The Saint of the Orthodox Christian Church, the hermit, desert monk Sisoi, has been depicted for hundreds of years in hagiographies over the open tomb of Alexander the Great.
Saint Sisois is an enigma for both classical and Byzantine archaeology. Specialist scholars try to interpret the symbolism of the relevant hagiographies (the first of which date back to the 14th century AD) and also to answer convincingly the question: Did Saint Sisois really saw the tomb of Alexander the Great?
The existence of Saint Sisoi was pointed out by Mr. Sotiris Athanaselis, Professor of Toxicology at the Medical School of the University of Athens. Specifically, Mr. Athanaselis in his extensive letter entitled "The Tomb of Alexander the Great in Christian Hagiography" writes: “From my first visit to this amazingly hagiographed church, I was struck by a mural-hagiography of Saint Sisoi who is located in front of the open tomb of Alexander the Great (!)” and exclaims:
‘Seeing you, grave, I am terrified and frightened at your sight and I shed tears from my heart, bringing to my mind the debt that all people have to pay (that is, death), so I will suffer also such an end. Oh, you death, who can avoid you?'
“This scene, as depicted in the mural (image below), in addition to the impression it caused me, also created some reasonable questions which I tried to investigate with relative - I confess - success since the whole subject has nothing to do with my profession.”
Original inscription:
“Ορών σε τάφε δειλιώ σου την θέαν και καρδιοστάλακτον δάκρυον χέω, χρέος το κοινόφλητον εις νουν λαμβάνων, πως ουν μέλλω, διελθείν περας τοιούτον. Αι, αι θάνατε τις δύναται φυγείν σε;”
The disciples of Saint Sisoi, who are considered to be the first to depict the relevant scene, describe it as follows:
'Sisoi the Great in Asceticism in front of the tomb of Alexander the Great, frightened from the glorious past, sorrowful about the restlessness of time and temporary glory, behold he mourns'.
Saint Sisoës the Great (also Sisoi the Great, Sisoy the Great, Sisoes of Sceté or Shishoy was born in 367 and died in 429 AD. He was an early Christian desert father, a solitary monk pursuing asceticism in the Egyptian desert in a cave of his predecessor, St Anthony the Great He consecrated in the desert of Thebes in Upper Egypt. His memory is celebrated on July 6 and belongs to the first generation of great hermits who followed Antonios the Great. In ascetic and hagiological texts he is characterized as ‘Osios (= saint, monk) Sisois’ or ‘Abbas (= father) Sisoi’.
Sisoës was a Copt by birth. Having withdrawn the world from his youth, he retired to the desert of Sceté, and lived some time under the direction of his teacher, Abba Or. The desire of finding a retreat yet more unfrequented induced him to cross the Nile and hide himself in the mountain where St. Anthony the Great died some time before.
Saint Sisoës the Great at the tomb of Alexander the Great (16th c., Varlaam Monastery, Meteora), signifying the remembrance of death (Memento mori).
The monastery of Abba Sisoi, in the valley of Nitria in the Wadi el Natroun region of Egypt is one of the ancient monasteries of the Scete, the cradle of Christian monasticism, which have been operating since the 4th century AD. The monastery contains the relic of Saint Sisoi which is said to be perfectly preserved on a red cloth.
The monks claim that it is not uncommon for Saint Sisoi to perform miracles for the true believers and is also considered one of the most important saints of the Coptic Christians in Egypt. His first depictions, in the 16th century, depict him as a respected elder. Saint Sisois is always depicted, in all the hagiographies, next to the tomb of Alexander the Great, reflecting on the futility of life and the inevitability of death.
But why Alexander the Great and not someone else?
Koukouli of Zagori
It should be noted that similar hagiographies to that of Koukouli have been recorded in many places in Greece, including the Monastery of Megisti Lavra and the Monastery of Xiropotamos on Mount Athos, the Monastery of Barlaam in Meteora (1566) and the Monastery of Megisti in Kastelorizo. It is also depicted in Churches of Kastoria as in the chapel of Agios Ioannis the Theologian in the Monastery of Panagia Mavriotissa (1552), in St. Nikolaos Theologinas (1662) and in the church of Ioannis Prodromos in the Apozari district (1727). A similar depiction exists in the Monastery of the Greatest Brigadiers in Milies of Pelion (1774). To all of this should also be added the relatively later depiction in the church dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin in Koukouli, Zagori (1788).
Monastery of Panachrantos, Megara
Of particular importance is the hagiography of Agios Ioannis the Theologian in the Monastery of Panagia Mavriotissa, in which Saint Sisois is depicted in front of an open tomb, where together with the skeleton of Alexander the Great are depicted also two other skeletons. According to one acceptation, this is a declarative element of the posthumous equality of kings and non-kings.
But does this depiction indicate the burial of Alexander the Great in polyandry?
In the hagiography of Koukouli a different thing (and unique in relation to the other hagiographies) is that on the head of the skeleton of Alexander the Great there is a golden crown.
Prodromos, Apizari
Dorotheus, Bishop of Tire (255-362 AD), when he returned from exile during which he had worked as a slave in the mines of the oasis of Zion in Egypt, stated that its inhabitants were pagans and worshiped the Egyptian god Ammon, but also Alexander the Great who was buried there. Knowing the extensive discussions that have taken place and are taking place to locate the exact location of the tomb of Alexander the Great, we can wonder why Saint Sisois is always depicted in front of this tomb?
Mavriotissa
Had Saint Sisois really found the tomb of Alexander the Great somewhere where he was a monk? Is this what the relevant hagiography shows the depiction of a real event? If the exact routes of Saint Sisoi are searched and located, will the legendary tomb of Alexander the Great be located? These are definitely very interesting questions to answer.
Russian style
The question posed by the case of Saint Sisoi is whether its depiction should be taken as "literal" or studied for its symbolic meaning. In the first acceptation, the analysis must focus to the investigation of the historical data about a visit of Sisoi to the tomb of Alexander the Great. In the second, however, archaeologists emphasize how the hagiography reflects "the fear of the death of the entire Byzantine world that has seen an empire collapse and philosophize on the futility of the world".
Movable image of the 16th c. Hermitage Museum.
Also, the fact that in the depictions of Saint Sisoi appears the tomb of Alexander the Great, seems to be a later addition, probably of the Theban hagiographers Georgios and Frankos Kontaris, who in 1556 painted the Monastery of Barlaam, in Meteora. So while until then Osios Sisoi was presented over an open tomb of a stranger, after the intervention of the two brothers he was found above the …sarcophagus of Alexander the Great, precisely to emphasize even more the futility of the worldly.
