| Sumario: | This paper discusses two important Christian metaphors, which are prominent in medieval hagiography: the striving athlete of Christ and the wreath-bearing martyr and victor or stephanites. The two terms are inevitably inter-related, and in this paper their commonalities and theological and poetical usages and distinctions will be negotiated. Both terms are related to the notion of the Christian life as a contest, the usage of which will be discussed in a number of authors of sources. These include the Apostle Paul, John Chrysostom, John Klimakos, Gregory of Nyssa, and Romanos Melodos. Special reference will be made to the case of the cult of St. Demetrius, in whose honour more than thirty literary works of praise survive. These provide a useful sample for the study of the concepts of athlete and stephanites; his cult will therefore serve as a casestudy for the exploration of those two Christian metaphors and their impact. Authors such as Theodore Metochites, Gregory Palamas, Philotheos Kokkinos, Nikephoros Choumnos, Nicholas Kavasilas and George Scholarios, the later Patriarch Gennadios II, will be discussed in this respect. Biblical references will be offered throughout for comparison wherever appropriate. The link between the epithet stephanites and the name of St. Stephen will be especially highlighted.
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