CHRIST MILITANT
Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder:
the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet
Christ Militant is a mosaic that was commissioned by the Bishop Pietro II in 494-495. Ravenna at that time was the capital of the Roman Empire. The Bishop resided in the Archiepiscopal Palace of San Pietro Crisologoa. He had the Chapel of Saint Andrew built for his worship. Christ is dressed as a Roman Legionary. He wears a purple tunic, the symbol of royalty. He bears a cross on his shoulder. He is young and beardless. He holds the Gospel showing a passage from John 14:6 "I am the way, truth, and life" The mosaic is located above the atrium door. Inside the Chapel there is a second image of a beardless Christ about which the following commentary was written:
"The doctrinal programme is as follows: portray
Christ as eternally young, meaning against the Arian creed, because
He is not dependent on time but stands outside time; He was not
created in time, as the Arians maintained; his is the eternity of
God. The image then, as regards the face, is identical with that of
Christ the Soldier which Bishop Pietro II, who commissioned the
Archiepiscopal Chapel, placed on the atrium door: Christ stamping
out the wild beasts of the Arian heresy. This persistent doctrine
must be viewed in relation to the Arian Ostrogoths' domination of
Ravenna. For the same religious motives Maximianus was to avail
himself of this explicit image of Christ and have it placed at the
centre of the apse in S. Vitalee " http://www.initaly.com/regions/byzant/byzant4.htm#archchap