The Commemoration of the Holy Fathers of the First Six Ecumenical Councils. In the Ninth Article of the Nicea-Constantinople Symbol of Faith proclaimed by the holy Fathers of the First and Second Ecumenical Councils, we confess our faith in “One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.”…
The Holy Martyr Emilian, who was a Slav, suffered for Christ during the reign of Emperor Julian the Apostate (361-363). Julian wanted to restore the cult of the pagan gods throughout the Roman Empire, and he issued an edict, according to which all Christians who failed to honor the pagan gods would…
The Holy Martyr Hyacinthus was born into a pious Christian family in the city of Amastridea (now Amastra in Anatolia). An angel which appeared gave him his name. As a three-year-old boy Saint Hyacinthus asked God that a dead infant might be resurrected. The Lord hearkened to his childish prayer,…
Saint John the Much-Suffering pursued asceticism at the Kiev Caves Lavra, accepting many sorrows for the sake of virginity. The ascetic recalled that from the time of his youth he had suffered much, tormented by fleshly lust, and nothing could deliver him from it, neither hunger nor thirst nor…
Hieromonk Pambo, Hermit of the Kiev Caves, was a confessor for the Faith. Captured while on a monastic obedience, he was taken off by Tatars and for many years suffered from them for his refusal to renounce the Christian Faith. The monk was afterwards miraculously transported from captivity and put…
Saint Pambo lived the ascetic life in the Nitrian desert in Egypt. Saint Anthony the Great (January 17) said, that the Monk Pambo by the fear of God inspired within himself the Holy Spirit. And the Monk Pimen the Great (August 27) said: “We beheld three things in Father Pambo: hunger every…
Saint Elizabeth was the older sister of Tsarina Alexandra, and was married to the Grand Duke Sergius, the governor of Moscow. She converted to Orthodoxy from Protestantism of her own free will, and organized women from all levels of society to help the soldiers at the front and in the hospitals.…
Saint Barbara died with Saint Elizabeth on July 5, 1918, the day after the murder of Tsar Nicholas and his family. The two nuns were thrown into a mineshaft, and grenades were tossed in after them. Saint Elizabeth remained alive for several hours, and could be heard singing hymns. The bodies of…
The Tolga Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos appeared on August 8, 1314 to the Rostov hierarch Prochorus (Tryphon in schema). Going about his diocese, the saint visited the environs of White Lake and from there traveled along the banks of the Rivers Sheksna and Volga, to Yaroslavl. Having stopped with…
Over the centuries the monastic complex founded by Saint David of Gareji became a spiritual and cultural center for all of Georgia. Many of the faithful flocked there with a desire to serve Christ. Among them was the hieromonk Kozman, who would end his earthly life as a martyr. Few details of the…