By Philip Gardiner

Millions of people from around the world adorn themselves with the medallion of St Christopher. He is the saint who protects us on our journey. But why is St Christopher the symbol for this?

According to the earliest recorded texts on St. Christopher, which are Greek and Roman, he was a soldier who was martyred in Syria at Antioch. Most modern records however stick to the later medieval accounts where he is seen as a giant figure carrying Christ over a river.

What is interesting and an important element of both the earliest Greek and Roman texts is the capture and military service of St. Christopher. It seems he was captured and forced to serve in the military unit called numerus Marmaritarum or the Unit of Marmaritae. What is interesting is that these Marmaritae were a North African people near Libya (Marmarica). The only military unit to ever serve from this area was under the guide of the Roman provincial leaders of Syria. This came under the leadership of the Emperor Diocletian (284-305) and this is how St. Christopher can be dated. Strangely Diocletian’s name was Aurelius which is the same as that of Aurelius Ambrosius in England who stole the stones for Stonehenge.

Either way we do have Christopher as a member of a North African tribe and therefore we now have good reason to understand why he should have "come from the land of cannibals" and even "dog headed people." This signified that he came from uncivilized lands.

St. Christopher from the earliest times has been indicated as dog-headed, and in Greek this is kunokephalos which when translated into the Roman Latin it became canineus which changed the meaning into dog-like. Eventually even this was amended and suddenly we have St. Christopher as a Canaanite (Cananeus).

His real name is an enigma. Christopher means "bearer of Christ" and is an indication of the later imagery. It also has opher within the title, which means ‘serpent like’ and in the earliest imagery I could find of St. Christopher there was also St. George, both slaying the serpent (6th century Byzantine).

In the earliest Latin texts we find his name is Rebrebus or even Reprobus meaning strangely ‘wicked’. Again, this cannot be his real name, instead it must be a title given for the wicked man who would change his ways and bear Christ.

The most popular St. Christopher legend is preserved in Jacobus de Voragine's Golden Legend, a book on Saints.

The story goes that Christopher was a sort of giant from Canaan or even an ogre, who was said to have lived during the first half of the 3rd century. He was apparently twelve cubits tall, and had a fearsome countenance. His name according to Jacobus, was "Offero" or "Reprobus." Such was his pride that he vowed he would serve only a master who was more fearsome than himself. Christopher determined that the Devil was a likely candidate and he therefore pledged himself to the Devil's service, only to abandon the Devil when he learned that the Devil was in turn afraid of the cross of Jesus Christ.

Christopher then vowed to serve Jesus instead, and became a Christian. The story then continues with a tale about Christopher carrying a young boy over a river who turns out to be Christ, who then goes on to baptize Christopher.

The child then tells Christopher to plant his staff in the ground. The staff miraculously blooms into a fruit-bearing tree. This miracle has been said to have converted many. Enraged at these conversions, a local king had Christopher imprisoned, where after cruel tortures he died as a martyr.

In contrast to this Westernized idea of Christopher we then have the Eastern Orthodox version.

During the reign of the Emperor Decius, Reprebus or Reprobus was captured in combat against tribes to the west of Egypt and was assigned to the numerus Marmaritarum or "Unit of the Marmaritae."

Traditional Orthodox iconography depicts him as literally dog-headed. Nevertheless, he was baptized and began to preach the faith.

Eventually, the governor of Antioch or the Emperor, decreed that he was to be executed for his evangelizing. His body was then taken back to Alexandria (in Egypt) by a "Peter of Attalia".

What is known about Christopher is that he was seen as a dog-headed giant and therefore he has Egyptian (next to Libya) Thoth tendencies and as a giant he was seen as being like the giants of Enoch and elsewhere. He was therefore a Shining One. In fact the very reason that St Christopher has become the protector of ways is simply because he, like Thoth and Hermes and many more, is symbolic of the ancient shaman-priest who would safely transport the living and the dead to the afterlife. The dog element is the protector, as used on numerous occasions by the ancient shaman and as imaged as the dog-headed Thoth of Egypt. He shines, because he lights the way to the otherworld, both physically (it was believed) and as the light of wisdom within.

But, I am not the first to come to this conclusion the Old English Martyrology states that:

"He had the head of a hound, and his locks were extremely long, and his eyes shone as bright as the morning star…."

The head of the hound is the dog, the long locks are the rays of the sun, indicating power, strength and wisdom and the eyes shone light the morning star because wisdom came from within.

www.gardinersworld.com

By Philip Gardiner

About the Author
Philip Gardiner is the best selling author of Proof - Does God Exist?, The Shining Ones, The Serpent Grail, Gnosis: The Secret of Solomon's Temple Revealed and Secrets of the Serpent. His website is www.gardinersworld.com