Faith, Form and Light: A Guide to the Stained Glass Windows at Christ Anglican Church

Window 7: Orb, Scepter, and Crown of Christ, Heavenly King –
the Ascension of Christ
Surrounded by a rainbow mandorla are Christ’s golden crown, orb, and scepter. Jesus has
ascended into heaven and reigns in glory as King. The orb, the ancient symbol of rulership,
signies that Christ holds the world in His hands. The scepter, which crosses behind the
orb, represents Christ’s ability to comfort and protect. As such, it reminds us we need not
fear any enemy, not even death.
In breaking the connes of the mandorla, extending to the edges of the white rectangular
inner eld, the scepter also signals that Christ’s work exists and expands beyond the realm
of Heaven. This meaning is compounded by the diagonal direction of the scepter: it slopes
from highest at the left to lowest on the right, echoing the direction of the rays of light in
the Chi Rho window. In that window, the direction of light represented the Holy Spirit’s
descension from Heaven to Earth in the form of a dove and here again, the left to right
descension suggests that even though He has ascended into Heaven, Christ maintains a
continual presence and reach on Earth.
The crown occupies nearly the entire upper half of the mandorla, with the center, highestmost
crest, tting perfectly into the inner, apex of the rainbow. In this way, it is as if the
golden crown itself is giving the mandorla its shape. At the middle of the crown’s center
crest is a red diamond-shaped form, representing the largest of the many gemstones
decorating the crown. A series of small, round rubies dot the crown along its central band.
Below this area, emeralds punctuate a swirling ligree.
As in the Resurrection window, these objects appear against a violet background, denoting
Christ’s royal status. And, carrying over from the Crown of Thorns and Resurrection
windows, the white trinity appears here in the form of three crystalline ovals within each
object. These cut-glass ovals are also prisms which refract light into the very colors of the
rainbow which appear in the mandorla. In doing so, these prisms carry the meaning, and
indeed visual content, of this window into daily life. Through this rainbow light, the world
may bask in God’s incorporeal energy as it radiates from Heaven.