Lives of the Saints

Afterfeast of the Transfiguration of our Lord

Afterfeast of the Transfiguration of our Lord

The hymns at Vespers today speak of the sun appearing dim compared to the divine light of the Transfiguration. In His compassion for humanity, Christ took on mortal flesh, yet Peter, James and John saw the radiance of His glory. The incarnate Lord “made Adam’s darkened image to shine…

Holy Confessor Emilian, Bishop of Kyzikos

Holy Confessor Emilian, Bishop of Kyzikos

The Holy Confessor Emilian (Amilianos), the Bishop of Kyzikos, succeeded Bishop Nicholas, and remained in his See from 787 - 815. Saint Emilian suffered many afflictions and sorrows during the reign of the Iconoclast Emperor Leo the Armenian (813-820). He and other bishops were summoned to the…

Venerable Gregory the Iconographer of the Kiev Near Caves

Venerable Gregory the Iconographer of the Kiev Near Caves

Saint Gregory, Iconographer of the Caves, was a colleague of Saint Alypius of the Caves (August 17). In the “Accounts of the holy Iconographers” it says that he painted many wonderworking icons throughout the Russian Land. In the Ninth Ode of the Canon of the Service of the Synaxis of…

Translation of the relics of Venerable Zosimas and Sabbatius of Solovki

Translation of the relics of Venerable Zosimas and Sabbatius of Solovki

The Transfer of the Relics of Saints Zosimas and Sabbatius of Solovki took place on August 8, 1566, on the third day of the altar-feast of the Solovki monastery of the Transfiguration of the Lord. The relics of the saints were transferred into a chapel of the Transfiguration cathedral, built in…

Saint Myron the Wonderworker, Bishop of Crete

Saint Myron the Wonderworker, Bishop of Crete

Saint Myron, Bishop of Crete, a wonderworker, in his youth was a family man, and worked as a farmer. He was known for his goodness, and he assisted everyone who turned to him for help. Once, thieves burst in upon his threshing floor, and Saint Myron himself helped them lift a sack of grain upon…

Martyrs Eleutherius and Leonidas of Constantinople, and many infants martyred with them

The Martyrs Eleutherius, Leonides, along with many infants, were cast into a fire at a youthful age during one of the persecutions against Christians.

Venerable Gregory of Sinai

Saint Gregory of Sinai was born around the year 1268 in the seacoast village of Clazomenia near the city of Smyrna (Asia Minor), of rich parents. In about the year 1290, he was taken into captivity by the Hagarenes and sent off to Laodicea. After gaining his freedom, the saint arrived on the…

Icon of the Mother of God of Tolga

Icon of the Mother of God of Tolga

The Tolga Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos appeared on August 8, 1314 to the Rostov hierarch Prochorus (Tryphon in schema). Going about his diocese, the saint visited the environs of White Lake and from there traveled along the banks of the Rivers Sheksna and Volga, to Yaroslavl. He stopped with the…

Saint Euthymius the Elder of Saint John the Baptist Monastery

Saint Euthymius the Elder of Saint John the Baptist Monastery

Saint Euthymius was abbot of the Monastery of Saint John the Baptist in the Davit-Gareji Wilderness. In the chronicles of the monastery he is commemorated as a “man of many labors.” According to the 19th-century historian Prince John Bagrationi, Euthymius was a philosopher and…

New Martyr Triandaphyllus of Stara Zagora

New Martyr Triandaphyllus of Stara Zagora

The New Martyr Triandaphyllus, a native of Zagora, Magnesia (in Thessaly), was beheaded by the Turks at Constantinople in the year 1680 for his refusal to reject Christ and accept Islam. He was only fifteen years old when he received the crown of victory from Christ.

10 Egyptian Ascetics and Two Martyrs of Tyre

On this day we also commemorate ten Egyptian ascetics who died at sea, and two martyrs of Tyre, who were dragged over the ground.