From Allegory to Icon:
The Christian Church Triumphant (cat. 16-30)
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Icon with St. PanteleimonRed jasper Byzantine, 12th century AD Height: 1 3/4 inches (4.5 cm.) |
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"How can I worship him if he is not visible, if I do not know him?"
From the Legend of the Woman of Kamuliana
St. Panteleimon, a young physician and member of the anargyroi, a group of healing saints who charged no fee for their services, was martyred by the Romans in the fourth century A.D. Here he is depicted holding his medicine box. A faint inscription on either side of the nimbus identifies the Saint.
Eager to distinguish themselves from their pagan contemporaries, the early Christian fathers discouraged the use of anthropomorphic images. Even so, the icon -- a kind of stand-in portable likeness of a martyr, saint or deity -- gradually came to serve an important devotional function. Pilgrimages to holy sites such as the tombs of St. Menas and St. Thecla encouraged an acceptance of divine images. Pilgrims returned home from holy sites with images of saints which they venerated thus fulfilling their devotional needs.
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