Paul and Anthony face each other with their bodies and faces turned outwards slightly towards the viewer. Between them they hold a loaf
of bread that had been miraculously delivered by a raven. The bread is a symbol of the eucharistic bread, the body of Christ, which is
emphasized by the cross formed at the centre of the loaf as the two saints begin to break it apart. Paul and Anthony were the two earliest
hermit saints, and are symbolic of the monastic life. They also form a male counterpart to the female pair of Martha and Mary at the top
of the east face of the cross.
The Latin inscription that surrounds the panel reads: + SCS PAVLVS ⋅ (across the top); ET ⋅ A[NTONIVS] […] (down the right side);
FREGER[VN]T ⋅ PANEM IN DESERTO (down the left side). Translation: ‘+ Saints Paul and Anthony […] broke bread in the desert’. It describes
an episode recorded in Jerome’s Life of St. Paul.
