St George's Cathedral, Cape Town

The Great West Window: Genesis and Iconography

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The central panel of this window – Christ in Glory – is in memory of Earl Mountbatten of Burma (1900–1979). It was sponsored by ex-servicemen and women who served under him during World War II and whose veterans' association – the Naval Officers' Association of Southern Africa – launched an appeal to erect this memorial window following his assassination in 1979.

The design is by the internationally renowned Grench artist Gabriel Loire (1904–1996), whose workshop stands beneath the famous spires of Chartres Cathedral. Loire's long association with the Cathedral and with Dean Ted King (1920–1998) had previously borne fruit in the beautiful windows on the theme of The Creation which fill the Nave, in the windows depicting The Four Evangelists in the North and South Transepts, in two abstract pieces in the Gallery and in the window bearing the title Our Lady of Good Hope in the North Transept – a personal gift to the Cathedral by the artist. As well as in Cape Town, and at home in France, his work is also to be found in Algeria, Egypt, Liberia, Morocco, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tunisia, Canada, the USA, Brazil, Chile, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Ireland and Luxembourg. Notable are windows at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, and Salisbury Cathedral, England.

Central panel

The top half of the central panel of the Great West Window at St George's Cathedral is dominated by the figure of the triumphant Christ with outstretched hands – suggesting his power to overcome evil in its many forms. This Christ is black – a visual counterpart to the white Christ of Calvary above the High Altar – and thus ensures that within the Cathedral images of Christ represent the fullness of humanity.

Below this are twelve sections of glass. At top centre is Christ stilling the storm – overcoming the disasters and upheavals of nature. The turbulent and tortured waters can be seen depicted in the top right section and the two right-hand sections below it, with the calm after the storm shown at the top left. This first image of Christ conquering darkness and evil develops the theology of the creation narrative in Genesis when God 'breathed on the face of the waters' and brought order out of chaos. This divine activity – for which women and men were created to take joint responsibility with God – is in essence the theme of the whole window. In the central panel the co-operative work of God and God's children is explored further by reference to biblical examples of this. So the figure of Mary Magdalene is below the stilling of the storm – representing all those who through relationship with Christ overcome their human sinfulness.

In the third row the Golden Calf appears, a symbolic representation of idolatry in all its forms – in other words, of all that prevents human beings from achieving the intimacy of relationship that the Gospels show was that enjoyed by Mary Magdalene and Christ.

Alongside the Golden Calf the figure of Lazarus is seen rising from the tomb – a reminder of Christ's power to overcome death itself, God's promise that all humanity will likewise conquer the grave and the commandment to live in this world in the light of the resurrection.

To the right and in the bottom left and central sections Christ's power to overcome hunger and want is shown in the miracle of the fishes and loaves – a miracle which the Church makes real and present to the world in the equality of the Eucharist and through outreach to all in need.

Finally, in the bottom right-hand corner – where the paraplegic's healing is depicted – the restorative and healing power of Christ is emphasised. This is a reminder of the fact that the showing of commitment and compassion to the sick and the dying, the safeguarding of opportunities for the differently-abled, are key biblical imperatives.

Taken as a whole, the central panel places considerable emphasis on the redeeming actions of Christ in co-operation with ordinary women and men – which are to continue in the contemporary transformation of individuals and societies.

For all its obvious beauty and symbolic power the installation of this window was not without a degree of controversy. This arose among those who questioned the addition of yet another 'colonial' memorial to a Cathedral largely built through such benefactions. But those who complained that the honouring of a member of the British Royal Family confirmed their long-held suspicition that the Anglican Church in Southern Africa was indeed still the 'English' Church failed to perceive the underlying reasons for its installation. For as the apartheid state of the 1980s was doing its worst and as the Cathedral was assuming an increasingly high-profile role as a centre of protest and resistance – the year of the window's installation saw over fifty squatters (evicted from their homes) seek sanctuary in the building for a time – Dean King, through this window, was making an immensely prophetic, encouraging and empowering statement. Come what may, good would indeed one day triumph over evil.

The flanking liberation panels – installed by Jan Bitenco for dedication on 26 August 2001 – are based on those originally designed by Gabriel Loire. They have been reworked by his son Jacques – in conjunction with artistic consultant, former dean Colin Jones – to depict the transition from darkness to light – from apartheid to democracy – in which the Cathedral played such a leading role.

Each of the panels takes its inspiration from a star of light permeating the whole and refracted through the figures of two liberators or conquerors of evil – St George, the Cathedral's patron (left panel) and St Michael, the warrior saint (right panel). The darkness and evil conquered by this light is represented on the left through a dragon – the dragon of apartheid – and on the right through the beast with seven heads. This latter representation of the seven deadly sins is a telling reminder of the need for every human being to overcome the evil within them.

Left-hand panel

To the left there is the triumph of virtue over evil. From specific 'apartheid' symbols – barbed wire of oppression and crosses of sacrifice – people are liberated by a great spear of light (the light of the Word). This is a reference to the prophetic word of protest and challenge consistently broadcast to the wider community from the 'people's cathedral'. The light is surrounded by shields bearing symbols of the four cardinal virtues – justice (the scales shown at top left), prudence (a serpent shown at top right – a reference to the Gospel inujunction 'be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves'), fortitude (St Paul's 'sword of faith' shown on a shield just below the scales of justice), and temperance (symbolised by a shield containing calm, gently rippling water which appears at the bottom right-hand corner of the central star of light).

Also represented in the lower half of this panel are the universal harmony of music – seen as a stave of musical notes between the crosses and barbed wire which bring order and liberating harmony out of their chaos. To the left here, the Cathedral itself appears alongside an outline of the spires of Chartres Cathedral in France – the latter being a reference to the Loire connection. To the right of these 'cathedrals of the people' vertical shafts of pale blue light represent more directly the light of the Word which liberates the world and whose source is the spear of light at the top of the panel.

Linking these symbols – barbed wire, crosses, musical stave, the two cathedrals and vertical shafts of the Word's light – is an 'incomplete' circle of orange and yellow light which both enfolds and transcends them. This is a representation of the world of pain and joy literally being opened up by the word of divine justice and the light of freedom.

This focus on prophetic word and transforming music, on the symbolic importance of the building and opening up of redemptive possibilities, is a direct tribute to Ted King's ministry as Dean (1958–1988), to his skills as preacher and writer, to his encouragement of the healing ministry of musicians and to the the profile that he enabled the Cathedral to attain in a ground-breaking ministry of challenge, pursued with relentless vigour and courage.

The setting of these symbols within the context of this particular panel is itself of great significance, not only because of the implicit connection made here between the defeat of apartheid and the enormous contribution in this which Ted King, his contemporaries and successors, enabled the Cathedral to make, but also – more importantly, perhaps – because of the pattern and connection that has already been observed in relation to the central panel. There, the redeeming action of Christ – his conquering of evil in different forms – calls forth a response from human beings. And this pattern is repeated in the left--hand panel. For the virtues of justice, prudence, fortitude and temperance which Ted King so conspicuously annunciated in his ministry – and which galvanised the Cathedral into assuming its honoured role as the 'people's cathedral' – are virtues memoralised in the window precisely as an encouragement to each and every person to make them their own.

Right-hand panel

To the right is represented the conquering of evil through non-violence. Again a great spear of light penetrates the whole. This is surrounded by shields symbolising the three great virtues which motivate the non-violent way of living in our world: faith (seen as a chalice at the top right), hope (appearing as an anchor – something to hold onto and which holds humanity – to the bottom left of the star) and love (symbolised by a heart which appears below the star just to the right of the beast's tail).

Beneath these and the beast of the seven deadly sins – pride, covetousness, lust, envy, gluttony, anger and sloth – the all-conquering spirit of peace – a dove – alights on the figure of Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948), not only because of his association, in India, with Earl Mountbatten – whose coat of arms appears in the bottom panel together with that of the Naval Officers' Association, which initiated the project – but also because of the inspiration to combat racism with love which Gandhi drew from his experience of being thrown off a train at Pietermaritzburg because of the colour of his skin.

Again, universal qualities are localised in the South African context, where they found expression in the Phoenix Settlement community that Gandhi established at Durban, in the protests he led against South African pass laws and, later, in his leadership of the struggle for Indian liberation from colonialism, poverty and sectarianism. All of this inspired the 'passive resistance' to apartheid which was a central feature of such seminal moments in our history as Sharpeville 1960 and Soweto 1976.

The inclusion of Gandhi offers further resonance. It is a tribute to the inter-faith co-operation which was central to Ted King's vision of the Cathedral – open to all – a genuinely 'people's cathedral'. This is why the Jewish Star of David is at the centre of the light that dominates the panel. It is also why so many temples and mosques line the river flowing beneath it – which represents the water of the Ganges and the unstoppable flow of the river of justice, liberaton and righteousness which the prophet Amos promised as the divine response to evil. The lone figure of Gandhi – seated in his characteristic manner – also points to the need – both present and future – to develop further a culture of non-violence and non-racialism across South Africa and beyond.

The liberation panels thus celebrate South Africa's newly-won freedom and remember especially the ministry of Dean Ted King, who initiated the project. Their completion enables the people of Cape Town, the whole South African community and the many across the world who supported the struggle for freedom – or who marvel at it now – to have a permanent memorial to one of the greatest liberation stories the world has ever known. But most of all they provide a deep source of inspiration and challenge to continue – with imagination and determination – the task of conquering not only the evils and injustices that persist in this, as in every, society, but most fundamentally to overcome the evil and wickedness whilch lurks at the door to our own heart. Ultimately then the Great West Window points to the universal work of liberation that continues in and through each one of God's children.

Introductory article, order of service for the dedication of the liberation panels to complete the Great West Window, 26 August 2001 – based on a sermon preached by the Reverend Chris Chivers at the Cathedral Mass, 15 July 2001.

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