Transfiguration, Monastery at
Saint Catherine's, Sinai, Egypt ■ Christ stands against a golden background surrounded by a mandorla,
or almond-shaped ring of bright colors and rays of light. The vivid rays
illustrate the emphasis in the synoptic gospels on the brightness and whiteness
of Christ. As the Gospel of Mark says in 9:2–4 (English Standard Version): And
after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a
high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his
clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them ■
