The paschal season of the Church is preceded by the season of Great Lent, which is also preceded by its own liturgical preparation. The first sign of the approach of Great Lent comes five Sundays before its beginning. On this Sunday the Gospel reading is about Zacchaeus the tax-collector. It tells…
Saint Martinian went to live in the wilderness at the age of eighteen, not far from the city of Caesarea in Palestine. For twenty-five years, he devoted himself to ascetic deeds and silence, and he was granted the gift of healing illnesses and casting out demons. However, the Enemy of the human…
Saint Simeon the Myrrh-Gusher, King of Serbia Stephen Nemanya was the Great Zhupan of Serbia, and lived during the twelfth century. The saint toiled much for his fatherland: he united a large portion of the Serbian lands, and strove for the political independence of his country from the Byzantine…
Saint Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria, was one of the enlightened hierarchs of the sixth century. At first he was igumen of the monastery of the Mother of God in Antioch, and then in 579 he was chosen as Patriarch of Alexandria, where he served for twenty-seven years. Throughout his life, the…
On February 13, the Russian Orthodox Church commemorates the appearance of Christ to Saint Martin of Tours (October 12 and November 11). From childhood, Saint Martin was known for his compassionate heart and great pity for the poor. When he was twenty-two years old, even before he was baptized, he…
Saint Seraphima (Euthymia Euthymova Morgacheva, in the world), was born on September 14, 1806 in the village of Ningvo-Lomov in the diocese of Ryazan and lived an ascetical life at a monastery in Sezhenovo, Russia. She departed to the Lord in the year 1877.
Saint George (in the world Gregory Iosifovich Konissky) was born into a prominent family on November 20, 1717 in the town of Nezin. He studied at the Kiev Theological Academy and became a monk in the Kiev Caves Lavra. Later he served as Archbishop of Mogilev, Belarus and reposed peacefully in the…