Unknown artist, French school

Apse depicting the Ark of the Covenant, 9th century, Mosaic, The Oratory of Theodulphus, Germigny-Des-Pres, France; Photo © Bednorz Images / Bridgeman Images

The Holiest of Holies?

Commentary by Robin Griffith-Jones

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Read by Ben Quash

Theodulf was appointed Bishop of Orleans in around 798. His oratory at Germigny-des-Prés was consecrated in 805/6. Here is the mosaic in the apse, above the altar. It is no surprise to see cherubim and the hand of God against the golden vault of heaven.

But where is Jesus? One answer is: in the elements of the Mass on the altar below. Yes, but surely we should, in the mosaic above, be offered a glimpse of the glory disguised in those elements, of the intersection of the earthly and the heavenly realized in them. This mosaic disconcerts us; it makes us pause. It was meant to. 

Theodulf’s whole chapel was a homage to the Holy of Holies of King Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. How fitting: for Jesus’s own body is, for John, the Holy of Holies (John 2:21).

The mosaic shows the ark of the covenant with its small cherubim facing each other at each end; from here, in the tabernacle, the Lord would speak to Moses (Exodus 25:8–20). The ark was eventually installed by Solomon in his Temple’s Holy of Holies; and here we see the two further, giant cherubim, a perfect pair in shape, measurements and height, whose wings spanned that inner sanctum (1 Kings 6:23–8; 8:1–9).

The ark had always held a special place in Christian thought about art: it was modelled by Moses on a heavenly prototype (Exodus 25:9, 40). Theodulf wrote a polemic against the veneration of images. The ark, he argued, was among the very few ‘consecrated things’ worth a real intensity of spiritual gaze. He can prompt that gaze only and paradoxically through the material depiction of the ark. But which ark is depicted here: Moses’s ark, or its heavenly prototype?

So many questions, so few answers; such ambiguity between earthly and heavenly, material and spiritual.

And still no Jesus. We have been turned into seekers, and it is a strange and unsettling search.

See full exhibition for John 20:1–16

John 20:1–16

Revised Standard Version

1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magʹdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 So she ran, and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3 Peter then came out with the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb. 4 They both ran, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first; 5 and stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; he saw the linen cloths lying, 7 and the napkin, which had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not know the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went back to their homes.

11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb; 12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13T hey said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 Saying this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rab-boʹni!” (which means Teacher). 

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