"(By the fall of 1978) the time had come to erect a suitable memorial to honour the ministry of the late Canon Cornish, who was rector between 1955 and 1972. Mr. Michael O'Brien, an Ottawa artist, was commissioned to paint a triptych, to fill the three panels in the reredos behind the high altar. On Friday, January 12, 1979, Bishop Robinson blessed and dedicated Mr. O'Brien's creation during Solemn Evensong and Benediction."

(Extracted from: Merrily on High in Ottawa, the Story of the Church of St. Barnabas, Apostle and Martyr 1889-1989.)

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Michael O'Brien writes of the triptych:

The Triptych is an illustration of the passage in St Matthews' Gospel which reads:

But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they came together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him to test him. "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord you God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it, You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:34-40)

Thus Christ, who is the fulfillment of these two laws, is looked to by Moses (who is the bearer of the Law and a prefigure of Christ) and by John the Baptist (who is the last prophet of the Old Testament and the greatest of all men, according to Jesus). The Lord not only brings the fulfillment of Law and Prophecy "the Word of God" to man, he is the perfect embodiment of the Word.

This Triptych is situated in the Resurrection; it is not an earthly scene such as the Transfiguration. Christ is here the Pantocrator "the all-powerful." He is Teacher and Judge, but his sober image is suffused with mercy and gentleness. In Him is perfect harmony: justice and mercy, gentleness and strength, vigilance and stillness, East and West. He wears priestly garments as the great High Priest. His right hand is raised in blessing. The gold of the Book which symbolizes the joy of the Good News is punctuated by the five jewels representing the sacred wounds of Christ. The Cross and Resurrection are inseparable.

By their gestures, Moses and St John indicate that their roles as forerunners to the Messiah are now complete in Jesus. The blue of Moses's robe, symbol of wisdom, and the wine colour of the robe of the Baptist, symbolizing suffering or martyrdom, are combined in the robes of Christ. Here too, the gold is part of His vesture to symbolize the Divinity of His nature, inseparable from His Humanity. Structurally, there is further symbolism. There is a triangle, representing the Trinity, formed by the arms of the two side figures and the tablets of the Law, whose apex is the face of Christ. The invisible triangle has a visible apex, just as "Christ is the visible image of the unseen God." (Col. 1:15)

Christ faces us, mankind, open and present, His role to reveal and to save. The two figures are turned partially towards Him. They are also revealing, calling us to look and hear, but their attention is upon the One who is the whole reason for their life's mission and ours. "Think not that I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets; I have come not to abolish them, but to fulfill them." (Matthew 5: 17).