Late 19th century AD. An oval wooden icon with tempera painted image of Christ Pantocrator (??????? ???????????) holding an open book with silver riza, marked to the rim 'A.?' and '84'; loop above. 13 grams, 54 x 43mm (2 1/4 x 1 3/4"). From a Russian art collector, London, UK, before 1995. After the Council of Nicea confirmed in 325 AD that Christ was the visible and perfect image of God the Father, there followed three centuries of struggle against the heresies that denied either the divine nature of Christ, such as Arianism, or his human nature, such as Monophysitism. It was finally established that the person of Christ embodied the union of two natures, human and divine. The icon of the Pantokrator became the symbol of this dogma and was an important bulwark in defence of the Orthodox faith. It traditionally depicts Christ fully frontal with the right hand raised in blessing, left hand holding a closed book with a richly decorated cover featuring the Cross, representing the Gospels. An icon where Christ has an open book is called Christ the Teacher, a variant of the Pantocrator. The iconic image of Christ Pantocrator was one of the first images of Christ developed in the Early Christian Church and remains a central icon of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Fine condition.