The Cosmic Cross

I will be focusing the next few posts on the tree of life in relation to Christ for Holy Week. The imagery is so illuminating! The symbolism so profound. I hope these explorations can be a rich layer to your experience of this sacred convergence of temporal and eternal time in the marking of the week's events.

"The apse mosaic in San Giovanni Laterano in Rome depicts the cross as tree of life and cosmic tree in the center of the world. The cross is golden, jeweled, and set against a field of intertwining vines. It is set in the Garden of Eden, from which flow the named four rivers of Paradise (Genesis 2:10) ... A cherub is seen guarding the walled Garden with Adam and Eve inside.

With heaven above and the spirit of God descending, the cross links the world to the waters below. Mary and John the Baptist face the cosmic cross. This world cross is more than the tree of life, for the tree if life is here below, with the archangel guarding the entrance and the way to the tree of life behind the walls of the garden. The cross has become a cosmic tree." - John W. Welch, "The Tree of Life in the New Testament and Christian Tradition".

World cross with tree of life below, apse mosaic, Basilica of San Giovanni Laterano, Rome, Italy, 4th-6th century.