The Three Hebrews in the Fiery Furnace
AN EARLY BYZANTINE ICON AT MT. SINAI
Kathleen Corrigan
Among the Early Byzantine icons preserved at Mt. Sinai
is one fairly small panel (35.5 x 49.6 cm) depicting the
Three Hebrews in the Fiery Furnace (colorplate xiv).
One could argue that this is a somewhat unusual subject
for an icon; among the early panels, it is the only one to
depict a scene from the Old Testament (though there are
a few images of standing prophets). The rest of the icons
are either New Testament scenes or images of Christ, the
Virgin, or various Christian saints to whom the faithful
could address their prayers. The subject of the Three
Hebrews in the Furnace, generally associated with the
theme of salvation, most often appears in a funerary
context, especially during the third and fourth cen-
turies. However, the subject was still very popular in
some areas (especially Coptic Egypt) in the seventh cen-
tury when this icon was probably produced, and by
then it had taken on a number of additional meanings
and associations that make it a more obvious choice for
a devotional image. A look at the development of the
iconography of this scene and at the various contexts in
which it was used will help us understand the possible
meanings of this icon. It will also offer some evidence
concerning its place of origin. Finally, Kurt Weitzmanns
suggestion that the Hebrew youths are wearing a gar-
ment that is part of the monastic habit needs further
clarification and an exploration of what this might add
to the meaning of the icon.
Though the representation of the Three Hebrews is a
much-studied topic in Early Christian iconography,1 the
Sinai icon itself has not received any detailed treatment.
In his corpus of early Sinai icons, Weitzmann described
its basic features and suggested a seventh century date
and a Palestinian origin (icon B.31). Weitzmann also
noted the presence of grooves that would have accom-
modated a lid to cover the image, a feature he also
found in two other Sinai icons.2 This and the relatively
small size suggest that the icon was for personal devo-
tion.
As is the case with many of the early icons at Mt.
Sinai, the Three Hebrews icon has a frame consisting of
four strips of wood fastened to the panel with nails. This
frame contains an inscription running across the top
and down the right, and then down the left and across
the bottom. The text, which is only partially preserved,
is an excerpt from Daniel 3:4950. The following is the
inscription as read and reconstructed by Weitzmann:
Top: r
3 I I T
Right: [ I T
]
Left: [T
T I]
1
A catalog of works through the fifth century is provided in
C. Carletti, I tre giovani Ebrei di Babilonia nellarte Chrisiana an-
tica, Quaderni di Vetera Christianorum 9 (Brescia, 1975).
But see the detailed review by Marguerite Rassart-Debergh,
Les trois Hbreux dans la fournaise dans lart palochr-
tien. Iconographie, Byzantion 48 (1978): 43055. There is a
more detailed catalog by Hans Reinhard Seeliger, Plai
mrturew. Die Drei Jnglinge im Feuerofe als Typos in der
sptantiken Kunst, Liturgie und patristischen Literature, in
Liturgie und Dichtung. Ein interdisziplinres Kompendium II
(St. Ottilien, 1983), 257334. See also Kathleen M. Irwin, The
Liturgical and Theological Correlations in the Associations of
Representations of the Three Hebrews and the Magi in the
Christian Art of Late Antiquity (PhD diss., Graduate Theo-
logical Union, 1985), catalog, 25689. Coptic and Nubian
examples are collected in M. Rassart-Debergh, Les trois He-
breux dans la fournaise en Egypte et en Nubie chrtienne,
Rivista degli studi orientali 58 (1984): 14151, and Gertrud J. M.
van Loon, The Gate of Heaven: Wall Paintings with Old Testament
Scenes in the Altar Room and the Hurus of Coptic Churches, Uit-
gaven van het Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Insti-
tuut te Istanbul 85 (Istanbul, 1999).
2
K. Weitzmann, The Monastery of St. Catherine at Mt. Sinai: The
Icons (Princeton, N.J., 1976), 56. The others fitted for lids are
B.10 and B.15. In The Clash of Gods, rev. ed. (Princeton, N.J.,
1999), 181, Thomas Mathews points out that an Egyptian
panel of Isis and Suchos has this same feature.
3
Weitzmann omitted this word.
92 Kathleen Corrigan
Bottom: () []
[I]4
In the color photograph published by Weitzmann, no
text is visible on the right vertical portion of the frame.
The same is true for the left vertical portion, though
Weitzmann records having seen the first two words,
from which he reconstructs this section as the flame of
the fire from the furnace. But since the bottom section
begins with the last syllable of the word furnace and
then the words as if a dewy breeze were whistling
through it, it is possible that the inscription skips from
flame to and made the middle of the furnace. There
is also room on the bottom part of the frame for an
additional phrase. Given this, the following reading is
possible:
But the angel of the Lord came down into the
furnace with Azariah and his companions, and
made the furnace as if a dewy breeze were whistling
through it. And the fire did not touch them at all.
The verses from which the inscription is excerpted are
part of a section contained only in the Greek versions of
Daniel (and versions derived from it) and comprising
the Prayer of Azariah (vv. 2445) and the Song of the
Three Young Men (vv. 5190), connected by a brief
descriptive narrative (verses 4650). The ordeal of the
three Hebrew youths is recounted in detail in the pre-
ceding sections of Daniel 3. Hananiah, Mishael, and
Azariah (in Babylonian: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-
nego) served in the administration of King Nebuchad-
nezzar. When they refused to worship a colossal statue
the king had set up, they were punished by being
thrown into a flaming furnace. As he looked into the fur-
nace, Nebuchadnezzar was surprised to see a fourth
man standing in the fire with them. He was moved to
release the youths and they emerged from the furnace
unscathed. Amazed, Nebuchadnezzar proclaimed his
acceptance of their God and promoted the three youths
to a higher office.
The earliest representations of the three Hebrews are
to be found in the funerary art of the late third and
fourth centuries: in catacombs, on sarcophagi, and on
gold glass (fig. 1).5 Most of these represent the youths
ordeal in the furnace and usually include the fourth
figure, either a man as mentioned in Daniel 3:25, or an
angel as in Daniel 3:49. The young men are usually
shown wearing Persian garb, including the so-called
Phrygian cap, a short tunic and trousers, and usually a
cape fastened at the breast with a circular brooch. They
stand next to one another with hands raised in the orant
Fig. 1 Fragment of a sarcophagus lid.
Rome, Camposanto Teutonico
position, most often within a brick rectangular furnace,
but sometimes just surrounded by flames. These images
are generally understood to convey ideas of salvation
and resurrection, appearing as they often do with other
images of divine intervention such as Noah, Daniel, or
Jonah.
It was pointed out long ago that the use of Old Testa-
ment models of salvation in Early Christian art parallels
the petitions found in Jewish and Christian prayers for
the dead, the Commendatio animae, in which the peti-
tioner asks for the delivery of the soul of the deceased,
just as God had delivered Jonah or Daniel. The dating of
the Christian prayers has been debated, but they seem
to go back in some form to the third century.6 The glass
cup found in Podgoritza (Doclea) and attributed to the
4
The text of the Septuagint reads:
O de ggelow kurou sugkatbh ma tow per tn Azaran
efiw tn kminon ki jetnaje tn flga to porw k tw
kamnou ka pohsen t mson tw kamnou w pnema dr-
sou diasurzon ka ox cato atn t kavlou t mr ki
ok lmhsen od parhnxlmsen atow. [But the angel of
the Lord came down into the furnace with Azariah and his
companions, and extinguished the flame of fire from the fur-
nace, and made the middle of the furnace as if a dewy breeze
were whistling through it. The fire did not touch them at all
and did not hurt or bother them.] Translation from John J.
Collins, Daniel: A Commentary on the Book of Daniel (Min-
neapolis, 1993), 196.
5
F. W. Deichmann, G. Bovini, and H. Brandenburg, Repertorium
der Christlich-Antiken Sarkophage, Band 1. Rom und Ostia (Wies
baden, 1967), no. 894, taf. 142. Deichmann dates this to the last
third of the third century.
6
See the detailed discussion in Catherine Brown Tkacz, The Key
to the Brescia Casket: Typology and the Early Christian Imagina-
tion, Collection des Etudes Augustiniennes, Srie Antiquit
165 (Paris, 2001), chap. 4, and in Seeliger, Plai mtuej,
294334. See also A. van den Hoek and J. J. Herrmann, Cel-
sus Competing Heroes: Jonah, Daniel, and Their Rivals, in
Poussires de christianisme et de judasme antiques. Etudes runies
en lhonneur de Jean-Daniel Kaestli et Eric Junod, ed. A. Frey and
R. Gounelle, Publications de lInstitut romand des sciences
bibliques 5 (Lausanne, 2007), 30739. I thank the authors for
the offprint and for drawing my attention to this article.
 The Three Hebrews in the Fiery Furnace
Fig. 2 Podgoritza (Doclea) glass cup.
St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum
fourth century includes among the scenes decorating its
border the stories of Jonah, Daniel in the lions den, and
the three Hebrew youths (fig. 2). The images are accom-
panied by Latin inscriptions which, as several scholars
have shown, precisely parallel petitions from the Com-
mendatio animae: Daniel from the den of lions, the
three boys from the fiery furnace.7
The Sinai icon differs from these earlier representa-
tions of the subject. It is not, as in the catacombs or sar-
cophagi, included among a series of images of similar
meaning, thereby allowing the viewer to be reassured
by the lineup of exemplars who were faithful to God
and rewarded accordingly. The Sinai icon is a unique
object. There is no furnace; the three youths are pushed
up to the foreground, filling the space of the panel.
Though he makes contact with them, the angel does not
inhabit their space; as Weitzmann noticed, the angel
stands on a different ground line and is not surrounded
by the circles of fire that engulf the three youths. This is,
therefore, not a visualization of what Daniel 3:25 reports
Nebuchadnezzar saw in the furnace. Rather, it repre-
sents the angels intervention as recounted in Daniel
3:4650 and excerpted in the inscription. At the same
time, however, there is no attempt to represent the
dewy breeze the angel created to counteract the heat
of the fire. Instead we see the moment before this when
the three youths are still subject to the flames that swirl
around them, but they nevertheless register no reaction
in their static bodies and placid faces. Thus, while the
93
angel and his cross staff are important elements in the
composition, one could say that the emphasis is on the
steadfastness of the youths in facing their ordeal. In
their role as martyrs they provide a focus for the
viewers contemplation.
This, in fact, was a very common way of looking at
the story of the three Hebrew youths. As Robin Jensen
points out, many Early Christian writers, going back to
the late first century, cited them as models for Christians
in times of persecution, especially because their suffer-
ing derived from their refusal to worship false gods. She
notes that Cyprian found the dignity of the youths
martyrdom in no way diminished merely because they
emerged unscathed.8 It is no surprise, therefore, that
the three Hebrew youths are mentioned in many saints
lives.9
One such example is from the Coptic life of St. Victor,
who was martyred during the reign of Diocletian. He
was the son of Romanus, one of Diocletians caesars, but
had been raised as a Christian and had given up his
worldly goods and lived as an ascetic. When Victor re-
fused to worship the statues set up by Diocletian, he
was subjected to several forms of torture. When he was
on the rack, the archangel Michael appeared to Victor,
promising to be with him and to deliver him. He also
told Victor that he would be remembered along with the
three holy children, Ananias, Azarias, and Misael. Later,
when Victor was thrown into the furnace of the public
baths of Rakote (Alexandria) and stood praying to God
in the midst of the fire, at that very moment the holy
Archangel Michael came down from heaven, and went
into the furnace of the bath, and spread out his holy gar-
ment over Apa Victor, and he caused the flame of fire to
become like the dew at the first hour of the day.10
Images of the three Hebrew youths also appear on
works of art associated with the cult of saints. They oc-
7
Tkacz, The Key to the Brescia Casket, 12426. See also P. Corby
Finney, The Invisible God: The Earliest Christians on Art (New
York, 1994), 28486.
8
Jensen, Understanding Early Christian Art, 82, citing Cyprian,
Epistle 61.2.
9
Three Hebrews, in Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, ed. A. P.
Kazhdan et al., (New York, 1991), 3:2081. A few examples are
given in Seeliger, Plai mrturew, 299301, and also in H.
Delehaye, Les Passions des Martyrs et les Genres litteraire (Brus-
sels, 1921), 290.
10
The Martyrdom of Saint Victor the General, trans. E A. Wal-
lis Budge, in Coptic Martyrdoms in the Dialect of Upper Egypt,
ed. Budge (London, 1914), 27476. This and other examples
from the Coptic tradition are discussed in J. Muyser, Le culte
des trois saints jeunes gens chez les Coptes, Les Cahiers coptes
6 (1954): 1731.
94 Kathleen Corrigan
cur on several small silver boxes that are thought to
have functioned as reliquaries and have been dated to
the late fourth or early fifth century: the San Nazaro reli-
quary box found under the high altar of San Nazaro in
Milan; the box found near Thessalonike and now
housed in the Archaeological Museum there; the oval
Capsella di Brivio in the Louvre, which was found in
northern Italy. On two of these containers, the three
Hebrews in the furnace is one among several scenes of
the type that one finds in the catacombs or on sar-
cophagi or gold glass. On the Thessalonike box, for ex-
ample, the three Hebrews are combined with Daniel in
the lions den, Moses receiving the law, and the Traditio
Legis (fig. 3).11
Fig. 3 Silver reliquary box. Thessaloniki,
Museum of Byzantine Culture
Although these examples show that the role of the
three Hebrews as models for Christian martyrs proba-
bly inspired the use of their image on objects associated
with the cult of saints, one cannot necessarily say that
these images of the three Hebrews would have func-
tioned as devotional images in a way similar to the Sinai
icon, and so do not really provide any sort of precedent
for the icon. Rather than providing a generalized model
for Christian martyrdom, the three Hebrews on the icon
are themselves the specific focus of veneration.
By the fifth century, however, the three Hebrew
youths did have a cult devoted to them. There are
accounts of the translation of their relics in Greek, Cop-
tic, Armenian, and Georgian, and mentions of martyria
dedicated to them in Ctesiphon and Alexandria. Ac-
cording to the Life of Daniel the Stylite (40993), the
relics of the three holy children were brought from
Babylon by the emperor Leo I (45774) with the inten-
tion of having them laid over St. Daniels grave near
Constantinople, as the holy man had requested. This
was accomplished by the Patriarch Euphemius (49096)
after Daniels death in 493.12
Evidence for the existence of a shrine in Babylon is
provided by several texts. One is the Greek Romance of
Macarius the Roman, which tells of three monks from a
monastery in Mesopotamia who set out on a journey to
find paradise. Along the way they stopped in Ctesiphon
and visited the remains of the three holy children.13 An
interesting story preserved in both Armenian and Geor-
gian also includes information about the finding of the
relics of the saints. During the reign of the Persian king
Vahram (42138), there were mysterious cures taking
place in the house of a Jew built on the site of Neb-
uchadnezzars palace. These were investigated by a Jew
who had converted to Christianity and found to be due
to the presence of the remains of the three Hebrews. An
abbot named Antony and his deacon Silas came to try to
locate and take the relics. After some difficulties this
was accomplished, and a martyrium was built at
Antonys monastery to house the relics. Thereafter,
many miracles are attributed to the relics in the mar-
tyrium.14
11
On the boxes and their function, see Ruth E. Leader-Newby,
Silver and Society in Late Antiquity (Aldershot, 2004), 97110.
For the San Nazaro box, see Jeffrey Spier, ed., Picturing the
Bible: The Earliest Christian Art, exhibition catalog, Kimbell Art
Museum, Fort Worth, Texas (New Haven, Conn., 2007), 259
63; and for the Capsella di Brivio, Milano capitale dellImpero
romano (Milan, 1990), 286402 d.c.
12
Three Byzantine Saints: Contemporary Biographies of St. Daniel
the Stylite, St. Theodore of Sykeon and St. John the Almsgiver,
trans. Elizabeth Dawes, intro. and notes by Norman H.
Baynes (London, 1948). See Daniel the Stylite, in Oxford Dic-
tionary of Byzantium, 1:585, where it is noted that the Life has
been regarded as contemporary by one scholar, and by an-
other as ca. 600. Other than the Life of Daniel the Stylite, there
is no mention of a cult or church dedicated to the Three He-
brews in Constantinople in this early period, though later
they appear in the Typicon of Hagia Sophia and in the
Synaxarion for December 17.
13
The story is mentioned and an excerpt of the Greek text is
given in G. Garitte, LInvention gorgienne des trois enfants
de Babylone, Le Muson 72 (1959): 70. The date of the Ro-
mance of Macarius the Roman is uncertain; the fifth or sixth
century has been proposed. See Makarios of Rome, Oxford
Dictionary of Byzantium, 2:127071.
14
Garitte, LInvention gorgienne des trois enfants de Baby-
lone, 7273, 9495. See also G. Garitte, Le texte armnien de
lInvention des trois enfants de Babylone, Le Muson 74
(1961): 91108. These texts are mentioned in M. von Esbroeck,
Three Hebrews, The Coptic Encyclopedia, ed. Aziz S. Atiya
(New York, 1991), 7:225759.
 The Three Hebrews in the Fiery Furnace
Fig. 4 Wall painting from Wadi Sarga. London, British Museum, EA 73139
There are two stories concerning the building of a
martyrium for the relics of the three Hebrews in Alexan-
dria. The first is a Coptic sermon said to have been
delivered by Theophilus, Archbishop of Alexandria
(385412), in the martyrium he built for them, on a day
commemorating both the memory of the three children
and the founding of the martyrium. The sermon relates
the journey of Theophiluss envoy, John Colobos, to
Babylonia to obtain the relics of the three children, who
play a very active role in the drama. They appear to
Theophilus, their faces resplendent like the sun, ac-
companied by the archangel Michael and wearing royal
garments of linen and hyacinth, golden belts at their
waists, and silk hats on their heads. They show John the
furnace in which they suffered, now turned to crystal,
and their place of burial a cave where couches of gold
had been provided for them. They refuse, however, to
let John take any relics away but promise nevertheless
to be present in the martyrium in Alexandria.15 In a
Greek source, the Acts of Cyrus and John, it is a later Pa-
triarch of Alexandria, Apollinarus (55170), who is cred-
ited with building the martyrium, in this case to house
an actual relic: a hand from one of the three Hebrew
youths brought back from Babylon.16
Given this evidence of the development of a cult de-
voted to the three Hebrew youths in the fifth and sixth
centuries, it is interesting to note the existence of a num-
95
Enlargement 141%
ber of votive images of them from this period. Probably
the best known is the section of a wall painting from the
monastery at Wadi Sarga, Egypt, now preserved in the
British Museum, and usually dated to the sixth century
(figs. 45). The painting actually consists of two parts:
the central portion containing the image of the three
Hebrews and the angel, done in reddish outline, and the
surrounding area comprising five standing figures and
three small busts. The surrounding figures are thought
to have been added to the original composition of just
the three Hebrews.17 Inscriptions in the central painting
identify the angel and Azarias, and a longer inscription
beneath their feet seemingly connects the three He-
15
Sermon on the Three Children of Babylon, Homlies coptes de
la Vaticane II, Coptic text and translation by Henri de Vis,
Cahiers de la Bibliothque Copte 6 (Louvain, 1990), 129.
16
Garitte, LInvention gorgienne des trois enfants de Baby-
lone, 70, with reference to the Acts of Cyrus and John (BHG3
469).
17
O. M. Dalton, A Coptic Wall-Painting from Wadi Sarga,
Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 3 (1916): 3537; van Loon, The
Gate of Heaven, 168, 17071. See also the entry Wall Painting
of the Martyrdom at the British Museum Web site, british-
museum.org. Dalton notes that there is nothing known of the
sixty martyrs of Asyut; he also suggests that the monks
Hourkene (Origen) and Mena are the dedicators of the work
or commemorated by it.
96 Kathleen Corrigan
Fig. 5 Detail of fig. 4.
brews with local martyrs and patrons: The threescore
martyrs of Asyut (Siut); their day the twelfth of Mekheir.
Hourkene the little, my brother Mena the little. Jesus
Christ. The figures in the surrounding area are identi-
fied by inscriptions: the two large figures as Cosmas and
Damian, the three smaller figures as Anthemos, Leon-
tios and Euprepios, their brethren, while the bust fig-
ures are not identified. According to the Arabic and
Coptic versions of the lives of Sts. Cosmas and Damian,
Anthemos, Leontios, and Euprepios were brothers of
Cosmas and Damian. All suffered persecution under
Diocletian and were thrown into a fire in the middle of
the theater of Antioch. They were protected by the
archangel Michael but ultimately died as martyrs. Their
mother, Theodote, was executed, and the future martyr
Victor (mentioned above) had the courage to bury the
martyrs. The text also reports a series of miracles attrib-
uted to the martyrs.18
Thus, whether we consider the three Hebrews paint-
ing from Wadi Sarga on its own or with the surrounding
figures, the image presents the three Hebrews as saintly
martyrs to whom prayers can be addressed, and at the
same time offers them as models for Christian martyrs
from both the Early Christian period and more contem-
porary times. With the possible reference to donors, the
image acts as a votive offering on behalf of members of
the community.
A second example from Egypt provides the closest
comparison for our icon in terms of composition. This is
a wall painting from the Monastery of St. Jeremiah
(Dayr Apa Jeremiah) at Saqqara, generally dated to the
sixth or seventh century, but no longer extant (fig. 6).19
Here the three orant youths are shown lined up very
closely together (more so than on the icon), dressed very
similarly to the three youths on the icon. Just as in the
icon, the angel appears at the left in a slightly crouched
position holding in his right hand a long staff topped
with a cross a common motif among the Egyptian ex-
amples.20
Fig. 6 Drawing of wall painting
from the Monastery of St. Jeremiah, Saqqara
18
This is summarized in Michel van Esbroeck, La diffusion ori-
entale de la lgende des saints Cosme et Damien, in Ha-
giographie, Cultures et Socits IVe XIIe sicles. Actes du Colloque
organis Nanterre et Paris (25 Mai 1979) (Paris, 1981), 6566.
19
See van Loon, The Gate of Heaven, and M. Rassart-Debergh,
La dcoration picturale du monastre de Saqqara. Essai de
reconstitution, Acta ad Archaeologiam et Artium Historiam Per-
tinentia 9 (1981): 9124, esp. 4851, with photographs of the
painting in situ at the time of the excavation. The original
publication is J. E. Quibell, Excavations at Saqqara (19061907)
(Cairo, 1908), pl. 60 and 67. The image of the three Hebrews
appeared in cell F, in a building just to the north of the main
church, on the east wall just to the right of a small apse con-
taining representations of the Maiestas Domini and the Virgin
and child flanked by angels, saints, and monastic figures.
20
It appears in the Wadi Sarga wall painting, and also in a sixth-
or seventh-century limestone relief in the Coptic museum in
Cairo, which may have been set into the wall of a church or
monastery and functioned as a votive. See van Loon, The Gate
of Heaven, 168; there is a color reproduction in G. Gabra and
M. Eaton-Krauss, The Treasures of Coptic Art in the Coptic Mu-
seum and Churches of Old Cairo (Cairo, 2007), plate 70.
 The Three Hebrews in the Fiery Furnace
Fig. 7 Murano Diptych. Ravenna, Museo Nazionale
The use of the cross staff in the Sinai icon and in these
Egyptian examples might suggest that the icon is also of
Egyptian origin. The fact that the closest comparison in
composition is from Egypt would seem to support this.
Another close comparison for the icon is the small scene
of the three Hebrews on the so-called Murano Diptych
in Ravenna (fig. 7). Here the three youths are lined up
next to one another, with no furnace, while the angel
with the cross staff stands at the left. This ivory is gen-
erally dated to the sixth century, and a number of schol-
ars have argued for an Egyptian origin, mainly on the
basis of style. The iconographic similarity of the Murano
three Hebrews image to the other Egyptian examples
discussed here offers additional support for this attri-
bution.21
Regardless of where one wants to localize the icon,
the above textual and visual evidence provides a con-
text for understanding the use of the three Hebrews in
the furnace as a subject for an icon painting. The three
youths were not just models of suffering, perseverance,
and deliverance, but also saints in their own right, with
relics, churches, and a cult devoted to them. As such,
they could be expected to hear and respond to the
prayers a viewer of the Sinai icon might address to
them.
97
A further, very rich avenue for interpretation is
opened up by Weitzmanns observation concerning the
clothing worn by the three youths in the Sinai icon,
namely what he refers to as the monastic schema.22 By
this he means the narrow vertical piece of reddish
brown cloth covering part of the chest and abdomen of
the three youths. It can be seen most clearly on the cen-
tral figure, where it hangs down in front over the short
white tunic and is overlapped at the waist by a belt. As
far as I have been able to determine, this motif does not
appear in any earlier or contemporary representations
of the three Hebrews. Its presence here suggests that the
icon was made for a monastic audience, providing us
with a focus for the interpretation of the image.
There is ample evidence that the three Hebrew
youths, and especially their trial by fire in Nebuchad-
nezzars furnace, were seen as a model for the purifying
suffering the monk needed to endure in order to attain
his spiritual goals. Because of their youthful innocence
and their refusal to partake of the rich cuisine available
at the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, the three youths were
also seen as models of abstinence.23
21
In the Catalogue of the Byzantine and Early Medieval Antiquities
in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection, vol. 3, Ivories and Steatites
(Washington, D.C., 1972), 3536, K. Weitzmann suggested
Syria-Palestine, and in his entry on the Three Hebrews icon,
he relates the icon to the Murano diptych and thus attributes
the icon to Palestine as well. Constantinople is suggested by
John Lowden in The Word Made Visible: The Exterior of the
Early Christian Book as Visual Argument, in The Early Chris-
tian Book, ed. William E. Klingshirn and Linda Safran (Wash-
ington, D.C., 2007, 43). An Egyptian origin is supported by
Rassart-Debergh, Les trois Hbreux dans la fournaise en
Egypte et en Nubie chrtienne, 144, and by L. Martini and C.
Rizzardi, Avori Bizantini e Medievali nel Museo Nazionale di
Ravenna (Ravenna, 1990), 6265, with brief review of the other
opinions on localization. There are also some pre-Iconoclastic
wall paintings (apparently votive panels) of the subject in
Cappadocia, but these are not similar in composition to the
Sinai icon. On the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul, see Nicole
Thierry, Haut Moyen-Age en Cappadoce, Les Eglises de la Rgion
de Cavusin (Paris, 1994), 2:307, fig. 91 and pl. 161c. Thierry
dates this fresco to the seventh century. For the Church of
St. John the Baptist, see Nicole Thierry, Haut Moyen-Age en
Cappadoce (Paris, 1983), 1:9395 and plates 28c, 28d, and 29.
Thierry dates the fresco to the second half of the sixth or be-
ginning of the seventh century, while Catherine Jolivet-Lvy,
in Les glises byzantines de Cappadoce, le programme icono-
graphique de labside et de ses abords, Editions du CNRS (Paris,
1991), 23 would date it to anywhere between the seventh and
ninth centuries.
22
Weitzmann, Monastery of St. Catherine: Icons, 56.
23
Jensen, Understanding Early Christian Art, 197n29, citing Ter-
tullian.
98 Kathleen Corrigan
While the presence of the monastic garment leads us
to look at connections between the story of the three He-
brews and the monks struggle, we must also ask why
this specific garment was chosen. Are there some par-
ticular associations or meanings attached to this gar-
ment that will add to our understanding of the icon?
Several monastic or ecclesiastical authors for exam-
ple, John Cassian, Evagrius, and Germanos offer in-
terpretations of particular monastic garments. How-
ever, it is difficult to make use of this information unless
we can be clear which garment the three youths are
wearing, and this is not as straightforward as one might
suppose. Textual references to specific garments are not
easy to match up with the preserved representations of
monks. Terminology for particular garments is not used
consistently, especially among the different regions and
cultures (Greek, Coptic, Syro-Palestinian). Unfortu-
nately, there are very few preserved representations of
monks from the pre-Iconoclastic period, and as far as I
know, there are no pre-Iconoclastic representations of
monks wearing this garment.
Though Weitzmann identified the garment worn by
the three Hebrew youths as the schema, this term is more
often used to describe the monastic habit in general, or,
beginning probably in the ninth century, to differentiate
between levels of monastic status mikron schema and
mega schema. During the time our icon was probably
produced, the term schema apparently was not used to
describe the garment the three youths are wearing.
The most comprehensive studies of monastic gar-
ments of this period are those by Philippus Oppenheim
(in 1931) and, more recently, Karel Inneme (in 1992).24
Both have suggested that during the Early Christian
period monks of Egypt and Palestine wore a sort of
short mantle with open sides and an attached hood.
This garment was referred to as the kukullus or koukoul-
lion, a term that in many cases, especially later, was used
for just the hood. They further suggest that the mantle
portion of this garment is what eventually developed
into the scapular. When and under what circumstances
the separation of hood from mantle took place is not
clear. When this garment is belted at the waist with the
girdle or zone, it looks as it does in our icon.
The examples Oppenheim and Inneme cite to illus-
trate this are all later Syriac or Western examples.25
However, there are also close comparisons in Middle-
Byzantine representations of monks. In an eleventh-cen-
tury manuscript of the Heavenly Ladder of John Clima-
cus (Vatican gr. 394), the monks are generally shown
wearing this garment over their tunics and under their
cloaks (figs. 8ab). It is clear that the vertical flap hangs
down in both the front and the back. In many instances
the thin straps of the analabos (sometimes referred to as
a scapular) are also visible looping down over the
thighs. Interestingly, the special cave-dwelling, penitent
monks whom John Climacus discusses in chapter 5 of
his treatise are shown in the Vatican manuscript without
the analabos, and their lack of a cloak allows us to see
that the scapular is clearly connected to a hood (fig.
8b).26 This koukoullion/scapular is worn by monks in
several ninth-century manuscripts, that is, the Sacra
Parallela (Paris, Bibl. nat. gr. 923), the Khludov Psalter
(Moscow, Historical Museum cod. 129), and the Homi-
lies of Gregory Nazianzen (Milan, Ambrosiana, E.49
50). In the Sacra Parallela, fol. 208r, a full-length portrait
of John of Damascus provides a clear representation of
this garment (fig. 9).27 In the Khludov Psalter, a man
identified by inscription as a martyr is shown naked ex-
cept for the scapular (though here a hood is not visible)
and belt, and with blood pouring from numerous
wounds (fig. 10).28 This would seem to connect the gar-
ment specifically with suffering. The image is probably
to be connected to Psalm 24:12, Who is the man that
fears the Lord? He shall instruct him in the way which
he has chosen (i.e., the monastic life).
Though there are other names associated with this
garment, we are probably safe in thinking of it as the
koukoullion.29 This seems to be what Germanos is de-
24
See P. Oppenheim, Das Mnchskleid im Christlichen Altertum
(Freiburg, 1931); K. C. Inneme, Ecclesiastical Dress in the Me-
dieval Near East (Leiden, 1992); see also J. Patrich, Sabas, Leader
of Palestinian Monasticism, a Comparative Study in Eastern
Monasticism, Fourth to Seventh Century (Washington, D.C.,
1995), 21020; S. Torallas Tovar, The Terminology of Egypt-
ian Monastic Garments, in Material Culture and Well-Being in
Byzantium (4001453), ed. M. Grnbart, E. Kislinger, A.
Muthesius, and D. Ch. Stathakopoulos (Vienna, 2007), 21924;
and s.v. Costume, Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium.
25
Oppenheim, Das Mnchskleid im Christlichen Altertum, 15052,
and fig. 19; Inneme, Ecclesiastical Dress in the Medieval Near
East, 118, 122, 132, fig. 9, pl. 56.1.
26
J. R. Martin, The Illustration of the Heavenly Ladder of John Cli-
macus (Princeton, N.J., 1954), figs. 105 and 86.
27
K. Weitzmann, The Miniatures of the Sacra Parallela, Parisinus
Graecus 923 (Princeton, N.J., 1979), color plate. For the Milan
Gregory, see A. Grabar, Les miniatures du Grgoire de Nazianze
de lAmbrosienne (Paris, 1943), pl. 12 and 67.
28
M. V. Scepkina, Miniatjury Khludovskoi Psaltiri (Moscow, 1977).
The other relevant representations of monks appear on folios
30v, 35r, and 116r. A representation of the three Hebrew
youths in the furnace appears on fol. 160v of the Khludov
Psalter. They wear costumes very similar to those worn by the
youths on the icon, but without the scapular.
29
Inneme, Ecclesiastical Dress in the Medieval Near East, 110. In-
neme mentions the Coptic birros and fork. Also, the
 The Three Hebrews in the Fiery Furnace
Enlargement 125%
Fig. 8a Monks, from the Heavenly Ladder
of John Climacus. Vatican City,
Biblioteca Vaticana, ms. gr. 394, fol. 74r
Fig. 8b Cave-dwelling monks, from the Heavenly Ladder
of John Climacus. Vatican City,
Biblioteca Vaticana, ms. gr. 394, fol. 43r
scribing in his On the Divine Liturgy from the first half of
the eighth century: The cowl [koukoullia] is in accor-
dance with the words of the apostle: The world is cru-
cified to me, and I to the world (Gal. 6:14). The purple
and white embroidery and crosses which decorate it
represent the blood and water flowing from the side of
Christ, and the loosely unfolding mantle recalls the
winged angels. Thus the schema [here meaning the
whole habit] is called angelic.30 The loosely unfolding
mantle Germanos mentions would presumably be the
vertical panels of the koukoullion. It should also be noted
that the three Hebrew youths in the Sinai icon are
clearly wearing a belt at the waist. It is not certain
whether this is meant to be the monastic girdle or, an ar-
ticle of secular dress since the three youths are often
shown wearing some sort of belt.
There exist many different interpretations for the var-
ious monastic garments. One fairly constant theme
among commentators is that the koukoullion is made of
fabric without hair (i.e., not a sheepskin like the melote,
or cloak), and therefore is more like the garments worn
by children. As such, it is a symbol of the childlike inno-
99
Fig. 9 Portrait of John of Damascus,
from the Sacra Parallela. Paris, Bibliothque nationale
de France, ms. gr. 923, fol. 208r
cence of the monk.31 The koukoullion is appropriate,
therefore, for capturing the youthful innocence of the
three Hebrews. On the other hand, Germanoss connec-
tion between this garment and the crucifixion, cited
above, marks it as a symbol of suffering. This is rein-
forced by the images in the Byzantine manuscripts of
penitent monks and the suffering monk-martyr in the
Khludov Psalter.
Germanos also refers to the monastic habit as an-
gelic. This is not surprising given the connections that
commonly were drawn between monks and angels,
ninth-century Life of St. Theodora of Thessalonike reports that
St. Theodora sometimes used to raise up her scapular
[epomis] and carry such things in it. Life of St. Theodora of
Thessalonike (81292), trans. Alice-Mary Talbot, in Holy Women
of Byzantium, ed. Alice-Mary Talbot (Washington, D.C., 1996),
184 and n. 123. Innemealso notes that the scapular has almost
disappeared today in eastern monasticism: Nowadays it is
called schema (since when is unknown to us), a cause of con-
fusion for many authors, as the Coptic church uses this name
for the analabos (Ecclesiastical Dress in the Medieval Near East,
123).
30
St. Germanus of Constantinople on the Divine Liturgy, trans. P.
Meyendorff (Crestwood, N.Y., 1984), 6971.
31
Inneme, Ecclesiastical Dress in the Medieval Near East, 9394.
100 Kathleen Corrigan

and the often-expressed goal of monks to join the ranks

of the angels. Legend has it that the two Egyptian
founders of monasticism, Anthony and Pachomius, each
received instructions about the design of the monastic
habit from an angel who appeared to him.32 This close
connection between monks and angels parallels that
between the angel and the three Hebrews. Both the
monks and the three Hebrews saw the angel often
specifically identified as the archangel Michael as their
personal guardian.33 As mentioned above, the ascetic
and martyr St. Victor was comforted by Michael during
his ordeal and Michael compared him to the three
Hebrew youths.
So how would a monk have experienced the Sinai
icon of the three Hebrews? As he slid open the lid and
peered into the fiery furnace, he would have seen the
three figures who were held up to him as models of
endurance. Looking at the icon in his cell, which was
referred to in the Apophthegmata Patrum as the furnace
of Babylon in which the three children saw the Son of
God,34 he could imagine himself standing alongside
his companions in the fiery environment. Fig. 10 Martyr, from the Khludov Psalter.
But what was the purpose of this engulfing fire? Moscow, State Historical Museum, cod. 129, fol. 22v
The monk might have thought of it as described by
John Climacus, the seventh century abbot of the Mt.
Sinai monastery, in his work The Ladder of Divine Ascent. Ananias as delivering his own monastic habit, just as
Michael did for Antony and Pachomius.
To keep a regular watch over the heart is one thing; However, one also wonders to what extent the
to guard the heart by means of the mind is another, monastic viewer would have experienced this image
for the mind is the ruler and high priest offering primarily as a model of suffering. Did he see the three
spiritual sacrifices to Christ. When heavens holy Hebrew children as suffering bodily in the flames of the
fire lays hold of the former, it burns them because furnace? The text of Daniel (and probably the inscrip-
they still lack purification. This is what one of those tion on the icon) states that the fire did not touch them
endowed with the title of Theologian tells us. at all. As noted above, Cyprian felt obliged to defend
(Greg. Naz. Or. 21,2). But as for the latter, it enlight- their status as martyrs even though they did not die in
ens them in proportion to the perfection they have the furnace. Perhaps to some extent the icon was also a
achieved. It is one and the same fire that is called site of refuge for the monk. Commenting on the Apoph-
that which consumes (cf. Heb. 12:29) and that thegmata Patrum, William Harmless notes how common
which illuminates (cf. John 1:9). Hence the reason it was for an abbot repeatedly to direct his monks to
why some emerge from prayer as from a blazing
furnace and as though having been relieved 32
Ibid.
of all material defilements. Others come forth as 33
In an encomium on St. Michael by Theodosius, patriarch of
if they were resplendent with light and clothed Alexandria (53566), the three Hebrews are quoted as saying
in a garment of joy and of humility.35 that St. Michael was the one who saved them from the fiery
furnace. See Muyser, Le Culte des Trois Saints Jeunes Gens
To step into the fire with his three youthful companions chez les Coptes, 21.
34
was to engage in a process of purification, to strive for Apophthegmata Patrum: The Greek Systematic Collection, 7.46, Les
Apophtegmes des Pres: Collection systmatique, ed. and trans.
spiritual perfection as an athlete of Christ, to be worthy
Jean-Claude Guy, (Paris, 1993), 1:376, as cited in William
to wear the garment of joy and humility that the three Harmless, Desert Christians: An Introduction to the Literature of
Hebrews wear a garment that connects the monk to Early Monasticism (Oxford, 2004), 228.
Christs suffering and symbolizes his own. The monk 35
John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, trans. C. Luibheid
might even imagine the angel who touches the robe of and N. Russell (New York, 1982), 280.
 The Three Hebrews in the Fiery Furnace 101

return to their cells, the solitary center of their solitary minder that his angelic habit promised protection as
lives. Life in the cell could be excruciating, a place of well as suffering.
loneliness, temptation, boredom.36 The icon offers the
monk companionship in his loneliness, the aid of a vis-
iting angel who can transform his furnace-like cell as if
a dewy breeze were whistling through it, and a re- 36
Harmless, Desert Christians, 228.1.