Faith & RitualGreek → English
Pantocrator
/pænˈtɒkrətɔr/noun
A title of Christ as almighty ruler, and the icon type showing him blessing with a book in his left hand.
The Greek roots
πᾶς
pâs
all, every
κράτος
krátos
power, dominion
Literally: “ruler of all”
The story of the word
The Septuagint translators needed Greek for the Hebrew title Lord of Hosts and assembled Παντοκράτωρ to carry it. Byzantine builders fixed the image in the dome, so a face looking down from the ceiling of a Greek church is a Pantocrator by its position alone. κράτος is the same power that ends democracy, bureaucracy and autocrat.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
Same family
pantheonpanoramademocracyautocrat
In a sentence
The Pantocrator at Daphni is worth the bus ride out of Athens.
A Pantocrator fills the dome, ringed by prophets.