I THE LAST JUDGEMENT / CENTRAL PANEL /

And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within
and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.
And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder,
one of the four living creatures saying, Come and see.
And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword:
and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.

Christ sits enthroned upon a rainbow, His feet upon a golden orb of the earth, now transformed into the sun, within which the Valley of the Last Judgement is reflected.
The world, as we know it, comes to its end with His return.
To His left gleams the Sword – exile from Paradise; to His right, the Lily of Grace – Resurrection.
Angels carry the Instruments of the Passion: the crown of thorns, the spear, the hammer and nails, the cross, the scourge, and the column of His scourging – silent witnesses to all the sufferings endured by humanity through Christ.
On either side of the Judge of Judges sit the twelve Apostles, the Blessed Virgin Mary, co-redeemer of humankind, and John the Baptist.

Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about
Thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord.
«Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.
Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great».
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.
The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake.

The trumpets sound, angels with childlike faces blowing with all their might.
“Awake, O dead! Rise from your tombs and burial mounds – you have the strength to lift the stone slabs of your graves.
And you, drowned ones, come forth from the waters and reach the shore.”
They rise, sprouting from the earth like sown plants.
But do we truly have bodies, ask those awakened from death’s sleep.
And are they really so young?
What of the burned – shall they rise from the ashes?
Will charred flesh return to its original form?
And what of us, hacked to pieces, torn by wild beasts?
Shall the saints and kings who lost their heads return, bearing their heads in their hands?
How many of us have died? And shall all of us rise?

«Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them,
O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!”
Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live.
And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin,
and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord».
So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking,
and the bones came together, bone to his bone.
And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.
Then said he unto me, «Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind,
Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live».
So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived,
and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

Shall we rise alone, or alongside our animals?
Mosquitoes fed their young on human blood, and so our lifeblood ran in them.
Shall the fleas, bedbugs, and lice that drank from us also awaken?
Where do the limits of the Resurrection lie?
If animals do not rise, can Paradise exist without them… only for us?
For what sins were the creatures of the Garden cast out?
Archangel Michael, leader of the Archangels, clad in golden armour and draped in a cloak of Florentine brocade, performs the act of psychostasis – the weighing of souls.
Those found heavier with good deeds are saved; those too light are condemned, like King Belshazzar of Babylon, who heard:
“You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.”
Within the Archangel’s shield the Valley of Jehoshaphat from the Book of Joel is reflected—the stage of the Last Judgement—while to the side rises the outline of a Romanesque structure leading to the Gates of Paradise.
The angel and the beast wrestle for the human soul.
The Greeks called this psychomachia: the eternal struggle between Good and Evil.
The stern judge weighs the deeds of Christians—but what of infidels?
Do their gods preside over separate paradises, divided by different gates leading to Salvation?

II. INFERNUM

And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.
And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and Death and Hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

Sadistic beasts, hairy hybrids, and winged demons seize the sinful, dragging them into the eternal flames of the underworld.
They torment with fierce delight, as though cruelty itself were their pleasure.
Do they not find fulfilment in their acts, and is not Inferno their own garden?
Are the horrors of this dark realm a grim hope for the wronged?
Some believe that evil deeds do not dissolve into the thin air, but take shape as monstrous creatures: A moth-winged beast carries a woman in the sin of lust; A boar-mouthed creature drags a pair bound in adultery; A man rides upon the back of a lion, imprisoned in his sin, whose name is Wrath.

The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem;
and the heavens and the earth shall shake.

III. PARADISUS

And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.
And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder,
one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.

Around God are the four Evangelists: the ox represents Luke, the lion Mark, the angel Matthew, and the eagle John.
Red carnations fall—drops of Christ’s blood, nails pierced into His hands and feet.
Above, on a stone tondo, is the Creation of Eve, she who defied God’s will, closing the gates of Paradise, from which celestial music flows. Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones play fidel, harp, lute, shawm, portative organ, trombone, psaltery, and bells—instruments bestowing the Grace of Harmony.
Saved souls ascend the crystal steps to the City of God—Heavenly Jerusalem.
Beneath the steps, on bare earth, lie scattered corals and pearls—symbols of virginity.
The young figures with fragile bodies are employees of the Medici Bank in wealthy Bruges.
Were their portraits insisted upon by Angelo di Jacopo Tani, who commissioned the painting? Or were they an independent gesture by the young Memling, grateful for the commission that lifted him to the heights of creative achievement? Likewise, Charles the Bold, third from the left among the Apostles, the ruler of Bruges at the time, was honoured with a portrait as an Apostle.
The ascension of these youthful bodies—their hair unfallen, their beards still dark,
their skin unshrunken—suggests: shall we rise renewed, forever young?

Saint Peter holds the key to the Gates of Paradise, within its mechanism a hidden cross, the Seal of Salvation itself.
He slept in Gethsemane, denied Christ three times, yet remains the Rock.
Angels clothe the saved in their most beautiful robes.
One places a white mitre on a bishop’s head, embroidered with the Annunciation.
For the Virgin Mary is the New Eve, giving birth to the Redeemer, reopening the Gates of Paradise for humanity.
Exodus, the Promised Land, Hell, and Paradise dwell within us—they are states of consciousness.
Does the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil still grow in Paradise?
And if so, has it not withered?
We no longer discern Good from Evil.
Can we, then, ever return to Paradise?

And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying,
Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them,
and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain:
for the former things are passed away.


Lech Majewski