Lives of the Saints

4th Sunday of Great Lent: St John Climacus (of the Ladder)

4th Sunday of Great Lent: St John Climacus (of the Ladder)

The Fourth Sunday of Lent is dedicated to Saint John Klimakos, the author of The Ladder of Divine Ascent. In this book the Igoumen of Saint Katherine’s Monastery on Mount Sinai bears witness to the great effort which is required for entry into God’s Kingdom (Matthew 10:12). The spiritual…

Hieromartyr Mark, Bishop of Arethusa, who suffered under Julian the Apostate

Hieromartyr Mark, Bishop of Arethusa, who suffered under Julian the Apostate

Hieromartyr Mark, Bishop of Arethusa, suffered for his faith in Christ under the emperor Julian the Apostate (361-363). By order of the emperor Constantine (May 21), Saint Mark had once destroyed a pagan temple and built a Christian church. When Julian came to the throne, he persecuted Christians…

Martyr Cyril the Deacon of Heliopolis, and those with him, who suffered under Julian the Apostate

Martyr Cyril the Deacon of Heliopolis, and those with him, who suffered under Julian the Apostate

The historian Theodoritus relates that during the reign of Saint Constantine the Great, Saint Cyril destroyed many idols and pagan temples in Heliopolis, Phoenicia. He was put to death for this during the reign of Julian the Apostate. Pagans cut open his stomach and, like wild beasts, they ate his…

Venerable John the Anchorite of Egypt

Venerable John the Anchorite of Egypt

Saint John the Anchorite: During a persecution against Christians, the devout widow Juliania of Armenia hid from pursuers together with her two young children John and Themistea. She taught her children to pray and to read the Holy Scriptures. From time to time John secretly visited a nearby…

Saint Eustathius (Eustace) the Confessor, Bishop of Bithynia

Saint Eustathius the Confessor, Bishop of Bithynia, was already at the beginning of his spiritual struggle a pious monk, meek and wise, filled with great faith and love for his neighbor. For his virtuous life he was made bishop of the city of Bithynia (a Roman province in northwest Asia Minor) and…

Venerable Mark, Jonah, and Bassa of the Pskov Caves

Saints Mark, Jonah and Bassa are venerated as the founders of the Pskov Caves monastery. It is not known exactly when the first hermit monks settled by the Kamenets stream in the natural caves of the hill, which the local inhabitants called “the holy hill.” The monastery Chronicle…

Saint Nikḗtas of the Roslavl Forests

The holy Schema-monk Nikḗtas was born in the city of Orel in 1695. From childhood, he loved to go on pilgrimages to the holy places. As a youth, he left his parents and lived about a mile or so from the White Bluff (Beloberezhsk) Hermitage. It is not known when he received the monastic tonsure,…