Saints Agatha, Anthony Abbot, and Blaise
12th-13th century
Mosaic
Monreale Cathedral, Sicily
The mosaic typifies the mixture of eastern and western influences in the cathedral. Here the portraiture partly follows Orthodox patterns, but the inscriptions are in Latin.
Western iconography uses a crozier to signify an abbot or bishop, as is the case here with Anthony. But otherwise the iconography is Orthodox. Agatha carries a hand cross, the symbol in the east of a holy martyr. Instead of a crozier, Blaise's status as an eastern bishop is signified by his book and omophorion, the white cloth band marked with crosses.
The martyrs Agatha and Blaise wear red shoes with white stripes. Anthony was not a martyr and wears brown shoes.
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Read more about St. Agatha, St. Anthony Abbot, and St. Blaise.
Photographed at the cathedral by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.