The Byzantine mosaics of Ravenna are part of our lives. We don’t even realize it. At a recent holiday social of the Constantine Cassis AHEPA Chapter in the hall of the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St. Paul, at St. Paul’s Cathedral of Hempstead, it was brought to my attention that their mosaics had elements from Ravenna’s Byzantine art. The church handbook “Mosaics” explained there was art from the tomb of Gallia Placidia and St. Vitale Basilica.

Behind the altar of St. Paul’s Cathedral, above the Resurrection scene, are placed to beautiful Byzantine angels. Between them, they hold a globe representative of the universe The central cross is symbolic of Christ’s conquest of the world. These are copies of St. Vitali’s angels in Ravenna.