A portable panel measuring 92 × 52 × 3 centimetres preserves a seventeenth-century representation of Christ the Great High Priest, enthroned in full archpriestly vestments and painted in 1675 for the templon of the church of Saint Athanasios of Mouzaki in Kastoria. The icon formed a pair with an enthroned image of Saint Athanasios, both associated with the same liturgical furnishing and the donor Konstantinos Maimbalis, whose dedicatory inscription appears near the lower edge of the panel. Executed long after the fourteenth-century church had been built, the work belongs to a later phase in its furnishing. Its densely patterned surfaces and emphatic frontality give the sacred figure a ceremonial presence.
Against the gold ground, Christ sits frontally on a broad wooden throne furnished with two cushions, one red and the other blue-green. His feet rest upon a grey-green marble footstool. Slightly oblique in construction, the throne introduces limited depth into an image governed by frontal presentation and shallow pictorial space. Christ the Great High Priest remains still; the vestments, crown-like mitre and open Gospel establish the royal and high-priestly character of the type.
Gesture, Gospel Text and the Christ the Great High Priest Type
Christ raises his right hand before his chest in a gesture of blessing, while his left, resting beside the thigh, supports an open Gospel book with red-edged pages. Across the folios appears the invitation from the Last Judgement: “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). The text suits an enthroned image, bringing the visual language of kingship into contact with eschatological authority of the Gospel passage.
On either side of the head, the painted inscription identifies Christ as King of Kings and Great High Priest. The upper corners contain the Christogram IC XC within ornamented circular medallions. The iconographic type of Christ the Great High Priest, combining Christ Pantokrator with episcopal or archpriestly vestments, had already developed within Late Byzantine art. Fourteenth-century compositions at Lesnovo and the Perivleptos at Mystras are often cited in discussions of its history. Later, the subject circulated in concentrated half- and full-length forms through Cretan and Post-Byzantine painting, a development traced in detail through related examples connected with the circle of Andreas Ritzos.
Vestments
The archpriestly costume is among the most visually insistent parts of the icon. Over a rose-pink sticharion Christ wears a yellow sakkos covered with repeated red roundels containing black crosses. A grey-blue omophorion, marked by large red crosses, passes across the shoulders and descends over the body. The gilded mitre, shaped like an imperial crown and enriched with small ornamental details, completes the identification of Christ the Great High Priest.
Gold decoration appears along the cuffs and lower borders of the vestments. Around the head, the cruciform halo is lightly defined against the gold ground and bears the inscription ὁ ὢν, “He who is”. Halo and background occupy nearly the same chromatic field, their separation depending chiefly on contour. This restraint around the head sets off the denser patterning of the sakkos below.
The Throne
The throne, rose-toned and architecturally articulated, rises around the figure in a broad double curve. A row of small dark finials follows the upper rail, with larger ornaments at the ends, while the side structures are rendered through narrow architectural members and patterned panels. On the viewer’s right, a latticed section is visible behind the Gospel book and the arm of the throne. The painter gives the furniture enough oblique recession to indicate volume, though no single perspectival system governs the whole construction.
Within this framing structure, the Christ the Great High Priest image remains strongly axial. The curve of the throne encloses the shoulders, the vertical fall of the omophorion draws the eye downward, and the Gospel book projects outward on Christ’s left side. These shifts keep the strict frontality from becoming inert.
Face and Technique
The face is broad and full, with large brown eyes beneath arched brows, a long narrow nose and a small mouth. Beard, moustache and hair are treated in fine lines, while the flesh is modelled through darker brown passages, warmer intermediate tones and narrow highlights on the forehead, around the eyes and cheeks. The result gives the face volume without disturbing the linear discipline of the icon.
Repeated medallions across the sakkos, the dark finials of the throne and the red crosses of the omophorion produce much of the pictorial rhythm. In Christ the Great High Priest, handling is decorative and controlled, with pattern assuming a large role in the description of the figure. Such features are consistent with a local Post-Byzantine workshop in which older iconographic conventions remained active while colour and ornament received considerable emphasis.
Donor and Setting
The dedicatory inscription at the lower left records the icon as the supplication, or δέησις, of the servant of God Konstantinos, son of Maimbalis, and gives the date 1675. The Maimbalis family belonged to the landed households of Kastoria, while the same donor’s name is associated with the founder’s inscription of the church of Saint Nicholas in nearby Krepeni. The evidence points to ecclesiastical patronage extending beyond a single commission.
Kastoria preserves an exceptional body of portable icons from its many churches. The Byzantine Museum of Kastoria houses works ranging from the twelfth to the seventeenth century, providing the wider artistic setting within which this 1675 Christ the Great High Priest may be considered.
The panel is bordered by a narrow red-painted band. Its state of preservation is generally good, though cracks, abrasions and local losses are visible, particularly toward the upper right edge and in parts of the gold ground. The principal inscriptions, figure, vestments and Gospel text nevertheless remain clearly legible, allowing the icon’s liturgical and dedicatory character to be read with unusual completeness.
(The translation was edited by E. Wilson.)