On St. Christopher

an examination of the lives of some saints for Lent (9/40 (deo volente))

Before his baptism, Christopher was called Reprobus, meaning outcast, but after his baptism he was called Christophoros, which means Christ-bearer. For he bore Christ in four ways, namely on his shoulders when he carried him across the river, in his body by mortification, in his mind by devotion, and in his mouth by confessing Christ and preaching Him.

Saint Christopher was a Canaanite by birth, a man of great size – it is said that he was twelve feet tall – and of fearsome visage. One day, the idea came to him that he should find the greatest prince in the world and stay with him. He came to a mighty king, who was considered the worlds greatest ruler. The king, seeing Christopher’s size and strength and face, gladly accepted him into his service. Then, one day, there was a jester at the king’s court, who was singing some song before the king, in which he made frequent reference to the devil. Every time that the jester mentioned the devil, the king made the sign of the cross. Christopher saw this and asked the king why he did this. The king told him that he was afraid of the devil and protected himself by that sign. The saint then came to know that the devil was a greater prince than this king, and vowed to become a servant of the devil. Thus he went away from the court and went on a quest to find the devil. When he was traveling through a desert, he came across a great host of soldiers, and there was one among them which was much fiercer and more terrible than the rest. Christopher asked him who he was, and he said that he was the devil. Christopher was pleased to hear this and pledged to serve him. Then, another day, when they were traveling along a highway, they came across a cross standing by the wayside. The devil, seeing this, was terror-stricken and quickly left the road, taking his army over a wild and desolate tract instead of the road. Christopher asked why the devil had been so afraid of the cross, and the devil said that he was afraid of Christ, and that the cross reminded him of Him. The saint then said that Christ must be an even greater prince than the devil, and thus he left the devil and went in search of Christ.
This story teaches us that we should desire to serve the greatest master, for that master is the most deserving of our service. And it shows how that master is not any of the earthly princes, not even the greatest of them, nor any of the princes of the air, nor even the greatest prince of them, and he is also not one of the princes of heaven, but rather is he the Prince of all things, both of Heaven and Earth, which He has united in Himself. And the story may also teach us how we should not fear the power of the world, for they are afraid of the powers of the air, and not fear these powers, for they fear the Prince of Heaven, which we should finally also fear, for in Him is the power to judge and forgive all things.

Saint Christopher journeyed long and far in search of Christ, until one day he found a hermit who would preach to him the doctrine of Christ and diligently instruct him in the Christian faith. The hermit said to Christopher that he could serve this greatest prince of all by fasting. But Christopher said that he could not do this. Then the hermit said that he could serve Him by prayer. But Christopher said he didn’t know how to pray. Then the hermit told him to go to a certain deep river, where many people would drown, and help people get across by carrying them on their back, for Christopher’s size would easily keep him from drowning. Christopher agreed and went to the river, where he built himself a little shack, and from that day on he carried anyone over who wished to cross. One day, a child called to him to carry him over the river. But he went out of his shack and saw no one. Then, a second time he heard the same call, but there was again no one to be seen. A third time there was a call, and he went outside, and found a child standing on the riverbank. So Christopher took the child on his shoulders and began carrying him across the river, grasping his great staff. But the water became rougher the further he went, and the child became heavier. He feared he was going to drown, but finally reached the other bank. Christopher then said to the child: “My boy, you put me in great danger, and you weighed so much that if I had the whole world on my back I could not have felt it a heavier burden.” The child answered: “Do not be surprised Christopher! You were not only carrying the whole world, you had him who created the world upon your shoulders! I am Christ your king, to whom you render service by doing the work you do here. And if you want proof that what I am saying is true, when you get back to your little house, plant your staff in the earth, and tomorrow you will find it in leaf and bearing fruit!” Then the child vanished. Christopher went to his shack and thrust his staff into the ground. The next morning he did indeed find the staff bearing leaves and fruit.
The hermit telling Christopher how he may serve Christ shows the difference and hierarchy between the contemplative and the active lives. For first the hermit tells him to fast and pray, but seeing that Christopher could not do these things, he then advises him to serve his fellow men by carrying them across the river. In like wise the contemplative life is the natural end of men, and the thing first ordained for them, but if they, for some reason or another, are unable to follow this way they are still able to serve Christ in the active life. Then, Christopher’s size represents that he was great in faith. For the river represents the world, and the fact that he would not drown because of his size symbolises how the faithful are not overtaken by the tidings of the world because of their great faith. The crossing of the river then represents the overcoming of the world, and Christopher helping people to do this represents how those great in faith help those who are lesser in faith to still overcome the world and be transformed. The Christ-child calling two times and not appearing and calling the third time and appearing represents how He came from the third, spiritual world. For the corporeal things appear at once, the psychic things the second time, and only spiritual things the third time. But understand ‘time’ here as ‘realm’. The saint carrying the Christ-child across the river represents how each must bear his cross to ‘the other side’ to overcome the world, for only those who have been crucified with Christ truly live, and to be crucified we must first carry our cross to Golgotha. The waters becoming chaotic represents how the adversary attempts to take down the faithful on their pilgrimage to heaven, by assaulting them with the temptations and passions of the world. The Christ-child becoming heavy as lead signifies first of all the ‘weight’ that the Passion has on the mind of the faithful, for the contemplation of His death has precedence over all things that are able to weigh heavy on the mind, and second of all the ‘size’ of God, who, while including in Himself all the worlds, is yet still infinitely greater than these combined. And the weight of Christs sacrifice on our minds combined with the temptations of the world may lead some into despair, and then they will be subsumed under the tides of the waters. But Christopher could lean on his great staff, which firstly represent the Grace of God, secondly the Axis Mundi, thirdly the Cross, and fourthly faith. For men are saved from the world only by accepting into their hearts God’s grace, and they only escape the world by finding the centre (i.e. the heart) and travelling up it along the axis, and they are only able to be saved by the Crucifixion, which in principle destroyed the world, so that men could see its emptiness and overcome it, and faith is that which actualises the possibilities created by these things. And the flowering of the staff into a tree symbolises the fruits of faith, by which we are able to bear the Cross and overcome the world.

After seeing his staff sprout into a leafy tree, Christopher went to Samos in Lycia to give solace to persecuted Christians. He did not know their language, but he prayed and became able to speak it. He then went to speak to some Christians who were about to be executed, to give them courage in the Lord. But one of the judges overseeing the execution struck Christopher in the face, and Christopher said: “If I were not a Christian, I would quickly have revenge for this insult!” Then he planted the staff he had with him in the earth and it sprouted into a leafy tree and eight thousand men converted. The king heard of this and ordered the saint to be brought before him. He demanded that he make an offering to the pagan gods, but Christopher refused and was put in jail. He then sent two prostitutes into his jail cell, who began to stroke the saint and put their arms around him, but Christopher began to pray and faced them, saying: “What are you trying to do and for what reason were you sent in here?” The whores, frightened by the radiance of his face, said: “Saint of God, pity us! Make us able to believe in the God whom you preach!” He then instructed them in the faith of God. By order of the king, the one prostitute was then hung up by the wrists and a huge stone was tied to her feet, which broke all her limbs, and eventually killed her. The other was thrown into a fire, which did not scathe her, after which she was beheaded, which did kill her. Then Christopher was first tortured by fire, which did not hurt him, and then by arrows, which did not reach him but rather hung in mid-air. The king then came to mock him, but walked into one of the arrows hanging there and was blinded by it. Christopher then said: “Tyrant, I will be dead tomorrow. Then make a paste with my blood and rub it on your eyes, and you will recover your sight!” The day after, after having made his final prayers, the saint was then beheaded. Following this, the king took some of the blood and rubbed it on his eye and his sight was restored immediately. Then he was baptised and issued a decree that whoever blasphemed against God or Saint Christopher was to be beheaded.
Saint Christopher praying and becoming able to understand the foreign language signifies how the saints are able to speak to each in their own ‘language’, i.e. make the doctrines of the faith understandable to each according to their capacity. Christopher then shows us how we should forgive those who insult us, by not having his revenge on the judge that slapped him. The staff sprouting into a tree again represents the fruit of faith, by which many are converted. The prostitutes sent to the saint in jail represent the temptations by which the world attempts to sway us from our concentration on Christ, and they are defeated by prayer, and not only defeated, but even turned to good. For the phenomena that may first be for us temptations, may turn into some sort of blessings later, for God makes good things out of evil, and the conversion of the whores signifies this. But their martyrdom represents that the world never tires to reject those things that have been turned to good by God, for her substance is not able to sustain good for long. The fire in the tortures again represents the passions, by which the saints are not affected. The king being blinded by the arrow represents how the wrathful are hurt by their own designs to punish, or how the sinner makes himself even blinder to the truth by his sinning. The healing of the blindness of the king by the blood of the saint then signifies how the lives of the saints, which are signified by the blood, will inspire many conversions, which is signified by the curing of blindness. For blindness represents ignorance and the unrepentant are ignorant of God. The beheading again represents the ‘slaying of the mind’.

Now, some make Saint Christopher to have been part of a race of men with the heads of dogs, called the cynocephalics. This is no surprise, for dogs have always been associated with the active life, and thus the second caste, i.e. the king-warriors. And by his size and fearsome visage it may be said that Christopher was of this nature. This also explains why he was unable to do fasting or offer prayers, for these acts are most proper to the nature of the priestly caste, not the regal caste. Another thing which may be considered at least an interesting correspondence is the resemblance between the Latin word for dog and certain regal titles, such as the Khan of the nomads, or the Cangrandes of Verona, and it may even be extended to Cain (the cynocephalics were even considered his descendants), who represents the material aspect of Wisdom, which may be said to be the perfect definition of the royal caste. So the cynocephaly of St. Christopher does not represent, as some have said, the “otherness” or the “liminal” nature of the saints or whatever, but rather his royal, i.e. warrior nature, which is also why he is sometimes counted among the athletes (i.e. soldiers) of Christ, and why the depictions of him with a dog head usually have him in armour.

Saint Christopher breathed his last in the Lord around the year 300.

O holy Christopher,
Your physique was overwhelming and your face horrifying.
You willingly suffered trauma from your own people.
Women tried to arouse consuming fires of passion in you,
but instead they followed you to your martyrdom.
You are our strong protector, o great martyr Christopher!