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THEODORE, ARCHETYPE OF THE WARRIOR SAINT

Christopher WALTER

Summary : The origins of the cult of Saint Theodore are studied with a view to the elaboration of a methodological approach valid for other military saints. One by one, are examined the most ancient hagiographical texts concerning Theodore, the establishment of his sanctuary at Euchaita, the spread of his cult, the nature of his interventions as a military saint in the lives of terrestrial men, the emergence of his twin Theodore Stratelates with his own personal sanctuary at Euchaneia, and finally the place of the iconography of the two Theodores in Byzantine aesthetics. The late Alexander Kazhdan once remarked that the cult of Byzantine warrior saints needed special investigation.1 I would be inclined slightly to modify this statement and to remark rather that the attention which warrior saints have received is uneven and higgledy-piggledy. Some, like Saints George and Demetrius, have been examined in all their aspects : their legends, the origin and spread of their cult, their iconography.2 Others, like Saint Mercurius, have long had their dossier competently established, to which little that is new has needed to be added.3 Yet others, like Saints Eustathius and Procopius have excited interest principally for only one aspect of them, in this case their vision.4 1. A. Kazhdan, Hagiographical Notes, Byz. 53, 1983, p. 544. 2. For Saint George, see the hundreds of items listed by the Bollandists in the bibliographies of their An. Boll, also my article, The Origins of the Cult of Saint George, REB 53, 1995, p. 295, note 2. For Saint Demetrius, see the same article, p. 310, note 96. 3. S. Binon, Essai sur le cycle de Mercure, martyr de Dce et meurtrier de l'empereur Julien, Paris 1937 ; Idem, Documents grecs indits relatifs S. Mercure de Csare, Louvain 1937. More recently, P.L. Vocotopoulos, An Icon of Saint Mercurius Slaying Julian the Apostate, Bulletin, New Series n 2, Medieval Art - In Honour of Zagorka Rasolkoska-Nikolovska, Skopje 1996, p. 137-140. 4. See particularly H. Delehaye, La lgende grecque de saint Eustache, Mlanges d'hagiographie grecque et latine, Brussels 1966, p. 212-239 ; N. Thierry, Le culte du cerf en Anatolie et la vision de saint Eustathe, with appendix by C. Jolivet-Lvy, Trois nouvelles reprsentations de la vision d' Eustathe en Cappadoce, Monuments et mmoires Revue des tudes Byzantines 57, 1999, p. 163-210.

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However, synthetical studies, in which a scholar attempts seriously to answer the question : what is a warrior saint ?, are mostly lacking, apart from one outstanding example, which, being published in Serbian, may not receive the attention which it deserves.5 I have personally long been intrigued by Byzantine warrior saints, to whom I have devoted a number of articles, while planning an overall study of them. One point which has become clear to me is that, while in late Byzantine society their legends and cult (in synaxaries and menologid) are fairly standardized, as well as their iconography (more particularly in wallpainting), this is not the case in the earlier period. On the contrary, here the legends, cult and iconography of those who may be admitted as candidates for the title of warrior saint are strikingly varied. Before embarking on an overall study, it seemed advisable to examine attentively one particular dossier, that of Saint Theodore. I have several reasons for making this decision. One is that, although Theodore was outstanding in the first centuries as a warrior saint (only later was he in part eclipsed by George), with an abundantly full dossier (most of the literary texts concerning him as well as the known portraits have been published), a synthetical study exists only for his iconography.6 In fact, the studies of Theodore which have been published are mostly concerned with points of detail sometimes fiddling, sometimes inaccurate (even the Byzantines themselves could be muddled about him !). Consequently some sorting out is necessary. Further, a methodology needs to be established or re-established for the study of the first warrior saints. What I use for Theodore can, I hope, be usefully applied in due course to other members of his echelon or phalanx. It should then be possible to generalize safely about the warrior saint, both pristine and mature. I intend now to examine the following aspects of Theodore : the literary texts about his Life, Passion and Miracles ; the origins and spread of his cult ; the special functions attributed to him, notably slaying dragons, intervening in battle to protect cities or rulers, investing rulers ; the early iconographical documents with particular reference to 62, 1991, p. 33-106. H. Delehaye, Les Uzendes hagiographiques, Brussels 1905, p. 142167; . Thierry, Vision d'Eustache. Vision de Procope, . . , III, Thessaloniki 1991, . 1845-1860. 5. . Delehaye's Les lgendes grecques des saints militaires, Paris 1909, remains of course the essential introduction to the study of military saints, but it lacks the global dimensions of M. Markovio's ikonografiji svetih ratnika u istohriscanskoj umetnosti i predstavama ovih svetitelja u Decanima, Zidno slikarstvo manastira Decana, edited V. Djuri, Belgrade 1995, p. 567-630. For the Theodores, see A. Amore, Teodoro (di Amasea), Bibliotheca Sanctorum 12, 238-242, and C. Weigert, Theodor Stratelates von Euchata, Lexikon der christlichen Ikonographie 8, Freiburg im Breisgau 1976, p. 444446, Theodor von Euchata (von Amasea), ibidem, p. 447-451. 6. L. Mavrodinova, Sv. Teodor - Razvitije i osebnosti na ikonografskija mu tip v srednovekovnata zivopis, Bulletin de l'Institut des Arts 13, Sofia 1969, p. 33-52, while developed for the later Byzantine representations of Saints Theodore Tiron and Stratelates together, is skimpy for the earlier ones of Theodore (Tiron) alone.

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his status as a warrior ; Euchata and Euchaneia ; the emergence of a twin or double - Tiron and Stratelates ; the aesthetics of warrior saints, with special reference to the phenomenon of twinning in Byzantine hagiography and iconography. The Literary Sources for Saint Theodore Theodore's hagiographical tradition began well with an Encomium pronounced at his sanctuary. The text has generally been attributed to Gregory of Nyssa.7 At one time there were discordant voices as to its authenticity, which made Hippolyte Delehaye inclined to suspend judgment, pending a critical edition of the Encomium. The text had a wide circulation ; its most recent editor lists eighty-eight manuscripts containing it. Apparently, he took its authenticity for granted.8 The text does not specify the location of Theodore's sanctuary. However, it is only in BHG 1765 that Amaseia, the place where, traditionally, he was executed, is proposed. Euchaita, where he was reputed to have been born, is also the place where all later accounts situate Theodore's sanctuary. If Gregory of Nyssa pronounced the Encomium, it must date from the late fourth century. It is a sober, conventional piece of writing, somewhat sparse in detailed information about Theodore's personal biography. It recounts how he was enrolled in the army, stationed at Amaseia, one day's march from Euchaita, how he refused to sacrifice to the gods, setting fire to a temple of Cybele, how he was tortured and put in prison, where he was consoled by celestial visions, and how, finally, he was burned alive (not decapitated).

7. Gregory of Nyssa, De sancto Theodoro, PG 46, 736-748 {BHG 1760, Clavis 3183) ; J.P. Cav Arnos, Gregory of Nyssa, Sermons II 1, p. CXXV-CLXXII, p. 61-71. A brief recital about Theodore's early life {BHG 1765) was known to Delehaye, Lgendes grecques, op. cit. (note 5), from Paris, gr. 499, f. 284v-285. He characterized it as belonging to the literary genre of l'loge funbre d'aprs Mnandre and not to be taken seriously. It recounts how, his mother having died prematurely, Theodore was brought up by his father, how he enlisted as a soldier, refused to offer cult to the gods and was martyred at Amaseia. Delehaye later published this recital, Acta sanctorum November IV, Brussels 1925, p. 45-46. Concurrently it was published by A. Sigalas, EEBS 2, 1925, p. 225-226, collating other manuscripts. Later Sigalas maintained that this recital was ancient, possibly anterior to Gregory's Encomium, Des Chrysippos von Jerusalem auf den hi. Johannes den Tufer, 2c, Exkurs : Die alte Theodoras vita, Athens 1937, Texte und Forschungen zur byzantinische-griechischen Philologie 20, p. 102. Even if Sigalas was right, which seems unlikely for it is much more probable that it was extracted or compiled from a later Life, the recital does not much advance our knowledge of Theodore. 8. C. Zuckerman, Cappadocian Fathers and the Goths, TM 11, 1991 (B. Gregory of Nyssa' s Enkomion for St. Theodore the Recruit and the Gothic Riots in Asia Minor in 379), p. 479-486, not only establishes the authenticity of the attribution to Gregory of Nyssa by relating the reference in the Encomium to Scythians to another in his Letter 164, but also plausibly fixes its date to February 17th, 380. I take the opportunity of thanking sincerely Dr Zuckerman for a number of useful references, as well as reading a draft of this article and proposing several amendments.

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If a Byzantinist is disappointed that so august an authority has provided him with so few concrete facts about Theodore, he will nevertheless find that the text offers two compensations. Firstly, it witnesses to late fourth-century belief in the power of saints, not only as intercessors but also as actively intervening in the lives of terrestrial men. Besides exercising the traditional office of warding off demons, Theodore also protected his clients on journeys, cured their diseases and procured riches for them if they were poor. He was also considered to be capable of intervening in battle as a soldier, an attribute which was unusual at this early date. Secondly, a passage of the text describes paintings in Theodore's sanctuary, but of this more later. As was normally the case with popular saints, Theodore's biography was developed zealously by hagiographers, most of whose fairly numerous versions have been published.9 The earliest Passion, published by Delehaye, was studied critically by Pio Franchi de' Cavalieri, and then republished by Delehaye.10 It embellishes Gregory of Nyssa's succinct text, by introducing in the conventional way information about the martyr's parents and childhood, a more developed account of his trial, tortures and death, and of the retrieval of his dead body for decent burial. Such supplementary details were regularly borrowed and adapted from the Passions of other martyrs. In the present case, Franchi de' Cavalieri proposed that many new details introduced into Theodore's Passion were borrowed from those of Polycarp, Nestor and Theagenes. As for the transfer of Theodore's body from Amaseia, the place of his martyrdom, to Euchaita, an unusual procedure, for Euchata, at that time, was a mere settlement, not the much-frequented sanctuary which it would become, while Amaseia was a city, Franchi de' Cavalieri suggests an explanation : at Euchaita Theodore's relics were less liable to be profaned. Thus far, apart from Gregory of Nyssa's list of benefits which Theodore could bestow on those who invoked him, there is little to distinguish him from any other martyr ; he was simply a soldier a recruit to the infantry who, like many other Christians in the army, refused to renounce his faith. In the next text to be considered, the perspectives change. Although their opinions diverge as to the date of the events described in it and of its actual composition, and although their reasons for studying it differ, all the scholars who have been interested by the Life and Miracula BHG 64, have found it to be an outstanding piece of hagiographical writing. The unique manuscript in 9. They are listed, of course, in the Bibliographica hagiographica graeca (with Auctarium) 1760-1770. 10. Delehaye, Lgendes grecques, p. 127-135 {BHG 1762d) ; Pio Franchi de'Cavalieri, Attorno al pi antico testo del martyrium S. Theodori Tironis, Note agiografiche, fascicolo 3 (Studi e testi 22) Rome 1909, p. 91-107; Idem, Note agiografiche, fascicolo 4 (Studi e testi 24), Rome 1912, p. 161-185. Delehaye, Ada Sanctorum, vol. cit. (note 7), p. 12-13.

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which the text has survived, Wind, theol. graec. 60, would have been written in the tenth or eleventh century. Delehaye placed its composition categorically after 934. For this he was followed by his fellow Bollandist, Franois Halkin, in his introduction to the related Passion due to Nicolas Ouranos (which, apparently, Delehaye did not know). However, there are reasons for supposing that, even if the text as it has survived was not put together before the tenth century, it contains material assembled at a much earlier date.11 The author of the earlier compilation knew Euchaita and its surroundings first hand. The topographical information which he offers has attracted some scholars, because it shows what life was like in a region chronically exposed to marauders. 12 Military protection from the Byzantine army was sporadically available, but more than this was needed. Here Theodore came into his own, as this text recounts, particularly in the Miracula. In the first miracle, he made a posthumous apparition, in order that a true likeness might be made of him on an icon. It is mentioned specifically that he wore military dress. It is possible (but, of course, not certain) that this icon was the prototype of the one described in the eleventh century by John Mauropous, an icon on which Theodore was represented as a footsoldier, and which was, for a time, the focal point of a festival attracting crowds of pilgrims. The phrase in question mentions that the text was composed in the fourteenth year of the emperor Constantine, and the seventh indiction. Taken literally, the phrase yields the year 754, a date which Hippolyte Delehaye considered to be out of the question for a text which introduces the practice of painting icons, of offering cult to them and of asking for the intercession of saints painted on icons, because it falls during the reign of Constantine V in the period of First Iconoclasm. Delehaye's argument would be valid if imperial decrees prohibiting the cult of icons had been applied strictly throughout the Byzantine empire. However, evidence is accumulating in favour of the view that this was not the case. The mosaic portraits of Saint Demetrius in Thes Saloniki which survived Iconoclasm are notorious evidence that the cult of popular saints in their sanctuary was tolerated. Theodore was a highly popular saint. There is 11. Delehaye, Lgendes grecques, p. 183-201 ; Idem, Ada sanctorum, vol. cit. (note 7), p. 49-55. Fr. Halkin, Un opuscule inconnu du Magistre Ouranos (La Vie de Thodore le Conscrit, BHG 1762m), An. Boll. 80, 1962, p. 308-324, reprinted, Martyrs grecs, He-VIIIe sicles, (Variorum Reprints) London 1974, n IX. 12. Notably, J.F. Haldon & H. Kennedy, The Arab-Byzantine Frontier in the Eighth and Ninth Centuries - Military Organisation and Society in the Borderlands, ZRVI 19, 1980, p. 91. F. R. Trombley, The Decline of the Seventh-Century Town : The Exception of Euchaita, Byzantine Studies in Honor of Milton V. Anastos, edited by Sp. Vryonis Jr., Malibu 1985, p. 65-90 (citing Abrahamse). Idem, The Arab Wintering Raid Against Euchaita in 663, Fifth Annual Byzantine Studies Conference (Abstracts of Papers), p. 5-6. A. Kazhdan, Hagiographical Notes, 17. The Flourishing City of Euchata? , Erytheia 9.2, 1988, p. 197-199.

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consequently little difficulty in accepting that BHG 1764 was compiled originally soon after 754, nor is it necessary to amend the text by introducing the name of Romanus I Lecapenus (for whom the fourteenth year of his reign coincided with the seventh indiction yielding the date 934). Equally superfluous are the amendments proposed by Abrahamse and Trombley. The commonsense reading of the phrase may be retained.13 The text recounts another miracle : Theodore slays a dragon.14 If the eighth-century date is retained for the original version of it, then BHG 1764 provides the earliest literary account of the prodigy. Iconographical evidence also exists, which, if it does not confirm the date, at least corroborates it and makes it more plausible. But of this more later. This icon was to serve as a point of reference, for, in another miracle, it enabled a respectable lady to recognize the martyr in a vision, this time on horseback, helping to ward off a barbarian attack, at just the place where he had been painted.15 It seems, however, that the celestial powers were not always favorably disposed towards the inhabitants of Euchata, for, on this occasion, angels ordered Theodore to leave the way open for the barbarian invaders. Theodore prayed that God should not abandon the people of whom he was the protector. God relented ; in consequence, although the city was destroyed, the inhabitants of Euchata were saved. Other miracles occurred. On one occasion, the Arabs failed to destroy Theodore's sanctuary, because their leader had fallen to the ground inside it, rolling about and biting his tongue. On another occasion, Theodore's relics were stolen, but after an earthquake were restored to Eleutherius the Great, at that time the bishop of the city ; subsequently he rebuilt Theodore's shrine. There was also another intervention by Theodore to wreak vengeance on the Persians, who had sacked Euchata before being defeated by Heraclius. Routed by a Roman force, the few who escaped were killed by hail as big as stone projectiles. 16 This collection of miracles differs radically from the earliest surviving one (BHG 1765c), attributed to Chrysippus,17 a priest of Jerusalem who died in 479. Delehaye described them as des anecdotes piquantes, d'un 13. C. Zuckerman, The reign of Constantine V in the Miracles of St. Theodore the Recruit (BHG 1764), REB 46, 1988, p. 191-210. 14. Ibidem, p. 200, note 32. 15. Miracle n 4, Ibidem, p. 196-198. 16. Miracle n 3, ibidem , p. 206-210. Zuckerman dates the incident to the late autumn of 622. J.D. How ARD- Johnston, The siege of Constantinople in 626, Constantinople and its Hinterland, edited C. Mango & G. Dagron, Aldershot 1995, p. 131-142, especially p. 134 note 11, prefers to date the incident slightly later, shortly before Heraclius relieved the Persian siege of Constantinople in 626. 17. Published by A. Sigalas, Des Chrysippos von Jerusalem Enkomion auf den hi. Theodoros Teron, Leipzig 1921, and again by Delehaye, Ada Sanctorum vol. cit. (note 7), p. 55-72, who also summarized and analysed them, Les recueils antiques de miracles des saints, An. Boll. 43, 1925, p. 41-45.

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caractre populaire, qui mettent en lumire l'ide qu'on se faisait du saint. Thus Theodore only figures once as a soldier (in the first miracle, where he rescues on horseback a child who had been sold as a slave to the Ishmaelites, a type of miracle which recurs often enough in Byzantine hagiography !). He rarely leaves his sanctuary, which is not specified to be Euchaita. His speciality is to help those who have been wronged in their material interests, and he is surprisingly indulgent to thieves. In the last miracle, he extinguishes a fire in a palace near his oratory. This latter was rebuilt by a person who was not named by Chrysippus, although he is called Sphoracius in the abridged version of the text, which Delehaye published alongside that of Chrysippus. He considered Chrysippus to have been a compiler and adaptor. His anecdotes imply no necessary firsthand knowledge, whether of the events recounted or of Euchaita. By contrast, the miracles recounted in BHG 1764 were all perpetrated in Euchaita or nearby. The first would have occurred shortly after Theodore's death (his apparition in military dress in order to enable an artist to paint a faithful likeness of him). The fourth and the succeeding ones would have occurred in the lifetime of the compiler of the original text. His apparition on horseback in order to defend Euchaita on the occasion of an enemy attack (of this more later) would have occurred in 753. It is not to be expected that the numerous later texts would add much information authentic or not about Theodore's life. However, one or two examples may be adduced in passing. The Life composed by Nicephorus Ouranos (BHG 1762m) has the advantage that it was written by someone who is otherwise known and who lived at the end of the tenth century.18 It is evident that, apart from the prologue and the two concluding chapters, the text closely follows BHG 1764. Nicolas Ouranos probably did not know Euchaita personally, in spite of the fact that he recounts (a conventional phrase ?) that the miraculous portrait of Theodore was still venerated there in his sanctuary at the end of the tenth century. A prodigy recounted, according to which Theodore rescued his mother from the jaws of a dragon, which had captured her while she was drawing water from a spring (BHG 1766), was rejected by Delehaye (no doubt rightly) as an embroidery of the conventional accounts of Theodore's encounter with a dragon, the more so because the prodigy was situated in the kingdom of a certain king Samuel (or Saul ?).19 Finally, the text should not be forgotten which attributes relatives to Theodore, all themselves soldiers and martyrs ! It was published long ago by Hippolyte Delehaye (BHG 656). 20 Eutropius and Cleonicus, natives of Cappadocia, were sons of the same mother ; Basiliscus, 18. Halkin, art. cit. (note 11). 19. Delehaye, Lgendes grecques, p. 37-39. Idem, Acta Sanctorum, vol. cit. (note 7), p. 46-48. 20. Delehaye, Lgendes grecques, p. 40-42 ; 202-203. G. D. Gordini, Cleonico, Eutropio e Basilisco, Bibliotheca Sanctorum 4, p. 54-56.

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Theodore's nephew, was born like him in Choumiala (presumably a settlement near Euchata). They are said in the Constantinopolitan Synaxary to have been Theodore's relatives and comrades in arms (, ).21 Eutropius and Cleonicus were buried near Amaseia. Prodigies and miracles occurred at their tombs. Basiliscus had a different fate. He was said to have been not only a soldier but also bishop of Cumana, where his body lay, beside which that of John Chrysostom, having died in exile, was also provisionally buried. There is no confirmation, neither literary nor archaeological, for all this. In fact the texts have no historical value. However, they are interesting for two reasons. First, they exemplify, once again, how a popular saint's life might be embellished. Secondly, the text describes their mutual affection, and will therefore be of concern later in this article. I have only come across representations of Eutropius, Cleonicus and Basiliscus in the sixteenth-century paintings at Treskavac (Macedonia).22 Here all three are portrayed in military dress. However, undoubtedly, they must have been represented earlier elsewhere. The Origins and Spread of Theodore's Cult A century ago, rationalist scholars often took it for granted that the early Christian saints were reincarnations of pagan heroes.23 Christian scholars, notably the Bollandists, were exposed to denunciation, because their efforts to distinguish fact from legend led to results which were offensive to pious Ultramontane ears. The Bollandists clung, nevertheless, to their view that, even if much or most of what was recounted about the first martyrs was spurious, evidence in favour of their cult was generally reliable. We are still enormously indebted to Hippolyte Delehaye and Andr Grabar for their research into the origins and development of the cult of the first Christian martyrs, even if both these eminent scholars tended to systematize unduly, each according to his personal vision of the subject, what was it seems likely a more haphazard and spontaneous process. In the present section of this article, my approach will be pragmatic. I propose a presentation, which will surely not be exhaustive, of the evidence available with regard to the early cult of Theodore. It would be optimistic to expect evidence to exist for the saint's cult earlier in date than Gregory of Nyssa's Encomium, although Sigalas, as 21. Synaxarium Constantinopolitanum, 503. 22. M. GLiGORiJEVi-MAKSiMOVio, Slikani kalendar u Treskavcu i stihovi Hristofora Mitilenskog, Zograf8, 1977, p. 48-54, fig. 4, 5 (It may be noted in passing that Sabbas Stratelates, who, when he was rarely portrayed, paradoxically wore court dress, is also represented here in military clothing.) 23. The example may be cited, after C. van de Vorst, Bulletin des publications hagiographiques, n 27, An. Boll. 21, 1912, p. 105, of L. Anrich, Die Anfnge des Heiligenkults, Tbingen 1904, in which Theodore is presented as a reincarnation of the god Men, whom Anrich gratuitously supposed to have had a temple at Euchata.

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we have seen, was prepared to advance this claim for the fragment Paris, graec. 499, f. 284v-285 (BHG 1765). We are obliged to be content with Gregory's witness to the existence in the late fourth century of a sanctuary where cult was offered to Theodore. There are analogies, but by no means all the warrior saints (or others for that matter) were favoured by a sanctuary where their cult originated and from which it spread. Even if cult was offered to Theodore at Amaseia, as this fragment maintains, it is evident that Euchaita became the principal centre and continued to be up to the eleventh century, even after the episcopate of John Mauropous.24 Subsequently, no doubt, Saracen occupation made access difficult for pilgrims. Meanwhile, however, Theodore's cult had spread, sometimes explicitly associated with the distribution of his relics, as inscriptions and other literary documents witness, for example an inscription at Apamea refers to the relics of Saint Theodore and other saints ( ).25 Later Mauropous was to write that the dispersion of Theodore's relics took appreciated.26 It place, in order isthat necessary to suppose that each reference to a not these universal riches could be widely place where the cult of Theodore was established presupposed that a fraction of his relics had been deposed there. Maraval lists among the places where Theodore was venerated : a fifth-century basilica at Gerasa ;27 a martyrium at Jerusalem built before the beginning of the sixth century ;28 another at Kausai near Myra.29 Franois Halkin augments this list with other inscriptions : addressed to Theodore and Sergius at Kefr Antn dated 523 ;30 at Milos, where a prayer inscribed on the fifth or sixth century ambo is addressed to Theodore ;31 another in former barracks at Ghor (Syria), dated 524/5 or 530/1, mentions Longinus, Theodore and George.32 Procopius, writing in the 550's, refers to two churches dedicated to Theodore in Haemimontus (the district north-east of Europa and west of Rhodope).33 He also alludes to a church in Constantinople ', no doubt to be identified with that at Bathys Rhyax, which, according to Anna 24. See below note 115. 25. P. Maraval, Lieux saints et plerinages d'Orient, Paris 1985, p. 346, after H. Delehaye, Saints et reliquaires d'Apame, An. Boll. 53, 1935, p. 238. 26. N. Oikonomids, Le ddoublement de saint Thodore et les villes d'Euchata et d'Euchaneia, An. Boll. 104, 1986, p. 328, after Iohannis Euchatorum metropolitae quae in codice Vaticano graeco 676 supersunt, d. P. Lagarde, Gttingen 1881, p. 127. 27. Maraval, op. cit. (note 25), p. 330. 28. Ibidem, p. 208. 29. Ibidem, p. 387. 30. Fr. Halkin, Inscriptions grecques relatives l'iconographie, tudes d'pigraphie grecque et d'hagiographie byzantine (Variorum Reprints), London 1973, 1 p. 99, note 9. 31. Ibidem, III p. 122, after H. Leclercq, Mlos, DACL 1 1. i, 279. 32. Ibidem, Supplment, p. 335. n 26 =Procopius of 306. 33. Bonn III, p. Caesarea, De aedificiis, edited J. Haurt, Leipzig 1964, p. 147, n 3,

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Comnena, was widely frequented in her time.34 However, the earliest recorded chapel in Constantinople dedicated to Theodore, which existed in the early fifth century, is that which was attributed to the patrician Sphoracius, consul in 452. 35 Here the most important feasts in honour of Theodore were celebrated, but Janin wrote that in Constantinople more than fifteen churches dedicated to him are known.36 His cult spread to Italy.37 His portrait appears in the apse mosaic at Saints Cosmas and Damian, Rome, built by pope Felix IV (526-530). By the seventh century he had his own church there. He was also patron of Venice, until its citizens acquired the relics of Saint Mark. One unusual relic of Theodore should be recorded. According to Constantine Porphyrogenitus, his shield was suspended in the dome of the church dedicated to him at Dalisandos (Seleucia, a region of Isauria).38 In sum, the origins and development of Theodore's cult are clear in their outline from the end of the fourth century. He had his own sanctuary at Euchata, in favour of which many of his miracles were performed. His renown spread and with it his relics. Popular especially in Syria, Palestine and Asia Minor, his cult also spread, of course, to Constantinople and to the West, notably to Rome and Venice, which, for a time, adopted him as patron. As to the question of the importance of his cult at Byzantium after Iconoclasm, this is best studied jointly with that of the twin whom he would later acquire, the Stratelates. Theodore's Special Functions As is well known, the cult of saints is associated closely with a desire to obtain certain favours. This is manifest in accounts of their miracles. Some saints had special healing powers, notably the Anargyres who performed their cures gratuitously. Some rescued captive youths, like Saints George and Nicolas. Some protected domestic beasts and also brought good weather, like Saint Phanourius. Their favours might be granted universally, or limited to those who frequented their sanctuary or who were local residents. The eulogia obtained at their sanctuary could be taken away and prove to be potent elsewhere. Theodore is to be numbered among those who slay a dragon. The earliest account of this feat was long supposed to be an interpolation into the Passio prima (BHG 1762d) in the manuscript Paris, gr. 1470, dated 34. R. Janin, La gographie ecclsiastique de l'empire byzantin, Eglises et Monastres, Paris 19692, p. 150-151. Anna Comnena, Alexiadis I viii 3, Bonn 1839, p. 392-393 ; edited . Leib & P. Gautier, Paris 1937-1976, II, p. 133. Mara val, op. cit. (note 25), p. 409, distinguishes the two churches (no doubt incorrectly). 35. Janin, op. cit., p. 152-153. 36. Ibidem, p. 148. 37. Amore, art. cit. (note 5), gives a list of foundations under the aegis of Theodore, notably in Italy. 38. De Thematibus, ed. Bonn, III, p. 36, lines 11-12.

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890. 39 The dragon was a local menace, blocking the road. The soldier of Christ, after making the sign of the cross, cut off the dragon's head, and from that day the road was free of access. This was the banal act of a Christian hero, in line with those of his antique predecessors, Perseus and Hercules. It has none of the glamour of Saint George's feat, rescuing a princess from a dragon. In fact, its significance is primarily symbolical : the commitment of the warrior saints to fight against evil in the world. Warrior saints, however, were not the immediate successors of antique heroes in this struggle. Certain intermediary figures, like Solomon, Sisinnius and others who remain anonymous, are known (Figure I).40 Nevertheless, it may be that Theodore was the first warrior saint to whom this responsibility was attributed and that much earlier than 890 ! If the original composer of the Life and Miracula BHG 1764 was writing around 754, then, since he recounts the encounter with the dragon, an earlier date may be proposed for its introduction into Theodore's legend. This date is supported by iconographical evidence on seals (Figure 2). On one made for Peter of Euchata, which has been dated between 650 and 730, a military figure does spear a snake.41 He is not named Theodore in a legend, but, given the fact that the seal was made for a bishop of Euchata, it is unlikely that this identification would be wrong. Further corroborative evidence is provided by one of the terra cotta plaques found at Vinica in 1985 (Figure 3).42 On it Theodore, his name in Latin in the legend, is seated on horseback, wearing armour. With his spear extended behind him, he impales the head of a dragon. There is no objective evidence for the date of the terra cotta, but, with the legend in Latin, it is likely to have been made while Vinica was still under Roman jurisdiction, that is before Leo III the Isaurian (717-741) brought Eastern Illyria under the jurisdiction of Constantinople in 733.43 It may therefore be plausibly advanced that Theodore was the first of the warrior saints to acquire the office of killing a dragon, earlier than Saint George who was concurrently slaying a man (Diocletian ?). The

39. W. Hengstenberg, Der Drachenkampf des heiligen Theodor, Oriens Christianus 2, 1912, p. 78-106, 241-280, assembled long ago the texts relevant to Theodore (Tiron) and his dragon-slaying. As one would expect, those of the Stratelates are calqued on those of Tiron. Only Hengstenberg' s dating of the earliest account is challenged here. 40. See my article, The Intaglio of Solomon in the Benaki Museum and the Origins of the Iconography of Warrior Saints, ' ' 15, 1989-1990, . 35-42, for this intermediary stage. See also D. Frankurter, Religion in Roman Egypt, Princeton 1998, p. 3-4. 41. Zacos collection, n 1288. Another, n 1287, with the name of Nicolas (no specification of place) and the same iconography on the reverse, has been dated as early as 550-560. G. Zacos & A. Veglery, Byzantine Lead Seals I ii, Basle 1972, p. 792-793, with illustrations. 42. K. Balabanov, Terakotni ikoni od Vinica, Skopje 1991, p. 31, n 3. 43. S. Vailh, Constantinople (glise), DTC 3, 1350-1354, La question d'lllyricum ecclsiastique, I Ve-IXe sicle.

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icon of them together at Mount Sinai is well known.44 However, the earliest securely dated example is the bas relief at Aght'amar (915921).45 The precedent of king David's burial in his city (I Kings 2, 10), so that his bones could protect Jerusalem, was widely followed in Byzantium. Citizens placed their confidence in the ability of their local saint's relics to ward off the city's enemies. The saint's icon served the same purpose. For Euchata, Theodore's relics (at least in the first centuries, for later trace of them was lost) offered some guarantee of his protection ; the same was true of his icon. As noted above, these two themes were treated in his Life and Miracula, BHG 1764. However, such protection was not a peculiar privilege of military saints ; it was rather a universal practice, open to the participation of any saint. More restricted was an apparition of the saintly protector in battle to save his city from invaders. This, again, was not strictly a monopoly of military saints, although perhaps they predominated. For example, Andrew, an apostle, was believed to have intervened on horseback to save the city of Patras (of which he was patron).46 On the other hand, a military saint, Sergius, intervened to protect Rosafa, his sanctuary, from Chosroes.47 The similar intervention of Theodore (the foot soldier !) on horseback to save Euchata, recounted also in BHG 1764, has been mentioned above.48 The resemblance of this recital to the account of a similar incident at Thessaloniki with Saint Demetrius was observed by Zuckerman.49 They have this trait in common : the saintly patron was ordered from above not to hold back the barbarian invaders ; however, thanks to his pleading, the prohibition was rescinded. Thus each saint was able to save the people of whom he was the protector. Does one account depend on the other ? If so, which on which ? The account by bishop John of Thes Saloniki in his Miracula dates from the seventh century ; the recital in BHG 1764 probably dates from about 754. Thus, if chronology is taken as the base, the account of the intervention of Saint Demetrius, recently metamorphosed from a deacon to a soldier, was the model.

44. K. Weitzmann, The Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai, The Icons I, Princeton 1976, 44, p. 71-73. 45. S. Der Nersessian, Aght'amar, Church of the Holy Cross, Cambridge (Massachusetts) 1965, p. 19, fig. 49, 50. 46. G. Santha, A Harcos Szentek Biznci Legendi, Budapest 1943, partly accessible in the Italian rsum, Le leggende bizantine dei santi combattenti, p. 69-71 ; Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De administrando imperil, Bonn, p. 217-220 = G. Moravcsik etc., edited, Washington 1967, p. 228-233. 47. V. Chapot, Resapha-Sergiopolis, BCH 27, 1903, p. 290, citing Evagrius, Historia ecclesiastica IV 28. 48. See above, note 15. 49. Zuckerman, art. cit. (note 13), p. 196-197, citing P. Lemerle, Les plus anciens recueils des miracles de saint Dmtrius I, Paris 1979, p. 159-165. He notes that, while Demetrius by his intercession saved both city and inhabitants, Theodore saved only the inhabitants of Euchata.

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On the other hand, in the pre-Iconoclast period, the cult of Saint Demetrius had not spread much outside Thessaloniki, whereas Theodore was already widely known. There may, however, have been contacts. On the wellknown Sinai icon of the Virgin and Child flanked by two saints, the identification of one as Theodore has not posed problems, in spite of the absence of legends. As to the identification of the other... Ernst Kitzinger, long ago, remarked that the other figure on the icon exactly resembles the portrait, with legend, of Saint Demetrius at Santa Maria Antiqua in Rome.50 In fact, for the identification of this saint on the icon, the argument from conventional practice has usually been adduced : Theodore and George constitute a couple ; therefore, since Theodore's identity is virtually certain, that of the other saint must be George. Conventional practice offers no similar argument in favour of Demetrius. However, the resemblance of the recitals about their interventions in favour of their respective cities may invite a rapprochement. Moreover Theodore's portrait was depicted in mosaic in the sanctuary of Saint Demetrius. Thus evidence, not previously exploited, does exist in favour of the saint who accompanies Theodore on the Sinai icon not being George but rather Demetrius. The evidence which exists for the representation of the saintly protector of a city at its gates is not abundant. The most outstanding example would be a picture in the wall-calendar at Staro Nagoricino, painted at the beginning of the fourteenth century. Here the execution of Nestor is set outside the gates of a city which must be Thessaloniki (Figure 4, 4a).51 Both martyr and executioner are represented in military dress. In the tympanum, above the city gates, there is a figure on horseback. This must be Saint Demetrius, but whether he was really represented thus above the gates of Thessaloniki it is not possible to say. A second example is that of Saint Chrysogonus a dubious military saint above the gates of Zadar.52 The example may also be adduced of an icon on Patmos of the Forty Martyrs. Above the gates of the city, represented to the left of the scene of martyrdom, is a figure, no doubt to be interpreted as the pagan patron or Tyche of Sebaste.53

50. E. Kitzinger, On Some Icons of the Seventh Century, The Art of Byzantium and the Modern World, edited R. Kleinbauer, Bloomington/London 1976, p. 137, fig. 4. Two decades ago, the painting was so deteriorated that the legend was illegible, P. J. Nordhagen, Santa Maria Antiqua. The Frescoes of the Seventh Century, Acta ad archaeologiam et artium historiam pertinentia 8, 1978, p. 105-106, pi. XVIII, LXV 7 (legend). 51. Ch. Walter, St. Demetrius : The Myroblytos of Thessalonika, Eastern Churches Review 5, 1973, p. 177, pi. 15 ; reprinted, Studies in Byzantine Iconography V, (Variorum) London 1977. 52. S. Petricioli, Kameni grbovi grada Zadra, Radovi Instituta Jugoslavenske Akademije u Zadru 9, 1962, p. 359-372. 53 M. Chatzidakis, Icons of Patmos, Athens 1977, n 82, pi. 136 (detail), 137, p. 128129.

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Sometimes military saints intervened in battle, not necessarily in order to protect a city under their patronage. Again such interventions were not their exclusive privilege. Accounts of such interventions are relatively numerous. Behind them they have the tradition that the Dioscuri, after fighting with the Romans at the Battle of Lake Regillus, announced their victory as they watered their horses at the fountain of Juturna in Rome.54 The earliest similar legend in Christian tradition seems to be that recounted by Theodoret of Cyrus (ca 393-ca 466) in his Historia ecclesiastica : the apostles John and Philip, dressed in white and mounted on white horses, intervened in battle in favour of the emperor Theodosius.55 No such interventions in battle are recorded for Theodore in the preIconoclast period. On the other hand there are accounts of one possibly two in the tenth century, although they are attributed to Theodore Stratelates not Tiron. The interpretation of the texts provoked controversy, notably between H. Grgoire and Fr. Dlger.56 The versions of the incident, which are fairly numerous, recount two Byzantine campaigns against the Scythians (Russians), the first in 941 and the second in 971. Theodore appeared on the back of a white horse.57 Since the campaign of John Tzimisces was more notorious, Grgoire supposed that the account of the earlier campaign in 941 was calqued on that of the later one. The texts are interesting less, perhaps, for what they tell about the apparition, than for the information which they give about Euchaita and Euchaneia ; they also witness to the growing importance of the Stratelates in the tenth century. We shall return to these two matters later. A more precise account of a later intervention is given by Theodore Pediasimos, writing a century afterwards.58 In 1246, John III Vatatzes conquered Melnik. A revolt headed by a Bulgarian, Dragota, led to the expulsion of the Byzantines. In 1265, Theodore II Lascaris set out to 54. P. Grimal, Dictionnaire de la mythologie grecque et romaine, Paris 1951, p. 128. 55. Theodoret of Cyrus, Historia ecclesiastica, PG 82, 1252. 56. The interested scholar will find three articles by H. Grgoire : L'expdition d'Igor (941) et la Chronique russe, Saint Thodore Spongarios ou Sporakios, Byz. 11, 1936, p. 605-607 ; La dernire campagne de Jean Tzimiks contre les Russes, Byz. 12 1937, p. 267-276 ; Saint Thodore le Stratilate et les Russes d'Igor, Byz. 13, 1938, p. 291-300. See also Fr. Dlger, Bibliography, BZ 38, 1938, p. 232-234, giving a list of interventions by other scholars. The principal point at issue seems to be the identity in the Life of Basil the Younger (BHG 263-264f) of for Dlger a contemporary general but for Grgoire the saint. The outbreak of war in 1939 seems to have put a stop to the controversy. 57. So Leo the Deacon, Historia, Bonn, p. 153, lines 21-22 ; loannis Scylitzae synopsis historiarum, edited J.Thurn, Berlin/New York 1973, p. 308-309 ; George Cedrenus, Historia, Bonn II, p. 410-411 ; Zonaras, Epitomae historiarum , Bonn III, p. 534, lines 2-14. 58. M. Treu, edited, Pediasimi eiusque amicorum quae extant {BHG 1773), Potsdam 1899, p. 17-25, commentary, p. 50-61. The amendments proposed by P. N. Papageorgiu, Zu Theodoros Pediasimos, BZ 10, 1901, p. 425-432, do not greatly modify Treu's text. Fr. Dlger, Zwei byzantinsche Reiterheroen erobern die Festung Melnik, Sbornik Gavril Kasarov, Izvestiya na B'lgarskiya Arheologiceski Institut 16, 1950, p. 275-279.

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recapture Melnik. He was based at Serres, where there was a sanctuary dedicated to the two Theodores. The emperor implored the help of the two saints before marching on Melnik. En route, he was accompanied by two handsome young men ( , ), whom he did not know. Astounded, the emperor asked members of his entourage who they were. Then he recalled having asked the two Theodores for their help. They went forward to rout the enemy. On his return to Serres, the emperor lavished gifts on the saints' shrine. A warrior saint might be required to invest an emperor with a sword. This was not common in Byzantine iconography. In fact, as far as I am aware, the only surviving example in poor condition is that of Saint George investing Milutin in the church at Staro Nagoricino (13161318).59 Saint George stands to the right of the composition, that is to say, to the left of Milutin (Figure 5). He wears court not military dress with a circlet on his head. He holds a sword in his left hand and makes a gesture towards the emperor with his right. Milutin wears imperial dress. Djuric interpreted it as commemorating Milutin' s recent victory over the Turks. From this picture it is possible to reconstruct the now lost picture of the investiture by Theodore of Manuel I Comnenus (1143-1180) in the house of Leo Sikountinos at Thessaloniki.60 A description of it has survived in Marc. gr. 524, f. 36 : On the gate of a house whereon was represented the emperor and above him the most-holy Mother of God having Christ in her bosom (in the act of) crowning the emperor, an angel preceding him, Saint Theodore Tiron handing him the sword and Saint Nicolas following behind... Also present is the horseman Tiron, Christ's martyr, who rides in front of you when you battle the enemy, who instructs your hands in military contest . Apparently Theodore was represented twice, once handing a sword to the emperor and again on horseback as if preceding him into battle. It seems that in the later Byzantine epoch, with the Turks ever more menacing, not only did the emperor's status as supreme military commander become enhanced but also his dependence on the aid of the military saints became more explicit. The triumphal rendering of Basil II in the frontispiece of his Psalter, Marc, graec. 17, f. Ill, is archetypal. However, the investiture with a spear is undertaken by an angel ; the six warrior saints, represented in bust form to left and right of the emperor, fight with him as a friend, according to the poem facing the miniature on the opposite page, throwing down enemies prostrate at his feet.61 59. V. Djurio, Tri dogadadja u srpskoj drzavi XIV. veka i njihov odjek u slikarstvu, Zbornik za likovne umetnosti 4, 1968, p. 68-76 ; B. Todio, Staro Nagoricino, Belgrade 1993, p. 119. 60. Sp. P. Lampros, 524, NE 8, 191 1, p. 43 ; English translation, C. Mango, The Art of the Byzantine Empire 312-1453, Englewood Cliffs 1972, p. 226. 61. The miniature is reproduced everywhere, and the accompanying verses are sometimes transcribed. See, for example, A. Cutler, The Aristocratic Psalters in Byzantium, Paris 1984, n 58, p. 115-116, fig. 412. Not all transcriptions are correct. That

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Investiture, in fact, was an office more often performed by angels. The meeting of Joshua with the commander of Jehovah's army (Joshua 5, 1315) was assimilated to an investiture ; the emperor might be acclaimed as a New Joshua.62 One final service was required of warrior saints : the elimination of a persecutor. From the time of Lactantius and Eusebius, it was held that persecutors came to a bad end, usually by an agonizing disease.63 The tradition was maintained in iconography, notably in the illustration of some Metaphrastic volumes.64 The most common formula was to represent the persecutor with a snake, normally encircling him : Dochiariou 5, f. 117, Maxentius, f. 205, Diocletian ;65 Sinai 508, f. 66V, Trajan holding a snake in his right hand, f. 190, a crowned figure encircled by a snake, f. 234V, Maximian (?) holding a vessel from which a snake is drinking;66 Marc, graec. 351 (714), f. 117, Diocletian encircled by a snake.67 Other formulae were possible, as in Vatic, gr. 1679, where the martyrs are represented actually revenging themselves on their persecutors. Not all of these martyrs were soldiers ; even those who were are not represented in military costume : f. 3, Ananias (bishop) strangling his persecutor, f. 80v, Probus, Tarachus and Andronicus (warriors) with the emperor prostrate at their feet, f. 137V, Varus (not a warrior) clubbing the emperor, f. 160, Artemius (warrior) spearing the emperor, f. 336, Epimachus (not a warrior) trampling the emperor and pulling his beard.68 In the three literary texts which recount how a martyr intervened in order to rid the world of a persecuting emperor, he is each time a warrior. Two of these incidents are well represented in iconography. In the case of Saint George, the Greek text has not survived, only its translation into Coptic and Ethiopian.69 Moreover it is not told that Saint George intervened directly. An official sent by Diocletian to Lydda broke a lamp by I. Sevcenko, The Illuminators of the Menologium of Basil II, DOP 16, 1962, p. 272, note 92, contains errors. In my article The Iconographical Sources for the Coronation of Milutin and Simonida at Gracanica, L'art byzantin au dbut du XlVe sicle, Belgrade 1978, reprinted Prayer and Power in Byzantine and Papal Imagery (Variorum), Aldershot 1993, IV, I have published a photograph of the verses, pi. 1 lb, as well as transcribing and translating them, p. 193-194. 62. V. DjuriC, Novi Isus Navin, Zograf 14, 1983, p. 5-14. 63. Lactantius, De la mort des perscuteurs, edited J. Moreau, Paris I 1954, p. 55-64 ; Eusebius, Histoire ecclsiastique, edited G. Bardy, Paris 1952-1960, X 8-9, III, p. , IV, p. 131-132. 64. N. Patterson-Sevcenko, Illustrated Manuscripts of the Metaphrastian Menologion, Chicago/London 1990, p. 193. 65. Ibidem, p. 90. 66. Ibidem, p. 155-156. 67. Ibidem, p. 176. 68. Ibidem, p. 161-164 ; Ch. Walter, The Triumph of Saint Peter in the Church of Saint Clement at Ohrid and The Iconography of The Triumph of The Martyrs, Zograf 5, 1974, p. 30-34. 69. Walter, art. cit. (note 2), p. 316-317.

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hanging before Saint George's icon. A piece of glass from the lamp lodged in his head, causing leprosy and his death. When Diocletian himself went to Saint George's shrine in Lydda, the archangel Michael intervened. Diocletian went blind and died shortly afterwards. Saint George was, in fact, represented on horseback killing a man at least as early as 915-921 at Aght'amar.70 Usually no legend identifies the man on representations of this scene which were particularly numerous in Georgia.71 However, on two icons, dating from the first half of the Diocletian.72 eleventh century, the prostrate figiure is named the godless king Closer to the literary narrative, which, in fact, was much developed and embellished, are the representations of Mercurius killing Julian the Apostate.73 The text resembles that of the account of Theodore and Sergius killing the emperor Valens.74 Julian was killed on June 26th, 363. He was succeeded by Jovian, and, in 364, by Valens, who, being an Arian and a persecutor of the Orthodox, was not considered to be any better than Julian. Faustus of Byzantium told in his History of Armenia of a sophist's vision of the assembled martyrs in heaven. Thecla joined them ; she proposed an intervention in order to rid the world of the persecuting emperor. Saints Sergius and Theodore departed to perform this office. Later the sophist saw them return. They announced the death of Valens. In making known the emperor's death, the sophist risked execution for treason. However, he was given three days' grace, at the end of which the fact was generally known. The story is, of course, apocryphal, because Valens actually died in battle at Adrianople in 378. Faustus's History survived only in Armenian. Peeters thought that the original text was written in Greek and that it was early, earlier than the account of Mercurius killing Julian, which was already circulating in the mid-fifth century. Garsoan, however, argues convincingly that it depends rather on a Syriac text. According to Peeters, whom, in general, Garsoan follows, it was impossible for the intervention of Theodore and

70. Der Nersessian, op. cit. (note 45), p. 19, fig. 49. 71. G. N. Tschubinaschvili, Georgian Repouss Work, VIII-XVIH Centuries, Tbilissi 1957, pi. 29-98, 103. 72. Idem, in Byzanz und der christliche Osten, edited W.F. Volbach & J. LafontaineDosogne, Berlin 1968, p. 332, pl. 360 (Museum, Kutaissi) ; Idem, op. cit. (note 71), pi. 93, Weitzmann, op. cit. (note 44), fig. 28 (at Nakipari). The name Diocletian is sometimes inscribed by the prostrate figure on late Georgian icons. 73. See above, note 3. 74. P. Peeters, Un miracle de SS. Serge et Thodore et la Vie de S. Basile dans Fauste de Byzance, An. Boll. 39, 1921, p. 70-73. See also The Epic History Attributed to P'awstos Buzand , translated and edited by Nina G. Garsoan, Cambridge (Mass) 1989, IV x, p. 130-132, and her commentary, p. 279-280. Surprisingly, this eminent scholar wrote, p. 407, that Sargis (Sergius) was traditionally martyred under Diocletian, ca 303 (actually Maximian or Maximinus Daia), that Justinian (actually Anastasius I) renamed Rosafa Serginpolis, and that he was always represented in military dress (by no means !). Her notes about Theodore, p. 413, and Vales (Valens), p. 421, are more satisfactory.

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Sergius to have been modelled on that of Mercurius.75 Thus their intervention was archetypal. Yet, paradoxically, that of Mercurius was far more popular and frequently represented, while no pictures of theirs is known. In his Homily In supremum vale Gregory of Nazianzus refers, without mentioning their names, to Julian and Valens.76 The eleventhcentury illustrator of Panteleimon 6 picked up the allusion (Figure 6). He illustrated the passage, f. 242 v, with two miniatures. Julian is represented being killed by Mercurius, while Valens is represented simply as an Arian, crouched in the position habitual for Arius when condemned at the first council of Nicaea.77 Early Representations of Theodore as a Warrior We are fortunate in having Gregory of Nyssa's description of the Passion cycle in Theodore's sanctuary : There were representations of the saint's brave deeds, his resistance, his torments, the ferocious faces of the tyrants, the martyr's most blessed death and the representation of Christ in human form, presiding the contest.78 Although analogies may easily be found for this cycle, it is unique for Theodore. An isolated scene occurs of the martyrdom of Theodore Tiron by burning in the Menologium of Basil II, p. 407, and of the Stratelates being scourged in the Theodore Psalter, f. 39V (Figure 7).79 Although the Stratelates is represented in military dress in his portrait in the Menologion, p. 383 (Figure 8),80 warrior saints were not normally so clad in scenes of their martyrdom, so that it is unlikely that the Tiron would have been in the lost cycle in his sanctuary. The few known portraits, which, if not objectively dated, can be considered to be early on stylistic grounds, are not more helpful, even if they make it clear that Theodore's portrait type was established from the beginning and consistently maintained. There are the two fragments of cloth in the Fogg Art Museum, Boston, one with his head and traditional features, the other with a legend () () (), which has been attributed to Egypt and the sixth century.81 The portrait in the

75. Ibidem, p. 76, 78, 87-88. 76. PG 36, 461. 77. G. Galavaris, The Illustrations of The Liturgical Homilies of Gregory Nazianzenus, Princeton 1969, p. 211, fig. 177. 78. See above, note 7 ; English translation, Mango, op. cit. (note 60), p. 36-37. 79. // Menologio di Basilio II, edited C. Stornajolo & P. Franchi de' Cavalieri, Vatican/Milan 1907 (Vatic, gr. 1613) ^February 17th, PG 117, 317 ; S. Der Nersessian, L'illustration des Psautiers du Moyen ge II, Londres Add. 19.352, Paris 1970, p. 28, fig. 68, illustrating Psalm 34, 15, Scourges were brought against me. The Stratelates is said to have been beheaded, but the flagellation which preceded his execution is described in his Passion , L'loge de saint Thodore le Stratilate par Euthyme Protasecretis (BHG 1753b), edited Fr. Halkin, An. Boll. 99, 1981, p. 20. 80. Menologio (op. cit., preceding note), p. 383, February 8th, PG ill, 317. 81. The Age of Spirituality, edited K. Weitzmann, New York 1979, n 494, p. 549-550.

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church of Saints Cosmas and Damian, Rome, is also dated to the sixth century.82 On the icon of the Virgin and Child flanked by two saints at Mount Sinai, again attributed to the sixth century, the figure identified as Theodore wears court dress.83 However, on two later ones, 13, possibly of Egyptian provenance, and 14, where he is accompanied by the deacon Leo, Theodore wears armour.84 The saint on certain seals associated with Euchata, also identified as Theodore, again wears armour.85 The example may also be adduced of a capital, found at Aqaba about 1935 and now in the Archaeological Museum at Amman (Figure 9).86 It is comparatively small (27 40 37 centimetres), and is accompanied by another similar capital on which Longinus is represented. Both he and Theodore wear military costume, hold a spear and shield and are haloed. With the same lot a stele was discovered with an inscription that may be dated to 555. There is no necessary connection between the capitals and the stele ; consequently there are no objective criteria for dating them. They could be sixth or seventh century work, but the crudity of their execution makes such a dating conjectural. On the other hand on the votive mosaic in Saint Demetrius, Thessaloniki, generally dated to the seventh century, Theodore wears court dress.87 In fact, although it was never de rigueur, it did become more customary for military saints to be represented in armour. However, at no period can it be said that armour was an essential attribute of the military saint. The art of Cappadocia, being more plentiful, provides a convenient watershed. As is wellknown, in Cappadocia scenes and cycles are rare ; there are none for Theodore. However representations of him on horseback, usually spearing a dragon, and on foot, in court or military dress, are relatively abundant. There is no hope of providing a complete and exact repertory, given the frequent new discoveries or identifications (and, on occasions, inadequate descriptions) proposed by the specialists in Cappadocian art. When Theodore is represented on horseback, he is 82. G. Matthiae, SS. Cosma e S. Teodoro, Rome 1948, pi. 3, 9 ; Mavrodinova, art. cit. (note 6), p. 34, fig. 1. 83. Weitzmann, op. cit. (note 44), 3 ; Age of Spirituality, n 478. Regrettably, Weitzmann identifies the early portraits of Theodore incorrectly as the Stratelates ; he has been followed by other scholars. 84. Weitzmann, op. cit., 13, 14. 85. See above, note 41. 86. First published by N. Glueck, Exploration in Eastern Palestine III, Annual of the American School of Oriental Research , 18-19, 1937-1939, p. 1-3, figures 1-2. See also M. Schwabe, A Greco-Christian Inscription from Aila, Harvard Theological Review 46, 195 p. 49. Exhibited in the Muse de la civilisation gallo-romaine at Lyon, May 1989, Catalogue n 51, p. 283. 87. R. Hoddinott, Early Byzantine Churches in Macedonia and Southern Serbia, London 1963, p. 154-155, pi. 34.

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invariably in military costume. Eleven examples are known to me of him spearing a dragon, sometimes alone but often in the company of Saint George. I cite here only those at Mavrucan n 3 and Greme n 28 (Figures 10, II).88 Pictures of Theodore on horseback, not spearing a dragon are uncommon : Derin Dere kilisesi ? (ninth century) ;89 Greme n 18 ? (eleventh century) ;90 Church of the Stratelates, Mavrucan ? (1256/7) 91. In court dress, he is represented at Aikel Aga kilisesi (Figure 12),92 Tokali I (Greme n 7),93 Balli kilise (Soganh),94 Kililar kilise (Greme n 29),95 (all the first half of the tenth century). A single later example of Theodore in court dress is known to me at Saint Barbara (Soganh) (1006/1021).96 Finally I have noted ten portraits of Theodore standing in military dress : Greme n 9,97 Tokali II,98 Tagar," Smbll kilise (Hasan Dagi)100 (all tenth century) ; Basilica of Constantine (Yeniky),101 Kusluk Kililar (Greme n 33),102 Karanlik (Greme n 23), 103 Greme n 22, 104 Karaba kilise (Soganh),105 Saint Catherine (Greme n 21 )106 (all eleventh century). In conclusion, before Iconoclasm Theodore was already being treated primarily as a military saint, performing the office appropriate to his state and represented in military costume. After Iconoclasm, although there was no rigorous definition, it became increasingly habitual to 88. These are studied in detail in my article Saint Theodore and the Dragon, to appear in a volume in honour of David Buckton. Much of my information about Saint Theodore in Cappadocia has been generously provided by Madame Nicole Thierry. Mavrucan n 3, N. Thierry, Haut Moyen ge en Cappadoce : l'glise n 3 de Mavrucan, Journal des savants 1972, p. 258-263, fig. 21 ; Yilanli kilise, Greme n 28, de Jerphanion, op. cit. (following note) I, p. 142 (with correction, p. 608), pi. 135 1. 89. (In this and the following notes, G. de Jerphanion, Les glises rupestres de Cappadoce, Paris 1932-1942, is cited De Jerphanion; C. Jolivet-Lvy, Les glises byzantines de Cappadoce. Le programme iconographique de l 'abside et ses abords, Paris 1991, is cited Jolivet-Lvy.) Jolivet-Lvy, p. 190. A question mark after the name of the church indicates that the description available does not necessarily eliminate the presence of a dragon. 90. De Jerphanion I, p. 486. 91. De Jerphanion II, p. 236. 92. Jolivet-Lvy, p. 328, plate 183, figure 2 ; N. Thierry, Un dcor pr-iconoclaste de Cappadoce: Aikel Aga kilisesi, Cahiers archologiques 18, 1968, p. 35-36, fig. 3. Theodore and George stand side by side, each holding a cross. 93. De Jerphanion I, p. 267. 94. De Jerphanion II, p. 260. 95. Jolivet-Lvy, p. 141. 96. De Jerphanion II, p. 322-323. 97. Jolivet-Lvy, p. 306. 98. Jolivet-Lvy, p. 107. 99. De Jerphanion II, p. 191. 100. Jolivet-Lvy, p. 306. 101. Jolivet-Lvy, p. 282. 102. De Jerphanion I, p. 246. Now called Meryemma kilise, Jolivet-Lvy, p. 143. 103. De Jerphanion I, p. 396. 104. De Jerphanion I, p. 457. 105. De Jerphanion II, p. 340. 106. De Jerphanion I, p. 476.

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represent him as a soldier. Portraits of him in court dress, common in the tenth century, disappear in Cappadocia in the eleventh century. On the other hand, while portraits of him in military dress are less common than those of him in court dress in the tenth century, in the eleventh century it is thus that he is regularly represented, as, for example at Hosios Loukas (Figure 13). Euchata & Euchaneia These two places tend to be confused, both in the Byzantine sources, liturgical, historical and hagiographical, and in the writings of modern scholars. Yet basically, whatever may have been written to the contrary, their respective situations are clear. For Euchata there is no great problem. Although the Byzantine city has been completely destroyed, there is general agreement with H. Grgoire's identification of its site as that of the modern Avkat, a day's march from Amaseia.107 Gregory of Nyssa does not actually name it in his Encomium of Theodore, but, from the fifth century, references to it by name are common. C. Mango and I. Sevcenko were fortunate enough to identify spolia with inscriptions concerning Euchata in the neighbourhood ; one is about a wall built by the emperor Anastasius I between 515 and 518, the other about the city's episcopal status from the time of the same emperor.108 It was mentioned as a city in Justinian's Novel 28, dated 535. 109 From the seventh century the see is known to have been autocephalous. An eminent ecclesiastic, Peter the Fuller, Monophysite patriarch of Antioch, was exiled there from 477 to 482.110 However, Euchata patently owed its prestige to Christ's athlete who is a citizen of heaven, Theodore the guardian of this town.111 Alypius life.112 So visited Moschus, shrine Theodore at Euchata, along with the Stylitedid John Theodore'staking inat some moment during his long John at Ephesus, Thecla at Seleucia and Sergius at Saphas (sic , no doubt a corruption of Rosafa).113 Theodosius , who visited Asia Minor some time after the death of Anastasius in 518, was aware of the existence of Theodore's sanctuary, although he may not have actually visited it, because he situated it incorrectly in Galatia and not in Hellespont.114 107. H. Grgoire, Gographie byzantine, BZ 19, 1910, p. 59-61. 108. C. Mango & I. SevCenko, Three Inscriptions of the Reigns of Anastasius I and Constantine V, BZ 65, 1972, p. 378-384. 109. Ibidem. 110. Theophanes, Chronographia, edited C. de Boor, Leipzig 1883-1885, I p. 125, . 111. Mango & SevCenko, art. cit. (note 108), citing the inscription found at Yurgii Pasa Camii. 112. Premetaphrastic Life, edited H. Delehaye, Les saints stylites, Brussels 1923, p. 1521113 (Alypius is reputed to have lived to be a centenarian, born ca 515, died under Heraclius, 610- 641.) 113. Pratum spirituale 180, PG 87.3, 3052b. 114. Rcits des premiers plerins chrtiens en Proche-Orient (IVe-VIIe sicle), edited P. Maraval, Paris 1996, p. 194.

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Later direct references to Euchaita are rare until the time when John Mauropous became bishop. It is evident that the cult of Theodore (Tiron) was then still flourishing. However, John Mauropous, in poor health, returned to Constantinople in 1047. 115 A successor as bishop of Euchaita would have been appointed, although his name is not known. According to his Life, George the Hagioretes and his pilgrim companions were received there hospitably by the bishop in 1059.116 After that, apart from the mention of a bishop Basil in a synodal list of 1082 and of a bishop Constantine in 1173 (neither of them necessarily resident),117 no more is heard of Euchaita. H. Delehaye wrote : On discute... la question de savoir s'il faut distinguer Euchaita d'Euchaneia... Je persiste croire que, dans les textes concernant S. Thodore, les deux noms dsignent la mme localit ou peut-tre deux localits voisines.118 It is true that in many texts the two places are either confused or considered to be identical. However, there are a few which establish that they were separate places. Geographically, their respective situations are presented lucidly in the Life of Lazarus of Mount Galesius (BHG 979-980e), who died in 1053. 119 The hagiographer tells that ... ... , . Oikonomides would identify Euchaneia with the modern Turkish Corum about thirty-five kilometres west of Avkat (Euchaita).120 The geographical separation is confirmed by ecclesiastical documents. Bishops of Euchaneia appear in synodal lists from 1042. 121 John of Euchaneia sat with Basil of Euchaita at the trial of John Italos in 1082. 122 Moreover a seal of John's has survived.123 On one side there is the portrait of a bearded saint in military dress with cuirass and lance. Only part of the inscription but enough to identify the saint has survived : . On the other side, the inscription is better preserved : . Leo of Euchaneia sat with Constantine of Euchaita at a 115. Giovanni Mauropode, Otto canoni paracletici a N.S. Ges Crsto, edited E. Follieri, Rome 1967, p. 15-16. 116. P. Peeters, Histoires monastiques gorgiennes II, An. Boll. 36/37, 1917-1919, p. 121-122. 117. See below, note 124. 118. H. Delehaye, reviewing J.G.C. Anderson etc., Recueil des inscriptions grecques et latines du Pont et de l'Armnie, An. Boll. 30, 191 1, p. 336. 1 19. AASS Nov. Ill 518. 120. Oikonomides, art. cit. (note 26), p. 327-332. 121. J. Darrouzs, Notitiae Episcopatuum Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae, Paris 1981, p. 87. n 926, p. 401-402 ; J. Regestes, second edition, revised J. Darrouzs, Paris 1989, 141. 122. V. Grumel, Gouillard, Le procs officiel de Jean l'Italien, TM 9, 1985, p. I 3, 123. Zacos, op. cit. (note 41) II, compiled and edited by J.M. Nesbitt, Berne 1984, p. 271, n 519 ; Plates II, Berne 1985, pi. 53, n 51 ; Oikonomides, art. cit., (note 26), p. 328.

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meeting of the Constantinopolitan synod on July 11th, 1173. 124 To these witnesses in favour of Euchaita and Euchaneia being different cities, may be added that of Psellos, also of the eleventh century, in his Letter 97, ) . He wrote : , , , 125 It is obvious that, if Euchaneia was the seat of a bishopric, it could not have been a neighbouring locality of Euchaita. Further, it can be affirmed that it would have been to Euchaneia, not Euchaita, as Delehaye and others have maintained,126 that John Tzimisces attributed the name of Theodoroupolis (even if the name was not, apparently, used). It was the sanctuary of the Stratelates that he rebuilt, not that of the Tiron, because the Stratelates had intervened in his favour against the Scythians.127 Theodore Tiron and Theodore Stratelates My late colleague and friend Doula Mouriki once wrote that the preIconoclast Theodore, known particularly on early icons, was the Stratelates.128 Actually, it can be shown that he was without doubt the Tiron. It is true that, when his portrait is accompanied by a legend with his name, it is not normally specified that he is the Tiron. This is the case not only for pre-Iconoclast representations but also for those in Cappadocia. There only once, in the Forty Martyrs, Suve, a late church securely dated to 1216/7, is his name qualified by the title Tiron ( ).129 On the other hand, all the early Lives and Passions are clearly concerned with the Tiron, because they specify his low military rank.130 The earliest dateable text concerning the Stratelates is the Laudatio of Nicetas of Paphlagonia, who died in 88.131 124. Regestes, ed. cit. (note 122), n 1126. 125. Michaelis Pselli Scripta Minora , edited E. Kurtz, II, Epistulae , Milan 1941, p. 124. 126. H. Delehaye, Euchaita et la lgende de saint Thodore, Anatolian Studies Presented to W.M. Ramsay, Manchester 1923, p. 134, reprinted Mlanges d'hagiographie grecque et latine, Brussels 1966, p. 280; R. Janin, Euchates, DHGE 15, 1963, 13111313 ; Idem, Euchania, ibidem, 1313-1314. 127. See above, notes 56, 57. 128. D. Mouriki, Ta , Athens 1985, p. 156. 129. De Jerphanion, op. cit. (note 89) II, p. 162, 173 ; Jolivet-Lvy, op. cit. (note 89), p. 207 (date of church). 130. It is well known that the Greek Turon (Tiron) was calqued on the Latin Tiro (recruit or young soldier). According to Lampe, the word was used in this sense in Patristic texts, as well as analogically for a candidate to the religious life. It seems to have been restricted to Theodore as a title. Two other words were available : (footsoldier) and (recruit). Apparently, the latter was never applied to Theodore. 131. Nicetas of Paphlagonia, in his Laudatio (BHG 1753), Acta Sanctorum vol. cit. (note 9), p. 83-89, specifically distinguishes the two Theodores. However, it should be noted that a third Theodore appears in the sources, for whom no original texts in Greek have survived, and for whom there is no liturgical commemoration. See A. Galuzzi,

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It is, therefore, unlikely that a distinct Theodore Stratelates emerged in Byzantine hagiography before the ninth century. Although much of what is recounted about the Tiron should be taken with a pinch of salt, it surely has a substratum of truth. There really was a Theodore Tiron. On the other hand, Theodore Stratelates was equally surely a fictitious character. As Delehaye wrote, l'existence du second Thodore n'est point tablie historiquement. The accounts of his origins : born into a family from Euchaita, which went to live in Heracleia, his martyrdom under Licinius, of which his servant Abgar provided an eye-witness account, his final beheading and the translation of his mortal remains to Euchaneia (or Euchaita ?), all this is in the style of the professional and experienced hagiographer. But what occasioned the creation of another military saint called Theodore of superior rank ? Delehaye observed that such a phenomenon was not isolated in hagiography.132 The multiplication of homonyms which, in reality, represent the same saint, normally had one of three origins : in the diversity of the legends circulating about him, in the diversity of the feasts in his honour, and in the celebrity of certain sanctuaries, in which the saint was celebrated with different titles (sous des vocables divers). However, Delehaye was not prepared to pronounce which of these three origins was to be considered that of the ddoublement of Theodore. Other scholars have been more temerarious. For example, Mavrodinova attributed the doubling to the existence of two different portrait traditions, one Egyptian and the other Oriental.133 Oikonomides suggested that in one sanctuary an icon of Theodore in military costume was venerated, while in the other there was an icon of him in court dress.134 Neither explanation seems to me to be satisfactory and sufficient, but then that which I am about to propose may also provoke sceptical reactions. It seems that the word was equivocal. In other words, it might be used as a personal title or simply as a general, honorific term for a soldier, an officer with a certain standing. Some evidence may be cited in favour of its use as a general, honorific term. In Cappadocia, the church at Mavrucan (Grelz) is known as of the Stratelates. It is late, dated by a dedicatory inscription to 1256/7. Here the term stratelates qualifies both George and (a) Theodore.135 Which Theodore ? A further example : on the eleventh-century Paris Hetoimasia, military saints are represented, all in court dress and holding a cross. They are Demetrius, Teodoro orientale, Bibliotheca sanctorum 12, 249. Two Eastern texts concerning him, BHO 1163 and BHO 1174, may be placed high in a list of examples of puerile hagiographical folklore. 132. Delehaye, op. cit. (note 5), p. 15. 133. Mavrodinova, art. cit. (note 6), p. 50. 134. Oikonomides, art. cit. (note 26), p. 330-335. His assertion that the to whom Mauropous refers could not have been Theodore Tiron also leaves me unconvinced. 135. De Jerphanion, op. cit. (note 89) II, p. 236.

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Theodore, George and Procopius, and they are accompanied by a long legend : The , having appeared from the four ends (of the world) as witnesses to the divine pronouncements, are most ready to be awarded a place (in heaven).136 Since none of the other three was given the title Stratelates, the word is used here as a general, honorific term. In passing, we may note that a Sabbas Stratelates is also known, the double of another Sabbas, the Goth.137 In his case, Stratelates is evidently a title. Finally, there is the phrase in the Life of Basil the Younger, in which the saint who intervened in battle in favour of John Tzimisces is called .138 This was in the tenth century. Grgoire was right, to my mind, to see in the last word a corrupt spelling (for which he cited parallels) of . The most ancient church known in Constantinople dedicated to Theodore (Tiron) was attributed to the patrician Sphorakios, consul in 452, and known as , while n church dedicated only to the Stratelates is recorded. It would seem, then, that at some point confusion arose. Was the general, honorific term stratelates being applied to Theodore or is the Life of Basil attributing this title to the second, recently emerged Theodore ?139 Their distinctive personalities would only become clear once they began to be represented as twins. For one, the Tiron, a hagiographical tradition existed. For the other, pious authors were not tardy in creating one. Whose mortal remains were actually venerated at Euchaneia we cannot know. However, in the earliest Typica, Jerusalem Holy Cross 40 and Patmos 266, both probably dating from the tenth century, the feast of the Stratelates, whose took place in (sic), was celebrated on June 8th, with the office as written for the first Saturday of Lent (the long-established feast of the Tiron).140 Later, in Paris, gr. 1990, dated 1063, and Oxford Bodl. Auct. 5 10, dated 1329, the translation of the relics of the Stratelates was celebrated that day, while his main feast was transferred to February 8th.141 An intriguing difference may be noticed in the Sirmondianus (12th13th centuries) between the entries for the celebrations of the Tiron and 136. Most recently, Byzance. L'art byzantin dans les collections publiques franaises, edited J. Durand, etc., Paris 1992, p. 269-270, n 175. Durand observes that these warrior saints proclament (...) la lgitimit des ambitions politiques et militaires de l'Empire byzantin. I. Kalavrezou-Maxeiner, Byzantine Icons in Steatite, Vienna 1985, p. 95-96, n 3 (commentary, p. 64) ; J. Durand, La donation Ganay. La steatite de l'Htimasie, La revue du Louvre et des Muses de France 1988, p. 190-194. 137. See above, note 22, and, more particularly, . Folueri, Saba Goto e Saba Stratelate, An. Boll. 80, 1962, p. 279 : Mi sembra ehe senza scrupolo si possa iscrivere Saba Stratelate nella categoria dei santi ehe non sono mai esistiti. So this would be a case of fictitious doubling analogous to that of the Theodores. 138. See above, note 58. 139. The same question may be posed with regard to the Theodore addressed by Manuel Philes in his Carmen n 6. See below, note 151. 140. J. Mateos, Le Typicon de la Grande Eglise I, Rome 1962, p. xvm-xix, 311. 141. Ibidem, p. 229.

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those of the Stratelates. While there are several references for the Tiron in the Synaxary to the churches in Constantinople where celebrations in his honour were held, notably - , no reference is made to Euchata.142 On the other hand, for the Stratelates, no mention is made of the church in which his feasts were celebrated, no doubt because none was dedicated to him, apart, of course, from his sanctuary, which the Sirmondianus, correctly, situated in Euchaneia. 143 It is understandable that, in such circumstances, two distinct saints should emerge. Yet, although, perhaps, the Stratelates was more esteemed in late Byzantium than the humble footsoldier, having two feasts which were half-days ( , ), while the Tiron had only one,144 no evidence exists that he had his own church in Constantinople, or anywhere else for that matter except at Euchaneia. Where, then, was his liturgy celebrated? One can only suppose that it took place in one of the numerous churches dedicated to the Tiron, most likely in the . Nevertheless churches did exist dedicated to both the Theodores. The earliest, at Serres, known from the thirteenth century, has been mentioned already with regard to the intervention of both saints in battle on behalf of the emperor Theodore II Lascaris.145 A second, in Constantinople itself, for a monastery named , after the husband of the woman who endowed it and who entered the community as a nun, was built at the end of the fourteenth century.146 A third at Pergamon, ... is dated by an inscription on the lintel over the south door of the church to 1544/5. 147 This twinning of the two Theodores was much less widespread in inscriptions and dedications than in the literary sources, from which, however, a few examples should be adduced. In Digenes 142. Synaxarium constantinopolitanum, 469 (February 17th, with a reference to his principal feast, the first Saturday of Lent, . 272 (December 1st, a commemoration in the same church), 197 (November 5th, the same), 774 (June 26th, '). For this ecclesiastical foundation and its place in the history of the cult of the Theodores, see above, note 56 (controversy around Sphoracius) ; note 17 (Chrysippus first refers to Sphoracius) ; note 35 (Janin's brief account of the church in Byzantine sources). 143. Synaxarium constantinopolitanum, 451-453 (February 8th), 735-738 (June 8th, where it is specified that Euchaneia was ). Paris, gr. 1589 (12th century) and 1582 (14th century) both give Eucha'ita, not Euchaneia. So does Vatic, gr. 1613 (see above, note 79). 144. Photii Nomocanon cum commentariis Theodori Balsamonis (12th century), PG 104, 1072-1073 ; Novel of Manuel I Comnenus (1166), PG 133, 760 : February 7th and June 8th for the Stratelates, February 17th for the Tiron. 145. See above, note 58. 146. Janin, op. cit. (note 34), p. 291, citing Georgius (Pseudo-)Phrantzes, Chronicon Majus,PG 156,751. 147. Halkin, art. cit. (note 30), V p. 77, citing H. Grgoire, Recueil des inscriptions grecques chrtiennes d'Asie Mineure , Paris 1922, p. 17, n 51.

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Akrites, compiled perhaps in the eleventh century,148 the thriceblessed Basil overawed mighty and brave warriors, thanks to the grace of God, of God's unconquerable mother (...) and of the prize-bearing great martyrs, , .149 Elsewhere, there is a reference to two presents, jewelled pictures of the saints, 150 To these may be added four poems composed by Manuel Philes (born ca 1275, died ca 1345). 151 In iconography, it was regularly the practice to represent the two Theodores together, in the company of warrior and other saints. In this final section of my article, I propose to examine this phenomenon of twinning, more particularly under its aesthetic aspect. The Aesthetics of Warrior Saints M.I. Rostovtzeff remarked long ago, with regard to Parthian art, that Palmyrene gods, as well as heroized men, were resplendent in their boyish beauty (...). Despite their military dress, the military gods of Palmyra are refined, elegant ephebes of the Oriental type (...). The graceful figures of the boyish gods and of their curly-haired attendants, the slim proportions of their bodies, the romantic eyes, their almost airy appearance enable us to grasp at once, even without the help of the haloes and radiate crowns which surround the heads of the gods, their solar, ethereal and celestial nature.152 It should be noted that Rostovtzeff is describing military gods, so that the transition to military saints may be made plausibly through the intermediary of such figures as those represented in the dome of the rotunda of Saint George in Thessaloniki.153 The early portraits of Saint Demetrius in his sanctuary in the same city,154 like early representations 148. E.M. & M.J Jeffreys, Digenes Akrites, Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium I, 622-623. 149. Digenes Akrites, edited J. Mavrogordato, Oxford 1956, p. 3. 150. Ibidem, p. 129. Another reference to the two Theodores, p. 205. However, the church built by Digenes was dedicated to only one Theodore the saint and martyr, p. 223. 151. Manuelis Philae Carmina, edited E. Miller, I, Paris 1855, Poem 171 (where the two Theodores are compared favorably to Hercules), Poem n 287, p. 138, Poem n 51, p. 228, Poem n 262, p. 457. See also Manuelis Philae Carmina Graeca, edited G. Weinsdorf, Leipzig 1768. In the verses published by Weinsdorf, it seems that there is some confusion between the two Theodores. However, in one, n 6, p. 236, Manuel Philes addresses the three great martyrs, Theodore, Demetrius and George. The three are qualified as , (fleet of foot, an adjective, under the form of , normally applied only to George), . However, Theodore is explicitly qualified as . 152. M.I. Rostovtzeff, Dura and the Problem of Parthian Art, Yale Classical Studies 1935, p. 157, quoted after E. Fowden's study of Saint Sergius & Bacchus (printing). 153. A. Grabar, propos des mosaques de la coupole de Saint-Georges Salonique, Cahiers archologiques 17, 1967, p. 59-81. 154. R. Cormack, The Church of Saint Demetrius : The Water-colours and Drawings of W.S. George, The Byzantine Eye, (Variorum) London 1989, II.

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of Saints Sergius and Bacchus, have the same elegant refinement.155 Early icons of Saint George have not survived, but we are fortunate in having the description recounted by the grandmother of Theodore of Sykeon of her vision of a young man of utter beauty in shining garments with curly hair as brilliant as gold, like the representations of Saint George.15** Her description is authentified by the unbroken later portrait tradition of the saint. The handsomeness of military saints was described in other literary texts. Thus the beauty of Mercurius favorably impressed the emperor Decius, , .157 Saints Sergius and Bacchus were described as stars joyfully lighting up the earth.158 Moreover, the crowds who followed Sergius to his execution wept bitterly seeing the beauty which flowered on his face and the grandeur and nobility of his youth.159 It is somewhat rare that Byzantine authors go more deeply into the significance of the beauty of saints. However, one example may be cited.160 It is to be found in the Life of Theodore of Sabbas, later bishop of Edessa (BHG 1744), and written by his nephew Basil, also later bishop of Emesa.161 The text is relatively early (probably written in the ninth or tenth century and attested by a manuscript, Mosq. synod. 321, dated 1023), but it has been judged to be une mosaque de lgendes et de plagiats.162 A principal source for it would have been the Life of Michael of Sabbas.163 Michael of Sabbas certainly figures largely in the text of this fictional Life, but the hagiographer's preoccupation is less to adapt elements of Michael's character to that of Theodore than to describe a youth who was both holy and handsome. He described the elegance () of a young man whose cheeks were just blooming 155. For example, almost certainly, the bust with the maniakion on the silver bowl from Kyrenia (Cyprus), dated by its stamp to 641-651, most recently published in Byzantium. Treasures of Byzantine Art from British Collections, edited D. Buckton, London 1994, n 135, p. 120-121. Fowden, op. cit. (note 152), cites a number of others. 156. Vie de Thodore de Sykon, edited A.-J. Festugire, Brussels 1970, 32, I, p. 29, II, p. 31-32. Compare 9, 1, p. 8-9, II, p. 11-12, , . 157. Delehaye, op. cit. (note 5), p. 238, lines 19-21 (BHG 1274). Compare Binon, Documents grecs indits, op. cit. (note 3), p. 33, lines 10-14 (BHG 1275). 158. Passio antiquior SS. Sergii et Bacchi Graece nunc primum dita, An. Boll. 14, 1895, translated by J. Boswell, The Marriage of Likeness, London 1994, cited here after the French version, Les unions du mme sexe dans l'Europe antique et mdivale, Paris 1996, Annexe V, p. 365. 159. Ibidem, p. 375. 160. Noted by A. Kazhdan & H. Maguire, but superficially, in their illuminating article, Byzantine Hagiographical Texts as Sources of Art, DOP 45, 1991, p. 1-2. 161. Zitie ize vo svat'ih' otca nasego Theodora arhiepiskopa edesskago (BHG 1744), edited I. Pomjalovskij, Saint Petersburg 1892. 162. J. Gouillard, Thodore le Sabate, DTC 15 (1946), 284-286; F.A. Angarano, Teodoro di Edessa, Bibliotheca Sanctorum 12, 250. 163. P. Peeters, La Passion de S. Michel le Sabate, An. Boll. 48, 1930, p. 65-98, acknowledging that the resemblance was first noted by S. Vailh.

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with down, and of the comeliness () of his body. These physical traits served to make evident the beauty () of his soul. No similar text exists for Theodore, who, in spite of being a recruit, was invariably represented as a mature man with a beard, although, in the account of his apparition with the Stratelates at Melnik, he was described as goodlooking. In this respect, as a military saint, Theodore (and later the Stratelates) were perhaps exceptional They were never portrayed as glamorous ephebes, whereas, in general, throughout the Byzantine epoch, saints who assumed a military rle were portrayed, both in literature and art, as vigorous, well-dressed and wellequipped.164 Another, more delicate, question must be posed with regard to the relationship between saints, who, either in art or in literary texts, appear in pairs. The practice does not admit of an overall, general explanation. Thus Saints Peter and Paul are represented together as the joint Founders of the Church. Saints Cosmas and Damian, the Anargyres, were brothers and both doctors.165 Twinning was, however, certainly commonest among military saints. In some cases, for example Theodore with George or Demetrius on the Sinai icon, or, later, George and Demetrius without Theodore (none of whom were associated in their lifetime), the practice would seem only to reflect the devotion to these particular saints of those who commissioned the painting. In others, the camaraderie appropriate to the military condition was probably taken into account. Various couples of military saints, associated in their lives, may be noted, for whom little, if any, iconographical documentation exists : Nearchus and Polyeuctus of Melitene,166 Juventinus and Maximinus.167 For others, for whom representations are known, a close association existed, according to the literary sources, during their lives. The most notorious example is that of Sergius and Bacchus, whose affection for each other colours the whole course of their Passions. One in their love 164. Kazhdan & Maguire, art. cit. (note 160), p. 3. 165. A. Grabar, Martyrium, II, Paris, 1946, p. 46, note 3, without going deeply into the question, observed that these couples existed, isols ou groups en 'familles' de compagnons de martyre. He considered that they drivent visiblement de formules courantes du portrait antique. He cites a limited number of examples of twins : George and Demetrius, Cosmas and Damian, Constantine and Helena... H. Grgoire, Saints jumeaux et dieux cavaliers, Paris 1905, is not helpful. Anyway, his Speusippus, Elasippus and Melesippus are triplets (tergemini) not twins ! Boswell, op. cit. (note 158), p. 180, notes the reticence of hagiographers to enter more deeply into the phenomenon of twinning. However, many scholars may consider that Boswell' s approach was slanted. 166. A borderline case, cited by Boswell, op. cit. (note 158), p. 200. Polyeuctus, a Roman soldier and martyr under Decius & Valerian, is represented fairly often, starting with Vatic, gr. 1613, p. 302, op. cit. (note 79), where he is beheaded, but not accompanied by Nearchus. 167. Their association is much more evident, for example in John Chrysostom's Encomium, PG 50, 571-576, but in iconography they are rarely represented, apart from Vatic, gr. 1613, p. 99 (execution).

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of Christ, they were indissociable in the army of this world, but also excellent soldiers of Christ.168 Their unity was perfect. When Bacchus was executed, Sergius wept in prison : Never again shall we chant, brother and companion in arms : Ecce quant bonum et quant jucundum, habitare fratres in unum..169 And so on... However, although some representations of Sergius and Bacchus together exist, for example in Vatic, gr. 1679, f. 48V,170 where they stand together in court dress, jointly holding a sword between them, their association is not de rigueur. Sometimes, Sergius is represented without Bacchus. As for the two Theodores, their association, once it began, was one of the closest of those between military saints. Too much should not be made of this, for, quite apart from the Stratelates having been, to all accounts, a late invention, hagiographers were not accustomed to associate them in their lifetime. On the other hand they did associate the Tiron with his relatives Eutropius, Cleonicus and Basiliscus. 171 Mavrodinova has assembled a dossier of the two Theodores together, sometimes praying as Orans, sometimes on horseback, placing an arm over each other's shoulders. These gestures merely signify their military camaraderie as Christians. 172 Two cases are, however, outstanding. One is in the church of Zrze, Macedonia, dated 1368/1369 (Figure 14). 173 Here the two Theodores are represented holding hands. The other is a late (19th century) icon, now in the Museum of Icons at Plovdiv (Bulgaria) (Figure 15). 174 Here the two Theodores are represented together on horseback, dressed in armour but carrying no weapons. The Tiron is represented older, with grey hair and beard. The Stratelates has brown hair and a beard. Their cheeks touch, and each has an arm around the other's shoulders. The horses, their respective mounts, exchange a friendly glancel In fact, generally speaking, the affective element in art of the Byzantine tradition is rarely evident to the modern Western eye, with a few outstanding exceptions, such as the iconography of the Forty Martyrs. A highly popular subject, the literature concerning it cannot be cited here in detail, nor can the numerous representations.175 The Forty Martyrs were, of course, warrior saints. Usually, but not invariably, they 168. Boswell, op. cit. (note 158), p. 366. 169. Ibidem, p. 372. 170. See above, note 68. Reproduced by Boswell, op. cit. (note 158), fig. 6. 171. See above, note 20. 172. Mavrodinova, art. cit. (note 6). 173. V. Djurio, Vizantijske freske u Jugoslaviji, Belgrade 1974, p. 85. 174. P. Toteva, Ikoni ot Plovdivski Kraj, Sofia 1975, n 78. 175. See particularly, A. Chatzinikolaou, Heilige, Lexikon zur byzantinischen Kunst, II (1971), 1059-1061 ; V.G. Kaster, Vierzig Mrtyrer von Sebaste, Lexikon zur christianischen Ikonographie 8, 550-553. More particularly, H. Maguire, Art and Eloquence in Byzantium, Princeton 1981, p. 34-42, pi. 18.

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were represented, naked apart from a loincloth, plunged in an icy lake. Variations in the details of this iconographical type were possible. They might support their sufferings stoically ; alternatively they might by their emotional attitude reveal the agony which they were undergoing. This iconographical category could be subdivided ; there exists a number of representations of their martyrdom, in which the dying soldiers offer each other mutual consolation. Among many possible examples, I cite an icon in the Museum of Mestia, Georgia, which has recently been published (Figure 16). 176 Here the martyrs are represented embracing and warmly consoling each other, during their agony in the icy lake. The affective significance of their gestures and embraces is surely clear. Conclusion The principal purpose of this study has been to provide the material for establishing the identity of an archetypal Warrior Saint, whose figure would play so important a role in Byzantine history and culture, by a close examination of the dossier of Saint Theodore, who reached eminence early and who, with a twin, has continued to be revered by the heirs of Byzantine tradition. The simplest definition of a warrior saint would be that he was a soldier in the Roman/Byzantine army, who underwent martyrdom rather than deny his Christian faith. In fact, most of those who are revered as such were considered to have perished under one or other of the more anti-Christian emperors, particularly under Diocletian. This was the fate of Theodore. However, some warrior saints, notably Demetrius and Procopius, were not at first revered as soldiers. Only later in their hagiographical career were they metamorphosed into army officers. Thus the right to be be included in the echelon of military saints could depend less on the terrestrial career of a holy person than on his action after being raised to the celestial sphere. It is evident that the Byzantines, a bellicose people who readily sought inspiration in the power struggles of the Israelites notably under king David, had no difficulty in accepting that a martyr, before his Passion, had committed himself to a military career without demurring. This was not the case in the West, where the Life of Martin of Tours, a onetime soldier, had to be rewritten. There he could hardly have been revered as a saint, if he had not publicly and ceremonially renounced his military commitment.177 In Byzantine tradition, on the contrary, it was the military condition on earth of a saint which made him particularly eligible, after his establishment by martyrdom in the celestial sphere, to intervene in specific ways in favour of clients in difficulty. He could be concerned 176. T. Velmans, Une icne au Muse de Mestia et le thme des Quarante Martyrs en Gorgie, Zograf 14, 1983, p. 49, fig. 12. 177. T. D. Barnes, The Military Career of Martin of Tours, An. Boll. 114, 1996, p. 2532.

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more particularly by the protection of his native town. This was the case of Theodore with Euchaita. However, military saints also intervened in other circumstances, notably in battle. Examples have been noted of yet other types of intervention, such as killing dragons, although this was not their unique privilege. As with most other saints, not necessarily military, the origin of Theodore's cult was related to the sanctuary where his relics were reputed to be preserved and where his icon, in military dress, was first painted and venerated. The spread of his cult again this was not peculiar to military saints was connected with the fraction and dispersion of his relics. As their cult developed, Theodore and other military saints became ever more associated with the maintenance of imperial power, although investiture of emperors was a privilege more often reserved to angels. Theodore, like the others, was not necessarily represented as a warrior. Often these saints wore court dress and held the cross of martyrdom in their right hand. However, Theodore, more than most, was represented in military dress, particularly from the eleventh century. For this, Cappadocia provides an abundant documentation. The emergence of a twin, in his case the Stratelates, probably towards the end of the ninth century, was, if not exclusively a phenomenon of military iconography, at least more frequent with soldiers than with other saints. It can be explained satisfactorily, it seems, as a reflection of the camaraderie universal in military circles. A final negative point may be made : neither of the Theodores, apparently, inspired the production of . It is clear that from the tenth century an echelon of military saints was securely established in Byzantine hagiography. They have their place on ivories and, more and more, in church decoration. An easy explanation would be that Byzantine society, threatened so severely from without, felt increasingly the need for their protection. Their introduction into court ceremonial is witnessed by the passage in the De officia of the Pseudo-Codinus, in which it is said that icons were carried not only of the archangel but also of Demetrius, Procopius, George and the Theodores ().178 They were the principal members, of course, of what Delehaye called the quartier gnral of the military saints. In late Byzantine art, they become increasingly numerous. Reference to all the series, many well-documented, of their portraits would be both lengthy and invidious. I will limit myself to two examples, both admirably presented : that at Decani,179 where figure fifteen warrior saints, and that in the parecclsion of the Kariye Cami, with fourteen warrior saints (not all the same in each church).180 Here we are a long hark from the fourth-century sanctuary at Euchaita, where Gregory of Nyssa would have delivered his Encomium. Yet it was there that the first 178. Pseudo-Kodinos, Trait des offices, edited J. Verpeaux, Paris 1966, p. 196. 179. Markovk, art. cit. (note 5). 180. P.A. Underwood, The Kariye Djami III, New York 1966, n 142-178.

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Christian Hercules, as P. Carolidis called him, began to make his impact on Byzantine culture, he who was the personification of a great Kulturkampf not only of the Christian faith against the heathen world but also of human culture against evil in nature.181 Addendum. This article was already finished when an exhibition was held at the Muse national du Moyen ge, Thermes de Cluny, Paris from February 9th to May 3rd, entitled Trsors de Macdoine. The objects exhi bited included a number of the terra cotta plaques found near Vinica in the course of excavations begun in 1985. One of them, described in the text, p. 173, Saint Theodore killing a dragon (figure 3), was exhibited, catalogue n 2, on this occasion for the first time in Paris. Christopher Walter 10 avenue de la Rpublique 94300 Vincennes

Source of illustrations (credit lines) : 1. Benaki Museum, Athens ; 2. J. Zakos ; 3. K. Balabanov, op. cit. (note 42) ; 4. Personal ; 5. Todic, op. cit. (note 59) ; 6. Drawing by Pamela Armstrong ; 7. S. Der Nersessian, op. cit. (note 79) ; 8. Stornajolo & De' Cavalieri, op. cit. (note 79) ; 9. Exhibition catalogue (note 86) ; 10. Thierry, art. cit. (note 88) ; 11. De Jerphanion, op. cit. (note 89) ; 12. Thierry, art. cit. (note 92) ; 13. Personal ; 14. Personal ; 15. Toteva, op. cit. (note 174) ; 16. Velmans, art. cit. (note 176).

181. P. Carolidis, Bemerkungen zu den alten kleinasiatischen Sprachen und Mythen, Strasburg 1913, p. 148. One must limit oneself. Consequently I have remained, fairly strictly, within the Byzantine tradition. Outside, the cult of Saint(s) Theodore, if attested abundantly in iconography, has, nevertheless, yet to be thoroughly explored. Meanwhile, the following studies can be consulted : A. Mirzoyan, Les reprsentations des saints militaires dans le manuscrit n 6305 du Matenadaran, Revue des tudes armniennes, N.S. 20, 1986-1989, p. 441-445 ; G.E. Manova, Representations of Saintly Warriors in Medieval Bulgaria and Their Relationship with Similar Saints in Georgia (in Bulgarian), Atti del primo simposio iinternazionale sull'arte georgiana, Milan 1977, p. 183-198 ; T. Velmans & A. Alpago Novello, Miroir de l'invisible. Peintures murales et architecture de la Gorgie (VF-XVe sicle), Milan 1996, p. 113-118.

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Figure I. Intaglio, Solomon spearing demon. Benaki Museum.

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Figure 2. Seals with military saint. Zacos collection.

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Figure 3. Terra cotta from Vinica, Theodore and dragon. Museum, Skopje.

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Figure 4. Fresco, Martyrdom of Nestor. Staro Nagoricino.

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Figure 4a. Detail of Figure 4. Demetrius protecting Thessaloniki.

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Figure 5. Fresco, George investing Milutin. Staro Nagoricino.

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Figure 6. Miniatures, Mercurius kills Julian the Apostate ; Valens as an Arian. Athos Panteleimon, cod. 6, f. 242v.

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Figure 7. Miniature, Scourging of Theodore Stratelates. British Library, Additional 19.342, f. 39v.

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Figure 8. Miniature, Theodore Stratelates. Vatican graec. 1613,

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Figure 9. Capitals from Aqaba, Theodore & Longinus. Museum, Amman.

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Figure 10. Fresco, Theodore & George. Cappadocia, Mavrucan 3.

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Figure 11. Fresco, Theodore and dragon. Cappadocia, Greme 28.

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Figure 12. Fresco, Theodore & George as martyrs. Cappadocia, Aikel Aga kilisesi.

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Figure 13. Mosaic, Theodore Tiron. Hosios Loukas.

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Figure 14. Fresco, the Two Theodores. Zrze (Macedonia).

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Figure 15. Icon from Momcilovci, the Two Theodores. Icon Museum, Plovdiv.

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Figure 16. Icon, Forty Martyrs (detail). Museum, Mestia (Georgia).

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