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"Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep,
and when they wakened they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him."
... Moses and Elijah ...
Luke 9.32.
The story: Luke.9.28-36.
Mosaic. Byzantine, c.540.
Church of the Virgin, Apse, Monastery
of St Catherine, Mount Sinai.
Image
- "Sinai and the Monastery of St Catherine",
by John Galey. Massada Publishing
Ltd, 1980.
On the triumphal arch:
Left of the window: Moses removes his shoes in the presence of God.
Right of the window: Moses receives THE LAW.
Below: The the lamb of god with the medallions of John the Baptist, the virgin,
two archangels.
Central theme: "The Transfiguration."
Centre: Jesus, shown as the Christ in his two natures - god/man,
accompanied by (left): the prophet Elijah and (right): the prophet Moses.
The witnesses to the Transfiguration:
The Apostles: kneeling (left) John, (right) James, recumbant (centre) Peter.
Surrounding the central theme:
medallions of the twelve Apostles, sixteen prophets, and two sponsors of the
mosaic.
Click on the hot spots to enlarge sections of the
mosaic.
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