SAINT CHRISTOPHER

Icon with water-gilding on natural linden wood. The wood has been prepared in heat and gilded with gold leaf 24K, in accordance with traditional Byzantine techniques. The icon has been painted with egg-tempera paints for best performance and endurance of colors used.

The colors were chosen based on studies and analyses of older icons by renowned iconographers, after ARTIS had first conducted conservation treatments on them. Saint Christopher the Great Martyr descended from a half barbaric tribe and was named Reprobus, which means disapproved or condemned. In his external appearance, the Saint was very ugly and was called “dog-face”. His conversion to Christ happened in a miraculous way. When he was still a catechumen, he set up camp near a dangerous river crossing and would transport on his shoulders for free those who wished to cross the river. One day, a small child appeared before him, who asked him to carry him to the other bank of the river. But as he went forward, the child became more and more heavy. As soon as they reached their destination, he told the child that even if he had lifted the entire world, it would not have been so heavy. The child answered him: “Do not be amazed, because you did not simply carry the whole world, but its Creator”. After this incident, he was baptized a Christian. Perhaps because of this incident, he is considered the patron saint of taxi and bus drivers. From that time on, the Saint took it as his task to explain in simple terms the teaching of Christianity. Once others expressed the desire to become Christians, he would then lead them to Bishop Babylas of Antioch, who catechised and baptised them. When the emperor Decian was informed of these events, he forced the Saint to endure horrible tortures until he finally gave up his spirit as a martyr through beheading in 251 AD. His memory is honoured on the 9th of May.