Christos Pantocrator: A History

Pantocrator or Pantokrator (from the Greek Παντοκράτωρ) is one of many names by which Jesus is called and is most commonly translated as “Almighty” or “All-powerful”. In this understanding, Pantokrator is a compound word formed from the Greek words for “all” and the noun “strength” (κρατος); i.e., omnipotent.

A more literal translation is “Ruler of All” or, less literally, “Sustainer of the World”. In this understanding, Pantokrator is a compound word formed from the Greek for “all” and the verb meaning “To accomplish something” or “to sustain something” (κρατεω). This translation speaks more to God’s actual power; i.e., God does everything (as opposed to God can do everything).

The Pantokrator, largely an Eastern Orthodox or Eastern Catholic theological concept is less common in Roman Catholicism. In the West the equivalent image in art is known as Christ in Majesty, which developed a rather different iconography.

The oldest known surviving example of the icon of Christ Pantocrator was painted in encaustic on panel in the sixth or seventh century, and survived the period of destruction of images during the Iconoclastic disputes that racked the Eastern church, 726 to 787 and 814 to 842, by being preserved in the remote desert of the Sinai, in Saint Catherine’s Monastery.

The iconic image of Christ Pantocrator was one of the first images of Christ developed in the Early Christian Church and remains a central icon of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

In some variants, on each side of the halo are Greek letters: ΙС and ХС. Christ’s fingers are depicted in a pose that represents the letters ΙС, Х and С, thereby making the Christogram ΙСХС (for “Jesus Christ”).

With material from Wikipedia.org