In the 10th century, a Byzantine monk Simeon Metaphrastes was the first one to change the genre of lives of the saints into something different, giving it a moralizing and panegyrical character. His catalog of lives of the saints became the standard for all of the Western and Eastern hagiographers, who would create relative biographies and images of the ideal saints by gradually departing from the real facts of their lives. Over the years, the genre of lives of the saints had absorbed a number of narrative plots and poetic images (often, of pre-Christian origin, such as dragon fighting etc.), mediaeval parables, short stories and anecdotes.
in the 10th century a byzantine monk simeon metaphrastes was the first one to change the genre of lives of the saints into something different giving it a moralizing and panegyrical character his catalog of lives of the saints became the standard for all of the western and eastern hagiographers who would create relative biographies and images of the ideal saints by gradually departing from the real facts of their lives over the years the genre of lives of the saints had absorbed a number of narrative plots and poetic images (often of pre-christian origin such as dragon fighting etc) mediaeval parables short stories and anecdotes