Christ Walking on the Waves
("Navicella") (Matt. 14:22–33)

The disciples were alone in a boat on the Sea of Galilee, Christ having sent them on ahead while he went up into the hills to pray. A storm arose and in the early hours of the day they saw the figure of the Savior walking towards them on the water. They were terrified, thinking that he was a ghost. By way of establishing Christ's identity Peter called to him and stepped out of the boat to walk to him. But he soon began to sink. Christ caught hold of him, uttering the words, "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" We see Christ standing on the water a little way from the shore, reaching out a hand to Peter who is partly submerged. In the background are the other disciples in a boat. It is not unusual for the sea to be calm, even reflecting in its surface the figures and the boat. The treatment sometimes resembles the Miraculous Draught of Fishes, in one version of which Peter is likewise seen having stepped from a boat into the water to approach Christ. In that instance however Christ is standing on the shore, not on the water. The theme of the boat protected by Christ was taken as a symbol of the Church, the means through which man achieved salvation.