ΧΡΙΣΤΙΑΝΙΚΗ ΑΡΧΑΙΟΛΟΓΙΑ

  During the cruel persecution of Diocletian and Galerius in 304, the matron and wealthy mistress of Thessaloniki, Anysia, became a martyr. As soon as she left the Kassandreotic Gate to go to the Christian Assembly, a guard of the Gate suspected her of being a Christian and forcibly dragged her to an adjacent altar of the Sun god (Sol Invictus), where, refusing to sacrifice, he stabbed her in the side with his sword. She died on December 30, during the winter solstice celebrations. The Cassandreotic Gate was where the Syntrivani (Fountain) is today, on the eastern wall of the city. Nearby there was a temple of the Sun. In the miniature of Basil's Menology (10th century) the altar can be seen on the left and on the right an elongated building, perhaps the Basilica of her martyrdom. I believe that this is the Basilica that was found (and buried) next to the new Metro station, in front of the Theological School of the city. In the photographs, the miniature and representation of a y...

An icon of the 13th century of the Sinai Monastery, of Constantinople origin, of extremely small dimensions (36 x 21), apparently part of a triptych, presents the Birth of Christ and the first scenes from his life. The Nativity with a host of angels, the Adoration of the Magi, the evangelization of the shepherds, a young shepherd playing the flute, and the departure of the Magi for the East by another route are shown in the upper zone. In the next zone the coming of the Magi on horseback who see the Star, the angel in Joseph's dream, the bathing of the infant by the two midwives, and little sheep drinking water from a stream, while two fight with the horns. In the next zone, the young Jacob the first son of Joseph leads the midwives with the basin and the jug, the flight of the family to Egypt, who like a queen welcomes them at the entrance of the city and the flight of Elizabeth with the little John in a cave, while being pursued by a soldier. In the last zone, the slaughter of in...

Emperor Leo VI the so-called "Wise" forcibly married, for political reasons, after great pressure from his father, Basil I, the young (only 17 years old) noblewoman Theophano Martiniaka, whom he never accepted , since he was in love with Zoe Zaoutchaina. It seems that the suffering queen's life was so hard and joyless that, when she died in her 30s in 897, Leo, apparently regretting the bitterness and suffering he had subjected her to, wanted to build a church in her honour, honoring her as a saint. Because Patriarch Antonius did not allow him to do so, he changed the feast of the Sunday after Pentecost from the feast of "the holy martyrs" to the feast of "all the saints", believing that the prematurely dead Theophano is also honored in this way. Her incorruptible relic is kept in the Patriarchal Church in the city of Constantine. Photo: A rich noblewoman visits the emperor. This is how Leo would welcome Theophano. Manuscript " Synopsis of Histori...

During the period of the Empire, painters depicted the hymn-writer monk of the Monastery of Saint Savvas in Jerusalem, Saint John, in monastic clothes and a turban on his head, since he was from Damascus. The color of the turban was usually a dark or lighter shade of purple, the royal color. Apparently to show that Yuhanna Ibn Mansuri Ibn Serjuna (John son of Mansur son of Sergius) was an official at the court of Caliph Abdul Malik of Damascus before he became a monk. During the Ottoman period painters began to depict John's turban white with black decorative bands, as the Jewish tallit and the Arabic kufiyya are to this day, apparently because they saw their fellow countrymen in the Ottoman Empire Jews, Syrians and others wearing such head coverings. Photo A: 12th century fresco, Panagia Arakos, Lagoudera, Cyprus. Photo B: 16th century fresco, Frankos Katelanos, Varlaam Monastery, Meteora. +E. G . ----------------------------------------- Κατά την περίοδο της Αυτοκρατο...