Christ Pantocrator—The Most Famous Iconography of Jesus Christ

Christ Pantocrator (or, translated from the Greek, the Almighty) is one of the many titles of the Lord in the Old Testament, e.g., “Lord Almighty, God of Israel!” (Bar. 3, 1), “King omnipotent, supreme, God Almighty” (3 Macc. 6, 2), etc. In the New Testament texts, such naming is found primarily in the text of the Apocalypse (Revelation of John the Theologian), which is closely connected with the narrative of the Old Testament: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, says the Lord, who is and was and is to come, the Almighty” (Rev. 1: 8). However, most often, the term “Christ Pantocrator” is used to refer to the iconography that developed in Byzantine art in the early Byzantine period. The oldest icon of Christ Almighty dates back to the 6th century. It was discovered in the sacristy of the Monastery of Saint Catherine on Sinai and is considered to be the work of Constantinopolitan artists.

Christ Pantocrator—The Most Famous Iconography of Jesus Christ

The Sinai image of Christ Almighty, the earliest of the preserved images, is already an example of a well-established type. The Lord is depicted at the waist; His right hand is folded in a gesture of blessing, and in His left hand, He holds the Gospel. At the moment, researchers agree that this iconographic type was formed in the 6th century at the imperial court in Constantinople. Some of the examples of the time could be the silver cross brought to the treasury of St. Peter’s Church in Rome by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian II, and the tradition of minting the image of Christ Almighty on the obverse side of Byzantine coins, which was formed at the end of the 6th century under Emperor Justinian II.

Solidus of Justinian II. 692–695. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

After the period of iconoclasm in Byzantium (8th–early 9th centuries), many of the iconographic types that had developed in pre-iconoclastic art acquired a very clear, strict scheme. The systems of temple paintings were subjected to similar standardization. This was especially true for the decoration programs of cross-domed churches, i.e., a new architectural type that emerged during the period of iconoclasm and rather quickly displaced the traditional domed basilica of the early Byzantine period. The program of murals that developed in the 9th century was first recorded in the ekphrasis of the Constantinople patriarch Photios, created on the occasion of the consecration of the New Church in the Byzantine capital in 881. In the dome of the church, which traditionally symbolized the heavenly world, from that time, the scene of the Ascension of Christ or a large figure of Pantocrator was depicted, thus blessing those praying in the temple, while the Gospel scenes, i.e., compositions related to the earthly life of Christ, were depicted in the vaults and on the walls, i.e., the areas closer to people. From Byzantium, this tradition came to Rus’ where such a scheme was first found in the mosaics and frescoes of Saint Sophia of Kyiv.

Mosaics of the dome of Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv. 1043–1046.

Later, Christ Pantocrator would become one of the most recognizable iconographic types of Christ in Russian art regardless of the period, artistic fashion, and preferences of patrons.