If you visit old village churches, and even better chapels, you can quite see figures on the walls that are far from ordinary hagiographic figures. Figurines created by local artists, often self-taught, reminiscent of the inhabitants of their region: rough-faced peasants, tanned fishermen or shepherds, often with elements of local clothing. Something similar is happening with holy icons, or otherwise “Saints in chitons and robes,” as the new exhibition is called, which opened a few weeks ago at the Museum of Christian Art “St. Catherine of Sinai” in Heraklion.

In it one can find a look at the iconography of the New Martyrs, both from Crete and from other regions of Greece, with an emphasis on an element of local costume. Breeches, fustanels, zip-ons, stevans, saris, and even katsuns and knives in woven belts are elevated to the rank of symbols of the area. The saints themselves take on a symbolic role. Agios Manolis, for example, is familiar in Crete. This is not about who witnessed persecution in the distant past, but about locals who had the same anxieties, the same faith and dressed in the same clothes,” explains the exhibition and museum curator, Dr. Efi Psilaki. . On the following tour, we wander among the images of several… unusual saint figures: St. Odysseus, St. Theocharis, St. Argyrios, St. Manuel of Sfakion, St. Mary of Metimopula and many others. Attention is drawn to the image of St. Myron from Heraklion, created in 1976 by the great Cretan icon painter Dimitrios Saridakis. With a simple style, without excessive decorative elements, with the exception of some features of the Cretan costume, the saint looks with a penetrating gaze, eternal and at the same time familiar.

Most of the works in the exhibition were created relatively recently, in the 20th and even in the 21st century. However, the roots of this iconography go much further. In 1836, the Zakynthos painter Ioannis Fragopoulos painted an icon of the Holy Four New Martyrs of Rethymnon, just 12 years after their martyrdom. In the main part we see the saints, represented in the usual Roman chitons of religious iconography; however, in the two smaller panels at the top of the painting, which depict their trial and beheading, the Four wear Cretan breeches.

Placed side by side in the exhibition, we can see six more versions of the same iconography from different periods and styles. “Until the middle of the 20th century, the New Martyrs were depicted in two ways, but since then a new visual and cult landscape has begun to take shape. Local societies lead the way in identifying favorite figures of local saints. And in the last decades of the same century, the phenomenon became almost ubiquitous. Images in breeches and fustanels work on many levels, and the new martyrs become elements of reference for local societies, but also elements of social cohesion, often reminiscent of a time when Hellenism was based on small communities, on communal organization, said Efi Psilaki.

However, during a tour of the Museum of St. Catherine, it is impossible not to stop at a few more exhibits. These are the six large icons created by the great Michael Damascene. A contemporary of Theotokopoulos, who lived in Venice (1577-1582), Damascene managed to combine the strict Byzantine rhythm with the finest art of the Renaissance in a unique mixture. The museum is worth a visit just to admire the “Pilgrimage of the Magi”, where the Byzantine Holy Family and Angels meet the completely Westernized procession of pilgrims, taken from the paintings of Titian and Veronese.

The exhibition is organized jointly by the Holy Archdiocese of Crete and the Crete Region and will be open until 31 December.