3-041-614 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Translation of Josaphat's Relics to a Church By a King and Procession; Barlaam und Josaphat, 1469. Additional Info: A king arrives on the left with an attendant, holding a box full of bones. Met by priests and clerics, the group will proceed into the church where the bones will be kept as relics, to be venerated and allowed to work their miracles. In the upper left corner, the church bell rings in honor of this great occasion. Following the death of King Avenir, Josaphat retired to the desert as a hermit, leaving the kingdom in the hands of a capable man named Barachias. When Barachias learned the sad news of Josaphat's death, he traveled out to the desert to mourn, and then decided to transfer the remains of Josaphat and his faithful mentor, Barlaam to a church that Josaphat himself had been instrumental in building.