Lives of the Saints

Afterfeast of the Entry of the Most Holy Mother of God into the Temple

Afterfeast of the Entry of the Most Holy Mother of God into the Temple

According to Holy Tradition, the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple took place in the following manner. The parents of the Virgin Mary, Saints Joachim and Anna, praying for an end to their childlessness, vowed that if a child were born to them, they would dedicate it to the service of…

Great Martyr Katherine of Alexandria

Great Martyr Katherine of Alexandria

The Holy Great Martyr Katherine was the daughter of Konstos, the governor of Alexandria, Egypt during the reign of Emperor Maximian (305-313). Living in the capital, the center of Hellenistic knowledge, and possessed of a rare beauty and intellect, Katherine received an excellent education,…

Great Martyr Mercurius of Caesarea, in Cappadocia

Great Martyr Mercurius of Caesarea, in Cappadocia

The Holy Great Martyr Mercurius, a Scythian by descent, served as a soldier in the Roman army. The impious emperors Decius (249-251) and Valerian (253-259) issued a decree ordering all Roman citizens to worship the pagan gods, and condemning Christians to torture and death unless they obeyed the…

Martyr Mercurius of Smolensk

Martyr Mercurius of Smolensk

The Holy Martyr Mercurius of Smolensk was a Slav by birth, probably from Moravia, the descendant of a princely line. Brought up in Orthodoxy, Saint Mercurius in zeal for the true Faith left his own native land for Russia, where he served in the army of the Prince of Smolensk. The saintly soldier…

Venerable Mercurius the Faster of the Kiev Caves

Saint Mercurius of Kiev Caves pursued asceticism in the Farther Caves in the fourteenth century, and was strict in fasting. During his lifetime Saint Mercurius had a deep spiritual friendship with Saint Paisius, and when they died, they were buried in the same grave. The November 24 commemoration…

Empress Augusta, Porphyrius the General, the 50 philosophers and the 200 Soldiers martyred with the Great Martyr Katherine

Empress Augusta, Porphyrius the General, the 50 philosophers and the 200 Soldiers martyred with the Great Martyr Katherine

As we read in the life of Saint Katherine, the Emperor Maximian ordered 50 of the Empire's most learned philosophers and rhetoricians to dispute with Great Martyr. As a result of her eloquent testimony, however, they embraced the Christian faith and were summarily burned alive by Maximian's order,…

Virgin Martyr Mastridia of Alexandria

The Nun Mastridia lived in Alexandria. She made a vow of virginity and she dwelt in unceasing prayer, keeping the fasts and keeping silence. The pure life of the holy virgin was beset by trials. A certain young man, attracted to her with impure desire, began to pursue her so that she could not even…

Venerable Simon, Abbot of Soiga Monastery, Vologda

Saint Simon of Soiga belonged to the Komel disciples of Saint Sergius of Radonezh. He was born at Solvychegodsk, and was tonsured at the Komel monastery under Saint Cornelius (May 19). He passed through his obediences with such ascetics and disciples of Cornelius of Komel as Gennadius of Liubimsk…