The following is a stained glass window depicting Noah by Endre Odon Hevezi and Gyula Bajo from 1965 for the Debre Libanos Monastery, Oromia, Ethiopia:
Photo by Timothy A. Gonsalves, hosted by Wikimedia Commons under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license
Stained glass is not just highly decorative, it’s a medium which has been used to express important religious messages for centuries. Literacy was not widespread in the medieval and Renaissance periods and the Church used stained glass and other artworks to teach the central beliefs of Christianity. In Gothic churches, the windows were filled with extensive narrative scenes in stained glass — like huge and colorful picture storybooks — in which worshipers could ‘read’ the stories of Christ and the saints and learn what was required for their religious salvation. (Source: Victoria and Albert Museum )
The Hebrew, Latin, and Greek that is transliterated as “Ezra” in English is translated in Hungarian Sign Language with a sign that is based on the meaning of the Hebrew name: “help”. The prophet assisted his people in returning to God. The sign for his name uses the handshape of the sign for “back,” but its direction points upward, toward God. (Source: Jenjelvi Biblia and HSL Bible Translation Group)
“Ezra” in Hungarian Sign Language — note that only the first part refers to “Ezra,” the second part refers to “book” (source )
In Spanish Sign Language it is translated with the sign for “scribe” referring to Ezra’s profession. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
The name that is transliterated as “Adam” in English means “earthy or red earth,” “of the ground,” “taken out of the red earth.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 )
The Hebrew and Greek that is transliterated as “Rehoboam” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the signs for “king” + “divide” + “south.” (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
The Hebrew and Greek that is transliterated as “Asher” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with a sign for “(oak) tree” that signifies fruitfulness (referring to Genesis 49:20). (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
