This is the most mysterious of all the saints, and with his image of the icon is still in disgrace at the church. They portrayed St. Christopher with a dog head.
"This iconographic image of St. Christopher Pseglavetsa long had a place in the Orthodox church, and only at the Moscow Cathedral in 1667 was banned. Old Believer church still revered saints, was portrayed with a dog's head. The icon of St. Christopher with pesey head can be seen in Moscow Old Believer church of the Intercession, Kremlin, Moscow (Cathedral of the Archangel) in the Tretyakov Gallery.
The Holy Martyr Christopher. Old Believer icon
After the ban in 1722 Synod "strange and terrible" pictures of Christopher with pesey head, a plurality of icons and wall paintings have been fixed. With the restoration of frescoes of the cathedral from the human face eclipsed the original contours of the recorded dog's head.
It may seem to some blasphemy. But the Greeks, creating these icons, and did not think to desecrate sacred feelings. It is these people described the holy Apostle Andrew after his missionary journey through the lands of what is now the Pakistani-Iranian border.
About the Life of this extraordinary saint with a dog's head, you can find many references in the literature of the church. According to them, St. Christopher on the view was so fierce that the Roman Emperor Decius, who ruled in the 250s, the first time he saw him, for fear fell from his throne. George Alexander, a Greek writer, collecting the facts of the life of St. Andrew, of which he wrote the book "The Cross brought again in the ice", found many mentions of kinotsefalah, the tribe to which could belong to St. Christopher.
As says the writer, the Apostle Andrew visited the north-east Pakistan. There he met people with unusual and even terrifying appearance. On these same tribes mentioned and traveler Marco Polo. This he called them kinotsefalami. Describing these creatures, he said that they look like a mastiff dog breed. Frightening appearance, they allegedly sought that have ripped their cheeks, sharpened teeth and ears. Babies they tied up the skull so that they attain the elongated shape. And all this in order to intimidate enemies.
There are different versions as to Christopher pesey head became a saint. Here's what the legend says. During the reign of Emperor Trajan Decius, he was a warrior and brigand of gigantic stature, terrified the whole of Palestine. Christopher said that agree to serve him who scarier and more powerful than him. Then he realized that in the world there is no one more terrible than the devil, and he decided to bow. However, after learning that the devil is afraid of Jesus and runs on the sign of the cross, he left it and became a zealous servant of God, converted to Christianity multitudes.
According to another version of the same giant Christopher agreed to move across the river Christ and surprised its severity,
Hieronymus Bosch, "St. Christopher ", 1504-05, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
and he said that he bears the brunt of the world. What persuaded Christopher that the mighty Christ there is no one in the world!
Then Jesus was baptized in the river Repreva, and he got his new name - Christopher, "bearing Christ".
Then baby said to Christopher that he can stick in the ground branch. This branch miraculously grown into fruit-bearing tree. This miracle converted to the faith of many.
Coins with the face of St. Christopher minted in Wurzburg, Württemberg and in the Czech Republic. The statue of Christopher often staged at the entrances to the church and houses, and often the bridge. Often they are accompanied by inscriptions: "Who today looks at the image of St. Christopher, now that will not get any sudden fainting and falling." In the Cologne Cathedral is a statue of St. Christopher, which, according to popular belief, protects peeking at her from sudden death.
Trying to baptize people Lycia, Christopher met fierce resistance and killed. Church honors him as a martyr. However, in 1722 the Holy Synod decided not to draw with St. Christopher pesey head ...
However, the agreement on the place of birth of St. Christopher among historians, both ancient and current, no.
The medieval chronicler Paul the Deacon wrote that the Germanic tribe of the Lombards, which is famous by the first crusade, had friendly relations with kinotsefalami. Why dog-scared? They say that by killing, they greedily cling to wounds enemies and drank the blood.
Researcher Adam of Bremen poses a tradition that kinotsefaly - children of the Amazons, the fathers were some unknown monster that lived in the North. About them there were many legends, some of which the poet Nizami told in the poem "Iskander-name".
It states that the tribes of the Rus, who fought with the army of Alexander the Great, was released in battle monster that comes off the enemy soldiers heads and hands, and even war elephants to chop off the trunk. Monster, according to Nizami, was no different from the usual tall man. Of the total weight of its allocated only horn on the forehead and enormous strength. Homeland monsters Nizami calls mountains on the way to eternal darkness - the polar night. It is possible that it is a modern Ural Mountains.
North of Russia up to the XVIII century was the preserve of creatures known to the rest of the world only in legends and myths. Nikolai Karamzin mentioned, though the mysterious mountains on the ocean liked to talk in Moscow in the XVI century. And among the inhabitants of the North Polar Muscovites mentioned people with dog heads. Yes and traveler Gerberstein left their testimony in Russian dorozhniki XVII century, wrote that in the upper reaches of the Ob lived people with dog heads.
In the twentieth century the river Ob mentioned by the French philosopher Rene Guenon. Moreover, witnesses who saw pseglavtsev, called their inhabitants highlands. But these edges are considered and habitat Bigfoot. However, describing him, saying that he looks more like a monkey and, in particular, on the baboon. Meanwhile baboons in Egypt called kinotsefalami ie pseglavtsami, because of the similarity of their heads with the heads of large dogs. So therefore, the tribe, from which came the St. Christopher, could be a tribe of yetis?
In Christianity, the day honoring Christopher Pseglavtsa - July 25 - the day "out of time" on the Mayan calendar, the day of transition from one time period to another, the beginning of the New Year, in fact, - Gate Transition. In Egypt, the custodian of such transitions is Anubis Gate
Perhaps the image of St. Christopher, as he is portrayed in the Eastern tradition, linked some mystery and misunderstanding. In Russia, the name Christopher is extremely rare, and the writing of a large number of its icons explicitly associated with the name (Catholic iconography emphasis on behalf of the "Hristonosets"). Hristonosets - is carrying Christ in his heart, not on the shoulders, outside. That is the very image of St. Christopher touches the human heart. After all, he was not only a Christian martyr, and he suffered while still pagan. Even the king fell at the unusual sight of him. Christopher was an outcast among people of normal form. Perhaps this is why the saint is especially close to those who are deprived something, to fit into this life, have some physical disability or deformity. The Lord Himself says: "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment" (Jn. 7:24).
In any case you should familiarize yourself with scenes from his life and deeds of the holy Martyr Christopher.
