Whether or not the controversial picture on the eastern wall of Bishop Hannington Church, Hove, is to be covered over after the current art exhibition (The Argus, May 2), I am sure Bishop Bell, who commissioned it, had not the slightest intention of encouraging a syncretic view of religion.

As a bishop of the Church of England, he would have affirmed the uniqueness of Christ and the words of the Nicene Creed that Jesus was "Very God of Very God".

As a co-organiser of the exhibition, Annelies Clarke has rightly said that Jesus Christ is the focus of the portrait and is portrayed by a symbol taken from Byzantine art, Jesus Christ Pantokrator (Jesus Christ supreme ruler over all things).

The other religions are shown as subservient to him and the white figures descending steep steps to them appear to portray the messengers of the king carrying the good news of the gospel.

Bishop Hannington has been a missionary church from the very beginning and is dedicated to Bishop Hannington, a local man who became the first Bishop of East Africa and was martyred for his faith in what is now Uganda.

A number of members of Bishop Hannington have gone from this church into all the world carrying the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This flow of missionaries still continues. Bishop Bell had this truth in mind when he commissioned the painting which is now being unveiled for the exhibition.

-Reverend John Webster, Hove