The Third Sunday of Lent is that of the Veneration of the Cross. The cross stands in the midst of the church in the middle of the lenten season not merely to remind men of Christ’s redemption and to keep before them the goal of their efforts, but also to be venerated as that reality by which…
Saint John of the Ladder is honored by Holy Church as a great ascetic and author of the renowned spiritual book called THE LADDER, from which he is also called “of the Ladder” (Climacus). There is almost no information about Saint John’s origins. One tradition suggests that he…
Saint Sophronius, Bishop of Irkutsk and Wonderworker of all Siberia, whose family name was Kristalevsky, was born in Malorussia in the Chernigov region in 1704. His father, Nazarius, was “a common man in his affairs,” and the saint was named Stephen, in honor of the protomartyr Saint…
The Prophet Joad lived around the tenth century B.C. and was from Samaria. In the third Book of Kings, chapter thirteen, the Saint is simply called "a man of God." The Lord sent this Prophet from Judea to Bethel to rebuke King Jeroboam of israel for turning his people to idolatry. Joad arrived at…
The Holy Apostles Sosthenes was head of the Corinthian synagogue before his conversion. The Apostle Paul converted him to Christianity and made him his helper in his work. In addressing the Corinthian church, Saint Paul sent greetings from both of them: “Paul, by the will of God called to be…
In the Acts of the Holy Apostles we read the following: “A certain Jew named Apollos, born in Alexandria, eloquent and well-versed in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. He was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spoke and taught diligently the things of the…
According to Tradition, the Holy Apostle Cephas was Bishop of Iconium. No accounts of him have been preserved. It is assumed that he is the one who is mentioned by the Apostle Paul (1 Cor.15:5). Saint Cephas is also commemorated on December 8 and the Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles on January 4.
The Holy Apostle Caesar is also commemorated on December 8 and the Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles on January 4.
The Holy Apostle Epaphroditus was Bishop of Adrianium (Italy). He was also a companion of Saint Paul who sent him to the Christians of Philippi. Saint Paul speaks about his hard work in the vineyard of Christ: “I thought it necesary to send you Epaphroditus, my brother and coworker and fellow…
Saint Euboula (Εὐβούλη) fell asleep in the Lord on March 30 around the year 303 in Nicomedia, shortly before the start of a large-scale persecution of Christians by Emperor Diocletian, She and her son, the Great Martyr Panteleimon, (July 27) both suffered during that time. In the Synaxaria…
Saint John the Silent Bishop of the city of Colonia, was a model of a good Christian life for his flock. Persecuted by the governor, he was deprived of the archbishop’s cathedra and went to the monastery of Saint Savva the Sanctified, where he was glorified in ascetic deeds of silence,…
Saint Zosimus, Bishop of Syracuse, was born in answer to the fervent prayers of his parents, who were childless for a long time. When their son reached the age of seven, his parents sent him to a monastery to be educated. When the holy ascetic became an adult, he received monastic tonsure, and…
The Meeting of the Most Holy Theotokos and Saint Elizabeth. The establishment of this Feast and the composition of the Service are the work of Archimandrite Antonin Kapustin (+ 1894), head of the Russian Orthodox Mission in Jerusalem. The Gorneye Convent in Jerusalem, built on the site of the…