This is a detail of the image above, from the apse mosaic from the church of St Apollinaire in Classe, just on the outskirts of Ravenna. The saint is in an orant pose, a pose of worship, but he seems also to beckon the viewer to his paradise, as if saying, “this could all be yours if you believe”. The sheep are the believers, too, the flock of Christians for whom he is a shepherd. Above him floats a giant golden cross levitating in a giant circle with the blue of the sky and golden stars.