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Hagiography [hægi'ɒgrəfi] is the study of saints. A saint (from the Latin sanctus) is a human being to whom has been attributed (and who has generally demonstrated a high level of Holiness and Sanctity A hagiography refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically the biographies of ecclesiastical and secular leaders. SACRED was a Cubesat built by the Student Satellite Program of the University of Arizona. A biography (from the Greek words bíos (βίος meaning "life" and gráphein (γράφειν meaning "to write" is an account Ecclesiology (from Greek grc ἐκκλησίᾱ ekklēsiā, "congregation church" and grc -λογία -logia) is the study of the Secularity ( adjective form secular) is the state of being separate from Religion. The word comes from Greek (h)ağios (ἅγιος, "holy" or "saint") and graphē (γραφή, "writing"). The term hagiology is also current in English, though less common. (This in fact follows original Greek practice, where ἁγιογραφία refers to visual images of the saints, while their written lives (βίοι or vitæ) or the study thereof are known as ἁγιολογία. )

Though many hagiographies focus on the lives of men and women canonized by the Christian Church, other religions such as Buddhism and Islam also create and maintain hagiographical texts concerning saints and other individuals believed to be imbued with the sacred. Canonization is the act by which a particular Christian church declares a deceased person to be a Saint and is included in the canon or list of recognized saints Church (disambiguation Christian Church and the word church are used to denote both a Christian association of people and a Place of worship Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices For other meanings including people named 'Islam' see Islam (disambiguation.

The term "hagiographic" has also come to be used as a pejorative reference to the works of contemporary biographers and historians whom critics perceive to be uncritical and even "reverential" in their writing. Words and phrases are pejorative if they imply disapproval or contempt A biography (from the Greek words bíos (βίος meaning "life" and gráphein (γράφειν meaning "to write" is an account See also History An historian is an individual who studies and writes about History, and is regarded as an Authority on it

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Development of hagiography

Hagiography constituted an important literary genre in the early millennia of the Christian church, providing informational history as well as inspirational stories and legend. Literature is the Art of written works Literally translated the word means "acquaintance with letters" (from Latin littera letter A genre (ˈʒɑːnrə also /ˈdʒɑːnrə/ from French "kind" or "sort" from Latin: genus (stem gener-) is a loose set Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings History is the study of the past particularly the written record Those who study history as a Profession are called Historians Etymology A legend ( Latin, legenda, "things to be read" is a Narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to A hagiographic account of an individual saint can constitute a vita.

The genre of lives of the saints first came into being in the Roman Empire as legends about Christian martyrs and were called martyrologies. A genre (ˈʒɑːnrə also /ˈdʒɑːnrə/ from French "kind" or "sort" from Latin: genus (stem gener-) is a loose set A saint (from the Latin sanctus) is a human being to whom has been attributed (and who has generally demonstrated a high level of Holiness and Sanctity The Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial A legend ( Latin, legenda, "things to be read" is a Narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth The term martyr ( Greek μάρτυς martys "witness" is most commonly used today to describe an individual who sacrifices their life (or personal freedom A martyrology is a catalogue or list of Martyrs (or more precisely of Saints, arranged in the calendar order of their anniversaries or feasts In the 4th century, there were three main types of catalogs of lives of the saints:

In Western Europe hagiography was one of the more important areas in the study of history during the Middle Ages. Western Europe at its most general meaning means 'all the countries in the West of Europe ' The Golden Legend of Jacob de Voragine compiled a great deal of mediæval hagiographic material, with a strong emphasis on miracle tales. The Golden Legend (Legenda Aurea by Jacopo da Varagine is a collection of fanciful hagiographies or lives of the Saints that became a late medieval Blessed Jacobus de Varagine or Voragine (Giacomo da Varazze Jacopo da Varazze (c A miracle is an event believed to be caused by interposition of Divine intervention by a Supernatural being in the Universe by which the ordinary operation

The Bollandist Society continues the study, academic assembly, appraisal and publication of materials relating to the lives of Christian saints. The Bollandists are an association of scholars - originally all Jesuit, but now including non-Jesuits -- philologists and historians -- who since the early seventeenth century Personal life (or everyday life or human existence) is the course of an individual Human 's life especially when viewed as the sum of personal choices (See Acta Sanctorum. Acta Sanctorum ( Acts of the Saints ' is an encyclopedic text in 68 folio volumes of documents examining the lives of Christian saints in essence a critical )

Hagiography of the mediæval period in England

With the introduction of Latin literature into England in the 7th and 8th centuries the genre of the life of the saint grew increasingly popular. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It is not surprising that such a genre would become popular in England. When one contrasts it to the popular heroic poem, such as “Beowulf,” one finds that they share certain common features. Beowulf is an Old English Heroic epic poem of anonymous authorship dating as recorded in the Nowell Codex manuscript from between In “Beowulf,” the titular character battles against Grendel and his mother, while the saint, such as Athanasius’ Anthony (one of the original sources for the hagiographic motif) or the character of Guthlac, battles against figures no less substantial in a spiritual sense. Beowulf is an Old English Heroic epic poem of anonymous authorship dating as recorded in the Nowell Codex manuscript from between Grendel is one of three Antagonists along with Grendel's mother and the Dragon, in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf Saint Anthony the Great (c 251–356 also known as Anthony the Abbot, Anthony of Egypt, Anthony of the Desert, Anthony the Anchorite, Saint Guthlac of Croyland (673-714 was a Christian Saint from Lincolnshire in England. Both genres then focus on the hero-warrior figure, but with the distinction that the saint is of a spiritual sort.

In Anglo-Saxon and mediæval England, Hagiography became a literary genre par excellence for the teaching of a largely illiterate audience. The History of Anglo-Saxon England covers the history of Early medieval England from the end of Roman Britain and the establishment of Anglo-Saxon Hagiography provided priests and theologians with the classical handbooks in a form that allowed them the rhetorical tools necessary to defend the truth of their scriptures.

Of all the English hagiographers no one was more prolific nor so aware of the importance of the genre as Abbot Ælfric of Eynsham. Ælfric of Eynsham (the Grammarian) (c 955 &ndash c 1010 was an English Abbot, as well as a consummate prolific writer in Old English of His work The Lives of the Saints (MS Cotton Julius E. 7) comprises a set of sermons on saints' days, formerly observed by the English Church. The text comprises two prefaces, one in Latin and one in Old English, and 39 lives beginning on December 25 with the nativity of Christ and ending with three texts to which no saints' days are attached. Christ is the English term for the Greek ( Khristós) meaning "the anointed " The text spans the entire year and describes the lives of many saints, both English and continental, and hearkens back to some of the earliest saints of the early church.

Imitation of the life of Christ then was the benchmark against which saints were measured, and imitation of the lives of saints was the benchmark against which the general population measured itself.

Hagiography of the mediæval period in Ireland

Ireland is notable and its rich hagiographical tradition, and for the large amount of material which was produced during the mediæval period. Irish hagiographers wrote primarily in Latin while some of the later saint's lives were written in the hagiographer's native vernacular Irish. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Irish (ga ''Gaeilge'' is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish. Of particular note are the lives of St. Patrick, St. Columba and St. Brigit—Ireland's three patron saints. Saint Patrick (Patricius Irish: Naomh Pádraig) was a Roman Britain -born Christian Missionary and is the Patron saint WikipediaPersondata --> See Columba (disambiguation and St Columb for other uses

Hagiography in Eastern Orthodoxy

Example of Greek Orthodox visual hagiography. This is one of the best known surviving Byzantine mosaics in Hagia Sophia - Christ Pantocrator flanked by the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist made in the 12th century.
Example of Greek Orthodox visual hagiography. This is one of the best known surviving Byzantine mosaics in Hagia Sophia - Christ Pantocrator flanked by the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist made in the 12th century. Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya Αγία Σοφία " Holy Wisdom " Sancta Sophia or Sancta Sapientia) is a former patriarchal Basilica, later Meaning The most common translation of Pantocrator is "Almighty" or "All-powerful Saint John the Baptist ( heb. Jochanan ben Sacharja, arab. يحيى Yaḥyā or يوحنا Yūḥanna, aram.

In the 10th century, a Byzantine monk Simeon Metaphrastes was the first one to change the genre of lives of the saints into something different, giving it a moralizing and panegyrical character. MONK is a Monte Carlo software package for simulating nuclear processes particularly for the purpose of determining the neutron multiplication factor or k-effective Saint Symeon Metaphrastes was the most renowned of the Byzantine Hagiographers He is identified with the Logothete of that name A panegyric is a formal public speech, or (in later use written verse delivered in high praise of a Person or thing, a generally highly studied and discriminating His catalog of lives of the saints became the standard for all of the Western and Eastern hagiographers, who would create relative biographies and images of the ideal saints by gradually departing from the real facts of their lives. The term Western world, the West or the Occident ( Latin: occidens -sunset -west as distinct from the Orient) can have multiple meanings The term Eastern world refers very broadly to the various Cultures social structures and philosophical systems of " the East " Over the years, the genre of lives of the saints had absorbed a number of narrative plots and poetic images (often, of pre-Christian origin, such as dragon fighting etc. The dragon is a Legendary creature of which some interpretation or depiction appears in almost every culture worldwide ), mediaeval parables, short stories and anecdotes. A parable is a brief succinct story in Prose or verse, that illustrates a Moral or Religious lesson For other uses see Anecdota. For a comparison of anecdote with other kinds of stories see Myth legend fairy tale and fable.

The genre of lives of the saints was brought to Kievan Rus' by the South Slavs together with writing and also in translations from the Greek language. Kievan Rus′ (Ки́евская Русь romanised: Kievskaya Rus', rusʲ also written as Kyivan Rus′ (Ки́ївська Русь or Kievan The South Slavs are a southern branch of the Slavic peoples that live in the Balkans mainly throughout the former Yugoslavia (meaning "Land of Translation is the interpreting of the meaning of a text and the subsequent production of an equivalent text likewise called a " translation Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly In the 11th century, the Rus' began to compile the original life stories of the first Rus'ian saints, e. Rus’ (Русь rusʲ Русичи Русы are an ancient people whose name survives in the cognates Russians, Rusyns, and Ruthenians g. Boris and Gleb, Theodosius Pechersky etc. There are other people known as Saint David and Saint Roman. Boris and Gleb ( Russian: Борис и Глеб Ukrainian In the 16th century, Metropolitan Macarius expanded the list of the Rus'ian saints and supervised the compiling process of their life stories. Macarius ( Макарий in Russian) ( 1482 - January 12, 1563) was a notable Russian cleric writer and Iconographer They would all be compiled in the so called Velikiye chet’yi-minei catalog (Великие Четьи-Минеи, or Grand monthly readings), consisting of 12 volumes in accordance with each month of the year. The volume of any solid plasma vacuum or theoretical object is how much three- Dimensional space it occupies often quantified numerically They were revised and expanded by St. Dimitry of Rostov in 1684-1705. Saint Dimitry of Rostov (sometimes Latinized as Demetrius) was a leading opponent of the Caesaropapist reform of the Russian Orthodox church promoted by

The genre of lives of the saints was often used as ecclesiastic and political propaganda. Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions Propaganda is a concerted set of messages aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of people Today, the works in this genre represent a valuable historical source and reflection of different social ideas, world outlook and aesthetic concepts of the past. Aesthetics or esthetics ( also spelled æsthetics) is commonly known as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values sometimes called The term "concept" is traced back to 1554–60 ( l conceptum - something conceived but what is today termed "the classical theory of concepts" is the theory of Aristotle

Secular usage

The term "hagiography" has come to refer to the works of contemporary biographers and historians whom critics perceive to be uncritical and even "reverential. A biography (from the Greek words bíos (βίος meaning "life" and gráphein (γράφειν meaning "to write" is an account See also History An historian is an individual who studies and writes about History, and is regarded as an Authority on it " For example, critics of historian (and John F. Kennedy associate) Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. often call him a "Kennedy hagiographer. John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy (May 29 1917&ndashNovember 22 1963 often referred to by his initials JFK, was the thirty-fifth President of Arthur Meier Schlesinger Jr, born Arthur Bancroft Schlesinger ( October 15 1917 &ndash February 28 2007) was a Pulitzer Prize recipient "

Aleister Crowley's autobiography, The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, is subtitled An Autohagiography. Aleister Crowley, born Edward Alexander Crowley (ˈkroʊli (12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947 was a British Occultist Writer, mountaineer An autobiography, from the Greek αὐτός autos "self" βίος bios "life" and γράφειν graphein "to write" The Confessions of Aleister Crowley: An Autohagiography, by Aleister Crowley (1875-1947 is a book written in six parts In books and other works a subtitle is an explanatory or alternate title

See also

Bibliography

External links

Dictionary

hagiography

-noun

  1. (uncountable) The study of saints.
  2. (countable) A biography of a saint.
  3. (countable) A biography which expresses reverence and respect for its subject.
  4. (uncountable, by extension) A tactic adopted in Stalinist Russia to increase the popularity and power of Lenin.
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