The Lamb-"Mandylion" in the frescoes of Moldavian Churches

This article by Anca Vasiliu examines representations of the *Mandylion* and the Lamb in the interior and exterior frescoes of Moldavian monasteries decorated under the reign of Petru Rareș (1527-1546), notably at Humor, Moldovița, Arbore, Voroneț and Sucevița. Drawing on art history and theology of the image, the article analyzes the juxtaposition of these two figures on the axial line of the sanctuary apse, particularly above the axial window. The central idea is that this iconographic pair synthesizes, in a vertiginous shorthand, the theological articulation between incarnation and eschatology. The study makes a twofold contribution: it identifies a rare iconographic variant of the Apocalyptic Lamb in a post-Byzantine context where it was canonically prohibited, and it demonstrates that Moldavian iconographic programs constitute a coherent theological discourse on the status of the holy image, between the veiling and unveiling of the divine.