St. Gennady of Putna. Relics and iconographic contexts

The relic of the head of St. Gennady from Putna, made by Stephen the Great and donated to Putna Monastery, has attracted the attention of historians several times. In this study we have tried to connect the problem of identifying this relic with iconographic practice. The representation of St. Gennady I, Patriarch of Constantinople, has proved to be quite rare, with only three occurrences identified, at Popăuți-Botoșani, Moldovița (Moldova) and Dionisiu (Mount Athos). The representation of St. Gennady in the narthex of St. Elijah near Suceava, the building of which began on 1 May 1488, the precise day the relics of St. Gennady were placed in Putna, is unique, which determined us to seek identification in the environment of the Vatoped monastery, where the saints Gennady the Dochiar and Gennady the Abbot were venerated. The context of the relations of the Moldavian Country with Vatoped in the time of Stephen the Great seems to be favourable to one of these identifications.