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