This popular type is based on the Book of Revelation. It depicts Michael as the chief captain of the heavenly armies, crowned and riding upon a red winged horse. A rainbow extends over his head; a lance, a cross and a censer are in one hand, a book (the Gospels) and trumpet are in the other. Michael is shown defeating Satan, who has fallen at the base beside tumbled buildings inside a swirling abyss. The Archangel Michael is associated both with the Old Testament destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and with the visionary destruction of Sodom in the Apocalypse. At upper right is Christ Immanuel before the Hetimsia, the prepared altar that is also the symbolic throne of Christ. The inscription on the right border reads, “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.” The inscription along the upper margin reads, “The terribly dreadful general of the rule of the heavenly king, the commander and chief Mikhail stands ready to defeat his enemy with weapon held high.” The inscription along the lower margin reads, “When the sea boils and enemies lose their weapons at the end, and the cities are destroyed, their memory shall perish in the uproar.”
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