Saint Basil the Confessor was a monk and suffered during the reign of the iconoclast emperor Leo the Isaurian (717-741). When a persecution started against those who venerated holy icons, St Basil and his companion St Procopius of Decapolis (February 27) were subjected to much torture and locked up…
Blessed Nicholas of Pskov lived the life of a holy fool for more than three decades. Long before his death he acquired the grace of the Holy Spirit and was granted the gifts of wonderworking and of prophecy. The Pskov people of his time called him Mikula [Mikola, Nikola] the Fool. Even during his…
The Hieromartyr Proterius, Patriarch of Alexandria, and those with him. The priest Proterius lived in Alexandria during the patriarchal tenure of Dioscorus (444-451), an adherent of the Monophysite heresy of Eutyches. Proterius fearlessly denounced the heretics and confessed the Orthodox Faith. In…
The Hieromartyr Nestor, Bishop of Magydos in Pamphylia During a persecution against Christians under the emperor Decius (249-251), he was arrested while praying in his home. He learned of the suffering awaiting him through a peculiar vision. He saw a lamb prepared for sacrifice. The ruler of the…
Saints Marana and Kyra, sisters by birth, lived during the fourth century in the city of Veria (or Berea) in Syria. Their parents were illustrious and rich, but the sisters left home and departed the city when they had reached maturity. Having cleared off a small plot of land, the holy virgins…
Saints Marana and Kyra, sisters by birth, lived during the fourth century in the city of Veria (or Berea) in Syria. Their parents were illustrious and rich, but the sisters left home and departed the city when they had reached maturity. Having cleared off a small plot of land, the holy virgins…
Saint Domnica (Domnina) was a Syrian nun, and a companion of Sts Marana and Kyra.
Saint John Cassian the Roman was born around 360, probably in Lesser Scythia (in Dacia Pontica). His pious Christian parents gave him an excellent classical education, and also instructed him in the Holy Scriptures and in the spiritual life. St John entered a monastery in the diocese of Tomis,…
Saint John, called Barsanuphius, was a native of Palestine. He was baptized when he was eighteen years old, and later became a monk. Because of his ascetic life, St John was consecrated Archbishop of Damascus. Because of his love for the solitary life, St John gave up his position as hierarch and…
The Holy Martyr Theokteristus, Igumen of the Pelekete monastery, suffered for the holy icons under the impious emperor Constantine Copronymos (741-775). Also subjected to tortures were St Stephen the New (November 28), and other pious monks. St Theokteristus was burned with boiling tar. The holy…
Saint Leo of Cappadocia fulfilled the commandment to love his neighbor by suggesting to the Saracens, who had captured three sickly monks, that he take the place of these infirm captives with himself, since he was healthy and able to work. While journeying in the desert, St Leo weakened and was…
Saint Meletius, Archbishop of Kharkov and Akhtyr (in the world Michael Ivanovich Leontovich), was born November 6, 1784 in the village of Stara Stanzhara in the Poltava district. In 1808 Michael Leontovich successfully completed the Ekaterinoslav Seminary. As the best student, he was sent by…
Saint Germanus of Dacia Pontica (Dobrogea) was related to St John Cassian, and accompanied him to Bethlehem. There they lived near the cave where the Lord was born. Later, they visited Egypt and met many of the Fathers there and at Sinai. St Germanus and St John went to Constantinople in 399 and…
Saint Germanus the Daco-Roman was born in the mid-fourth century, probably on the borders of Cassian and the Caves in the diocese of Tomis (in what is now Romania), and was related to St John Cassian (February 29). St Germanus, who was older than St John, was tonsured at one of the local…