Object ID
2006.31.3
Object Name
Icon
Material
Glass; Paper; Wood
Object Entities
Access Points
Object Description
FRAMED ICON OF ST. FANOURIOS, PAPER IMAGE, GLASS FRONT

Brown/slight pigments of metallic silver in the frame. This is a full body, simply iconic portrayal of Saint Fanourios. He stands against an olive green background and a golden landscape. He is shown with short brown hair, a golden halo, and no facial hair. To the left of his head, in black text, is the greek word for "saint", and to the right of his head, in the same text, is the greek writing for "Fanourios". He is wearing a blue tunic underneath gold body armour. Over all of that, he is wearing a red cape outlined in gold. On his feet, he wears gold Grecian/Roman styled boots.

Held in his left hand, is a white, lit candle. In his right hand, he holds a small wooden cross.
Origin
As far as Saint Fanourious, there is not a whole lot known about his life. We know that he lived during Roman times and was in constant persecution because of his Christian beliefs. There is an icon that was discovered on the island of Rhodes during a period when the island was ruled by Turks.
The Turks decided to rebuild the walls of the city that had been destroyed during the war. They sent workers outside to collect rocks from the house ruins to help rebuild the wall. While doing this a beautiful church that was also destroyed was discovered and many icons were found inside. Most of them were destroyed to the point that you could not read the lettering on them. Amazingly, one stood out from all the others completely unharmed. It was an icon of a young man in a Roman soldier’s uniform. In his right hand he held a spear and in his left hand was a cross and a lit candle. Around he perimeter of the icon were twelve events of martyrdom that the Saint suffered, which revealed much of his life.

This icon does not have his twelve events of martyrdom. Also, it might be different from the original icon, because this image is full body, and it is unknown if the original icon of Saint Fanourios was full body, or if it just included his upper body.
Rights and Reproduction
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Citation
Icon, National Hellenic Museum, https://collections.nationalhellenicmuseum.org/Detail/objects/7595. Accessed 04/25/24.