St Christopher

St Christopher, first called Reprebus, was a man of huge stature and strength in the third century, said by some to come from the Canaanites and by others from a fierce people called the "dog-heads." He asked God to make him plain of face so as to tempt no one. Sent with 200 soldiers to the emperor Decius, he went willingly; along the way his staff blossomed and bread was multiplied, and the soldiers were baptized with him by St Babylas of Antioch. Before the emperor he could not be shaken. Two women sent to seduce him, Callinica and Aquilina, instead became Christians and martyrs. After many torments he was beheaded in Lycia about 250. His name means "Christ-bearer." Orthodox Christians pray to him for protection on their journeys and in times of contagious disease.

Patronage of travelers is recognized in Orthodox sources, but the river-crossing story of the giant carrying the Christ Child, and with it the medal for drivers and motorists, is primarily Western (Golden Legend); Greeks have adopted it widely. The belief that seeing his image protects from sudden death that day is Western medieval. In the East he is invoked in contagious disease (Italy and Spain especially, per Russian and OCA sources). Icons showing him with a dog's head exist but are rare, mostly post-Byzantine (17th–18th c.), were reportedly proscribed in Russia in the 18th century, and are read as symbolic of his savage origins transformed by grace — present them as a curiosity of tradition, not dogma.