Unknown artist
The Holy Martyr The torment of St. Varus and others like him, c. 11C
Byzantium
Miniature Minology for October.
State Historical Museum. Moscow.
I have no further description, at this time
During the reign of the impious Maximian, the Emperor of the Romans, there lived in Egypt a soldier named Varus, who secretly served the King of Heaven. Out of fear he hid his faith in God for a time, but later, he revealed it before both heaven and earth and became a spectacle before angels and men.
Unknown artist
Emperor Maximianus watches the animal hunt
40.6 x 27.2 cm | 16 x 10.7 inches
Villa Romana del Casale
At that time Maximian raised up a persecution against the Christians. When this ordinance was published in the land of Egypt, the blood of Christians was shed mercilessly. Varus, a secret Christian, visited by night the faithful who were held in prison for their confession of Christ, bribing the guards to enter the cells in which they were held. He bound up their wounds and washed their blood, gave them to eat, kissed their stripes, and prayed for them.
Unknown artist
Varus, and with him six monk-martyrs
illuminated manuscript
Menologion of Basil II
Vatican Library
It happened that there were seven teachers of the Christians, desert-dwellers, that were brought before the Prince of Egypt. When the Prince questioned them, he found them to be firm in their faith. Having subjected them to flogging, he had them cast bound into prison.
When Varus learned of this, he hastened by night to the dungeon where the saints were being held. After he had given much gold to the guards, he was permitted to visit the saints. Varus loosed their hands and removed their feet from the stocks that held them and then placed food before them. He besought them to eat, for they had remained hungry for eight days since they had been left in prison with no food.
The saints said to him, "O brother, tread with us the path of martyrdom, which leads to the Master Who looks down upon our struggles. Suffer together with us, for you will not soon find again a company like ours."
When the morning was come, the Prince's servants came to the prison to bring the holy martyrs before the tribunal. As they entered the dungeon, they saw Varus seated with the prisoners, hearing their words with compunction of heart.
They took six of the martyrs from the prison, but the seventh they left, for he had weakened so from his wounds that he died, leaving his place to be filled by Varus, who was to complete his suffering. The saints were led bound before the Prince, who sat proudly upon his tribunal and sought to compel them to sacrifice to the idols. When they would not consent, they were stripped and beaten mercilessly upon the wounds they had already received. Thus were wounds added to their wounds and stripes to their stripes, but they endured their suffering as though it were nothing.
varus martyrdom
Unknown artist
I have no further description, at this time
Then the Prince asked, "Were there not seven of these men? Now there are but six. Where is the seventh?"
At that very moment Saint Varus entered and said, "I am the seventh. He of whom you spoke has already finished his course and gone to Christ, leaving me to complete his sufferings. I am a Christian."
The Prince said, "I will immediately have you cut in pieces if you do not fall down and worship the gods of Egypt!"
Wishing to move the Prince to yet greater anger, Varus said, "The fool shall speak foolish things, says the Prophet Isaiah. Lo, our bodies lie stretched out before you. Do with them as you would."
Unknown artist
I have no further description, at this time
Greatly angered, the Prince commanded that Varus be suspended from a tree, that he might put him to torture.
The saints replied, "Try your strength against one of us, and if you can overcome him, you may hope to prevail over the others."
The saints lifted up their eyes unto Heaven and prayed fervently for Varus as the servants began to beat his whole body with rods and staves. As the saint was being beaten, the Prince said, "Now tell us, Varus, what profit your Christ brings you."
Then they scraped his sides with iron claws, after which he was hung upside-down from the tree. They tore the skin from his back, cut his flesh with razors, and thrashed him with switches until he burst open and his bowels fell to the ground. When the holy martyrs saw his inward parts fall out, they wept.
When they saw that he was dead, and in accordance with the persecutor's command, they cast him out of the city in the place where the carcasses of beasts were left to be devoured by dogs.
Natalia Piskunova
Saints Martyr Varus and Blessed Cleopatra, c. 2017
Icon
I have no further description, at this time
There was a widow living in that city named Cleopatra, who was born in Palestine. Her husband, an officer, had died in Egypt, and she had a son named John, who was still a little boy. She was a Christian. When the martyr's corpse was cast out of the city, she arose by night, took certain of her servants, and went to remove the long-suffering body of Saint Varus. She brought it to her home, where she dug a grave for it in her room.
Henry Ossawa Tanner, (1859–1937)
Their corpses were taken by night and committed to the earth by secret Christians
The Raising of Lazarus, c. 1896
Oil on canvas
Height: 94.7 cm (37.2 in); Width: 120.5 cm (47.4 in)
Musée d'Orsay, Paris France
Henry Ossawa Tanner (June 21, 1859 – May 25, 1937) was an American artist and the first African-American painter to gain international acclaim. Tanner moved to Paris, France, in 1891 to study, and continued to live there after being accepted in French artistic circles. His painting entitled Daniel in the Lions' Den was accepted into the 1896 Salon, the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
After his own self-study in art as a young man, Tanner enrolled in 1879 at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. The only black student, he became a favorite of the painter Thomas Eakins, who had recently begun teaching there. Tanner made other connections among artists, including Robert Henri. In the late 1890s he was sponsored for a trip to the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem by Rodman Wanamaker, who was impressed by his paintings of biblical themes. More on Henry Ossawa Tanner
The next morning, the Prince had the other martyrs brought forth from the prison, and after he had tortured them for a longtime, they were beheaded. They were also cast out of the city without burial, but their corpses were taken by night and committed to the earth by secret Christians.
Unknown artist
St Cleopatra and her son St John
I have no further description, at this time
When, after some years, the persecution died down, she began to consider how she might return to the land of her birth, and she wondered how it would be possible for her to take with her the relics of Saint Varus. She decided to send a gift to the Prince, which was taken to him by a messenger, who said to him on her behalf, "My husband was an officer and died here in the Emperor's service. He has still not received final burial, for it is not seemly that an officer and man of rank be buried in a foreign land. I, who am a widow and a stranger in this country, wish to return to my homeland to live with my kindred. Therefore, my lord, permit me to take the remains of my beloved husband to the land of my birth, that I may give them a fitting burial together with my forebears, for I wish to remain with my spouse even after I die."
Nahum Gutman
Palestinian Village, c. 1941
Oil on canvas
Private collection
Nahum Gutman (1898-1980) was born in 1898 in Talenshet, Russia. In 1905 he immigrated to Palesrine and settled with his family in Tel Aviv. Later in 1920 he left to Vienna, Austria to study sculpting. He traveled to Berlin and to Paris where he participated in an exhibition with the artists Chagall, Modigliani and Soutin. Gutman had exhibitions in New York, Boston, South Africa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. He had once said “I paint out of my impression of the view and our surroundings, and as for the sea shore – it runs across our entire country.” The sea is a central motive in Gutman’s work. As a child he had watched the sea extensively through his school window and every arriving ship carried with it exciting new smells and mysterious. Inspired by the Eastern Persian miniatures, Gutman created two dimensional, flat colored fields placed one above the other while ignoring the formal perspective. He experimented with distinctive colors combinations to form rich colored carpet. More on Nahum Gutman
The Prince accepted her gift and granted her request, but she took the remains of Saint Varus rather than those of her husband. She brought them out of Egypt into Palestine to her village of Edras, which was near Tabor, and she buried them there with her fathers. When the other Christians who lived there saw this, they began to go with her to where the saint lay. They brought with them their sick, who received healing at Saint Varus' grave through his prayers. Soon all the Christians in the parts that lay roundabout learned of Saint Varus, and they began to come to his tomb.
Unknown artist
Christians gathered to pray at the grave of the saint
Jesus predicts his death for the third time
Oil on canvas
Private collection
When Cleopatra saw how the Christians gathered to pray at the grave of the saint, she determined to build a church dedicated to him.
Andrea Mazzocchetti
Commissioned an officer
Spartan Hoplite
Airbrush, Digital, Pastel, Pencil on Paper
80 W x 160 H x 0.1 in
I was unable to find any biographical information on Andrea Mazzocchetti
Her son received from the Emperor his appointment to the army and the emblems of his rank while the church was being constructed, but Cleopatra said, "My son shall not begin to serve the Emperor in the army until the house of God is completed.
When the church was completed, Cleopatra summoned bishops, priests, and monks, removed the precious relics of the holy martyr from their grave, and had them placed on a very costly bier. She laid her son's military belt and uniform upon the relics, that they might be sanctified by the Saint's remains. She prayed to Saint Varus fervently that he be her son's protector, and all the bishops and priests present bestowed their blessing upon the young man.
Unknown artist
The church was consecrated
Parable of the Ten Virgins
Fresco
High Decani Monastery, Kosovo, Serbia
The church was consecrated, and the remains of the Saint were placed beneath the altar. Then the Divine Liturgy was served. Cleopatra fell down before the relics of Saint Varus and prayed. After the service was completed, a great banquet was set before those present at which Cleopatra and her son served the guests.
As the youth was serving, he suddenly took ill, and he went to lie down upon his bed. At midnight the youth died, leaving his mother to weep inconsolably. As she lamented bitterly, she hastened to the Church of Saint Varus, and she fell down before his sepulcher and cried out, "O servant of God! Is this how thou hast rewarded me for the great labors I endured on thy behalf?
Lawrence Alma-Tadema, (1836–1912)
Cleopatra remained weeping by the grave of the Saint
The Meeting of Antony and Cleopatra, 41 B.C., c. 1885
Oil on panel
Height: 25.7 in (65.4 cm); Width: 36 in (91.4 cm)
Private collection
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, OM, RA (8 January 1836 – 25 June 1912) was a Dutch painter of special British denizenship.
Born in Dronrijp, the Netherlands, and trained at the Royal Academy of Antwerp, Belgium, he settled in England in 1870 and spent the rest of his life there. A classical-subject painter, he became famous for his depictions of the luxury and decadence of the Roman Empire, with languorous figures set in fabulous marbled interiors or against a backdrop of dazzling blue Mediterranean Sea and sky.
Though admired during his lifetime for his draftsmanship and depictions of Classical antiquity, his work fell into disrepute after his death, and only since the 1960s has it been re-evaluated for its importance within nineteenth-century English art. More on Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema
Cleopatra remained weeping by the grave of the Saint and then fell asleep for a short while from weariness and grief. As she slept, she beheld Saint Varus in a dream. He held her son by the hand, and they both shone like the sun. Their vesture was whiter than snow, and they were girded with golden belts; upon their heads were crowns of unspeakable beauty. Seeing this, the blessed Cleopatra fell down before them, but Saint Varus lifted her up and said, "O woman, why do you cry unto me? I have enrolled your son in the army of the King of Heaven. Did you not beseech me here at my grave that I ask God to grant you and your son whatever is in accordance with His will and is to your benefit? You see that your son now stands near the Lord's throne. If you wish, take him and send him to serve a mortal and earthly king since you do not desire that he should serve the heavenly and eternal King."
Unknown artist
Saint Varus
I have no further description, at this time
Then the youth turned to his mother and said, "Why do you lament for me thus, mother? I have been enrolled in the host of Christ the King and have been permitted to stand before Him with the angels. Why do you now ask that I be removed from the kingdom and brought to abasement?"
After saying this, the Saint became invisible. When Cleopatra awoke, her heart was filled with ineffable happiness and joy, and she related her dream to the priests. They buried her son beside the sepulcher of Saint Varus, and Cleopatra wept no more but rather rejoiced in the Lord. Later she distributed her possessions among the needy and renounced the world. She lived beside the Church of Saint Varus, serving God in prayer and fasting by day and night. Every Sunday as she prayed Saint Varus appeared to her in great glory with her son. After she had lived in this God-pleasing manner for seven years, the blessed Cleopatra reposed. Her body was placed in the Church of Saint Varus near her son John, and her holy soul took up its abode in the heavens, together with Saint Varus and John. There it now stands in the presence of God, to Whom be glory unto the ages of ages. More on Martyr Varus and Cleopatra
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