First Century A.D.
Banners from the Rotunda of Witnesses
Banner Quote:
He is the image of the unseen God and the first born of all creation, for in Him were created all things in heaven and on earth: everything visible and invisible, thrones, dominations, sovereignties, powers - all things were created through Him and for Him.
Before anything was created, He existed, and He holds all things in unity.
The Apostle Paul is depicted at the moment of his conversion on the road to Damascus, as recorded in Acts 9:3-9. Blinded by the light from heaven which flashed about him, he raises his hands in recognition of Christ's glory. The quote contained on the banner is Paul's hymn of praise to Jesus Christ, taken from the Jerusalem Bible's translation of Colossians 1:15-17. Behind him stands a group of figures holding scrolls, representing the churches throughout the Gentile world to whom Paul wrote. The Jonah and the whale motif was an early symbol for resurrection which was used by both Christ and Paul in their teaching.