The Transfer of the Relics of the Holy Protomartyr Stephen from Jerusalem to Constantinople took place about the year 428. After the holy Protomartyr Archdeacon Stephen was stoned by the Jews, they left his holy body unburied to be devoured by the beasts and birds. After a day and a night the…
Saint Nicodemus was a prominent Pharisee who believed in Christ. The Savior explained to him how man is regenerated through Baptism, but he did not understand how a man could be born again. When the Lord reproved him for his ignorance, he accepted it with humility (John 3:1-21). Nicodemus came…
St Gamaliel was a Pharisee, a doctor of the Law (Acts 5:34), and the teacher of St Paul (Acts 22:3). In the year 415, St Gamaliel appeared to a priest named Lucian. He was a tall, venerable man with a long white beard. He was dressed in white clothing which was edged with gold and marked with…
St Abibas was the twenty-year-old son of St Gamaliel, who died before his father. His relics were uncovered along with those of Sts Stephen, Gamaliel, and Nicodemus in 415. The relics of Sts Stephen, Gamaliel, Abibas, and Nicodemus were transferred from Jerusalem to Constantinople in 428 and placed…
Saint Basil the Blessed, Wonderworker of Moscow, was born in December 1468 on the portico of the Elokhov church in honor of the Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos outside Moscow. His parents were commoners and sent their son to be trained as a cobbler. During Basil’s apprenticeship,…
The blessed Basil of Kamen lived during the fifteenth century, was a monk at the Savior-Kamen monastery, on an island of Lake Kuben (not far from Vologda). At the shrine of his relics, built afterwards in a church in honor of St Basil of Moscow, is a full-length icon of St Basil of Kamen, with…
The Hieromartyr Stephen, Pope of Rome, suffered in the year 257 during the reign of the emperor Valerian (253-259). St Stephen, occupying the throne (253-257) of the holy First Bishop of Rome, zealously contended against the heresy of Novatus, which taught that it is not proper to receive back…
These martyrs suffered during the reign of Valerian (253-259). While hiding during a persecution against Christians, St Stephen baptized many pagans, including the military tribune Nemesius. He converted to Christ after the saint healed his daughter Lucilla. Nemesius, who was ordained as a deacon,…