Pantokrator and the Evangelists
A massive icon of Jesus Christ hovers over the nave of the church. It is surrounded by icons of the four Gospel writers, or Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Literally, under the dome at St. Mary’s is what you would find directly under most Orthodox Christian church domes; a large painting of Jesus Christ in an iconographic depiction called Christ Pantokrator. The Pantokrator is a Greek compound word that translates to mean The Ruler of All or the All-Mighty. This word has a deep theological context and is used many times throughout the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (Septuagint), as well as in the Greek New Testament in the Book of Revelations. The icon portrays Christ in majesty, enthroned, and surrounded by heavenly hosts. Often He is shown surrounded by the four Evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) or their respective symbols (an angel, lion, ox, and eagle). At St. Mary’s, the Christ Pantokrator is painted very large and framed in a circular rainbow frame. The rainbow symbolizes the new covenant that God established with man in the personhood of Jesus. On either side of Christ is an inscription “IC” and “XC.” This is a Christogram that is a traditional abbreviation for the Greek words for “Jesus Christ” or Ισσού(ς) Χρήστος. The Christ Pantokrator icon was written by the hand of Demetrios Dukas, a renowned iconographer who studied under the great iconographer, Photios Kontoglou. The icon was painted in 1961 and Dukas returned in 1993 to add the four Evangelists. Dukas also painted the icons hanging on the iconostasis (the icon stand or wall in front of the altar) and the Platytera, the large icon of the Virgin Mary on the apse wall of the sanctuary (station 10 on the tour).
