St. Christoper the Cynocephalus

[Moros]

http://www.ucc.ie/milmart/christophery.gif http://www.patriarchate.org/visit/photo2/assets/images/con_32.jpg

http://www.ucc.ie/milmart/BHL1764.html

http://www.ucc.ie/milmart/BHL1766.html

http://www.ucc.ie/milmart/chrsirish.html

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v13/blackshirt/St.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v13/blackshirt/christoforos.jpg

[countrymousenc]

Bruncvik, thank you for the articles. My younger son is named for St. Christopher. :)

[Oblio]

ISTM that I read somewhere that the 'dog head' icon is in fact not the 'proper' icon of St. Christopher. I certainly do not prefer it as it has a mythological tinge to it.

- Rdr. Christopher

[countrymousenc]

Here is a link to the St. Christopher icon at the OCA website:

http://oca.org/pages/dwp/large.asp?saintid=101334

[jkotinek]

Another icon with a story of Martyr Christopher's life:
http://saintgeorge.org/images/saint_of_the_day/05may/may_09_saint_christopher.jpg
http://saintgeorge.org/news_and_events/church_calendar/saint_of_the_day/05may/may_09_saint_christopher.php
May 9th
On this day we celebrate the Memory of Prophet Isaiah; Martyr Christopher of Lycia; Venerable-martyr Nicholas; translation to Bari of the relics of Nicholas the wonder-worker, archbishop of Myra in Lycia.

Many of our saints are pictured in icons and other representations as having great physical beauty. One of our better known saints was not so endowed. In fact, he was ugly and repulsive to those who first saw him and had no inkling of his great spiritual beauty. Yet, his ugliness does not seem to have been a hindrance to the mission he so nobly fulfilled in his lifetime.

Christopher's unwholesome appearance caused his comrades to call him "dogface" when he was a soldier in the Roman army. In some icons, Christopher is pictured as a saint with the head of a dog. Nevertheless, whereas physical beauty is skin deep, the beauty of a spirit such as Christopher's knows no bounds. Although unwholesome in appearance, there is no actual reproduction of the spiritually beautiful Saint Christopher, and it can be speculated that having served in battle, he could have become disfigured in combat. Even whether he bore scars or not, there was not a blemish on his pure spirit.

Christopher's profound love of Jesus Christ did not move mountains, but it did move those close to him directly into the arms of the Savior, the exceptions being flint-hardened pagans. His final act of consideration for his captors is a touching tribute to a heart that can be warmed as much as his only by the abiding love of Jesus Christ.

Although Christopher has been venerated as patron saint of travelers in the Western Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church does not remember him in this way. This is primarily because no accounts in Eastern history associate him with travelers.

It is remembered, however, at one point in his life, according to some sources, he demonstrated his Christian charity by carrying travelers across a river on his back. One day he chanced to carry a child across the river. At midstream the child's burden suddenly became staggering, and Christopher declared: "Had I borne the whole world on my back, I would not have outweighed you." Whereupon the child replied: "Marvel not for you have borne upon your back the world and him who created it." For this reason Christopher is sometimes represented in religious pictures as fording a stream with the Christ Child on his back.

Christopher was born with the name of Reprobos, and lived during the reign of the Roman Emperor Decius AD 250. Although he served in the imperial Roman army, military life was not for him.

As an enthusiastic convert to Christianity, he was given to speaking out against the cruelties inflicted upon the followers of Christ. He could see no threat to the empire by people whose primary purpose was the promotion of love and peace among all men and all nations.

In due time, the soldiers of Decius were sent to arrest Christopher. The group had no difficulty recognizing the starkly hideous face of their former comrade-in-arms, nor had they forgotten the beauty of his gentle spirit. They were hesitant to carry out their order of arrest, but Christopher reassured them that he would prefer that they also receive the same light which shone upon him. He spoke to them of the Christian faith, the love of God, and his love for all mankind.

The soldiers decided to accompany him to Antioch, in Syria rather than to drag him to the cruel justice of the emperor. Reprobos was then baptized by Christopher by Bishop Babylas, who also baptized the soldiers. Thereupon Christopher induced the soldiers to fulfill the order of arrest lest they come to know the emperor's wrath for disobedience.

The newly-baptized Christians reluctantly agreed and with sadness, they returned to Rome with their prisoner and brought him before the emperor, who assumed that Christopher had been captured after an exhaustive search. Tried and convicted, Christopher was beheaded on 09th May 255.

[Oblio]

I like this one better :)

Christopher the Martyr of Lycea (http://www.goarch.org/en/chapel/saints.asp?contentid=47)

[Matrona]

ISTM that I read somewhere that the 'dog head' icon is in fact not the 'proper' icon of St. Christopher. I certainly do not prefer it as it has a mythological tinge to it.

- Rdr. Christopher
That is my preference also. Yours and Jkotinek's look much nicer. By all accounts, the Apostle Paul was not a very attractive individual either, but none of his icons portray him as some kind of dog-man.

[MariaRegina]

ISTM that I read somewhere that the 'dog head' icon is in fact not the 'proper' icon of St. Christopher. I certainly do not prefer it as it has a mythological tinge to it.

- Rdr. Christopher

Thanks, Reader Christopher.

I was wondering and hoping that someone would present some factual information about that. Has Michael, our resident Iconographer, come to this thread yet?

Yours in Christ,
Elizabeth

[Oblio]

It appears that there are several Byzantine examples of Cyno-type, I would be interested if there are any canons concerning this (e.g. the canon of the Moscow council against the Holy Trinity being represented as an aged Man, a Son, and Dove) I am grateful for the wealth of info presented in this thread, even though much of it seems to come from Latin sources. (Brunc, have you come down with the flu ;) )

[countrymousenc]

Here is the story of St. Christopher from the OCA website calendar:

http://www.oca.org/pages/orth_chri/Feasts-and-Saints/May/May-09.html


The Holy Martyr Christopher lived during the third century and suffered about the year 250, during the reign of the emperor Decius (249-251). There are many various accounts of his life and miracles, and he is venerated in both the Western and Eastern Churches. (The Martyr Christopher is especially venerated in Italy, where they have recourse to him in prayer during times of contagious diseases). There are various suggestions about his descent. According to some historians, he was descended from the Canaanites, according to others, from "Cynoscephalai" [literally "dog-heads", located in Thessaly].

St. Christopher was a man of great stature and unusual strength, and his face was brutish. By tradition, St. Christopher at first possessed a handsome appearance, but wishing to avoid temptation for himself and others, he besought the Lord to give him an unseemly face, which was done. Until Baptism he had the name Reprebus [Reprobate] which was connected with his disfigured outer appearance. Even before Baptism, Reprebus confessed his faith in Christ and denounced those who persecuted Christians. For this he was once given a beating by a certain Bacchus, and he took the beating with humility.

Because of his reknowned strength, 200 soldiers came after him in order to bring him before the emperor Decius. Reprebus submitted without resistance. On the way miracles occurred; a dry stick blossomed in the hand of the saint, by his prayer loaves of bread were multiplied, and the travellers had no lack thereof. This was similar to the multiplication of loaves in the wilderness by the Savior. The soldiers surrounding Reprebus were astonished at the miracles. They came to believe in Christ and together with Reprebus they were baptized by the Antiochian Bishop Babylus.

When St. Christopher was brought before the emperor, the emperor became terrified by his appearance and decided to coerce him to renounce Christ, not by force but by cunning. He summoned two profligate women, Kallinike and Aquilina, and commanded them to influence Christopher to a deny Christ, and gain his consent to offer sacrifice to idols. But the women were themselves converted by St. Christopher to the faith in Christ. Having returned to the emperor, they declared themselves Christians, for which they were subjected to fierce beatings and they died as martyrs.

Decius also sentenced to execution the soldiers who had been sent after St. Christopher, but who now believed in Christ. The emperor gave orders to throw the martyr into a red-hot metal box. But St. Christopher did not experience any suffering and he remained unharmed. After many fierce torments they finally beheaded the martyr with a sword. This occurred in the year 250 in Lycia. By his miracles the holy Martyr Christopher converted to Christ as many as 50 thousand pagans, about which St. Ambrose (of Milan) testifies. The relics of St. Christopher were later transferred to Toledo (Spain), and even later to the abbey of St. Denis in France.

[NewToLife]

The representation of St Christopher as dog headed in a number of Byzantine icons is a simple reflection of the description in Greek and Roman times of barbarians as dog-headed, traditionally he is also recorded as physically unattractive, the combination of the 2 probably accounts for his ending up iconised in this traditional fashion. No mythological overtones here, just a reflection of ancient cultural descriptions of those considered to be beyond the borders of civilisation and in this case also quite ugly.

[Oblio]

No mythological overtones here, just a reflection of ancient cultural descriptions of those considered to be beyond the borders of civilisation and in this case also quite ugly.


I guess I should have been more clear, for I did not intend to make it seem that there was an actual mythological element to it, but rather that I personally get that sort of feel from that representation, undoubtable because of personal pre-Christian experiences. For me to claim that it indeed had mythological elements would be like the heterodox and pagans claiming that Nativity and Pascha are pagan feasts just because they see some correlation with those things of the world.

[NewToLife]

I guess I should have been more clear, for I did not intend to make it seem that there was an actual mythological element to it, but rather that I personally get that sort of feel from that representation, undoubtable because of personal pre-Christian experiences. For me to claim that it indeed had mythological elements would be like the heterodox and pagans claiming that Nativity and Pascha are pagan feasts just because they see some correlation with those things of the world.


I had a feeling that was the case and I can see your point as someone who also went through various spiritual cul de sacs before becoming a Christian.

I also actually use an icon more like the one in your avatar at home myself.

[Moros]

The representation of St Christopher as dog headed in a number of Byzantine icons is a simple reflection of the description in Greek and Roman times of barbarians as dog-headed, traditionally he is also recorded as physically unattractive, the combination of the 2 probably accounts for his ending up iconised in this traditional fashion. No mythological overtones here, just a reflection of ancient cultural descriptions of those considered to be beyond the borders of civilisation and in this case also quite ugly.

I've read that supposedly he was from a North African cannibal tribe with a disfigured face. I've also read that there was a belief of a literal race of dogheads. :scratch:

[NewToLife]

I've read that supposedly he was from a North African cannibal tribe with a disfigured face. I've also read that there was a belief of a literal race of dogheads.

There was a literal belief but it was based on later peoples ( typically the Byzantines ) taking ancient Roman and Greek expressions literally when they were originally simply a method of denoting those considered outside of civilisation.