Posted on 05/14/2016 4:50:18 AM PDT by NYer
None of the four Gospels describes Jesus in detail. However, the Christian tradition has nevertheless represented him using different iconographic models. From the beardless and youthful “Alexandrine Christ,” based on classic Greek proportions and canons normally applied to sculpture, to the long-haired and bearded “Syrian Christ” following the Byzantine Empire’s custom, Christendom has always recognized in the image not only a liturgical, cultural related element but also an effective evangelization tool in a world where reading and writing are not widespread skills.
Here, we wanted to share with you just three of the earliest images in the Christian tradition, which bear witness to different latitudes and traditions.
1. Alexamenos graffiti, or the “blaspheme graffiti”
This might be the oldest image in the world related to Jesus and Christianity. However, this is not a liturgical or devotional image at all, but an engraving on a plaster wall in Rome, mocking both Christ and Christians. In it, a donkey-headed, crucified human figure is depicted being worshiped by a person, next to the inscription “Alexamenos worshiping his god.” Since crucifixion was the punishment reserved for the worst criminals (up until the fourth century, when Constantine abolished it), the donkey head aims to make the image even more offensive. The value of this image lies in the fact that it proves the presence of Christians in Rome as far back as in the first century: that’s how old this graffiti is!
2. The Good Shepherd
The image of Christ as the Good Shepherd is rooted in the Gospels. But even before the Christian era, a classic motif of Greek sculpture was the moskophoros, or “the bearer of the calf. The original sculpture of the moskophoros, considered a masterpiece of Archaic Greek sculpture, has been dated back to the year 570 BC, and was sculpted by an anonymous artist in Attica. The Romans adopted this familiar figure from the ancient world’s iconographic repertoire, decorating their villas with pastoral scenes of shepherds and their flocks. These images were easily adapted to represent Christ, the Good Shepherd who gives his life for his sheep. The image shown here can be seen in the Catacombs of St. Callixtus, on the Appian Way outside Rome.
3. The Pantocrator
Literally, the Greek word Pantocrator translates to “he who has authority over everything.” It is understood as the Greek translation of two Hebrew expressions used to address God in the Old Testament, the “God of Hosts” (Sabaot) and, more commonly, the “Almighty” (El Shaddai), as found in the Septuagint Bible, the first translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek. The image we include is that of the oldest Pantocrator icon in the world, painted on a wooden board around the sixth or seventh century. Christ makes the traditional teacher’s gesture with his right hand and holds the Book of the Gospels in his left. This icon is still preserved in the Monastery of Saint Catherine on Mount Sinai in Egypt, one the oldest active monasteries on Earth.
Isn’t the mosaic image of Christ in the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul older than the one in Saint Catherine’s Monastery?
Jesus, Matthew 5:11
Sure Vlad!
In any case, Christians are given specific instructions by an Apostle, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Let him who has ears hear.
Fascinating. Thank you, NYer.
However, if (and this is a big IF) ... if the Shroud actually is the wrapping cloth of Jesus' mortal remains, then it is not a human portrait: it is an image not made by hands.
The fact that the Sinai picture maps accurately onto the Shroud image does not provide definitive proof, but still it is a tantalizing piece of evidence that the two portrayals --- one made by an artist's hand, the other made by the mysterious imprint of a body marred by blood, serum, dirt and sweat --- may be of the same Person.
Like the Bizarro cartoon about Jesus and the Buddha
http://bizarro.com/comics/february-11-2016/
How many thousands of times has this been repeated on FR and still people just keep mindlessly repeating the same, tired old mantra about "idol worship".
As Eric Voegelin and William F. Buckley, Jr. would have said they're trying to "immanentize the eschaton".
Jeffrey Hunter As Jesus
“In any case, Christians are given specific instructions by an Apostle, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Let him who has ears hear.”
And yet you ignore so many of those “specific instructions by an Apostle, [given] under inspiration of the Holy Spirit.”
Get your hearing checked.
For later.
In truth, only the 3rd image is a representation of Christ, as the 1st is an insulting caricature and the 2nd is a moskophoros adaptation assigning Christian ideals to a prior-use image. The fact that the oldest representation comes some 500+ years after his life does make for difficulties among the skeptics but for the believers, the Word and the Action (Gospels and Acts) are quite sufficient.
Unlike the rich and powerful of that era, a itinerate rabbi had no one to preserve his likeness for posterity. Indeed, a contemporary portrait would almost be a sign of falseness given the anti-icon attitude of that society. Is it possible that there were earlier renditions that the listed Pantocrator? Almost certainly, but with the persecutions and normal wear and tear of ordinary life, it seems fitting that this oldest image comes from the arid and preservative desert of the Sinai.
Thanks NYer.
“And yet you ignore so many of those “specific instructions by an Apostle, [given] under inspiration of the Holy Spirit.””
Sure Vlad.
I like the Graffiti one. And of course Jesus rode into Jeruselum on a young donkey. Talk about being humble. Any other God would have said “Really? Ride in on a donkey, and in a week be Crucified!? We’ll be the laughing-stock of the world!”
My pastor likes to use the example of Judo - where one uses the strength of the opponent against them. I imagine Satan figured he had one watching Jesus die on the cross, but then Jesus used that against Satan.
Sure MPU.
There ya go. That’s my blue eyed Jesus. Ha ha.
Me too! It's reaffirming to know that even in the 1st century, there were those who mocked christians.
My pastor likes to use the example of Judo - where one uses the strength of the opponent against them. I imagine Satan figured he had one watching Jesus die on the cross, but then Jesus used that against Satan.
From Bishop Fulton Sheen's book, 'The Life of Christ':
History is full of men who have claimed that they came from God, or that they were gods, or that they bore messages from God - Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius, Christ, Lao-tze, and thousands of others, right down to the person who founded a new religion this very day. Each of them has a right to be heard and considered. But as a yardstick external to and outside of whatever is to be measured is needed, so there must be some permanent tests available to all men, all civilizations, and all ages, by which they can decide whether any of these claimants, or all of them, are justified in their claims. These tests are of two kinds: reason and history. Reason, because everyone has it, even those without faith; history, because everyone lives in it and should know something about it.
Reason dictates that if any one of these men actually came from God, the least thing that God could do to support His claim would be to pre-announce His coming. Automobile manufacturers tell their customers when to expect a new model. If God sent anyone from Himself, or if He came Himself with a vitally important message for all men, it would seem reasonable that He would first let men know when His messenger was coming, where He would be born, where He would live, the doctrine He would teach, the enemies He would make, the program He would adopt for the future, and the manner of His death. By the extent to which the messenger conformed with these announcements, one could judge the validity of his claims.
Reason further assures us that if God did not do this, then there would be nothing to prevent any impostor from appearing in history and saying, "I come from God," or "An angel appeared to me in the desert and gave me this message." In such cases there would be no objective, historical way of testing the messenger. We would have only his word for it, and of course he could be wrong.
If a visitor came from a foreign country to Washington and said he was a diplomat, the government would ask him for his passport and other documents testifying that he represented a certain government. His papers would have to antedate his coming. If such proofs of identity are asked from delegates of other countries, reason certainly ought to do so with messengers who claim to have come from God. To each claimant reason says, "What record was there before you were born that you were coming?"
With this test one can evaluate the claimants. Socrates had no one to foretell his birth. Buddha had no one to pre-announce him and his message or tell the day when he would sit under the tree. Confucius did not have the name of his mother and his birthplace recorded, nor were they given to men centuries before he arrived so that when he did come, men would know he was a messenger from God. But, with Christ, it was different. Because of the OT prophecies, His coming was not unexpected. There were no predictions about Buddha, Confucius, Lao-tze, Mohammed , or anyone else; but there were predictions about Christ. Others just came and said, "Here I am, believe me". Christ alone stepped out of that line saying, "Search the writings of the Jewish people and the related history of the Babylonians, Persians, and Romans." Even the pagan, Tacitus, speaking for the ancient Romans, says, "People were generally persuaded in the faith of the ancient prophecies, that the East was to prevail, and that from Judea was to come the Master and Ruler of the world." China had the same expectations, as did the Greeks.
Another distinguishing fact is that once He appeared, He struck history with such impact that He split it in two, dividing it into two periods: one before His coming, the other after it. Buddha did not do this, nor any of the great Indian philosophers. Even those who deny God must date their attacks upon Him, A.D. so and so, or so many years after His coming.
The story of every human life begins with birth and ends with death. In the Person of Christ, however, it was His death that was first and His life that was last. It was not so much that His birth cast a shadow on His life and thus led to His death; it was rather that the Cross was first, and cast its shadow back to His birth. His has been the only life in the world that was ever lived backward.
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