Christ Pantocrator IconoGraphik No. 2 (Alpha and Omega) | Orthodox Christian Art Poster

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, He that is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

- Revelation 1:8

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The words Alpha and Omega  denote the beginning and the end, as is indicated in the text below, for the Greek alphabet begins and ends with these two letters, i.e. the language in which the New Testament was given to us by God. According to the same interpretation of Andrew of Caesarea, “the words  Alpha and Omega  denote Christ as God, who contains everything, without beginning and without end:  He who is, and before who is, and having no end, co-eternal with the Father.” He is such, first of all, by His Divinity. “As there is no letter in the alphabet before Alpha, so there is no other God before Christ. Christ, as the Son of God, is the beginning without beginning (in the sense of coming into being out of nothing), and moreover, in such a way that there was no time when He was not. He is before all, and in Him all things will consist (Col. 1:17 ; cf.  Ps. 90:2-3). And as Omega is the last letter (after which there are none), so after Christ there is no one, and moreover it is impossible for Him to ever cease to exist" (Archpriest Gregory Debolsky). Christ is the same in His attitude towards creatures. We all know well that He is the beginning of all creatures, for all things were made by Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made (John 1:3), which is precisely why He is called in the same Apocalypse the beginning of God's creation (Rev. 3:14). And just as Alpha and Omega embrace and contain within themselves all the other letters, so we have already cited the words about Christ: all things will be held together in Him, “in Him and under Him” everything heavenly and earthly is united (Eph. 1:10), so that the Church – His Body – becomes the fullness of the One who fills everything in everything (Eph. 1:23), and we think of the world of the future as His Kingdom, of which, according to the word of the Annunciation, there will be no end (Luke 1:33).

And thus Christ is also the end of all creatures, or their final goal.  All things were created by Him and for Him  (Col. 1:16). “He is the goal of the innate, endless striving of people. All who in their life’s journey are, to some extent, good workers and ascetics, find in Him eternal peace of soul and acquire an unfading crown of victory. Christ is the Finisher of all; He leads everyone to the desired end and to His own glory. But even with the attainment of the final goal, just as He Himself does not cease to be, so that which He brings to perfection is not destroyed, but remains in eternal glory” (Debolsky). That is why all Divine Revelation, especially the New Testament (for which the Old Testament is only a shadow), as is known, begins with a speech about Christ (in the church annual reading) – the sublime theology of John about the Logos – God the Word, and ends with his Apocalypse, where both the entire main speech and the final verses – all also speak about Jesus Christ.

- Archbishop Dimitry (Voznesensky) (†1947)

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Our posters are made in the USA with environmentally-friendly manufacturing processes, and are printed on 176 gsm (65 lb) white cardstock.