Christ Pantocrator (Sinai)

The oldest surviving icon of Christ, painted in colored wax and kept at Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai, far enough from Constantinople to escape the image-smashing of the Byzantine iconoclast era. Christ raises his right hand in blessing and holds a jeweled Gospel book. Cover each half of the face in turn and two expressions emerge, one side serene, the other stern, a deliberate doubling of Christ as merciful savior and severe judge, the Pantocrator or 'ruler of all.' It uses the same encaustic technique as the Fayum portraits also in this collection.