One work within the Monastery's
main church (Katholikon), decorating the sanctuary apse, is particularly
notable. The subject of the Transfiguration is very appropriate to this holy
site, which is associated with the two instances when God was "seen"
by the Prophet Moses and by the Prophet Elijah, the latter of whom had felt God
as a light breeze on Mount Horeb, below the Peak of the Decalogue).Moreover,
this has been par excellence the favorite subject of the monks who aspire to
holiness, to become worthy of contemplating and viewing God's ineffable glory,
the increate Taborian Light. Christ is portrayed with black hair and beard in
an oval "glory" between Moses and Elijah who represent the Law and
the prophets. Below, the three awed disciples are pictured in different poses.
The soffit of the triumphal arch is decorated with medallions containing busts
of the twelve Apostles. The three Apostles included in the scene fo the
Transfiguration have been replaced in the chain of medallions by Paul,
Thaddaeus and Matthias. The base of the apse is bordered by another series of
fifteen medallions with busts of the Prophets. This monumental composition of
the late 16th century is a true masterpiece of Byzantine art. Through the
subject, treated with intense light and profound spirituality, the mosaicist
has succeeded to represent in a most expressive and transcendental manner the
doctrine of the two natures of Christ, as formulated in 451 AD by the
Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon. The terminal medallions enclose the portraits
of Longinus the Abbot (right) and John the Deacon (left). Both were important
personalities. Longinus was Abbot of the Monastery between 562-565/6, at which
time the decoration was executed. He later became Patriarch of Antioch. John is
perhaps the later Patriarch of Jerusalem known as John IV (575-594). The
spandrels of the arch are occupied by two flying angles and the center by the
Amnos (Lamb). The Virgin is depicted in bust on the south side and St. John the
Baptist on the north. We may say that we have here one of the earliest
representations of the Deesis. The upper part of the wall shows two episodes
from the Old Testament. They are Moses before the Burning Bush and Moses
receiving the Tablets of Law. This superb mosaic must have been made by master
mosaicists who had come from Constantinople ■
