Jesus Appears to the Apostles

6th century
Mosaic
Church of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna

The mosaic merges two episodes from John 20. In verses 19-20, Jesus appears to ten disciples:

Now when it was late that same day, the first of the week, and the doors were shut, where the disciples were gathered together, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them: Peace be to you. And when he had said this, he shewed them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad, when they saw the Lord.
Here we see the house with closed doors behind the principal scene and the disciples expressing their glad feelings with gestures of acclamation.

Then in verses 24-29 John goes on to say that Thomas was absent at this time and was incredulous when told of the Resurrection. A week later, Jesus appears again and Thomas recognizes him as "My Lord and my God." In the mosaic, the eleventh man is Thomas, bowing before his Lord.

This is the last of the series of 13 mosaics of the Passion and Resurrection of Christ along the upper band of the right wall of the nave.

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Photographed at the church by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.