The second day of the Forefeast of Theophany falls on January 3. Today’s hymns invite us to go in spirit to the Jordan River where the Creator comes to be baptized. He is the Light which shines in the darkness (John 1:5), and today He begins to overcome that darkness.
The Holy Prophet Malachi lived 400 years before the Birth of Christ, at the time of the return of the Jews from the Babylonian Captivity. Malachi was the last of the Old Testament prophets, therefore the holy Fathers call him “the seal of the prophets.” Manifesting himself an image of…
The Martyr Gordius was born at the end of the third century in the city of Caesarea of Cappadocia into a Christian family. When he came of age, he entered military service. Because of his valor and military skill, he was made a centurion. During the persecution of Christians at the beginning of the…
Saint Genevieve (Geneviève) was born of wealthy parents in Gaul (modern France) in the village of Nanterre, near Paris, around 422. Her father’s name was Severus, and her mother was called Gerontia. According to the custom of the time, she often tended her father’s sheep on Mount Valerien.…
Saint Ekvtime (Euthymius) Takaishvili, called the “Man of God,” was born January 3, 1863, in the village of Likhauri, in the Ozurgeti district of Guria, to the noble family of Svimeon Takaishvili and Gituli Nakashidze. He was orphaned at a young age and raised by his uncle. From early…
After Saint Ephraim (Ephraίm) suffered martyrdom on May 5,1426, he remained forgotten for nearly 500 years, hidden in the depths of silence and oblivion until January 3, 1950. By then a women’s monastery had sprung up on the site of the old monastery. The Igoumeness Makaria († April 23, 1999)…