Monthly Archives: Μάιος 2020

'Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake. Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.
The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down on the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water—the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.
The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night. As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: 'Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!'

After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree.
Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea:
Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.
Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000, from all the tribes of Israel. The sealing process is distinctly seen in the foreground. Behind the mountains are the 144,000.

'I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth.
The blood-red moon and the black sun are enveloped in clouds, and it rains stars and fire on the earth, where the cities are shattered by earthquakes, and people search refuge in caves: The ultimate cosmic disaster.
The skill of the painter can be observed in the way he tempers the solidity of the structure in layers with the slight asymmetry of the clouds, in the playful geometric austerity of buildings disintegrating like toys, and in the perspective arrangement of the caves, in which terrified people can be seen.'

In this scene, when the lamb opened the fifth seal, John saw those who had been martyred for the word of God under the altar. They shouted to God, asking him to deliver justice. Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were martyred just as they had been. In the upper portion of the frame, the title of the corresponding part of the text is slightly different:
I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained about the lamb.
At the top of the section, the witnesses are seen lying down in a row under the altar. At the bottom, the angels gently dress them with white robes which seem to be part of a continuous cloth that also covers the altar. The obvious association with the holy shroud of Christ is deliberate. Here, as in all 21 frames, the painting appears more talkative than the text, although it never reaches the level of chatter or exaggeration.

The lamb opened the first four of the seven seals one by one, each time resulting in a rider appearing in the row. The four riders each had a different weapon, which they used to kill a quarter of the people in total. In the lower portion of the frame, the inscription reads:
I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.
In the upper portion of the frame appears, rather mistakenly, the text corresponding to the next scene:
I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained about the lamb.

This scene contains a significant innovation in Orthodox ecclesiastical art: The depiction of God the Father. Although Byzantium would consider it inappropriate to portray God as a human being (except Christ Himself, of course), 16th century society adopted it without resistance, along with other themes seen in engravings of well-known works of the Renaissance and Mannerism.
In the Monastery's fresco, God the Father is seated on a throne held by an angel. He receives the respect and the praises of the four creatures (the angel, the eagle, the ox, and the lion), while above His head seven torches burn. A rainbow, the symbol of peace between God and humans, is placed above the torches. On the right and left sides, twenty-four elders also seated on thrones praise Him with harps and incense. God holds a book sealed with seven seals which a seven-horned lamb, symbolizing Christ, is opening. The inscription reads:
And there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.