The second of two paintings that SOTHLC has commissioned to be painted is now complete: The Pantokrator. This is a painting of the Jesus as the “all powerful,” which is what pantokrator means in Greek. It represents Jesus returning in glory and power on the Last Day to judge the living and the dead.
Like our Hodegetria, this painting is not in the two-dimensional style of the Eastern Christian churches (from the 7th Ecumenical Council, 787 AD). Instead, our Pantokrator is in the three-dimensional style of the Western churches, of which the Lutheran Church is part. Thus, our painting unites both Eastern and Western traditions, even reaching to what some call the “primitive” Christian Church, the Church of the Apostles.
But what is even more specific about our painting is the face of Jesus. His facial features were based on a reconstruction of Jesus’ facial features from a computer analysis of the shroud of Turin. If the shroud is the genuine burial shroud of Jesus, then our painting is a close as we can get to what Jesus actually looked like long ago.
The Pantokrator represents Jesus returning on the Last Day in His glory and power. That is why it represents what we confess every week
in the Creed: “And He [Jesus] will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end.”
Eventually, we plan to hang this painting to the right of our cross in the chancel. With the Hodegetria, the cross, and the Pantokrator, we will visually confess, through artwork, Christ’s incarnation, His crucifixion for our salvation, and His return on the Last Day. In other words, we will visually confess the core of our faith to complement what we speak every week.
