The Real Error: The Last Supper in the Paris Olympics vs. Da Vinci vs. Syriac Orthodox Iconography
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- Опубликовано: 17 окт 2024
- The Last Supper scene from the opening ceremonies of the Paris 2024 Olympics set off a public conversation about Christianity and the imagery of the Last Supper more broadly. Rather than focus on the irreverence of the depiction or 5th Element interpretation of Da Vinci, we will discuss one of the overlooked aspects of Leonardo Da Vinci's interpretation of the Last Supper against the traditional and historical representation found in Syriac Orthodox Christian iconography (as well as early/Eastern Christian iconography more broadly). Tradition iconography depicts the Last Supper occurring on a Stibadium, a semi-circular couch from the ancient Roman world, around a semi-circular table or around a round table itself.
Images provided by the Syriac Orthodox Department of Syriac Studies.
Reproduction of the Stibadium from the Faragola dig sourced from Archeologia Digitale:
www.archeologi...
#syriac #lastsupper #olympics
Look at the painting "Le Festin des Deiux" by Jan van Biljert. That painting was done 200 years after "The Last Supper" Lots of similarities between the two paintings.
Prof. Wingert, thank you for sharing your knowledge of the semicircular table used by Romans at the time. I see that you are a scholar of languages including Aramaic. My uncle took his master's at Fuller back in the 1990s. :) I was searching to find an art historian who could compare/contrast the depiction of the Last Supper with the depiction of the Feast of the Gods. But this was also informative! Peace be with you!
Interesting how similar it is… but I think it was more likely to be someone’s speed planning or lack there of to resemble some sort of modern and ancient Olympic styles.
Great stuff, Mike!
Very interesting topic!
I have never checked the middle eastern version of the last supper painting.
I do hope you haven’t forgotten about your Zechariah Sitchin video. Is that still happening?
ha! Yeah, presumably. I just got overwhelmed with administrative duties lately and haven't had a chance to post much. Thanks for the reminder.
He forgot to point out that they were Hebrews, not Christians! Especially not Romans!
Zoroastrians
Was it Graceful?
brother, the painter is from Italy, Not from Syrian Orthodox
Just like Mother Mary, there are Asian, European and Eastern icons
Are you referring to the Syriac icons in the video?
@@ProfessorMichaelWingert I think he thought you were saying Da Vinci was Syriac.
That painting is Da Vinci's nightmare!
The Lord's Supper
food+table from god , celebration
It was NOT the Last Supper! Omg......
Jup. Reminds me of disciples of another religion who cry out every time they see a mohammed.
Thought we were 200 years beyond that. Apparently not.
What ever it was… it was wrong. The mockery started long time ago and it was hidden behind the curtain however the almighty Lord opened it for everyone to see. Jesus Is Lord! Every one will witness his power sooner or later.
5 STUPID GIRLS
IT IS TIME,
He is in Daniel 10, the One who has the Tree of Knowledge and Michael fighting against Greece, Daniel 8 - Acts 11.
SO, turn to His Gospel, not one jot or tittle in the Torah of Moses can be erased.
COMFORT MY PEOPLE,
No one on Earth understands FATHER's Alpha Omega Plan for Israel.
When the Righteous One from the East, Isaiah 41, parallels all the Holy Scriptures of the Descendants of Shem, Ham, Japheth, Genesis 9, the Bible, the Quran, the Vedas into ONE.
The Four Corners of the Earth will be shaking.
Does anyone understand There Was Evening And There Was Morning
Does anyone understand Sarah, Hagar, Keturah ?.
Does anyone understand the division of the Earth's hemispheres given to Shem?
Does anyone understand the man in our image - the man in His image.
Does anyone understand the Song of Moses And the Song of the Lamb must be One?
Does anyone understand Jacob's Dream, the Ascending and Descending Ladder between Earth and Heaven?
Does anyone understand Thy seed as the dust of the earth, Thy seed as the sand which is upon the seashore, Thy seed as the stars of the heaven ?.
Does anyone understand the Book of Remembrance and the Book of War ?
The Glory of the East must be brought back to the West.
FATHER will fulfill His Promise to the 24 Elders of Israel.
Does anyone know who they are ?.
All that to explain the Testimony of Yahshua is the Spirit of Prophecy, Revelation 19.
SO BEWARE,
A Basket Of Summer Fruit is being prepared by the remaining descendants of Joseph in the East.
Does anyone understand "Lobo" in Jewish communities of Spain and Portugal ?.
The ships of Tarshish brought, the ships of Tarshish will also bring back.
The East
🙏🙏🙏
THIS IS ABSOLUTE UNADULTERATED BLASPHEMY ... PERIOD !!!
Too bad blasphemy is a fundamental right in France as it should be in any country that pretends to be laic
@@TheBeauBotwho cares if it is a right. The Olympics stood for unity until this.
@@RushingRiverSmoothStones I personality don't see it as blasphemy but as unity, between the classicism of Da Vinci's art and the modernism of inclusivity and I think that was the intention.
@@TheBeauBot as a Christian, I don't believe in the values that the secular world has placed on our society. I don't see it as unity at all, and I see it as mocking my religion. Sin is sin. Unity is not more important than our God. This is blasphemy, plain and simple.
@@RushingRiverSmoothStones Could you explain to me how it was mockery ? Honest question
Vomit is a little kind. Lol what a terrible thing they allowed to be shown.
THE MANY ERRORS - Most of these scenes depict the 12 apostles still with Jesus, however Judas had left before the important part of the meal, when Jesus instituted his New Covenant (John 13). Strangely, there is a shaved man (or a woman) sitting next to Jesus, neither one is mentioned in the Bible: John was the one sitting next to Jesus. No upright tall chairs as the custom was to lounge, and Jesus was not seated in the middle position: as you said, there was a tradition of the most "important" person taking the first position then the second would be leaning on the bosom of the first, followed by the others. Sandals and shoes were taken off. Fish was not served during the Passover, and neither was fermented bread. If they were about to start the meal, where is the Passover lamb, greens and wine? A dagger at the table... to clean the fish? White table cloth? Room design & window view: they were in an upstairs room in Jerusalem! Jesus likely did not have long hair (1 Cor 11:14) as it was considered a disgrace for a Jewish man to wear his hair long like a woman. Lastly, Jesus was a strong man who at one point took up a whip and hit the tables of the money changers in the Temple. Leonardo painted well but he did not demonstrate knowlege of this subject. As for the show in Paris, it is not interesting nor beautiful, not even vulgar. It is just an out-of-place bizarre scene!
Not according to St Ephrem and St Chrysostom
I didnt like opening Olimpics but in technical and artistic way, they tried to shock people and for me this is boring way but this opening has nothing to do with last supper and its all about greek gods and Dyonesis. I m not defending i hated it. But i cant make conspiricy about it, because i like to read books and i dont like stereotipes. Call it what it is.
I agree. Art is often provocative and the artists likewise intend to get people talking. They certainly accomplished this task. I was hoping to expose more people to ancient iconography, but I think the conversation is still centered on whether people should be offended or not by the display.
good vid
Isn't it just the same image als Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin's Last Supper? And isn't the point of such images that in a modern context, Jesus of Nazareth, who took sometimes illiterate fishermen and craftsmen as his apostles and who had a deep care for the otthered, the forgotten, the reviled... would not surround himself with white middle-aged men (as Da Vinci's iconic image would have us believe) but with the homless, the imprisoned, the sans papiers and - yes - the queer? As such, I think it's a very good image to make us think on what the actual stories of the gospel represent.
Thanks so much for taking the time to reply. Could you elaborate a little more?
Jesus' disciples were only INCIDENTALLY less privileged - obsession with ending marginalization of minorities is a modern phenomenon. The kingdom of God was meant to eschatologically replace political governments with a literal global kingship of Jesus-and those poor people who were Jesus companions would be converted to the highly privileged status you associated with white male cis, etc
@@ProfessorMichaelWingert Sure. I came across your video looking for criticism of the tableau and I found you analyses of the older iconography insightful. However, every recontextualisation of Biblical iconography has to be looked at as its own story: what has been removed from the original context and what has been added, and for whom is it being retold. Modern version of the story of the birth of Jesus will often place it in a setting of homeless people during a budy shopping season, or sans papiers looking for shelter. What is stripped is the historical context of the demographic count, and what is added is a modern context of being marginalized. The story is retold in a way that makes us consider not the epic specialness of the infant, but the very ordinary people to whom he is born. It makes it clear to us what would be clear to contemporary readers when they read that shepherds are the first to be told of the birth of Jesus, and that the family of Joseph is by no means poor, but also by no means rich or privileged.
@@ProfessorMichaelWingert In a similar way, a recontextualisation of the Last Supper (like Elisabeth Ohlson Wallis' version, which also features queer people) could be a way to tell the story of the last moments of Christ and what he wants to communicate to his apostles (or what his followers want to communicate to us). In the gospels Jesus is portrayed as a very subversive person: working on the shabat, opposing stonings that are canonically sanctioned by jewish law, breaking bread and even touching sinners that to his contemporaries would have been untouchables. In the vein of John the Baptist and many of the jewish preaches of his time, he criticizes the established practice of judaism as focused on the already great, and not on the marginalized.
By using the iconography of da Vinci's Last Supper - the central Christ figure announcing his betrayal, the scared and distraught reactions of his apostles - one is reminded of a stereotypical portrayal of those who Jesus surrounds himself with: mostly older, definitely white men. But in our current society, those people signify wealth and power. And Jesus did not pick the wealthy or the powerful as disciples: he chose fishermen, and probably one taxman in Matteus. He chose at least three sinners: Simon Kefas, who was given a new name, Matteus and Judas Iskariot, who is about to betray him. He surrounded himself with the marginalized: the sick, the mentally ill (or in biblical terms: the possessed), the disabled, the poor... To his contemporaries those people were to be avoided, because their impurity was seen as a sin.
But when Jesus eats, when he sits at a table, he does so with these very imperfect people. And when he give the instructions for the eucharist, knowing he will die and these are the people who will have to lead his cause without him, he allows Judas, the biggest sinner of all, to stay there.
@@ProfessorMichaelWingert How does one convey to contemporary christians that Jesus did not come for those of us who have perfected our faith, but for those of us who haven't? You cannot simply put 12 white bearded men there.
But you can put a very marginalized group at the table. Signalling that they are welcome at Jesus table. That whereever christians are, community happens, and in that community we do not judge, we do not cast the first stone, we follow the double commandment of love.
For those who lived in Jesus' time, his hanging around with blind people and tax collectors created as much of an outrage as this image of drag queens and trans people does right now. But one has to ask if that is not exactly the point of the gospel: we are too comfortable in our prejudice. We are so certain that we are morally superior, that we are allowed to look down on others, that we forget to actually read what the gospel says.
The idea of representing Jesus as a DJ is also not a bad one: a DJ creates community. Music is a spiritual way, to many, to bridge the gaps of societal perception. When we dance on a festival, at a rave, at a wedding reception... we forget to ask eachother about political affiliation, sexual mores, past mistakes... we simple allow ourself to be uplifted by our community. Jesus Christ at the table of the Last Supper, about to sacrifice himself so his work can continue without him, breaks bread with very common, imperfect people and makes them his representatives. He shows us how christian community is made: leadership is service not power (the washing of the feet), it is not violence (Jesus asks to be spared in prayer but doesn't fight back or encourage anyone to hurt Judas), it is bringing together people, making space for them, having faith in them so they are free to have faith in themselves and feel themselves worthy of God.
I think the iconography of that table is very poignant, and not only to liberal or queer christians, but to every christian. It asks us whether our table is welcoming, whether we are willing to break bread with all of God's creatures, to whom we are a good neighbour. And the violence of the reactions shows that, just like the jews of Jesus' own time, we don't like asking those questions of ourselves.
The West has gone cuckoo 😅😅😂
This was in france 🇫🇷 by the way
i cannot believe this is making people freak out so much lol
I hear ya. It is impressive how the world gets worked up insults but less so the hungry, the thirsty, the homeless, the naked, or the imprisoned. As a naughty Chicago politician would say, "never let a crisis go to waste," I'll modify to "never let an opportunity to educate go to waste."
@@ProfessorMichaelWingert Exactly 🤝🏼 it's cool to learn some interesting history
@@ProfessorMichaelWingertNo one in early Christianity cared about a hungry person that was not affiliated to their religious group. There is no need to project modern westernised ideas of hyper-entitlement to freedom from poverty onto early christians.
What enraged many were the undertones of pedophilia...a closer look reveals a highly disturbing attempt at normalization. A child is present at the table and children are seen dancing with those who would violate them.
Try to read the chapter in the Bible revelation.
I found the Paris last supper refreshing! The Owelympics is really just a jock-fest, so this was a nice distraction from all that sweat and testosterone.
50% of the olympics is women competing against women.
Chrstianty is a Joke!
Jesus gave you this life to live and you chose not to accept Him .Christianity is not a Joke .If you tried only once to open the door to your heart so that Jesus can come in - Till next time