medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
26. October is also the feast day of:
Demetrius of Thessaloniki (d. 304 or 305, supposedly). The megalomartyr D. (in Latin also Demiter; in Bulgarian, Dimitar; in Serbian, Mitar) is the historic patron of Thessaloniki, where he has had a church since sometime in the fifth century. Modern scholarship tends towards the belief that he is in origin the Demetrius of Sirmium recorded under 9. April in the later fourth-century Syriac Martyrology (as well as in the RM, whose calendar these 'saints of the day' notices usually follow for reasons pragmatic rather than confessional). Orthodox and other eastern-rite churches celebrate him on 26. October in his traditional identity going back to the early Middle Ages.
Collections of Demetrius' miracles are numerous and begin in the seventh century. His earliest Passiones are attested from the ninth century: an account in Photius' _Bibliotheca_ (cod. 255), the anonymous Passio BHG 496, and the latter's translation into Latin by the later ninth-century Anastasius Bibliothecarius (BHL 2122; Anastasius' version of the Miracula is BHL 2123; an English-language translation of the Anastasian versions is here <http://143.239.128.67/milmart/BHL2122.html>). These accounts make Demetrius an itinerant preacher martyred at Thessaloniki on the orders of an irate emperor Maximian who had just seen the military saint Nestor of Thessaloniki (27. October in eastern-rite churches) slay his favorite gladiator in the arena. Demetrius' tenth-century expanded Passio by St. Symeon Metaphrastes (BHG 498) connects the two by having Nestor call publicly upon the God of Demetrius. An anonymous Passio attested from the eleventh century (BHG 497) for the first time makes him an aristocrat and a military commander. From the eleventh century onward Demetrius is increasingly but by no means uniformly portrayed as a military saint, a construction symbolic of his recurring role as defender both of the faith and of specific polities within Christendom (e.g. Thessaloniki, Bulgaria, Serbia). Herewith a few visuals:
D. (at far left) as depicted in the later sixth-century procession of male martyrs in Ravenna's basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo:
http://tinyurl.com/2foe88u
D. (at center) as depicted in two sixth- or early seventh-century mosaics in his principal church in Thessaloniki (Ag. Demetrios):
http://tinyurl.com/9b935qe
Detail of that second mosaic:
http://tinyurl.com/2d7uo6j
Its location in the church:
http://img314.imageshack.us/img314/6678/IMG_0046.jpg
Some late antique survivals in the crypt of Thessaloniki's much rebuilt Ag. Demetrios:
http://img314.imageshack.us/img314/8592/IMG_0052.jpg
http://img314.imageshack.us/img314/2105/IMG_0054.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/8vxtfsu
http://img314.imageshack.us/img314/7821/IMG_0055.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/99tc3sj
D.'s reputedly myrrh-gushing relics in this church:
http://img330.imageshack.us/img330/8061/img00740pa.jpg
D. (at lower left; at lower right, St. Procopius) as portrayed on a leaf of the mid-tenth-century Harbaville Triptych in the Musée du Louvre, Paris:
http://tinyurl.com/3hvewoe
D. as portrayed on a later tenth-century ivory plaque now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York:
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1970.324.3
D. as depicted in the earlier eleventh-century mosaics (restored between 1953 and 1962) in the katholikon of the monastery of Hosios Loukas near Distomo in Phokis:
http://tinyurl.com/967khxz
D. as depicted on a late eleventh- or early twelfth-century Byzantine cloisonné enamel plaque from an icon frame in the Djumati monastery in Georgia, now in the Musée du Louvre, Paris:
http://tinyurl.com/2d4fbvp
D. as portrayed in a twelfth-century gold and enamel icon now in the Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin:
http://tinyurl.com/9975wxf
D. as depicted in an early twelfth-century mosaic in the cathedral of St. Sophia in Kyiv / Kiev:
http://www.icon-art.info/hires.php?lng=en&type=1&id=657
D. (center roundel in the view of the arch soffit at left, below St. George of Lydda and above St. Nestor) as depicted in the mid-twelfth-century mosaics of the basilica di Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio (a.k.a. chiesa della Martorana) in Palermo:
http://tinyurl.com/23oba3r
D. (upper register, betw. Sts. George of Lydda and Nestor) as depicted in a probably later twelfth-century mosaic in the cathedral of Cefalù:
http://tinyurl.com/82ogbay
Detail view (much clearer):
http://tinyurl.com/7s8cye2
D. (probably) as depicted in the later twelfth-century frescoes (ca. 1164) in the church of St. Panteleimon (Pantaleon) at Gorno Nerezi (Skopje municipality) in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia:
http://tinyurl.com/3olq82b
D. (at left; at right, St. George of Lydda) as depicted in the later twelfth-century frescoes (betw. 1160 and 1180) in the church of St. Nicholas Kasnitzes in Kastoria in northwestern Greece:
http://tinyurl.com/6z4e8ev
D. (at right; at left, St. George of Lydda) as depicted in the later twelfth-century frescoes (ca. 1180) of the originally eleventh-century church of Ag. Anargyroi in Kastoria in northwestern Greece:
http://tinyurl.com/99osdrv
Detail view (D.):
http://tinyurl.com/24bef8r
D. as depicted in a later twelfth-century Vladimir-Suzdal School icon in the State Tretyakov Galley, Moscow:
http://www.icon-art.info/hires.php?lng=en&type=1&id=435
D. as depicted in a later twelfth-century portable mosaic icon in the Xenophontos monastery on Mt. Athos:
http://www.icon-art.info/hires.php?lng=en&type=1&id=3653
D. as depicted in the earlier thirteenth-century frescoes (1230s) in the narthex of the church of the Holy Ascension in the Mileševa monastery near Prijepolje (Zlatibor dist.) in Serbia:
http://tinyurl.com/96x8hy4
D. as depicted in a thirteenth-century fresco on an exterior wall of the narthex of the monastery church of the Panagia Mavriotissa in Kastoria in northwestern Greece:
http://tinyurl.com/3omry99
D. as portrayed on a thirteenth-century cameo in the Chilandar monastery on Mt. Athos:
http://www.rs.risjak.net/chilandar/_borders/psk019.jpg
D. as depicted in the later thirteenth-century frescoes (1259) in the church of Sts. Nicholas and Panteleimon at Boyana near the Bulgarian capital of Sofia:
http://galenf.com/Bulgaria/36/bu_0002x.jpg
D. as depicted in the later thirteenth-century frescoes (either ca. 1263-1270 or slightly later) frescoes in the nave of the monastery church of the Holy Trinity at Sopoćani (Raška dist.) in Serbia:
http://tinyurl.com/2w4k453
Detail view:
http://tinyurl.com/3838jys
D. as depicted in the later thirteenth-century frescoes (either ca. 1263-1270 or slightly later) in the chapel of St. George in the monastery church of the Holy Trinity at Sopoćani (Raška dist.) in Serbia:
http://tinyurl.com/y9xjlbk
D. as depicted in the later thirteenth-century frescoes (either ca. 1263-1270 or slightly later) in the chapel of St. Symeon Nemanja in the monastery church of the Holy Trinity at Sopoćani (Raška dist.) in Serbia:
http://tinyurl.com/yhpmxnp
Detail view:
http://tinyurl.com/yeo4rbx
D. as depicted in the later thirteenth-century frescoes (ca. 1295) by Michael Astrapas and Eutychios in the church of the Peribleptos (now Sv. Climent Novi) in Ohrid:
http://tinyurl.com/6cezsnq
http://tinyurl.com/8vdqzrz
D. as depicted in a late thirteenth- or very early fourteenth-century icon by Manuel Panselinos in the Vatopedi monastery on Mt. Athos:
http://tinyurl.com/3af4yuq
D. as depicted in the late thirteenth- or very early fourteenth-century frescoes, attributed to Manuel Panselinos, in the Protaton church on Mt. Athos:
http://tinyurl.com/2flycjv
D. as portrayed in an early fourteenth-century steatite icon from somewhere in the Byzantine empire, now in the Musée du Louvre, Paris:
http://tinyurl.com/8vnxlrv
D. as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. ca. 1308 and ca. 1320) by Michael Astrapas and Eutychios in the church of St. Nicetas the Goth (Sv. Nikita) at Čučer in today's Čučer-Sandeovo in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia:
http://tinyurl.com/4yffxp3
D. as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. ca. 1311 and ca. 1322) in the church of St. Nicholas Orphanos in Thessaloniki:
http://tinyurl.com/5tls3w9
Detail view:
http://tinyurl.com/66xstec
D.'s martyrdom (at right, St. Lupus of Svishtov) as depicted in a degraded earlier fourteenth-century fresco (betw. ca. 1312 and 1321/1322) in the nave of the monastery church of the Theotokos at Gračanica in, depending upon one's view of the matter, either the Republic of Kosovo or Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija:
http://tinyurl.com/383dspm
Detail view:
http://tinyurl.com/23a3vlv
D. as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. 1313 and 1318; conservation work in 1968) by Michael Astrapas and Eutychios in the church of St. George in Staro Nagoričane in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia:
http://www.eikonografos.com/album/albums/uploads/servia/83.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/3ebuwx5
D. as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. 1315 and 1321) in the parecclesion of the Chora church (Cariye camii) in Istanbul:
http://tinyurl.com/3lfyzw5
D. as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (after 1329) in the church of the Holy Apostles in Thessaloniki:
http://tinyurl.com/6kkptjx
D. as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (1330s) in the altar area of the church of the Hodegetria in the Patriarchate of Peć at Peć in, depending upon one's view of the matter, either Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija or the Republic of Kosovo:
http://tinyurl.com/ycc6ro8
D. (at right; at left, St. George of Lydda) as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. 1335 and 1350) in the chapel dedicated to him in the church of the Holy Ascension at the Visoki Dečani monastery near Peć in, depending on one's view of the matter, either the Republic of Kosovo or Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija:
http://tinyurl.com/94brbgv
Detail view (D.):
http://tinyurl.com/94brbgv
D., defending Thessaloniki from the Cumans and killing the Bulgarian tsar Kaloyan, as depicted in earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. 1335 and 1350) in the chapel dedicated to him in the church of the Holy Ascension at the Visoki Dečani monastery near Peć in, depending on one's view of the matter, either the Republic of Kosovo or Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija:
http://tinyurl.com/372m3r5
http://tinyurl.com/23dmgev
D. (at center, betw. St. Theodore Stratelates and St. George of Lydda) as depicted in the fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. 1331 and 1371) in the church of St. Peter at Berende (Dragoman municipality) in Bulgaria's Sofia province:
http://tinyurl.com/6bncbdj
D. as depicted in a later fourteenth-century fresco (1360s or 1370s; restored in 1968-1970) on the exterior of the church of St. Demetrius in Marko's Monastery at Markova Sušica (near Skopje) in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia:
http://tinyurl.com/4xelz6x
http://tinyurl.com/6d5tnvk
D. as depicted in a later fourteenth-century (last quarter?) icon in the Annunciation cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin:
http://www.icon-art.info/hires.php?lng=en&type=1&id=828
D. as depicted in the late fourteenth-century frescoes (1389; restored in 1971/72 ) of the monastery church of St. Andrew at Matka (near Skopje) in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia:
http://tinyurl.com/3ldyju8
D. as depicted in an earlier fifteenth-century icon (betw. 1425 and 1427) by Andrei Rublev in the Trinity cathedral of the Trinity lavra of St. Sergius, Sergiyev Posad (Moscow oblast):
http://tinyurl.com/8zknnxh
D. as depicted in an earlier fifteenth-century (betw. 1426 and 1450) Pskov School icon now in the State Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg:
http://www.icon-art.info/hires.php?lng=en&type=1&id=595
D. as depicted in the late fifteenth-century frescoes (after 1488) of the church of St. Demetrius (Dimitar) in Boboshevo in Bulgaria's Kyustendil province:
http://tinyurl.com/3t9role
D. as depicted in the early sixteenth-century frescoes (1502) by Dionisy and sons in the Virgin Nativity cathedral of the St. Ferapont Belozero (Ferapontov Belozersky) monastery at Ferapontovo in Russia's Vologda oblast:
http://tinyurl.com/35raqr4
D. and scenes of D. as depicted in an earlier sixteenth-century icon (betw. 1510 and 1530) now in the Šariš Museum in Bardejov, Slovakia:
http://www.lemko.org/art/bardejov/ikona6.jpg
D.'s martyrdom as depicted in the earlier sixteenth-century frescoes (betw. 1535 and 1541) by Theofanis Strelitzas-Bathas (a.k.a. Theophanes the Cretan) in the Great Lavra on Mt. Athos:
http://www.eikastikon.gr/afieromata/agios_dimitrios/8.jpg
D. as depicted in the earlier sixteenth-century frescoes (1540) by Theofanis Strelitzas-Bathas (a.k.a. Theophanes the Cretan) in the katholikon of the Koutloumousiou monastery on Mt. Athos:
http://www.eikastikon.gr/afieromata/agios_dimitrios/12.jpg
D. (at right; at left, St. George of Lydda) as depicted in the earlier sixteenth-century frescoes (1545 and 1546) by Theofanis Strelitzas-Bathas (a.k.a. Theophanes the Cretan) in the katholikon of the Stavronikita monastery on Mt. Athos:
http://tinyurl.com/3zkxgqk
And one outstanding dedication: the late twelfth-century St. Demetrius cathedral in Vladimir. Herewith two sets of views:
http://english.ruvr.ru/photoalbum/66551879/66554539/
http://tinyurl.com/3rjrcfo
Best,
John Dillon
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