Lazarus Zographos

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Saint

Lazarus the Iconographer
Λάζαρος Ζωγράφος
23 February (Roman Catholic)
17 November (Orthodox Church)
ControversyOpposed Iconoclasm

Lazarus (Greek: Λάζαρος), surnamed Zographos (Ζωγράφος, "the Painter"), is a 9th-century Byzantine Christian saint.[1] He is also known as Lazarus the Painter and Lazarus the Iconographer. Born in Armenia on November 17, 810, he lived before and during the second period of Byzantine Iconoclasm.[2] Lazarus was the first saint to be canonized specifically as an iconographer. He was later followed by Saint Catherine of Bologna.

Life and times

Lazarus became a

iconodules). However, Lazarus being a man of the cloth, could not be put to death and so he was instead thrown in prison. During his imprisonment he was subjected to such "severe torture that the ladders flesh melted away along with his blood."[9] He was left to die of his wounds but recovered. He then began to paint holy images on panels from his prison cell. Hearing of this, Theophilos gave orders to have "sheets of red hot iron to be applied to the palms of his hands where, as a result, he lost consciousness and lay half dead."[9]
It is also said his hands were burned with red-hot horseshoes until his flesh melted to the bone.

As Lazarus lay on his deathbed, the

Bosporus.[9] The Church is believed to have once functioned as an imperial monastery that housed as many as one-hundred and seventy monks.[10] After the death of Theophilos in 842, Theodora asked Lazarus to forgive her husband's actions, to which he replied "God is not so unjust, O, Empress, as to forget our love and labors on his behalf, and attach greater value to that mans hatred and extraordinary insanity."[9] Lazarus served as a model of perseverance for those who had suffered from iconoclast persecution.[11]

Attributed artworks

After the

Chalke Gate, a ceremonial entrance of the Great Palace of Constantinople.[9] Neither of these two works survive today. Lazarus was also accredited with the mosaic decoration of the apse of Hagia Sophia within the pilgrim accounts of Antony, Archbishop of Novgorod during a visit to Constantinople. Antony described the mosaic as depicting the Mother of God holding a Child Christ flanked by two angels, which was noted to have been seen by both Emperor Basil l and Michael III (r. 842–867) before his death the same year. However, these accounts are dated several centuries later in c. 1200.[14]

Ambassador to Rome

In 856, Lazarus was served as a diplomat for Michael III, Theophilos and Theodora's son, who sent him as an emissary to visit Pope Benedict III to discuss the possibility of reconciliation between the Catholic Church of Rome and the Orthodox Church, who at this point had very strained relations.[3][15] In 865, during his second mission to the Pope, Lazarus died at Rome on 28 September, although Raymond Janin disputes the date.[3][16] He was buried in the Monastery of Evanderes, near Constantinople.[5]

The

Roman Catholic calendar.[17]

References

  1. ^ Ramsgate, St Augustine's Abbey. The Book of Saints: A Dictionary of Servants of God Canonized. NP: Adam and Charles Black, 1966
  2. ^ Bigham, Steven. "Chapter 3." In Heroes of the Icon: People, Places, Events, 87-89. Torrance: Oakwood, 1998. 87-90.
  3. ^
    ISBN 0-19-504652-8
    .
  4. ^ O'Connell, Monique, Olenka Z. Pevny, and Alice-Mary Talbot. "Perceptions of Byzantium and Its Neighbors (843-1261)." Sixteenth Century Journal 33, no. 4 (2002): 24-25.
  5. ^ a b Bigham, p.88
  6. ^ Athanassiadis, Antony, trans. Synaxarion of Saint Nicodemus the Hagiorite. Vol. 2. Athens, 1868. 125-126.
  7. ^ O'Connell, p.25
  8. ^ Mango, Cyril. The Art of the Byzantine Empire: 312-1453: Sources and Documents. Englewood Cliffs New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1972. 158-60.
  9. ^ a b c d e Mango, p.159
  10. ^ Jordan, Robert, trans."30. Phoberos : Rule of John for the Monastery." In Byzantine Monastic Foundation Documents: A Complete Translation of the Surviving Founders' "Typika" and Testaments, Vol. 35. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks, 2000, 872-79.
  11. ^ Brubaker, Leslie. The artisanal production of second Iconoclasm (815-843) In: Monastères, images, pouvoirs et société à Byzance. Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 2006, 135-152
  12. ^ O'Connell, p. 24
  13. ^ Mango, p. 159
  14. ^ Mango, Cyril, and Ernest J. W. Hawkins. "The Apse Mosaics of St. Sophia at Istanbul. Report on Work Carried out in 1964." Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 1964, 142.
  15. ^ Bigham, p. 87
  16. ^ Athanassiadis, p.126
  17. ^ Ramsgate, p.226
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lazarus_Zographos&oldid=1192365583"