THE LAST JUDGMENT Late 15th - early 16th century 187 x 134. Egg tempera on lime wood. From the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin in the village of Mshana, Lviv region. Lviv National Museum. # i-1181 192k, jpeg. The Last Judgment is one of the most popular themes in Christian art, both West- European and Eastern. It has its sources in the texts of Old and New Testaments, apocrypha and various theological works, among which the sermons of Ephraem Syrus (4th c.) were of special significance. This subject was already known in the monumental painting of Kyivan Rus' in the 12th century (St. Cyril's Church in Kyiv, the Dormition Cathedral of the Yeletsky Monastery in Chernihiv). According to Byzantine tradition the Second Advent of Christ, or the Last Judgment, was represented according to a strict scheme in which each part of the composition was subordinated hieratically to the others. The icon from the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin is based on such a scheme. The main personage of the subject, Jesus Christ, appears as Judge, His figure being represented above, in the aureole of Glory, the mandorla. Along with an angelic host, the Virgin Mary and St. John the Baptist are interceding on man's behalf (the Deesis). The upper left corner shows the holy city of Jerusalem, the right corner features Golgotha with instruments of the Passion and a black circle ('the darkness') to which angels, armed with red spears cast devils down. Above Christ's head angels are roiling up the scroll of the heavens. Beneath Him there is an empty throne ( etimasia ) with an open book. Flanking it are kneeling Adam and Eve, and lower a hand is represented holding the souls of the righteous and the scales on which the good deeds and sins of man are weighed. Behind Adam and Eve the apostles sit and in the lower registers the righteous are represented to the left, while the heterodoxy are situated to the right. Before them stands the prophet Moses with a tablet. From beneath Adam's heel, the snake of sin coils down to the mouth of a two-headed beast mounted by Be-el'zebub bearing the soul of Judas. The snake's body is ringed symbolizing man's sins. And at every ring good forces (angels) struggle with evil forces (devils) for man's soul. A flaming river streams from Christ's gloriole, skirting a medallion on the right with personified symbols of the earth and sea. which yield up the dead to God's judgment, and angels of the four corners of the earth announce the Judgment with their trumpets. The tower section depicts infernal torments, and among the sinners we can see an innkeeper filling casks with wine. The left lower section depicts Paradise, its entrance guarded by a flaming seraph. http://www.christusrex.org/www1/lviv/Gallery/Room4.html