On the day before Meatfare Sunday, on which we remember the Last Judgment, the Orthodox Church prays for those of its members who may have died unexpectedly because of wars, plagues, starvation, or any other sort of death while they were in a foreign country, or while they were traveling by sea, by…
Saint Sisoes the Great (+ 429) was a solitary monk, pursuing asceticism in the Egyptian desert in a cave sanctified by the prayerful labors of his predecessor, Saint Anthony the Great (January 17). For his sixty years of labor in the desert, Saint Sisoes attained to sublime spiritual purity and he…
Venerable Sisoes the Schemamonk of the Kiev Far Caves
Saint Sisoes, Schemamonk of the Kiev Caves (XIII), is commemorated in the general service of the Monastic Fathers of Kiev Caves whose relics rest in the Far Caves. He is mentioned together with Saint Gregory the Faster: “Sisoes the wondrous and Gregory, a name courageous, having by fasting…
Uncovering of the relics of Holy Princess Juliana Olshanskaya
After the annexation of Kiev to Lithuania, the city was ruled by the Olshansky family of princes. In the first quarter of the XVI century one of them, Prince Yuri Dubrovitsky-Olshansky, had a daughter, Juliana, who reposed as a virgin at the age of sixteen. Her father was a benefactor of the Kiev…
Martyr Marinus, his wife Martha, their children, and those with them at Rome
The Holy Martyrs Marinus, Martha, Audifax, Habakkuk, Cyrenus, Valentinus the Presbyter, Asterius, and many others with them at Rome. During the reign of the emperor Claudius II (268-270), Saint Marinus together with his wife Martha and their sons Audifax and Habakkuk journeyed from Persia to Rome,…
Martyr Isaurius the Deacon of Apollonia in Macedonia and those with him
The Holy Martyrs Isaurius the Deacon, Innocent, Felix, Hermias, Basil, Peregrinus were Athenians, suffering for Christ in the Macedonian city of Apollonia under the emperor Numerian (283-284). Beheaded with them for believing in Christ were two city officials, Rufus and Ruphinus.
The Holy Confessor Quintus was from Phrygia, a Roman province of Asia Minor, during the reign of Aurelian (270-275). From his youth he was raised in Christian faith and piety. After his arrival at the village of Aiolida,1 he gave alms to the poor. and by his prayers he healed those who were…
The Holy Martyrs Lucy (Lucia) the Virgin, Rexius, Antoninus, Lucian, Isidore, Dion, Diodorus, Cutonius, Arnosus, Capicus and Satyrus: Saint Lucy, a native of the Italian district of Campania, from the time of her youth dedicated herself to God and lived in an austere and chaste manner. While still…
Abramius Igumen of Galich, or Chukhloma Lake, disciple of Saint Sergius of Radonezh (+1375). He is commemorated on July 20. Alexander of Moscow, monk, disciple of Saint Sergius (+ after 1427). He is commemorated on June 13. Alexander Peresbet, schema-monk, warrior, disciple of Saint Sergius…