St. Nikephoros of Antioch - a nominal warrior saint. A note on the interplay of onomastics and iconography in Eastern Christian art

Abstract

The paper explores the cult and iconography of St. Nikephoros, focusing on his representations as a soldier. Such representations, previously unnoticed in studies on the iconography of warrior saints in Eastern Christian art, have survived on several Byzantine seals and in post-Byzantine painting. It also draws attention to examples that feature this saint with warrior saints shown in patrician clothing. The hagiographic sources on St. Nikephoros offer no grounds for including this early Christian martyr in the military saint category. This was probably the result of a visual interpretation of the highly suggestive meaning of his name (“Bringer of Victory”).

Keywords

• st. nikephoros
• cults of saints
• warrior saints
• iconography
• sphragistics
• byzantine art