Byzantine Paul Medallion, c. AD 1100 — The Man Who Held the Cloaks - Scriptorium

[00:00:00]He was the man holding the cloaks.

[00:00:02]Acts 7:58 records Paul's first appearance in scripture. Not as a preacher, but as a young man consenting to the church's first martyrdom, standing at the stoning of Stephen. This cloisonne enamel medallion, made around AD 1100 in a Constantinople workshop, and now [music] at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, shows what he became. The Byzantine iconographic type is strikingly [music] consistent across centuries. High domed, bald head, pointed dark beard, gold-rimmed scroll and book in hand. The Greek inscription, "O Agios Paulos", framing the halo.

[00:00:40]Artists from the 6th through the 14th century rendered the same face every [music] time. Scripture preserves an extraordinary record. 13 letters bearing Paul's name, Acts documenting his conversion on the Damascus Road, three missionary journeys, trials before Roman governors.

[00:00:59]He was, by his own account, the apostle to the Gentiles. Galatians 2:7-8.

[00:01:05]Notice what the medallion does not show.

[00:01:07]No blinding light, no shipwreck, no road to Damascus. The Byzantine tradition depicted Paul as author, holding the books, because the books are the ministry. The man who held the cloaks at Stephen's execution produced canonical scripture read by millions across 20 centuries. That arc is the whole claim of the gospel. [music]