Arm and shoulder of Christ with surrounding details.

Note that this picture is taken at an angle. Christ holds his arm up near his face, and the large crack running through it is nearly horizontal in the half dome. For the position of the figure in the half dome of the apse, see the picture on the right. for the full image in the half dome, see the the picture below. (At the top of the painting a fan shaped white detail cuts across the face of Christ right by his eye: this detail can be seen in all three pictures.)

Main Apse

Fifth century architecture, medieval painting of Christ in half dome, modern church furnishings.

Inscriptions indicate that this painting was completed by a painter named Theodore in the Era of the Martyrs 840, that is, 1124.

The apse paintings may have been done by a painter named Theodore who came from Armenia and lived in Thebes, or begun by an Armenian and finished by a Theban, both named Theodore (Crum 1904: 553, 556-57; Monneret de Villard II: 132).