„Ecclesia est paradisus” – interpretacja Kościoła jako raju na „Planie z Sankt Gallen” z 819 r.

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Among manifold symbolic interpretations of the Christian temple, of special importance was the perception of the church as a projection of the reality of Paradise (ecclesia est paradisus). This interpretation was especially popular in medieval monasteries (claustrum est paradisus). The abbey church on the Plan of Saint Gall is presented as Paradise, with the entrance flanked by two towers dedicated to the archangels Raphael and Gabriel. The cross in the centre of the temple represents the Tree of Life (arbor vitae). An identical cross is placed in the centre of the monastery’s cemetery among the trees of heavenly arboretum, as the announcement of the reward to be received on the day of Parousia. Both crosses on the Plan of Saint Gall – the one in the centre of the church representing the Tree of Life in the middle of Paradise and the one in the centre of the cemetery epitomizing the promise of the Parousia and eternal life – are a synthesis of the history of Salvation whose beginning and end are marked by Paradisus and Parusia.