Maiestas Crucis (The Majesty of the Cross)

The depiction of a golden, gem-set cross embellished by ropes with tiny bells was funded in the eleventh century AD by a Nubian woman Paimy. In the middle, where the arms intersect is a medallion with the bust of Christ. He is surrounded by wings of the Four Living Creatures – the angelic Beasts with heads of man, eagle, lion and ox. They were described by the prophets in the Old Testament and by St John in the Apocalypse. The Four Living Creatures supported and carried across the sky the fiery throne-chariot upon which the Divine Glory was seated. The painter from Faras gave the Creatures a form which is characteristic for analogic Coptic depictions also deriving from the text of the Apocalypse. The four heads emerge from among the multiocular wings. The magical names of the Creatures are written next to their portraits. The presence of the Four Living Creatures around the cross indicates that it is understood not as an instrument of passion, but as the divine throne of Christ in Glory.
The form of the cross is reminiscent of the golden triumphal statue founded in Constantinople by Emperor Constantine the Great after winning over his rival Maxentius in AD 312. Branches of leaves with fruit growing from the stairs of the base allude to the idea of the Tree of Life. According to a legend popular in the East, a new tree grew on the Earth from the seed of the tree of Paradise. The new tree was cut down and used to build the cross of Christ. When the drops of the Blood of the Saviour dripped on the wood, it came back to life and spurted leaves.
Similar depictions on the walls of other Nubian churches point at the vivid cult of the cross whom the faithful perceived as a protection from hell and condemnation on the Judgement Day, and a bridge leading to eternal life.