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PHOTO BY MARK FAIRCHILD

SLAYING THE SAINT. The lavishly decorated Menologion of Basil II—a liturgical book produced on parchment around 1000 CE—contains a collection of saints’ lives arranged according to the church calendar. Illustrating the section on Neophytos of Nicea, who was martyred in 303, this page depicts the saint’s execution by a Roman soldier on the shores of Lake Ascania (Lake İznik), outside the city. Some suggest a simple shrine was built on the spot shortly after his death to commemorate this early Christian martyr.