Orthodox saints with animals

[Quinault]

What are some saints that have stories about them (and icons) that have animals playing a major part?

[akimori makoto]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammes_of_Caesarea

[Shanghaiski]

What are some saints that have stories about them (and icons) that have animals playing a major part?

Great book to check out "Animals and Man: A State of Blessedness," by a Greek Orthodox veterinarian. It has the Orthodox teaching on animals and many great lives of saints who had relationships with animals. I highly recommend it.

[KBN1]

St. Kevin of Glendalough

[Iconodule]

Gerasimos with a lion.
Cuthbert with otters.
Eustathios with a stag.
Sergius of Radonezh and Seraphim of Sarov both had bears.

[HabteSelassie]

Greetings in that Divine and Most Precious Name of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!


Abune Gebre Menfes Kiddus


Abba Samuel



Abba Aregawi

stay blessed,
Habte Selassie

[LBK]

What are some saints that have stories about them (and icons) that have animals playing a major part?

Off the top of my head:

Greatmartyr Mamas and his lion

St Gerasimus of the Jordan and his lion

Various warrior-saints on horseback, such as George, Demetrius, and the two Theodores (the General and the Recruit)

St Mary of Egypt, and the lion which dug her grave

St John of Shanghai and San Francisco and his dove

St Helen, mother of St Constantine, who brought a shipment of cats to a snake-riddled region in Cyprus, and the monastery dedicated to St Nicholas of Myra which was established to honor this gesture; the monastery still exists, and is known as St Nicholas of the Cats (Aghios Nikolaos ton Ghaton)

St Sergius of Radonezh surrounded by various critters in the wooded wilderness where he set up his monastery

St Seraphim of Sarov and his bear

.... and the innumerable monastics, sainted and otherwise, who have had cats as their companions. One monk I know and love dearly once told me: Cats are practically a canonical requirement if you're a monastic. He wasn't completely joking.

[Asteriktos]

These (especially the first) are good summations of OO religious art...

[Joseph Hazen]

The Martyrdom of St. Ignatius of Antioch:

[dzheremi]

St. Mark and the lion

[Michał Kalina]

St. Jonah the Prophet, St. Hubert

[Alpo]

Mother of God and her snakes.

EDIT:

Also, Holy Prophet Elijah and his ravens.

[elephant]

St. John of Shanghai befriended a pigeon. 

"Once Archbishop John came home to discover that a pigeon was hurt, his wing was damaged, and was sitting outside the window. He opened the window and let it in. The bird could barely flutter, and Archbishop John bound its wing and fed it. That was enough to make it feel adopted. The bird stayed around, especially when the Saint would arrive and would feed it. Actually it remained a mystery how both of them conversed. But one thing we knew: the pigeon reacted to the words of St. John as if it understood what he said. I was told that both of them would sit facing each other, the man softly speaking and the bird making its pigeon sounds in agreement and peacefully walking to and fro, as if memorizing what it was taught. This company Archbishop John kept for a long time, until his death. "

http://www.urbanwildlifesociety.org/pigeons/SaintJohnsPij.htm

[Quinault]

Our priest isn't a canonized saint. But whenever he arrives at the parish a flock of crows comes. He feeds them peanuts, I think he has been doing it for years. They know the moment he comes out and go to him. It is pretty cool to watch.

[orthonorm]

Our priest isn't a canonized saint. But whenever he arrives at the parish a flock of crows comes. He feeds them peanuts, I think he has been doing it for years. They know the moment he comes out and go to him. It is pretty cool to watch.

http://orthodoxwiki.org/Paul_of_Thebes

[orthonorm]

Our priest isn't a canonized saint. But whenever he arrives at the parish a flock of crows comes. He feeds them peanuts, I think he has been doing it for years. They know the moment he comes out and go to him. It is pretty cool to watch.

http://orthodoxwiki.org/Paul_of_Thebes

There are more than a few Saints who have lives in which ravens played no small part. Guy I knew was into ravens and Saints (EO / RC).

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