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Lives and iconography of saints of Veria

• Παπαζώτος, Θανάσης

The list of the local saints of Veria is not a long one. The only saint of the early Christian period which this important city of late antiquity can claim is Ayia Jerusalem, with her children Secundus, Secendicus and Kegoros. The cult and memory of the saint, and the manuscript tradition of her life have only just survived to the present day. The church dedicated to her name is mentioned as being in a ruined condition at the beginning of the present century, and her life is known from a 17th century manuscript. The earliest known portrayal of her is in the narthex of the church of the Ayioi Anargyroi at Kastoria (12th cent.). She is found for the first time in Veria in the wall paintings of the Old Metropolis (1215/16-1224/25), and later in the wall paintings of Ayios Nikolaos (Ayios Spyridonas, 1617) and Ayios Andreas in the parish of the Kyriotissa (1720). A portable icon of the saint (14th cent.) from Veria, now kept in the Byzantine Museum in Athens, is of importance from an iconographie point of view.By contrast, Hosios Antonios ό διά Χριστόν σαλός, who was from Veria, as we learn from a portrayal of him in the wall paintings of the Old Cathedral, is now the patron saint of the city. Despite the obscurity shrouding his life, it is probable that the saint lived in the 10th century, surviving. at the latest until the early 11th century. Although he is portrayed as a hermit in the wall painting of the Old Cathedral, the following representation of him, in an icon of the end of the 14th century, now on display in the White Tower in Thessaloniki, depicts him as a monk. The traditional iconographie attributes associated with the figure of Antonios the hermit have been forgotten, and the icon presents him in a new iconographie type, which borrows elements from his fellow saint of the same name, Antonios the Great. The reasons for this change are unknown. The new iconographie type also became predominant in Veria, as it can be seen from portrayals of the saint in the church of Ayia Anna (c. 1500), the church of Ayios Dimitrios at Palatitsia (1569) and, finally, the church of the Panayia Paliophoritissa or Pantanassa (1730) in Veria.

• History and Archaeology

• Αρχαιολογία
• Arts and religion

Το άρθρο περιέχεται στο τεύχος: Μέρος Α'-Μελέτες