28 Items
The Last Judgement
The west wall of the church is the most well preserved of all the frescoes in the cycle and shows the Last Judgement. The left hand side (blue background) shows the elect ranked from the bottom as: Syrian Orthodox monks and nuns (identifieable by their monastic hoods embroidered with 13 crosses) and St. Peter, the Church Fathers and other saints and biblical figures, the Three Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) and the Virgin Mary cradling the souls of the saved and above both sides the Apostles on either side of the Hetoimasia (Instruments of the Passion) with a pair of angels flanking the small window at the very top.
On the right hand side are the damned: fornicators, sinners such as usurers and murderers, foreign priests (Jews and Zoroastrians?), Muslims and at the top those Christians who are in doctrinal error - in this case those upholding the Council of Chalcedon.
In the centre Adam and Eve sit above two angels holding the scales of judgement and a saint or a devil receive the soul according to which side the scales fall on.
Type: Painting
Tags: 1207/08, Abraham, Adam, An Nabk, Angel, Apostles, Chalcedon, Church, Church Council, Deir Mar Musa, Deir Mar Musa al-Habashi, Devil, Eve, Fresco, Hetoimasia, Isaac, Jacob, Jews, Last Judgement, Mar Musa al-Habashi, Monastery, Monk, Muslims, Nun, St. Peter, Syria, Syrian Orthodox, Virgin Mary, Zoroastrian
St. Julian of the East otherwise known as St. Julian the Old Man
The figure facing the nave on the south east pillar of the church is clearly labelled in Syriac 'Mar Julyano Sobo' or St. Julian the Old Man. This is the same figure as St. Julian of the East or 'Mar Elian esh Sharqi' which was the dedication of the monastery in Qaryatayn, approximately 45 kilometres away and which was destroyed by IS in August 2015.
Type: Painting
Tags: 1207/08, An Nabk, Church, Deir Mar Musa, Deir Mar Musa al-Habashi, Fresco, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Mar Musa al-Habashi, Mar Yulyano Sobo, Monastery, Qaryatayn, St. Julian of the East, St. Julian the Old Man, Syria, Syriac, Syriac Inscription, Syrian Civil War
St. Bacchus
St. Bacchus is located on the south arcade and is believed to have faced St. Sergius across the nave, but the equestrian saint opposite has been almost entirely destroyed. He faces east and rides towards the direction in which Christ will reappear at the time of the Last Judgement.
Type: Painting
Tags: 1207/08, An Nabk, Church, Deir Mar Musa, Deir Mar Musa al-Habashi, Equestrian, Fresco, Mar Musa al-Habashi, Monastery, St. Bacchus, St. Sergius
Unidentified saint above the south western arch
This small saint is inserted between St. Bacchus to the west and a damaged figure believed to have been St. George to the east. Its diminutive size is because it is sandwiched between the highest part of an arch and a window in the clerestory.
Type: Painting
Tags: 1207/08, An Nabk, Church, Deir Mar Musa, Deir Mar Musa al-Habashi, Fresco, Mar Musa al-Habashi, Monastery, Saints, St. Bacchus, St. George, Syria
St. Bacchus and the elect
The south west corner of the chapel with a depiction of the equestrian St. Bacchus above a collection of saints ascending to heaven as they are on the side of the elect on the Last Judgement scene that dominates the west wall of the chapel. To the east of St. Bacchus is a small unidentified saint squeezed between the arch and a window.
Type: Painting
Tags: 1207/08, An Nabk, Church, Deir Mar Musa, Deir Mar Musa al-Habashi, Elect, Equestrian, Fresco, Last Judgement, Mar Musa al-Habashi, Monastery, Saints, St. Bacchus, Syria
The evangelist Matthew and on the lower layer Elijah handing his cloak to Elisha as he ascends to heaven
This spandrel is at the east end on the south side of the nave and shows the evangelist Matthew writing his gospel. Behind him is the inscription that dates the third layer of fresco in the chapel to 1207/08. Underneath it is possible to see a scene painted post 1058 and pre 1095, which is the date of the second cycle. It shows Elijah handing his cloak to Elisha as he ascends to heaven and the two are identified by Greek inscriptions, which is the only language used on the first level, whereas Greek is only used for monograms on the later layers, which instead use Syriac, Arabic and Garshuni (Syriac characters to write Arabic words).
Type: Painting
Tags: 1207/08, An Nabk, Arabic, Arabic Inscription, Deir Mar Musa, Deir Mar Musa al-Habashi, Elijah, Elisha, Evangelist, Fresco, Garshuni, Gospel, Greek, Greek Inscription, Mar Musa al-Habashi, St. Matthew, Syria, Syriac
Apse frescoes of the Virgin Blachernitissa with the Fathers of the Church
The apse depicts the Virgin Blachernitissa in the posture of an orant flanked by the Fathers of the Church, including St. Cyril, St. Basil, St. Athanasius, St. John Chrysostom, St. Ignatius of Antioch and St. James with the names of two other saints missing. The semi-dome would have held a Pantocrator on the 1207/08 layer, but the traces of the earlier layer suggest that it once held the symbols of the four evangelists.
Type: Painting
Tags: 1207/08, An Nabk, Church, Church Fathers, Deir Mar Musa, Deir Mar Musa al-Habashi, Fresco, Immanuel, Mar Musa al-Habashi, Monastery, Syria, Virgin Mary
Fresco of the Wise and Foolish Virgins
The fragmentary remains on the stone lower half of the iconostasis is believed to represent the parable of the wise and foolish virgins (Matthew 25), which is commemorated in the Syrian Orthodox Church by the feast of Nahireh on the evening of Palm Sunday.
Type: Painting
Tags: 1207/08, An Nabk, Architecture, Church, Deir Mar Musa, Deir Mar Musa al-Habashi, Fresco, Iconostasis, Mar Musa al-Habashi, Monastery, Syria, Wise and Foolish Virgins