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,…
The second day of the Afterfeast of the Meeting of the Lord falls on February 4.
Saint Isidore of Pelusium lived during the fourth-fifth centuries. He was a native of Alexandria, and was raised among pious Christians. He was a relative of Theophilus, Archbishop of Alexandria, and of his successor, Saint Cyril (January 18). While still a youth he quit the world and withdrew to…
Holy Great Prince George was a son of Great Prince Vsevolod, nicknamed “Big Nest.” He was born in the year 1189, and he assumed the great princely throne of Vladimir in 1212. He was distinguished for his military valor and his piety. In the year 1237 the Tatar (Mongol) Horde of Batu…
Saint Cyril of New Lake was born into a pious family. The Lord marked him as one of the chosen even before he was born. Cyril’s mother was praying in church during the Divine Liturgy, and the infant in her womb cried out, “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord of Sabaoth!” From the time of his…
Saints Abraham and Coprius of Pechenga in 1492 founded the Savior wilderness monastery at the River Pechenga, in Gryazovetsk district, 21 versts from Vologda. It required great work to bring in the necessities to the wilderness spot, in order to build the monastery and set everything in proper…
Saint Jadorus suffered martyrdom with Saint Isidore (not Isidore of Pelusium) in the reign of Decius (249-251).
The Hieromartyr Abramius, Bishop of Arbela, suffered during a persecution against Christians in Persia under the emperor Sapor II. When they demanded that the saint renounce Christ and worship the sun, he answered, “How foolish to forsake the Creator and instead worship creatures! Isn’t…
Saint Nicholas the Confessor, Igumen of the Studion Monastery, lived during the ninth century. He was born on the island of Crete in the village of Kedonia into a Christian family. When he was ten, his parents sent him to Constantinople to his uncle, Saint Theophanes (October 11), who was a monk at…
Saint Evagrisi was born to God-fearing and pious parents who read the Holy Scriptures to him from the earliest years of his childhood. When he reached manhood, Evagrisi became ruler of Tsikhedidi. One day Evagrisi went hunting in the Sarkineti Mountains where Shio of Mgvime had settled. While he…
Saint Anthony was born in Ukraine and in Holy Baptism he received the name Onouphrios. In his youth he killed a man in a fight. Later, he repented sincerely and wanted to become a monk. Therefore, sometime before 1506, he was brought to Annunciation Monastery in Suprasl, and placed under obedience…