Zanobi Strozzi and Filippo di Matteo Torelli
Jesus Christ Predicts the Martyrdom of the Apostles

1446
Illumination in a capital E
Church of St. Mark, Florence, Italy

In predicting calamaties to come Jesus tells the apostles, "Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death." (Matthew 24:9a). Similar comments appear elsewhere in the gospels.

But the image also makes visual the words of the text introduced by this illuminated capital E: Estote fortes in bello et pugnate cum antiquo serpente et accipietis regnum eternum alleluya, "Wax valiant in fight and strive against the old serpent: and ye shall receive an everlasting kingdom, alleluia." This is the antiphon of the Magnificat prayer at Vespers on the feasts of apostles and evangelists (Roman Breviary, IV, 361). By pointing to Heaven Jesus is shown to be telling the apostles about receiving of an everlasting kingdom, and the execution on the left is paradoxically the way that his followers will "strive against the old serpent."

Read more about the Apostles as a group.

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• Iconography of this saint
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Photographed at the site by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.