On the icons of Sinai and Raithou martyrs in Saint Catherine’s monastery at Sinai, with an overview of the cult and iconography of these saints in East Christian art

Abstract

The first part of the paper discusses the written testimonies about the history of the cult of the holy fathers of Sinai and Raithou at St. Catherine’s monastery and the visual representations of these saints in East Christian art. The Sinai icons in question are then analysed in two ways. First, the choice of figures of the saints in the upper registers of the icons is considered. On the other hand, the iconography of the forty Sinai and Raithou martyrs is studied in greater detail. It is shown that representations of the celebrated holy monks were used to paint their “portraits”.

Keywords

• sinai
• monastery of saint catherine
• holy fathers of sinai and raithou
• byzantine art
• icons
• iconography