The dog headed Saint, a Cynocephalus
Recently a few of my posts included ‘new’ icons, not just new in the sense that they are my new works but they do not take the traditional form. Like a traditional icon, they are painted on wood panels and they include various stories from various religious traditions, but that’s where there is a point of departure. The new icons blend traditional elements — particular characters and symbols with a more contemporary feel.
The icon series keeps some traditional elements but isn’t bound to tradition or rules and includes other symbols and even at times composites the stories around the subject being featured. In particular, the stories are not always common or well known, these are the legends, the myths, the lesser known stories, or in the case of Saint Christopher a combination of stories surrounding him.
Saint Christopher is a Saint in various christian religious traditions. Christopher is also known as the Christ Bearer since he is thought to have carried Jesus, as a small boy, across a body of water. He was also considered to be a cynocephalus — dog headed or cynephoros — dog faced, a giant. The cynocephalus were said to have been wild and fierce tribe of warriors. Cynocephalus were thought to have lived in caves and have traded with human beings.
Historical images show Saint Christopher as either a human faced person carrying Jesus across a body of water with a palm tree staff in western traditions, or in the eastern traditions he is depicted singularly or with others (but not carrying the boy) as a dog faced person which is known as a cynocephalus.
Some people think this is a mis-translation but dog headed beings have been known throughout history and to me it doesn’t really matter. That is the story as it was told.
His Legend
It’s said that whilst aiding many people to cross a swollen river, he unknowingly carried the boy Jesus across the river. However as he was carrying the small boy, with each step he grew more tired and weary. This seemed unusual at first since he was extremely tall by todays standards having over 5 meters and a very strong man. Later he realised that the difficulty he experienced was not so unusual once he learned that the boy was carrying the weight of the world with him.
The inscription can be translated
“In whatsoever day thou seest the likeness of St Christopher, In that same day thou wilt from death no evil blow incur”.
Angels and Icons series began in 2016. Saint Christopher is the third saint chosen for the series. Saint Martha was the first and you can see the first art icon and learn more about her legend here and here. Also known as a saint but chosen for this project as an angel is the archangel Michael, check out article on Medium with a gif of this very famous archangel as a modern day icon.
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[1] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saint_christopher_cynocephalus.gif
[2] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saint_Christopher_001.jpg
15 Sep 2016 & 26 Sep 2016 in Art © Amy Adams Art
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Originally published at www.amyadamsart.com.
