The Divine Majesty on the Dome

In the Creed, we say: And He shall come again in Glory to judge the living and the dead. The coming of the Lord at the end of the ages will be the Day of Judgment, foretold by the Old Testament as well as by Christ himself. At the last judgment, each soul will receive from God the reward of his good or evil deeds. St. Ephrem the Syrian describes the scene thus: The graves will open, and in the twinkling of an eye all the tribes will be awakened and will look upon the holy greatness of the Bridegroom. Great multitudes of angels and archangels will rejoice with great joy; the righteous and all who had not accepted the seal of the ungodly serpent, will rejoice together with the Bridegroom in the eternal and heavenly mansions with all the saints unto the ages of ages. St. Ephrem also explains that: After each one has been tried before men, and all the dominions and powers have been abolished and all Gods enemies have been placed under his feet; then at last, the Lord said: He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides the sheep from the wolves. (Apostasy and Antichrist) In order to describe the icon, the words from St. Gregory of Nyssa, have been applied: The vision of God in the present life will not precisely fulfill us, but it grows continually day after day, until it reaches its fullness in eternity. For the more that man mediates on the vision of God, the more he sees Him as if for the first time. All new in his sight, so he feels more longing to fall down before Him , and gaze at Him. And thus he continues to no end.