High on the interior western wall of a church building deep in the fir-clad heartland of old Serbia, Christ looks down upon the faithful at the centre of a throng of angels and apostles mourning the death or “falling asleep” (the koimēsis or dormition) of his mother. Robed in a knee-length porphyry cloak, Mary herself is stretched out on a couch draped in red and green silks,