On Bright Monday the Church commemorates the Sweet-Kissing (Glykophilousa) Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. Like the Ivḗron Icon (March 31), the Sweet-Kissing Icon was also saved from the iconoclasts by a pious woman in the ninth century. It also traveled miraculously upon the sea, arriving at…
Icon of the Mother of God of Mt. Athos, “Sweet Kissing”
Like the Panagia Portaitissa, the Glykophilousa Icon is one of those which were saved during the iconoclastic period and brought miraculously to Mount Athos. It originally belonged to Victoria, the devout wife of the senator Symeon. Victoria was one who venerated the holy icons, especially that of…
From September 15 until the Leavetaking, we sing “O come, let us worship and fall down before Christ. O son of God crucified in the flesh, save us who sing to Thee: Alleluia” at weekday Liturgies following the Little Entrance.
The Holy Great Martyr Euphemia (Euphēmia / Ευφημία) was the daughter of Christian parents, the senator Philophronos and his wife Theodosia. She suffered for Christ in the year 304 in the city of Chalcedon, on the Bosphorus opposite Constantinople, the Queen of Cities. Priscus, the…
Repose of Saint Cyprian, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia
Saint Cyprian, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Russia, was a Serb by origin, and struggled on Mt. Athos. By his pious life and education he came to the attention of Patriarch Philotheus of Constantinople (1354-1355, 1364-1376), who in 1375 consecrated Cyprian as Metropolitan of Kiev and Lithuania. At…
Saint Sebastiana the Martyr, disciple of Saint Paul the Apostle, at Heraclea
The Holy Martyr Sebastiana was a follower of the holy Apostle Paul. During a persecution against Christians under the emperor Dometian (81-96), she was on trial as a Christian before the governor named Georgios in the city of Marcianopolis in the Mizea region. Saint Sebastiana firmly confessed her…
The Holy Martyr Melitinḗ (Μελιτινή, or Μελιτίνη) lived in the city of Markianopolis in Thrace during the reign of Emperor Antoninus Pius (138-161). Antiochus was the ruler of Thrace at that time. Since he was a fierce persecutor of Christians, he ordered that Melitinḗ be…
Saints Victor and Sosthenes (Σωσθένης) are mentioned in the Life of the Holy Great Martyr Euphēmia (Ευφημία). The Proconsul Priscus ordered the soldiers Victor and Sosthenes to throw the Saint into a red-hot furnace. In the flames, however, they saw angels who prevented them from…
Saint Dorotheus, Egyptian Hermit, a native of the Thebaid region in Egypt, labored in asceticism for 60 years in the Skete desert, on the Western side of the River Nile. Palladius, Bishop of Helenopolis and author of the renowned Lausiac History, had been a disciple of Saint Dorotheus in his youth,…
Martyr Ludmilla the grandmother of Saint Wenceslaus, Prince of the Czechs
The Holy Martyr Ludmilla, a Czech (Bohemian) princess, was married to the Czech prince Borivoy. Both spouses received holy Baptism from Saint Methodius, Archbishop of Moravia and Enlightener of the Slavs (Comm. 11 May). As Christians, they showed concern for the enlightening of their subjects with…
The holy martyrs Isaac and Joseph the Georgians were born into a Muslim family, but their Georgian mother, a Christian, secretly raised them according to the Christian tradition. The brothers were so firmly dedicated to the Faith that they journeyed to Byzantium to request that Emperor…
The Support of the Humble Icon of the Mother of God appeared in 1420 in the city of Pskov at Kamennoye (Stony) Lake. The circumstances of its miraculous appearance are not known, but perhaps the Holy Icon was found by the people of Pskov as a consolation for the great calamities they endured during…
Saint Procopius was born in Bohemia, in the village of Hotun. In his dignity of priest he toiled much to spread the Christian Faith in Czechia. By the River Zasava he founded a monastery in the name of Saint John the Forerunner, where he died in the year 1053.