Christophorus

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Saint Christopher. Right part of the winged altar The Pearl of Brabant Master of the Pearl of Brabant , (1467–1468)

Christophorus ( Latinized ) or Greek Christophoros ( ancient Greek Χριστόφορος “Christ the bearer ”, from Χριστός Christόs and φέρειν phérein “wear”) is worshiped in the Roman Catholic and Old Catholic Churches , the Orthodox Churches and parts of the Anglican community as martyrs and saints . Christophorus is also mentioned in the Evangelical Name Calendar . A historical person behind the figure of the saint is not tangible.

Christophorus is often depicted in western church iconography as a giant with a staff who carries the baby Jesus on his shoulders across a river. He is one of the fourteen helpers in need and is particularly well known today as the patron saint of travelers. The Eastern Church tradition represents Christophoros in the literal interpretation of the legendary tradition that is common there as Kynokephalen ("dog-headed").

historicity

The figure of Christophorus was already controversial in the late medieval church: several local synods had banned the cult of Christophorus and Pope Pius II had expressed doubts. The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Order of the Sacraments came to the conclusion in 1969 when revising the Calendarium Romanum Generale , the worldwide framework for the liturgical calendar according to the Roman rite , that there were "hardly any historical facts" about St. Christopher, like the medievalist Horst Fuhrmann summarized. It was therefore deleted from the Calendarium Romanum Generale , but the festival was not included in the Martyrologium Romanum and some of its own calendars. Correspondingly, there is an assessment of the life and death of St. Christopher in the Roman Catholic Church's book of hours that he was "no longer historically comprehensible", perhaps he suffered martyrdom around 250 in Lycia , a coastal region of today's south-west Turkey.

According to an inscription published in 1877, which was found in the ruins of a church near Kadıköy in Haidar Pasha, on September 22, 452, in the ancient city of Chalcedon , site of the council of 451 , a church called Martyrion “of St. Christopher "( Τοῦ Ἁγίου Χριστοφόρου ) consecrated:

“With God the foundation stone for the martyrdom of St. Christopher was laid in the third indiction in May under the consulate of the illustrious Protogenes and Asturius under the emperor Theodosius and Bishop Eulalius of Chalcedon. But it was built by the venerable eunuch Euphemidus, and the inauguration took place at the end of the fifth indiction in September, on the 22nd, under the consulate of the illustrious Sporacius and Herculanus. "

It documents the veneration of a martyr named Christophorus for the middle of the 5th century. This is why the Middle Latin Joseph Szövérffy saw Christophorus "deleted from the calendar of saints due to a misunderstanding of the situation". The ancient historian David Woods even takes the view that behind the Eastern version of the legend there is a concrete historical person who served as a member of the Cohors tertia Valeria Marmaritarum mentioned in the Notitia dignitatum , who was converted to Christianity by Petros I of Alexandria and probably because of that I suffered martyrdom in 308 under Maximinus Daia in Antioch on the Orontes . For the church historian Maria-Barbara von Stritzky , the inscription proves the historicity of martyrdom. In contrast, the medievalist Peter Dinzelbacher assumes that Christophorus owes his existence “probably to a personification of an honorary title for martyrs, precisely“ Christ bearers ””. In the Evangelical Church Lexicon he is called "legendary".

Legendary tradition

Christophoros as a dog-headed man (Christophorus cynocephalus). Russian icon from the 2nd half of the 17th century, Rostov Kremlin Museum

Various legends that date back to the 5th century and that split into an eastern and a western branch developed about Christophorus. The Eastern legend tradition is in a manuscript from the 8th century and contains the following elements: The dog-headed (kynocephalic) ogre Reprobus ("the loggerhead, the bad one") received the human language and the name Christophoros at baptism. He evangelized in Lycia , performed, among other things, the miracle of the greening staff and was beheaded after torture by a king Dagnus, who in western tradition was equated with the Roman emperor Decius , who ruled from 249 to 251 . His relics are said to have miraculous powers and his worshipers are given protection from storms and demons. The origin of these legend motifs is unclear; A material from the Gnostic Acts of Bartholomew , a reference to Herodotus or a Christian adaptation of the Egyptian deity Anubis are proposed .

In the 6th century, the Christophorus tradition came to the West via Italy and Spain, and the dog-headed beast became a giant. In the 10th century, Walther von Speyer interpreted genus canineorum ("from the dog sex ") to Cananeus , which means " Canaanite origin". The Legenda aurea gave the figure of Christophorus the features of an ideal knight: Christophorus, initially called Reprobus or Offerus, wants to serve the most powerful lord. This is linked to the well-known material of the giant who carries the Christ child across a river: Offerus did not find a ruler whose power was not somehow limited. After a long and in vain search, a pious hermit advised him that he should only serve God, because only God's power is unlimited. In order to be able to serve God, Offerus should recognize his towering figure as God's will and carry travelers across a river as a ferryman . From then on, Offerus performed this service at a deep ford . One day he took a child on his shoulder to carry it across the river. At first the child was very light, but the deeper Offerus went into the ford, the heavier it seemed to get. In the middle of the stream, Offerus feared that he would drown. On the other bank he said to the child: “You… were so heavy on my shoulders: if I had had all this world on me, it would not have been more difficult.” The child replied: “You shouldn't be surprised, Christophore; you not only carried all the world on your shoulders, but also the one who created the world. Because know that I am Christ, your King, whom you serve with this work. ”This legend has its origin in the southern Alps.

According to some authors, the Eastern Church depiction of Christophorus with the head of a canine indicates an influence of the ancient Egyptian cult of Anubis . Other authors point out that the description of the cynocephalic as dog-headed, cannibals and worse corresponded much more to how the member of the Roman Empire who wrote the legend felt the North African region of Marmarica , in which the tribe of the Marmaritae lived, Christophorus should have heard.

iconography

Larger-than-life representation of Christophorus (1498) by Simon von Taisten on the outer wall of St. Georg, Taisten

According to Fuhrmann, the iconographic type of Christophorus emerged in the west in the 12th century. The saint has the shape of a giant leaning on a stick or a tree trunk. He carries Christ across a river. In the 12th century, Christ is still represented as an adult, from the 13th century onwards, the Christ child is almost exclusively found.

Since the invocation of the saint was supposed to protect against sudden death, images of Christophorus were attached to numerous churches, towers and gates. A special feature are the Romanesque Christophori on the outer wall, visible from afar on Wegkirchen. The oldest larger-than-life picture of Christophorus known to date is a picture on the outer wall next to the entrance to the chapel of the Tyrolean Hocheppan Castle in the Adige Valley, created between 1150 and 1180.

Adoration

Saint Christopher carries the baby Jesus, altar panel by Hieronymus Bosch , around 1496–1505

In the Martyrologium Romanum , the memory of the holy martyr Christopher is assigned to July 25th.

According to Fuhrmann, the figure of Christophorus was attached to a “novel-like legend”, which over time “acquired ever more colorful features”. In the 12th century, Christophorus then assumed the role of “keeper from a terrible death”. There had been apotropaic practices before that were supposed to prevent a bad end - a sudden end without preparation for death and the reception of the sacraments - and direct it towards a good end. Since the mere sight of his picture should protect against sudden death, in many churches oversized Christophorus figures were painted on the inside or outside in easily visible places. The "image cult seeking help" (Fuhrmann) spread so widely in the 15th century that criticism arose from theological and also the church side. Nikolaus von Kues and the Tübingen theologian Gabriel Biel were clearly negative here. The most energetic attack on Christophorus worship came from Erasmus of Rotterdam . In his handbook of the Christian warrior , he criticized the fact that the believers did not turn to Christ alone, but looked for "their own gods" and described Christophorus as "the first of these idols". Hans Holbein the Elder J. provided a copy of Erasmus' In Praise of Folly with marginal drawings, including a caricature entitled "Superstitious Adoration of Images". There you can see a large panel of Saint Christopher, attached to a ruined wall, who is approached by a fool with a bell cap and stick.

Bottom left: “Superstitious admiration of images”, margin drawing (1515) by Hans Holbein the Elder. J. in praise of the folly of Erasmus of Rotterdam

Erasmus' criticism of "meaningless invocation of saints" (Fuhrmann) was taken up by the Reformation . The reformer Andreas Bodenstein is considered to be one of the first to call for an assault on all images of saints and to fight the veneration of Christophorus; In his writing On the Abolition of Images, he referred to portraits of Christ as " oil idols ". Huldrych Zwingli explained the reasons for his rejection in particular of the veneration of St. Christopher as a helper in need in 1525 in a pamphlet answer given to Valentin Compar . This Swiss land scribe (2nd half of the 15th century - after 1532) had defended the Catholic faith against Zwingli in an extensive apologetic book and counted St. Christopher among the helpers in need, whose intercession with God made something. In a sermon in Augsburg Cathedral, the reformer Martin Bucer defended the “abomination” of images of saints and recommended that the same procedure be followed with two images of St.

Martin Luther repeatedly referred to the cult of Christophorus, like other cults of saints, as "superstitious"; he called the legends of Christophorus and others "lies". In contrast to his friend Bodenstein and zu Zwingli, Luther nevertheless tried to make use of the legend in the service of his reformatory efforts and dealt extensively in individual sermons with the figure of the saint, who, according to Johann Anselm Steiger, he “is an almost prototypical symbol of every Christian “Put down. Among other things, in a sermon on the feast of the saint, he interpreted his life as a moral allegory of Christian life, an interpretation that Billicanus later followed.

Fuhrmann writes about the veneration of St. Christopher in the present: "The revival of the cult around Saint Christopher in our century is more a modernist alienation than a connection to the supplication of the late Middle Ages." . Today, the saint is primarily considered the patron saint of vehicles, while in the past he was a saint against a "bad", that is, sudden death without means of grace (mala mors) . Even a pious look at a picture of St. Christopher (such as the one painted by Konrad Gümplein in Würzburg's Marienkapelle in 1460 ) should save the viewer from sudden death for this day. In the sense of the official church, such a turn to Christophorus is superstition in the present; the consolation of Christophorus, if one understands him in this way, has "not the blessing of the church."

With reference to the legend that he carried the baby Jesus across the river, St. Christopher is known as the patron saint of travelers, vehicle drivers and their means of transport, also on water and in the air. As an emergency helper, he is called upon above all against a sudden, i.e. accidental death, against the plague , for rescue from great danger and against drought, storms and hailstorms. In the Eastern Churches he is called upon to combat illness and is therefore also the patron saint of doctors. In addition, he is considered the patron saint of archers, seafarers, raftsmen, bookbinders, bleachers, porters, street guards and, also based on legendary tradition, that he fed starving people in times of drought, also as the patron saint of fruit and vegetable traders. The saint is also the patron saint of the island of Rab (in Croatia ), the cities of Braunschweig , Hildesheim , Stuttgart , Werne and Würzburg (in Germany ) and of Vilnius ( Lithuania ).

Numerous churches are consecrated to St. Christopher (see the list of church patrons in the Christophoruskirche ).

Other name usage :

Remembrance day

regional customs

The customs associated with the saint include carrying a St. Christopher medal or plaque or another image in the vehicle or wearing such a medal on a necklace. The Benedictional the Roman Catholic Church has the liturgical blessing of Christopher image or -badge. In Catholic and Orthodox parishes, vehicles are also blessed in a devotional ceremony on the day of the saint's remembrance . In July 1928, the first vehicle blessing took place in Austria in St. Christophen in the Vienna Woods ( Lower Austria ). Since then, the place has been known as the “pilgrimage site of Austria's drivers”. Every year in July, the place is the destination of the "pilgrimage of road users" (also known as the "pilgrimage for drivers").

Representation of St. Christopher by a stilt walker at the Ducasse d'Ath

In processions in the Middle Ages and in the early modern period, performers of St. Christophorus on stilts with. This tradition was revived in 1976 in French-speaking Belgium in Flobecq and at the Ducasse d'Ath city ​​festival .

Artistic reception

Josef Gabriel Rheinberger composed an oratorio with the title Christoforus (op.120), which was premiered in the great hall of the booksellers' exchange in Leipzig in 1882 .

In 1920 the tradition was brought to the stage as Christofer - A Big and Beautiful Legend Play by the poet Dietzenschmidt in Königsberg .

In Michel Tournier 's 1970 novel Der Erlkönig , the Christophorus theme of the giant carrying a child is used in a central and ambiguous manner.

Picture gallery

literature

Web links

Commons : Christophorus  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Peter Dinzelbacher: False saints. In: Hannes Etzlstorfer, Willibald Katzinger , Wolfgang Winkler: Echt-Falsch: Does the world want to be cheated? Kremayr and Scheriau, Vienna 2003, p. 273 f.
  2. ↑ See Norme generali sull'anno liturgico e sul calendario. Commento a cura del "Consilium". Opera della Regalità di NSGC, Milan 1969, p. 65. Horst Fuhrmann: Pictures for a good death (= Bavarian Academy of Sciences. Philosophical-historical class, session reports, 1997. Issue 3). Beck, Munich 1997, p. 14, reports on the work of the congregation as follows: “The crucial point is the question of historicity. The norm generali sull'anno liturgico e sul calendario. Commento a cura del "Consilium". Milan 1969, 65 have made a “giudizio storico” based on the “scienza agiografica” a condition for the continued existence of a number of saints in the calendar: “Infatti i cristiani del nostro tempo vogliono, ed è giusto, che la loro devozione verso i Santi sia saldamente appoggiata alla verità storica ”. Christophorus, along with saints like Susanna, Trifo, Bacchus and Apuleius, Katharina and Barbara, is included among those "che presentano gravi difficoltà storiche" and who have therefore been deleted from the calendar. "
  3. ↑ Calendarium Romanum ex decreto sacrosancti oecumenici concilii Vaticani II instauratum auctoritate Pauli pp. VI promulgatum. Typis polyglottis Vaticanis, Rome 1969, p. 131 ( digitized version ).
  4. ^ German Bishops 'Conference, Berlin Bishops' Conference, Austrian Bishops 'Conference, Swiss Bishops' Conference, the Bishops of Luxembourg, Bozen-Brixen, Liège, Metz and Strasbourg (ed.): Book of hours. The celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours. Volume 3: In the annual cycle. Herder, Freiburg i. Br. 1978, p. 835.
  5. ↑ On the inscription: Louis Duchesne : Inscription chrétienne de Bithynie. In: Bulletin de correspondance hellénique . Volume 2, 1878, pp. 289-299 ( digitized version ); Carl Maria Kaufmann : Handbook of early Christian epigraphy. Herder, Freiburg i. Br. 1917, p. 391 f. ( Digitized version ).
  6. ^ Translation by Carl Maria Kaufmann: Handbuch der Altenchristlichen Epigraphik. Herder, Freiburg i. Br. 1917, p. 392.
  7. ↑ Joseph Szövérffy: Christopher. In: Robert-Henri Bautier et al. (Ed.): Lexicon of the Middle Ages . Volume 2. Artemis - & - Winkler, Munich 1983, Sp. 1938–1940, here Sp. 1939.
  8. ^ David Woods: St. Christopher, Bishop Peter of Attalia, and the Cohors Marmaritarum: A Fresh Examination. In: Vigiliae Christianae. Volume 48, 1994, pp. 170–186 (there on dating pp. 176–178; p. 177: “… the sequence of events described by the Acta of Christopher could only have taken place in the fourth year of the reign of Maximinus ... "); the same: The Origin of the Cult of St. George. In: D. Vincent Twomey, Mark Humphries (Eds.): The Great Persecution. The Proceedings of the Fifth Patristic Conference, Maynooth, 2003. Four Courts Press, Dublin 2009, pp. 141-158, esp. 146-147 ( online ).
  9. ↑ a b c d e Maria-Barbara von Stritzky: Christophorus, hl. In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 2 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1994, Sp. 1174-1176 .
  10. ↑ Evangelical Church Lexicon. Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 1986, vol. 4, col. 114.
  11. ^ Friedericke Werner: Christophorus. In: Wolfgang Braunfels (Ed.): Lexicon of Christian Iconography . Volume 5. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1973, columns 496–508, here column 497.
  12. ↑ Herodotus 4,191.
  13. ↑ Quotations from Richard Benz : The Legenda aurea des Jakobus de Voragine. Translated from Latin by Richard Benz. 4th edition. Lambert Schneider Verlag, Heidelberg 1925, p. 540.
  14. ↑ Pierre Saintyves: Saint Christophe: Successeur d'Anubis, d'Hermès et d'Heracle . Les Édition Émile Nourry, Paris 1936. Online at gallica.bnf.fr, accessed on August 6, 2013 (French).
  15. ↑ Marion Michaela Steinicke: Apocalyptic hosts and servants of God . Dissertation, Berlin 2010. Therein: III. The submission of the wonderful peoples I. The Christophorus legend: an exemplary conversion , pp. 53, 55. Online at diss.fu-berlin.de, accessed on August 6, 2013.
  16. ^ David Woods: The Origin of the Cult of St. Christopher , Cork University, 1999.
  17. ↑ Horst Fuhrmann: Pictures for a good death (= Bavarian Academy of Sciences & nbsp. Philosophical-historical class, session reports, 1997. Issue 3). Beck, Munich 1997, p. 15.
  18. ↑ Horst Fuhrmann: Pictures for a good death (= Bavarian Academy of Sciences. Philosophical-historical class, session reports, 1997. Issue 3). Beck, Munich 1997, p. 17.
  19. ↑ Martyrology. Renewed by decision of the Most Holy Ecumenical Second Vatican Council and published under the authority of Pope John Paul II. Editio Altera (2nd edition), 2004.
  20. ↑ Horst Fuhrmann: Pictures for a good death (= Bavarian Academy of Sciences & nbsp. Philosophical-historical class, session reports, 1997. Issue 3). Beck, Munich 1997, p. 14.
  21. ↑ Horst Fuhrmann: Pictures for a good death (= Bavarian Academy of Sciences & nbsp. Philosophical-historical class, session reports, 1997. Issue 3). Beck, Munich 1997, p. 15 f.
  22. ↑ Horst Fuhrmann: The Middle Ages are everywhere. From the present of a past time. Beck, Munich 1996, p. 217.
  23. ↑ Paraphrase after Horst Fuhrmann: There is the Middle Ages everywhere. From the present of a past time. Beck, Munich 1996, p. 218.
  24. ↑ Horst Fuhrmann: The Middle Ages are everywhere. From the present of a past time. Beck, Munich 1996, p. 218.
  25. ↑ Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt: From abtuhung the Bylder . Wittenberg 1522; see also Horst Fuhrmann: The Middle Ages are everywhere. From the present of a past time. Beck, Munich 1996, p. 220.
  26. ↑ Horst Fuhrmann: The Middle Ages are everywhere. From the present of a past time. Beck, Munich 1996, p. 222.
  27. ↑ Martin Luther: Weimar Edition . Volume 53. Böhlau, Weimar 1920, p. 392 line 4 ( digitized version ); on Luther's relationship to Christophorus, see Johann Anselm Steiger : Christophorus - “an image of all Christians”. A non-biblical image and its relevance for script and image hermeneutics. In: Torbjörn Johansson, Robert Kolb , Johann Anselm Steiger (eds.): Hermeneutica Sacra: Studies on the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures in the 16th and 17th centuries (= Historia Hermeneutica. Series Studia 9). De Gruyter, Berlin et al. 2010, pp. 5-31.
  28. ↑ Johann Anselm Steiger: Christophorus - "an image of all Christians". A non-biblical image and its relevance for script and image hermeneutics. In: Torbjörn Johansson, Robert Kolb, Johann Anselm Steiger (eds.): Hermeneutica Sacra: Studies on the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures in the 16th and 17th centuries (= Historia Hermeneutica. Series Studia 9). De Gruyter, Berlin et al. 2010, pp. 5–31, here p. 8.
  29. ↑ Horst Fuhrmann: The Middle Ages are everywhere. From the present of a past time. Beck, Munich 1996, p. 221.
  30. ^ Wolfgang Schneider: Folk culture and everyday life. In: Ulrich Wagner (Hrsg.): History of the city of Würzburg. 4 volumes, Volume I-III / 2, Theiss, Stuttgart 2001–2007, Volume 1 (2001): From the beginnings to the outbreak of the Peasants' War. ISBN 3-8062-1465-4 , pp. 491-514 and 661-665, here: pp. 497 and 662.
  31. ↑ Horst Fuhrmann: The Middle Ages are everywhere. From the present of a past time. Beck, Munich 1996, p. 224.
  32. ↑ Trade journal for road and transport workers in Germany: Christophorus - patron saint of road keepers , published by: VDStra. - Trade union for staff in the road and transport sector in public administration and the private sector, issue 12 - December 2011 - 106th year, p. 4; Saint Christophorus - patron saint of street guards on www.strassenwaerter.de.
  33. ↑ www.christustraeger-schwestern.de ( Memento from November 5, 2014 in the Internet Archive ).
  34. ^ Martyrologium Romanum. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2001.
  35. ↑ w2.vatican.va ; Heinrich Rennings and Martin Klöckner (eds.): Documents for the renewal of the liturgy. Volume 1. Verlag Butzon & Bercker, 2nd edition 2002, p. 616.
  36. ↑ erzabtei-beuron.de ; German Bishops 'Conference, Berlin Bishops' Conference, Austrian Bishops 'Conference, Swiss Bishops' Conference, the Bishops of Luxembourg, Bozen-Brixen, Liège, Metz and Strasbourg (ed.): Book of hours. The celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours. Volume 3: In the annual cycle. The own calendar , p. 23.
  37. ↑ Blessing of a Christophorus picture or a Christophorus plaque. In: Benediktionale. Study edition for the Catholic dioceses of the German-speaking area, Einsiedeln et al. 1979, pp. 213–215.
  38. ↑ Blessing of vehicles. In: Benediktionale. Study edition for the Catholic dioceses of the German-speaking area, Einsiedeln et al. 1979, pp. 359–365.
  39. ↑ Harald Wanger: Josef Gabriel Rheinberger - Eine Biographie , van Eck Verlag, Triesen 2007, ISBN 978-3-905501-89-6 , p. 71
  40. ↑ Francois Bondy: A philosophical-erotic ballad from France: Oger in East Prussia. In: The time . November 10, 1972 (review, zeit.de ).
personal data
SURNAME Christophorus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Christophoros; Χριστόφορος (Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Saint
DATE OF BIRTH uncertain: 2nd century or 3rd century
DATE OF DEATH uncertain: 3rd century
Place of death uncertain: Lycia