Saints Alexander, John and Paul, Patriarchs of Constantinople, lived at different times, but each of them happened to clash with the activities of heretics who sought to distort the teachings of the Church. Saint Alexander (325-340) was a vicar bishop during the time of Saint Metrophanes (June 4),…
Saint John IV the Faster, Patriarch of Constantinople (582-595), is famed in the Orthodox Church as the compiler of a penitential Nomokanon (i.e. rule for penances), which has come down to us in several distinct versions, but their foundation is one and the same. These are instructions for priests…
Saint Paul, by birth a Cypriot, became Patriarch of Constantinople (780-784) during the reign of the Iconoclast Emperor Leo IV the Khazar (775-780), and was a virtuous and pious, but timid man. Seeing the martyrdom which the Orthodox endured for the holy icons, the saint concealed his Orthodoxy and…
Saint Alexander of Svir was born on July 15, 1448, on the Feast Day of the Prophet Amos, and was named for him in Baptism. Saint Alexander was a beacon of monasticism in the deep forests of the Russian North, living in asceticism, and so he received remarkable gifts by the All-Holy Spirit. His…
The Holy Prince Alexander Nevsky (in monastic schema Alexis) died on the return journey from the Horde at Gorodtsa on the Volga, on November 14, 1263, and on November 23, 1263 he was buried in the Cathedral Church of the Nativity Monastery in the city of Vladimir.1 Veneration of the Prince began…
The Holy Prince Daniel of Moscow, who was the son of Saint Alexander Nevsky (November 23 & August 30), went to the Lord on March 4,1303. On August 30, 1652 his relics were uncovered and found to be incorrupt. Later, they were transferred to the church dedicated to the Holy Fathers of the Seventh…
Saint Christopher, a Roman, lived during the sixth century. He was tonsured into monasticism at the monastery of Saint Theodosius (January 11) in Palestine, near Jerusalem. The accounts of Abba Theodulus about Saint Christopher are contained in chapters 105 and 234 of the book The Spiritual Meadow…
Saint Fantinus the Wonderworker was born in Calabria (Italy) of parents George and Vriena. He was given over to a monastery, and from childhood he was accustomed to ascetic deeds. In his youth he wandered into the wilderness, remaining often without food or clothes for twenty days. The monk spent…
The Synaxis of Serbian Hierarchs celebrates archpastors of the Serbian Church of the thirteenth—fourteenth centuries. The majority of them have individual days of celebration in addition to this general commemoration. Saint Archbishop Savva I, January 12. Saint Arsenius I, Archbishop of…
Saint Spyridon, Patriarch of Serbia (1382-1388), was much concerned about the monastic communities during difficult years of civil and ecclesial unrest. He was consecrated by Saint Ephraim II, Patriarch of Serbia (1367-1382), who then withdrew to the Archangelsk monastery of the Dushan church.…
Saint Macarius, Patriarch of Serbia (1557-1574), toiled in particular for the spread of education in Serbia. Many church books were printed in his time. The brother of the saint was vizier under the sultan and assisted in the restoration of monasteries and churches despoiled by Moslem fanaticism,…
Saint Gabriel I, Patriarch of Serbia (family name Raicha), occupied the cathedra in the mid-seventeenth century, a time when the Moslem fanaticism had become intense. In the urgent need for both cathedral and country the saint went to collect alms at Walachia, and from there to Moscow. In Moscow in…
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