\b0 It may be seen that there is a man hanging on the cross that the \b \cf4 \ATXht70101 angels\cf0 \ATXht0 \b0 are showing. The person is certainly not Christ (as the view from behind would not have any meaning), but is the Good Thief, one of the two who were crucified with Christ on Calvary, to whom Christ promised: ôToday tho
u shalt be with me in paradiseö (Luke 23: 43). \par
For early Christianity, the cross was not just a sign of suffering and death, but an anticipatory image of the resurrection. This is why it was depicted as encrusted with jewels and gold. \b \cf4 \ATXht5 Michelangelo\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 adopted an artistic expedient to express the same idea. The man hanging on the cross is the first man to be declared saved in the Gospels. The Cross is symbolic of the mystery of salvation through the death and resurrectio
