Christophorus

Orthodox Remembrance Day: 9 May, 9 November

Catholic Remembrance Day: July 25

Name means: the Christ bearer (Greek)

Martyrs, emergency helpers

Attributes: Giant with staff, child on his shoulders, walking through water

Patron: sailors, soldiers, pilgrims, travelers, drivers, chauffeurs, goldsmiths, treasure diggers, fruit merchants, gardeners, athletes, doctors and against disease, mountain roads, children, against plague, epidemics, epilepsy, unexpected death, hail, eye ailments, blindness, toothache, wounds, against fire and water hazards, drought, storm, storm

* in Canaan or in Lycia in today’s Turkey

† around 250 in Lycia in present-day Turkey

Antike original russische Ikone aus dem 19. Jahrhundert.

Beschreibung

There are many legends surrounding the life of Christopher, whose historical existence is secured by early testimonies of the veneration and consecration of a church in Chalcedon in 454. He first became a soldier and then moved through Lycia as a missionary until he was executed as a martyr. According to this older legend, Christophorus had miraculously received baptism and now went through the lands teaching and preaching. Christophorus is often depicted in Western Church iconography as a giant with a staff carrying the Baby Jesus on his shoulders across a river. He is one of the fourteen emergency helpers and is particularly known today as the patron saint of travelers. The Eastern Church tradition represents Christophoros in literal interpretation as Kynokephalen (“dog-headed”).

Joachim Schäfer: Article Christophorus, from the Ecumenical Dictionary of Saints: https://www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienC/Christophorus.htm

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