07 Works, Today, February 28/29th, is John Cassian's Day, With Footnotes - #59

Saint John Cassian

John Cassian (c. AD 360 – c. 435) was a Christian monk and theologian celebrated in both the Western and Eastern churches for his mystical writings. Cassian is noted for his role in bringing the ideas and practices of Christian monasticism to the early medieval West.

Cassian was born around 360, most likely in the region of Scythia Minor. The son of wealthy parents, he received a good education: his writings show the influence of Cicero and Persius. He was bilingual in Latin and Greek.

Venerable John Cassian the Roman and Germanus of Dacia Pontica

As a young adult he traveled to Palestine with an older friend Germanus, with whom he would spend much of the next twenty-five years. There they entered a hermitage near Bethlehem. After remaining in that community for about three years, they journeyed to the desert of Scete in Egypt, which was rent by Christian struggles. There they visited a number of monastic foundations.

Approximately fifteen years later, Cassian and Germanus faced the Anthropomorphic controversy provoked in letter form by Theophilus, Archbishop of Alexandria. Cassian noted that the majority of the monks received the message of their patriarch "with bitterness", and charged Theophilus with heresy for impugning the plain teaching of scripture. 

A crowd of Christians who, encouraged by Pope Theophilus of Alexandria, destroyed the temple of Serapis in 391

The Serapeum of Alexandria in the Ptolemaic Kingdom was an ancient Greek temple built by Ptolemy III Euergetes. There are also signs of Harpocrates. It has been referred to as the daughter of the Library of Alexandria. It existed until the end of the fourth century AD.

Drawing from the Alexandrian World Chronicle depicting Pope Theophilus of Alexandria, gospel in hand, standing triumphantly atop the Serapeum in 391

Following an unsuccessful journey to Alexandria to protest the matter, Cassian and Germanus fled with about 300 other Origenist monks. Cassian and Germanus went to Constantinople, where they appealed to the Patriarch of Constantinople, John Chrysostom, for protection. 

Mosaic in the northern tympanum of the Hagia Sophia, depicting Saint John Chrysostom

Cassian was ordained a deacon and became a member of the clergy attached to the patriarch while the struggles with the imperial family ensued. When the patriarch was forced into exile from Constantinople in 404, the Latin-speaking Cassian was sent to Rome to plead his cause before Pope Innocent I.

Pope "Innocent" I

Pope from 401 to 417

While he was in Rome, Cassian accepted the invitation to found an Egyptian-style monastery in southern Gaul, near Marseilles. He arrived in Marseilles around 415. His foundation, the Abbey of St Victor, was a complex of monasteries for both men and women, one of the first such institutes in the West, and served as a model for later monastic development.

Entrance to Saint Victor Abbey in Marseille, c. 2007

Cassian's achievements and writings influenced Benedict of Nursia, who incorporated many of the principles into his monastic rule, and recommended to his own monks that they read the works of Cassian. Since Benedict's rule is still followed by Benedictine, Cistercian, and Trappist monks, John Cassian's thought still exercises influence over the spiritual lives of thousands of men and women in the Latin Church.


Cassian died in 435 at Marseille.

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07 Works, Today, February 28th, is Nicholas of Pskov's Day, With Footnotes - #58

Nicholas Salos of Pskov, Fool-for-Christ

Foolishness for Christ refers to behavior such as giving up all one's worldly possessions upon joining a monastic order, or deliberately flouting society's conventions to serve a religious purpose—particularly of Christianity. Such individuals have historically been known as both "holy fools" and "blessed fools". The term "fool" connotes what is perceived as feeblemindedness, and "blessed" or "holy" refers to innocence in the eyes of God. More on Foolishness for Chris

Blessed Nicholas (Salos) of Pskov the Fool-For-Christ

Nicholas of Pskov lived the life of a holy fool for more than three decades. Long before his death he acquired the grace of the Holy Spirit and was granted the gifts of wonderworking and of prophecy. The Pskov people of his time called him Mikula the Fool. Even during his lifetime they revered him as a saint, even calling him Mikula the saintly.

Klavdy Lebedev, (1852–1916)

Destruction of Novgorod Veche, c. 1889

Oil on canvas

Height: 251 cm (98.8″); Width: 410 cm (13.4 ft)

Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia

Klavdy Vasiliyevich Lebedev (October 16 (28), 1852 – September 21 (N.S. October 4), 1916) was a Russian painter, a member of the realist artist group The Wanderers.

Lebedev came from a peasant family, studied at the Stroganov Moscow State Academy of Arts and Industry and the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture under Vasily Perov and Evgraf Sorokin. From 1890 he taught there.

In 1881 he was awarded a large silver medal of the Imperial Academy of Arts and received the title of a class artist. Member of The Wanderers group. The title of academician of painting of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1897). The title of full member of the Academy of Arts (1906).


Full-time professor of the Academy of Arts (1894–1898). More on Klavdy Lebedev

In February 1570, after a devastating campaign against Novgorod, Tsar Ivan the Terrible moved against Pskov, suspecting the inhabitants of treason. 

Vasnetsov Apollinaris, (1856-1933)

The street in the town, people fleeing at the arrival of the Oprichniki, c. 1911

Paper, water-colour, charcoal

52 x 83,2 cm

State Theatrical Bakhrushin Museum, Moscow

Apollinary Mikhaylovich Vasnetsov (August 6, 1856 in the village of Riabovo, Vyatka Governorate – January 23, 1933 in Moscow) was a Russian painter and graphic artist. He specialized in scenes from the medieval history of Moscow.


Vasnetsov did not receive a formal artistic education. He studied under his older brother, Viktor Vasnetsov, the famous Russian painter. From 1883, he and his brother lived and worked in Abramtsevo. In 1898–1899, he travelled across Europe. In addition to epic landscapes of Russian nature, Apollinary Vasnetsov created his own genre of historical landscape reconstruction on the basis of historical and archaeological data. His paintings present a visual picture of medieval Moscow. He was a member of the Association of Travelling Art Exhibitions from 1899, and an academician from 1900. He became one of the founders and supervisors of the Union of Russian Artists. More on Vasnetsov Apollinaris

All the inhabitants of Pskov came out upon the streets, and each family knelt at the gate of their house, bearing bread and salt to the meet the Tsar. 

Pavel Svedomsky  (1849–1904)

A God's Fool, late 19th century

Oil on canvas

Regional Art Museum Kirovograd

Pavel Aleksandrovich Svedomsky (7 June 1849, Saint-Petersburg—27 August 1904, Rome) was a Russian painter and the brother of another artist, Alexander Svedomsky.

In 1870 Pavel entered the Düsseldorf Academy of Arts, but studied there only a few months. The Svedomskys traveled together across Europe until settling in Rome in 1875. He died there in 1904 and is buried with his brother Alexander in the Protestant Cemetery.


Pavel Svedomsky painted in various genres, most notably in historic. The painting Medusa (1882) was bought by Pavel Tretyakov to be displayed in Tretyakov Gallery


Working in the St Volodymyr's Cathedral in Kiev, Svedosmky painted the northern and southern naves of the cathedral, creating six scenes from the life of Jesus. During his later years Svedomsky turned to Russian subjects.

The works of Svedomsky are scattered across various central and regional museums. More on Pavel Aleksandrovich Svedomsky

On one of the streets Blessed Nicholas ran toward the Tsar astride a stick as though riding a horse, and cried out: “Ivanushko, Ivanushko, eat our bread and salt, and not Christian blood.”

Andrey Shishkin (born 1960)

Ivan the Terrible at the Window,  2009

Andrey Shishkin (born 1960) is a Russian painter.


He was born and raised in Moscow. He has dealt with painting since the beginning of 2000s and he currently works in a private studio. His main directions of creativity are portrait and historical paintings in realist attempt. Special theme in his works is Slavic mythology and history. More on Andrey Shishkin

The Tsar gave orders to capture the holy fool, but he disappeared.

Though he had forbidden his men to kill, Ivan still intended to sack the city. The Tsar attended a Molieben at the Trinity cathedral, and expressed his wish to receive the blessing of the holy fool Nicholas. The saint instructed the Tsar “by many terrible sayings,” to stop the killing and not to plunder the holy churches of God. But Ivan did not heed him and gave orders to remove the bell from the Trinity cathedral. Then, as the saint prophesied, the Tsar’s finest horse fell dead.

The blessed one invited the Tsar to visit his cell under the bell tower. When the Tsar arrived at the cell of the saint, he said, “Hush, come in and have a drink of water from us, there is no reason you should shun it.” Then the holy fool offered the Tsar a piece of raw meat.

Ivan A. Pelevin, 1840-1917

Tsar Ivan the Terrible in the Cell of the Holy Fool Nikolai Salias, c. 1877

Oil on canvas

Pelevin Ivan (1841-1917) graduated from the Saint Petersburg Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in 1862.

He painted two genre scenes after graduation: "Sunday Leisure" and "Young Mother". He was bestowed the title of the professional painter of the 3d degree for this paintings. He was bestowed the title of the academician for the paintings "Child Breakfast", "Village Seamstress", "Two Enemies", "Village Bear-cub" and "Sketch of Girl" in 1869.

Pelevin Ivan to Vilna city in 1874. Tried himself as the historical painter there and painted the following paintings: "Ivan the Terrible in cell of Nikola yurodivy in Pskov" and "Boyard Troekurov is reading Ukase to Tsarevna Sofya about Her Confinement to Convent". But soon returned to depiction of the rural genre scenes as more peculiar to his talent.


In contrast with other Russian genre scene painters he pictures pleasant displays of peasants life. Sometimes his paintings are too idyllic.  He especially likes to depict children. More on Pelevin Ivan 

“I am a Christian and do not eat meat during Lent”, said Ivan to him. “But you drink human blood,” the saint replied.

Frightened by the fulfillment of the saint’s prophecy and denounced for his wicked deeds, Ivan the Terrible ordered a stop to the looting and fled from the city.

Blessed Nicholas died on February 28, 1576 and was buried in the Trinity cathedral of the city he had saved. Such honors were granted only to the Pskov princes, and later on, to bishops. More on Nicholas of Pskov

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, and visit my Boards on Pinterest

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I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

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07 Works, Today, February 27th, is St. Macarius' Day, With Footnotes - #57

St. Macarius, Archbishop of Jerusalem

Macarius of Jerusalem; was Bishop of Jerusalem from 312 to shortly before 335, according to Sozomen. He is recognized as a saint within the Orthodox and Catholic churches. As with many saints from that early period, there is very little information available about him. What we do know is that Macarius was named bishop of Jerusalem in the year 314. He was noted for his defense against the heresy of Arianism (denial of the divinity of Christ). Macarius was evidently present at the Council of Nicaea, since he was one of those who signed the documents from that Council.

St. Macarius of Jerusalem aided St. Helena in identifying the True Cross

The Roman Emperor Constantine’s mother, St. Helena, a convert to Christianity, went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to locate where the important events in the life of Jesus Christ occurred, and to preserve the relics of the Christian faith that remained there. One of her goals was to find the place of Jesus’ crucifixion and the very Cross on which he was hung.

Legend has it that Macarius was with Saint Helena when she discovered three crosses in Jerusalem. Legend further maintains that it was Macarius who suggested that a dying woman be touched with each of the crosses. When one of them instantly cured her, they determined that it was the true cross — the one on which our Lord was crucified. 

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, (1727–1804) 

Oratory of the Crucifix Helena of Constantinople and the finding of the True Cross with Macarius of Jerusalem c. 1745 -1749

Oil on canvas 

Chiesa di San Polo, Venice

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (August 30, 1727 – March 3, 1804) was an Italian painter and printmaker in etching. He was the son of artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo and elder brother of Lorenzo Baldissera Tiepolo. Domenico was born in Venice, studied under his father, and by the age of 13 was the chief assistant to him. He was one of the many assistants, including Lorenzo, who transferred the designs of his father (executed in the 'oil sketch' invented by the same). By the age of 20, he was producing his own work for commissioners.

His painting style developed after the death of his father in 1770, at which time he returned to Venice, and worked there as well as in Genoa and Padua. His painting, though keeping the decorative influence of his father, moved from its spatial fancy and began to take a more realistic depiction. His portraits and scenes of life in Venice are characterised by movement, colour, and deliberate composition. More on Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo

Attributed to Giuseppe Passeri (Italian, 1654–1714)

St. Helena and the finding of the true cross

Oil on Copper

28.6 x 43.4 cm. (11.3 x 17.1 in.)

Private collection

Giuseppe Passeri (12 March 1654 – 2 November 1714) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active in his native city of Rome, the nephew of the biographer and painter Giovanni Battista Passeri, with whom he trained. He painted frescoes and altarpieces for churches and leading Roman families such as the Barberini, Corsini and Pallavicini. In 1700, Pope Clement IX appointed him painter to the Camera Apostolica (a department of the papal court). Little of his work survives outside Rome, although he apparently sent paintings to other Italian cities and to England and Scotland. His most famous work is probably the decoration of the presbytery of Viterbo cathedral (c.1690). He also produced many drawings and designs for engravings including a series of portraits of cardinals for Mario Guarnacci's Vitae et res gestae pontificum romanorum (The lives and deeds of Roman popes), published in 1750. The Royal Collection contains a number of drawings by Passeri. More on Giuseppe Passeri

Macarius was then commissioned to erect a church over Christ’s sepulchre. Macarius died around the year 335, soon after the consecration of the basilica.

James Robertson, (British, 1813 - 1888)

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, c. 1857

Albumen silver

Height: 314 mm (12.36″); Width: 227 mm (8.93″)

Getty Center 

James Robertson (1813–1888) was an English gem and coin engraver who worked in the Mediterranean region, and who became a pioneering photographer working in the Crimea and possibly India. He is noted for his Orientalist photographs and for being one of the first war photographers. More on James Robertson

Macarius’ name appears first among those of the bishops of Palestine who subscribed to the Council of Nicaea. St. Athanasius, in his encyclical letter to the bishops of Egypt and Libya, places the name of Macarius among those of bishops renowned for their orthodoxy.  More on Macarius of Jerusalem

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, and visit my Boards on Pinterest

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

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07 Works, Today, February 26th, is St. Photini, the Samaritan Woman's Day, With Footnotes - #56

Angelica Kauffman, (1741–1807)

Christ and the Samaritan woman at the well, c. 1796

Oil on canvas

Height: 123.5 cm (48.6″); Width: 158.5 cm (62.4″)

Neue Pinakothek, Munich, Germany

Maria Anna Angelika Kauffmann RA (30 October 1741 – 5 November 1807), usually known in English as Angelica Kauffman, was an Austrian Neoclassical painter who had a successful career in London and Rome. She was one of the two female founding members of the Royal Academy in London in 1768. More on Angelica Kauffman

St. Photini lived in first century Palestine. She was the Samaritan woman who Christ visited at the well asking her for water. It was she who accepted the “living water” offered her by Christ Himself; and told her townspeople that she had met the Christ. For this, she is sometimes recognized as the first to proclaim the Gospel of Christ. She converted her five sisters and her two sons. They all became tireless evangelists for Christ.

Photina, Samaritan woman, meets Jesus (Orthodox icon)

St-Photini (The Samaritan woman) and Christ at the well, from a Syrian manuscript

The apostles of Christ baptized her and gave her the name of Photini which means “the enlightened one.” After Sts. Peter and Paul were martyred, St. Photini and her family left Samaria, to travel to Carthage to proclaim the Gospel of Christ there.

Her eldest son, Victor, fought bravely in the Roman army against the barbarians, and was appointed military commander in the city of Attalia.

St. Photini, the Samaritan Woman
Metropolitan Cathedral in Iasi

Reports of this reached Nero, and he commanded that the Christians be brought to him at Rome. The Lord Himself appeared to the confessors and said, “Fear not, for I am with you. Nero, and all who serve him, will be vanquished.” The Lord said to Victor, “From this day forward, your name will be Photinus, because through you, many will be enlightened and will believe in Me.” 

St. Photini left Carthage in the company of several Christians and joined the confessors in Rome.

Eugene Romain Thirion, (French, 1839–1910)

The Triumph of Faith

Oil on Canvas

88.9 x 146.4 cm. (35 x 57.6 in.)

Private collection

Eugène-Romain Thirion, born in Paris on May 19 , 1839 and died in the same city on January 18 , 19101, is a French painter.

In 1860 , Thirion was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He competed in the Prix ​​de Rome for the historic landscape in 1861 with Mercure and Argus . He first tried to win the Rome Prize for History painting in 1862, and again participated in the competition the following year, without success. Once again a candidate in 1864 , he obtained a second grand prize.

He began a prolific career in history painting and decorative painting. From the 1860s , he was part of the team of artists responsible for decorating the Marquise de la Païva's hotel on the avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris. At the Salon of 1867 , he presented a large painting illustrating Perseus, and exhibited at the Salon of 1876 his most famous work, Joan of Arc listening to her voices .

He participated in the 1870s in the painted decorations of the Paris Opera , realizing the allegories of the months of July and August. In 1880 , he won the competition for the decoration of the ceiling of the staircase of honor of the town hall of the 12 th arrondissement of Paris and produced a large decorative composition evoking Les Industries du 12 edistrict, education and public assistance. 


Around 1893 , he painted the figure of History for the Letters Lounge of the new Paris city hall . In 1898 , he received the commission for a decorative composition to adorn the Professors' gallery at the new Sorbonne 5 . In 1902 , he decorated the wedding hall of the new town hall in Tours with three monumental compositions evoking the activities of Tours and the historical personalities of the region. More on Eugène-Romain Thirion

At Rome, Emperor Nero ordered the saints to be brought before him, and he asked them whether they truly believed in Christ. All the confessors refused to renounce the Savior. The emperor then gave orders to smash the martyrs’ finger joints. During the torture, the confessors felt no pain, and their hands remained unharmed.

Neri di Bicci 

STS SEBASTIAN AND APOLLONIA

Neri di Bicci (1419–1491) was an Italian painter active mainly in Florence. A prolific painter of mainly religious themes. He studied under his father, Bicci di Lorenzo, who in turn had studied under his father, Lorenzo di Bicci. All three were part of a lineage of great painters beginning with Neri's grandfather Lorenzo who was a pupil of Spinello Aretino.

Neri di Bicci's main works include a St. John Gualbert Enthroned, with Ten Saints for the church of Santa Trinita, an Annunciation (1464) in the Florentine Academy, two altarpieces in the Diocesan Museum of San Miniato, a Madonna with Child Enthroned in the Pinacoteca Nazionale of Siena, and a Coronation of the Virgin (1472) in the abbey church at San Pietro a Ruoti (Bucine).


The Ricordanze are a series of journals Neri kept from the years 1453–1475. They include the rates of remuneration for his work, his pupils, and lists of their works. They are the most extensive 15th century document we have relating to a 15th-century painter and are still preserved in the library of the Uffizi Gallery. More on Neri di Bicci 

Nero ordered that Sts. Sebastian, Photinus and Joses be blinded and locked up in prison, and St. Photini and her five sisters were sent to the imperial court under the supervision of Nero’s daughter, Domnina. St. Photini converted both Domnina and her servants to Christ. 

Domnina is not recorded in historical sources, and the story is likely a Christian myth dating to late antiquity, or to the medieval period. Nero's only recorded offspring was a daughter named Claudia Augusta, who died in infancy.

Three years passed, and Nero sent to the prison for one of his servants, who had been locked up. The messengers reported to him that Sts. Sebastian, Photinus and Joses, who had been blinded, had completely recovered, and that people were visiting them to hear their preaching. Indeed, the whole prison had been transformed into a bright and fragrant place where God was glorified.

Herbert Gustave Schmalz, 1856 - 1935, BRITISH

FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH (CHRISTIANES AD LEONES!)

Oil on canvas
63 1/4 by 45 in., 160.7 by 114 cm

Private collection

Herbert Gustave Schmalz (1856–1935) who named himself Herbert Gustave Carmichael in 1918, was an English painter. He is counted among the Pre-Raphaelites.

Schmalz was born in England as the son of a German father and an English mother. He received conventional education in painting, first at the South Kensington Art School and later at the Royal Academy of Arts. He perfected his studies in Antwerp at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts.

After his return to London he made a name for himself as a history painter, with a style influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites and orientalism. In 1884 he successfully exhibited his painting Too Late at the Royal Academy. After a voyage to Jerusalem in 1890 he made a series of paintings with New Testament topics, with Return from Calvary (1891) one of the best known.

After 1895 Schmalz increasingly painted portraits. In 1900 he held a big solo exhibition named "A Dream of Fair Women" in the Fine Art Society in Bond Street.

In 1918, after Germany was defeated in World War I, he changed his name to Herbert Gustave Carmichael. More on Herbert Gustave Schmalz

Nero then gave orders to crucify the saints, and to beat their naked bodies with straps. On the fourth day, the emperor sent servants to see whether the martyrs were still alive. Approaching the place of the tortures, the servants fell blind. An angel of the Lord freed the martyrs from their crosses and healed them.

In a rage, Nero gave orders to flay the skin from St. Photini and to throw her down a well. Sebastian, Photinus and Joses had their legs cut off, and they were thrown to dogs, and then had their skin flayed off. The sisters of St. Photini also suffered terrible torments. An expert in cruelty, the emperor readied the fiercest execution for St. Photis: they tied her by the feet to the tops of two bent-over trees. When the ropes were cut, the trees sprang upright and tore the martyr apart. The emperor ordered the others beheaded. St. Photini was removed from the well and locked up in prison for twenty days.

After this, Nero had St. Photini brought to him and asked if she would now relent and offer sacrifice to the idols. St. Photini spat in his face, and laughing at him, said, “O most impious of the blind, you profligate and stupid man! Do you think me so deluded that I would consent to renounce my Lord Christ and instead offer sacrifice to idols as blind as you?”

Hearing such words, Nero gave orders to throw St. Photini down a well, where she surrendered her soul to God in the year 66. More on St. Photini 

St. Photini, The Samaritan Woman

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, and visit my Boards on Pinterest

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

I do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

If you enjoyed this post, please share with friends and family.

Thank you for visiting my blog and also for liking its posts and pages.

Please note that the content of this post primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.