The iconic image of Christ Pantocrator ("Christ, Ruler of All") 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 the half-length image, Christ holds the New Testament in his left hand and blesses with his right. Some scholars Citation needed consider the Pantocrator a Christian adaptation of images of Zeus, such as the great statue of Zeus enthroned at Olympia.

Church of Dafni

The oldest known surviving example of the icon of "Christ Pantocrator" was painted in encaustic on panel in the 6th century, and survived the period of destruction of images during the Iconoclastic disputes that racked the Eastern church, 726 to 815 and 813 to 843, by being preserved in the remote desert of the Sinai, in Saint Catherine's Monastery.

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Monastery of Christ Pantocrator, Constantinople, founded by Emperor John II Comnenus (1118-1143)