Lamb of God and the Four Living Creatures - F329

This is a reproduction of an illuminated manuscript from the Beatus Codex Manchester, a commentary on the Book of Revelation written in the year 776.

The image depicts the vision of St. John from Revelation 5:6-8:

And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

While the Quinisext Ecumenical Council prohibited the depiction of Christ as a Lamb, we feel this image is appropriate for a few reasons: First, it is a literal depiction of St. John's vision in which he saw a Lamb; second, the canon in question focuses particularly on the depiction of Christ as a Lamb in the context of the Forerunner's proclamation of Christ as the Lamb of God, which would be inappropriate as a literal scene; third, this Council was never fully received in the pre-schism Orthodox West, even by Orthodox popes, and the depiction is a legitimate part of Western Orthodox piety.