Apse Mosaic with St. Cecilia

9th century
Church of Santa Cecilia, Trastevere, Rome

In the center Christ blesses the viewer with the right hand while his left holds a scroll signifying his authority. Directly below, in the band along the bottom margin, he is symbolized by the "Lamb of God" standing on a hill from which four rivers flow. The hill refers to Mount Zion, where the Lamb stands in Revelation 14:1. The rivers represent the four that flow from Eden in Genesis 2:10-14. The sacrament of Baptism is suggested by the rivers and by the resemblance between this image of Christ and pictures of Christ's baptism, with a stylized river behind him and God's hand reaching down from a golden Heaven.

On the right St. Peter accompanies Saints Valerian and Cecilia as they bring their martyr's crowns to Christ, like the elders in Revelation 4:10-11. On the left it is St. Paul who accompanies St. Agatha as she presents Pope Paschal I. For further discussion of these figures, see the detail pages on the left side and the right side.

Along the bottom margin the twelve sheep approaching the Lamb represent the Apostles.

There is a species of palm tree native to central Italy whose fruit resembles grape clusters. The two palms flanking the human figures are of this type. They are especially significant in an image of martyrs, as the leaves are emblems of martyrdom and the clusters represent its fruits.

Read more about images of Christ in Majesty here.
Read more about images of St. Cecilia.
Read more about images of St. Paul
Read more about images of
St. Agatha. .
Read more about images of St. Peter.
Read more about the palm and related symbols at this page.

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