The Sunday after the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee is the Sunday of the Prodigal Son. This parable of God’s forgiveness calls us to “come to ourselves” as did the prodigal son, to see ourselves as being “in a far country” far from the Father’s house,…
Saint Meletius, Archbishop of Antioch, was Bishop of Sebaste in Armenia (ca. 357), and afterwards he was summoned to Antioch by the emperor Constantius to help combat the Arian heresy, and was appointed to that See. Saint Meletius struggled zealously against the Arian error, but through the…
Saint Alexei, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia the Wonderworker (in the world Eleutherios), was born in the year 1292 (or according to another source, 1304) at Moscow into the family of the noble Theodore Byakont, a descendant of the Chernigov princely line. The Lord revealed to the future…
Saint Meletios, Archbishop of Khar'kov and Akhtyrsk (in the world Michael Ivanovich Leontovich), was born on November 6, 1784 in the village of Stara Stanzhara in the Poltava district. In 1808 Michael Leontovich successfully completed the Ekaterinoslav religious Seminary. Since he was the best…
The Venerable Mary (called Marinus) and her father Eugene, lived at the beginning of the VI century in Bithynia (Bithynίa - in the northwestern region of Asia Minor). When Maria's mother died, her father decided to enter a monastery, but Maria also wished to betroth herself to Christ . But Mary…
Saint Anthony, Patriarch of Constantinople, was a native of Asia, but lived in Constantinople from his youth. He was born around 829 of rich and pious parents. After the death of his mother, he entered a monastery at the age of twelve, where following the example of the igumen, he spent his nights…
The holy New Martyr Kristo was an Albanian who worked in a vegetable garden. At the age of forty, he decided to go to Constantinople to seek better business opportunities. One day he was negotiating with a Turk who wished to purchase his entire stock of apples, but they were unable to agree on a…
During the reign of Emperor Theophilos (829-842) the Byzantine Empire was in turmoil because of the heresy of iconoclasm. In accordance with the Emperor’s orders, thousands of soldiers scoured the Empire, searching in every corner, city, and village for any hidden icons. A pious widow living…
Saint Prochorus the Georgian, a descendant of the noble Shavteli family, was born at the end of the 10th century and grew up in a monastery. When he reached manhood he was ordained a hieromonk and labored for one year at the Lavra of Saint Savva in Jerusalem. Then, with the blessing of his…
Saint Nikoloz Dvali the Martyr was born at the end of the 13th century to a God-fearing couple who directed his path toward the spiritual life. At the age of twelve Nikoloz traveled to the Klarjeti Wilderness and was tonsured a monk. From there he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and remained in the…
Venerable Bassian of Úglich was a disciple of the Saint Paisios of Uglich (+ June 6, 1504). He was born in the village of Rozhalov, located in the Kesovsk volost of the city of Bezhetsky Verkh,1 and he was descended from the family of the Shestikhinsky Princes (their ancestor is the…
The holy martyr Luka of Jerusalem lived in the 13th century. He was born to an honorable, pious Georgian family by the name of Mukhaisdze. After the repose of Luka’s father, his mother left her children and went to labor at a monastery in Jerusalem. When Luka reached the age of twenty, he…