixion. From at least the 4th cent. the passion was recited with musical settings in churches during Holy Week; by the Middle Ages, the chant was plainsong, with motet choruses added in the 15th cent. The St John Passion (1723) and St Matthew Passion (1729) of J. S. Bach are among the most familiar of these Passions.

Passion Sunday is the 5th Sunday in Lent, a week before Palm Sunday, but Passion Sunday is now fused with Palm Sunday.

Passion plays are enactments of the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus which served, originally, important didactic purposes. The best known of these is a late example, the play at Oberammergau in Bavaria. According to tradition, the village was spared from plague in 1633, and vowed, in gratitude, to perform a passion play once every ten years. The term ‘passion play’ is also used of dramatic reenactments, by Shīʿa Muslims, of the martyrdom of al-Husain (and al-Hasan): see TAʿZIYA. For a text, see L. Pelly, The Miracle Play of Hasan and Husain (1879).