Art and Faith: Christ Pantocrator of St. Catherine's Monastery at Sinai

 

"Note then the kindness and the severity of God . . ."

-Romans 11:22

The first thing you probably notice as you look at this 1500 year old painting of Jesus, is the odd, asymmetrical quality of his face.  The difference is especially evident when you look at the eyes--it is almost as though two drastically different people are staring at us from different sides of the same face!  You might be tempted to think that this is the shoddy work of an unskilled artist, but the asymmetrical quality of this piece is actually very intentional and the product of incredible skill.   

The anonymous artist was attempting to communicate to us two distinct qualities of Jesus' singular nature--He is both God and human.  He is both Savior of the world and Judge of the world.  Jesus embodies both the kindness and severity of God--qualities that Paul encourages us to consider side by side in Romans 11:22.  Cover up the right half of the painting and you will see a portrayal of Jesus in all His humanity, meek, humble, looking at us with a loving eye and holding out his hand in blessing and welcome.  Cover up the left half of the painting and you will see Jesus the Almighty (the world Pantocrator used in the title of the painting is the Greek word for "Almighty"--it literally means the One Whose Hand is On Everything), Jesus the regal and fearful Judge, holding the book of the Law and looking at us with a firm eye that pierces us to our very souls.  These two qualities of Jesus' nature--His kindness and severity-- become crystal clear in the "mirror image" below from the painting's Wikipedia page:
 

  The artist could have painted two pictures and set them side by side, like the image above, but Jesus is not two people; He is One, so the artist paints one person embodying both qualities.  This is Jesus, the "Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" (John 1:29) and The Lion of the tribe of Judah" who conquers the world (Revelation 5:5).  This is Jesus, the Suffering Servant who is "gentle and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29), but also the Almighty "King of Kings and Lord of Lords" who judges and makes war and treads the winepress of God's wrath (Revelation 19:11-16).  He is both these things at once--and more!  So consider our great Lord Jesus Christ--His kindness and His severity, His love and His wrath--and worship Him!

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