The Vatican icon, known as “Christ with fiery eyes” takes its name from the Book of Revelation (19:12): “His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns.”  It is a variant of the well-known iconographic type of “Christ Pantocrator.”  It only shows the representation of the upper part of Christ’s bust.  The Savior is placed in the center of the work, and in a majestic attitude. Christ is traditionally crowned by a big cruciform nimbus, dressed in a tunic, bordered on the neck by a yellow sash, adorned with a decoration imitating precious stones.  Above he wears a green-blue cloak. At the height of the shoulders of Christ, we read the title in Slavic-ecclesiastic: Г(ОСПО)ДЬ ВСЕДЕ / РЖИТЕЛЬ, which means “Lord Panto/Creator.”  The name “Pantocrator” is Greek for the “Sovereign of all things.” It personifies the idea of Christ, the Incarnate Word, as the almighty Lord and Sovereign who dominates the whole universe.  The iconography originated from the prophet Ezekiel’s vision (Ez. 1 26-28), the linking of Jesus with the Father, as proclaimed at the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in the year 325.  This iconographic subject became a typical depiction of Jesus, both in early Christian art and Byzantine art. 

The work is composed of a panel painted with mixed technique, a frame in the silver watermark, and a wooden counter form covered with canvas and by a silver foil, the so-called “oklad.”  Based on the technique of execution, the stylistic analysis of the work, and the paleographic analysis, the icon is attributable to a Russian master working at the end of the XVIII century. Donated by Archbishop Elia Karam of Lebanon to Pius XI (1929-1939) between 1940 and 1942, the work is in the Christian Museum.