This Sunday was originally dedicated to Saint Polycarp of Smyrna (February 23). After his glorification in 1368, a second commemoration of Saint Gregory Palamas (November 14) was appointed for the Second Sunday of Great Lent as a second “Triumph of Orthodoxy.” Saint Gregory Palamas,…
On the second Sunday of Great Lent, we commemorate the Synaxis of all the Venerable Fathers of the Kiev Caves Monastery: those who rest in the Near Caves of Saint Anthony (see September 28), as well as those who rest in the Far Caves of Saint Theodosios (see August 28). The Canon, which was added…
The Holy Martyr Sabinus was administrator of the Egyptian city of Hermopolis. During a persecution of Christians under the emperor Diocletian (284-305), Saint Sabinus and some like-minded companions hid in a remote village. His hiding place was revealed by a certain ungrateful beggar who had…
The Holy Martyr Papas lived in the city of Laranda (Asia Minor) during the reign of Maximian (305-311). They arrested and tortured him for his belief in Christ. His feet were put into boots with sharp nails hammered into the soles, and made to walk. They took him to the city of Diocaesarea and…
Saint Serapion was born in the village of Pekhorka near Moscow, and from an early age he was inclined toward monasticism. According to the wish of his parents, he entered into marriage, and was ordained to the priesthood. A year later he became a widower and was tonsured at the Dubensk Monastery of…
The Holy Apostle Aristóboulos of the Seventy was born on Cyprus. He and his brother, the Apostle Barnabas (June 11), accompanied Saint Paul on his missionary journeys. Saint Aristóboulos is mentioned by the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Romans (Romans 16:10). There are several conflicting…
The Hieromartyr Alexander, Bishop of Rome, served for ten years as the archpastor of Rome. He was burned alive on May 3, 119 by order of the emperor Hadrian (117-138).
The Hieromartyr Julian of Anazarbus suffered for Christ in Antioch, Syria under the emperor Maximian Galerius (305-311). His relics were glorified by miracles in the time of Saint John Chrysostom. Chrysostom mentions the martyr in his 47th homily.
The Holy Martyrs Trophimus and Thallus, brothers and presbyters of Syria, served in Carian Laodicea. During a persecution under the emperor Diocletian (284-305) and his co-emperor Maximian (284-305), the brothers were taken under guard and brought before the governor Asclepiodotus. He ordered the…
Saint Pimen the Fool-for-Christ and Anton Meskhi (of Meskheti, in southern Georgia) lived in the 13th century, when the Mongols were regularly invading Georgia. The entire country, and the Church in particular, languished under the yoke of Mongol oppression. The Georgian people were once again…
Our Venerable Father Christódoulos 1) was born near Nicaea of Bithynia circa 1020. His parents' names were Theodore and Anna, and their son received the name John in Holy Baptism. He was renowned as an ascetic and a physician throughout the Byzantine Empire. In 1043 he was tonsured on Mount…
Saint Ambrose the Confessor (in the world Besarion Khelaia) was born in 1861. He received his primary education at the theological school in Samegrelo and graduated from Tbilisi Seminary in 1885. He graduated and was ordained to the priesthood in the same year. Fr. Ambrose served as a priest in…
Saint Demetre the King, also called “the Devoted,” was a great-grandson of Holy Queen Tamar. God sent Saint Demetre many tribulations during his childhood, thus encouraging him in the Faith from an early age. Demetre was still an infant when the Mongols killed his mother, the pious…