“Imperial” Menologion, Life of Saint Alexios Homo Dei, fol. 211r, Byzantine (Constantinople), 11th century
State Historical Museum, Moscow
After H. C. Evans and W. D. Wixom, eds., The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era, A.D. 843–1261 (New York, 1997), fig. 56

This illumination represents the funeral of St. Alexios, who is modestly clad in sackcloth. His funeral bier, however, is decorated with richly ornate purple cloth. Interestingly, the saint clasps a document that reveals his aristocratic origins; the emperor Honorius, who attends the funeral, reaches for the scroll. To the right, Alexios’s father, a senator, rubs his beard in grief.

DEATH OF CLERGY, MONKS, AND LAYMEN