Great and Holy Saturday is the day on which Christ reposed in the tomb. The Church calls this day the Blessed Sabbath. “The great Moses mystically foreshadowed this day when he said:God blessed the seventh day.This is the blessed SabbathThis is the day of rest,on which the only-begotten Son…
Saint Theodore the Sykeote, Bishop of Anastasiopolis
Saint Theodore the Sykeote was born in the mid-sixth century in the village of Sykeon, not far from the city of Anastasiopolis (in Galatia, Asia Minor), into a pious family. When his mother Maria conceived the Saint, she had a vision of a bright star shining over her womb. She consulted a…
Saint Nathanael, whose name means "the gift of God," was from Cana of Galilee (John 21:2). He was brought to the Savior by Phillip, as described in the Fourth Gospel (John 1:45-51). Christ calls him a true Israelite, which means "one who sees God." Nathanael was amazed when Christ says that He had…
The Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke, was a native of Syrian Antioch, a companion of the holy Apostle Paul (Phil.1:24, 2 Tim. 4:10-11), and a physician enlightened in the Greek medical arts. Hearing about Christ, Luke arrived in Palestine and fervently accepted the preaching of salvation from the…
Holy Apostles of the 70 Apelles, Luke (Loukios), and Clement
Saint Apelles Saint Apelles was an important figure in the early Church, who labored diligently to spread the message of the Gospel. His zeal led him to Rome, where he became a support for the faithful. He knew the Apostle Paul, who mentioned him in the Epistle to the Romans (16:10): "Greet…
Saint Vitalius, a monk of the monastery of Saint Seridus, arrived in Alexandria when Saint John the Merciful (November 12) was Patriarch of Alexandria. When he was sixty years old, undertook an extraordinary task: he wrote down from memory the names of all the prostitutes of Alexandria and he began…