43 The Communion of the Apostles: Thoughts on artistic, spatial and liturgical matters * Yannis D. Varalis This research embarks on a review of two icons portraying the Communion of the Apostles: the frst kept at the Holy Monastery of St Catherine, Mount Sinai, and the other at Ohrid. The iconography of the subject, although much discussed, presents several aspects that have not yet been fully analysed: the position of Christ behind the altar, the depiction of the holy vessels on the altar table, and the way in which the sacraments are distributed, in combination with the ritual of the communion of the clergy, are some of them. This study advances hypotheses on artistic, spatial and liturgical mat- ters: the representation of the Communion of the Apostles decorates the sanctuary, i.e. the space reserved for the clerics; the crystal- lisation of the subject in the eleventh century indicates that it might have been issued from prominent theological and artistic milieus of Constantinople; the rapid diffusion of the subject in various parts of the Empire is indicative not only of the popularity of the scene but also of the anti-Latin response of the orthodox clergy after the various dogmatic and liturgical divergences which led to the schism of 1054. * This paper was presented at the International Conference titled “Art and Cult in Byzantium”, which was held at the University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece, in 24-26 June, 2005. I wish to wholeheartedly thank the organising committee for their embrace and hospitality, and especially to Maria Vassilaki, Professor in the History of Byzantine Art, for her help and encouragement. The publication of this study would be most suitable to a volume of studies dedicated to Mary Panayotidi, my dearest Professor at the University of Athens, who has introduced me with passion and inspiration to the study of Byzantine art.