The Holy Prophet-King David, Saint Joseph the Betrothed, and Saint James the Brother of the Lord are commemorated on the Sunday after the Nativity. If there is no Sunday between December 25 and January 1, their commemoration is moved to December 26. At an early date, some churches in the East began…
Saint Joseph the Betrothed was of the lineage of King David. He had four sons from his previous marriage: James, Judah, Joses, and Simon (or Symeon), and three daughters: Esther, Martha, and Salome, who was the mother of Saint John the Theologian. After he became a widower, Saint Joseph led a life…
The Holy Prophet-King David was a forefather of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh. The youngest son of Jesse, David shepherded a flock of sheep belonging to his father. He was distinguished by his deep faith, and he zealously fulfilled the will of God. During a battle with the…
The Holy Apostle James, Brother of the Lord, was the eldest son of Joseph the Betrothed from his first marriage with Solomonia. The Apostle James is remembered after the Feast of the Nativity of Christ together with his father Joseph and the Prophet-King David, since he accompanied his family on…
On December 29, the Afterfeast of the Nativity, we commemorate the 14,000 holy infants who were put to death by King Herod in his attempt to kill the new-born Messiah (Mt. 2:16). Today there is also a commemoration of all Orthodox Christians who have died from hunger, thirst, the sword, and…
14,000 Holy Infants were killed by King Herod in Bethlehem. When the time came for the Incarnation of the Son of God and His Birth of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, Magi in the East beheld a new star in the heavens, foretelling the Nativity of the King of the Jews. They journeyed immediately to…
Saint Marcellus, igumen of the Monastery called “the Unsleeping Ones,” was a native of the city of Apamea in Syria. His parents were wealthy, but died when he was young. He received his education first at Antioch, and then at Ephesus. All his possessions left him by his parents he…
Saints Mark the Grave-Digger, Theophilus and John are mentioned in the Kiev Caves Paterikon. Two brothers being monastics, Saints Theophilus and John, so loved each other that they prevailed upon Saint Mark to prepare a double grave so they could be buried side by side. Many years later, the older…
It is not known where or when Saints Theophilos and Jacob were born, but they spent some time on the island of Konevets with Saint Arsenios of Konevets (June 12), and perhaps it was there that they began their monastic labors. Then, in 1395 or 1396, both ascetics left Konevets and crossed the…
Saint Thaddeus the Confessor, a disciple of Theodore the Studite, was a defender of the veneration of holy icons. He was brought to trial and suffered during the reign of Leo V (813-820). The heretics, mocking Saint Thaddeus, put an icon of the Savior on the ground, picked the saint up, and stood…
Today the Church remembers all Orthodox Christians who died as martyrs for the glory of Christ by hunger, thirst, freezing, and by the sword, whose names are not known to us. This feast reminds us that God's sight is not like that of men. People usually glorify and honor those who are renowned and…
The Lord said: "Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become as children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3). For many, at first glance, this appears easy to follow. Yet only God's chosen few, among them Basilisk of Siberia, who attained spiritual infancy by his ascetical…