The Apse at San Vitale: Detail, angels with a sun symbol

Above the arch that frames the apse is a horizontal register that echoes in symbols the direct portrait of the regnant Christ below. At the right and left ends are Bethlehem and Jerusalem, where Jesus was born and died. In the center, two angels turn their heads to the viewers as they present a disc representing the white sun, its blazing rays, and a gradation of colors representing sky, sea, and land. Various internet sites attribute the symbol to various non-Christian sources, but one hardly need look further than the Bible for associations of the sun with Christ or the Messiah.

The sun symbol is flanked by images of Bethlehem and Jerusalem, the locations where Jesus was born and died.

Malachi 4:2 says, "But unto you that fear my name, the sun of justice shall arise, and health in his wings." In Revelation, "One like the Son of Man" appears to the speaker, "…and his face was as the sun shineth in his power" (1:13,16). When Jesus was transfigured before the eyes of Peter and John, "his face did shine as the sun" (Matthew 17:2).

The arrangement of the rays may further refer to the crucified Christ. Somewhat like the more familiar "IX" monogram, they pose an ✖ (the first letter of the Greek for "Christ") over a + representing the Cross. The sun is further associated with the divinity by the Greek "Alpha" at the very center, the first letter of the Greek alphabet and thus symbolically the originator of the sun, sky, and all the universe.

View full-resolution copies of the pictures of the sun symbol, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem.
View the entire apse in context.
Read more about monograms representing Christ.

Photographed at the Basilica of San Vitale by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.