Christ Pantocrator

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Pantokrator (disambiguation).
Jesus Christ Pantocrator (Detail from the deesis mosaic in Hagia Sophia, Istanbul)
Christ Pantocrator in the dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre's catholicon. Church domes are a common site of Pantocrator images.

In

Christian iconography, Christ Pantocrator (Greek: Χριστὸς Παντοκράτωρ)[1] is a specific depiction of Christ. Pantocrator or Pantokrator, literally ruler of all, but usually translated as "Almighty" or "all-powerful", is derived from one of many names of God in Judaism
.

The Pantokrator is largely an

Latin Catholicism. In the West, the equivalent image in art is known as Christ in Majesty, which developed a rather different iconography
. Christ Pantocrator has come to suggest Christ as a benevolent, though also stern and all-powerful, judge of humanity.

When the

God Almighty".[3] In the New Testament, Pantokrator is used once by Paul (2 Cor 6:18) and nine times in the Book of Revelation: 1:8, 4:8, 11:17, 15:3, 16:7, 16:14, 19:6, 19:15, and 21:22
. The references to God the Father and God the Son in Revelation are at times interchangeable, but Pantokrator appears to be reserved for the Father except, perhaps, in 1:8.

Meaning

Christ Pantocrator mosaic in Byzantine style from the Cefalù Cathedral, Sicily

The most common translation of Pantocrator is "Almighty" or "All-powerful". In this understanding, Pantokrator is a compound word formed from the Greek words πᾶς, pas (

GEN παντός pantos), i.e. "all"[4] and κράτος, kratos, i.e. "strength", "might", "power".[5] This is often understood in terms of potential power; i.e., ability to do anything, omnipotence. Christ pantocrator signifies Jesus in his glory during his second coming seated on his throne
.

Another, more literal translation is "Ruler of All" or, less literally, "Sustainer of the World". In this understanding, Pantokrator is a compound word formed from the Greek for "all" and the verb meaning "To accomplish something" or "to sustain something" (κρατεῖν, kratein). This translation speaks more to God's actual power; i.e., God does everything (as opposed to God can do everything).

Iconography

The oldest known icon of Christ Pantocrator, encaustic on panel (Saint Catherine's Monastery). The two different facial expressions on either side may emphasize Christ's two natures as fully God and fully human.[6][7]

The icon of Christ Pantokrator is one of the most common religious images of Orthodox Christianity. Generally speaking, in Byzantine art church art and architecture, an iconic mosaic or fresco of Christ Pantokrator occupies the space in the central dome of the church, in the half-dome of the apse, or on the nave vault. Some scholars (Latourette 1975: 572) consider the Pantocrator a Christian adaptation of images of Zeus, such as the great statue of Zeus enthroned at Olympia. The development of the earliest stages of the icon from Roman Imperial imagery is easier to trace.[8]

The image of Christ Pantocrator was one of the first

images of Christ developed in the Early Christian Church and remains a central icon of the Eastern Orthodox Church. In the half-length image, Christ holds the New Testament in his left hand and makes the gesture of teaching or of blessing
with his right. The typical Western Christ in Majesty is a full-length icon. In the early Middle Ages, it usually presented Christ in a mandorla or other geometric frame, surrounded by the Four Evangelists or their symbols.

The oldest known surviving example of the icon of Christ Pantocrator was painted in encaustic on panel in the sixth or seventh century, and survived the period of destruction of images during the Iconoclastic disputes that twice racked the Eastern church, 726 to 787 and 814 to 842. It was preserved in Saint Catherine's Monastery, in the remote desert of the Sinai.[9] The gessoed panel, finely painted using a wax medium on a wooden panel, had been coarsely overpainted around the face and hands at some time around the thirteenth century. When the overpainting was cleaned in 1962, the ancient image was revealed to be a very high-quality icon, probably produced in Constantinople.[10]

The icon, traditionally half-length when in a

Byzantine mosaics
.

Often, the

lunate sigma (C; instead of Σ, ς)—the first and last letters of 'Jesus' in Greek (Ἰησοῦς); in XC the letters are chi
(Χ) and again the lunate sigma—the first and last letters of 'Christ' in Greek (Χριστός).

In many cases, Christ has a

cruciform halo inscribed with the letters Ο Ω Ν, i.e. ὁ ὤν "He Who Is"
.

See also

References

Footnotes

  1. Perseus Project
  2. ^ 2 Kings (2 Samuel) 7:8 and Amos 3:13
  3. ^ Job 5:17, 15:25 and 22:25
  4. Perseus Project
  5. Perseus Project
  6. ISBN 0-89870-514-2
    page 154
  7. ISBN 977-424-118-5
    page 92
  8. ISBN 0-7195-3971-4
  9. ^ Manolis Chatzidakis and Gerry Walters, "An Encaustic Icon of Christ at Sinai", The Art Bulletin 49.3 (September 1967) pp. 197–208.
  10. ISBN 0385171102
  11. ^ Otherwise the size of the figure would have to be greatly reduced to avoid the head appearing at the flattening top of the semi-dome.

Bibliography

  • Latourette, Kenneth Scott, 1975. A History of Christianity, Volume 1, "Beginnings to 1500". Revised edition. (San Francisco: HarperCollins)
  • Christopher Schonborn, Lothar Kraugh (tr.) 1994. God's Human Face: The Christ Icon. Originally published as Icôn du Christ: Fondements théologiques élaborés entre le Ie et IIe Conciles de Nicée (Fribourg) 1976

Further reading

  • Chatzidakis, Manolis (September 1967). "An Encaustic Icon of Christ at Sinai". Gerry Walters, tr. The Art Bulletin 49.3, pp. 197–208.
  • Galavaris, George (Jan 1, 1981). The Icon in the Life of the Church, 11. Brill Academic Publishers.
    ISBN 90-04-06402-8

External links

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