The first Sunday of Great Lent is called the Sunday of Orthodoxy because it commemorates the restoration of the Holy Icons and the triumph of the Orthodox Faith against the terrible heresy of the Iconoclasts, i.e. those heretics who refused to honor the Holy Icons. For more than a hundred years the Church was disturbed by the evil doctrine of iconoclasm.

The first Emperor to persecute the Church was Leo the Isaurian, and the last was Theophilos, the spouse of Saint Theodora (February 11), who reigned after her husband's death and re-established Orthodoxy in the time of Patriarch Methodios (June 14). Empress Theodora proclaimed publicly that we do not kiss the Icons as a sign of worship, nor do we honor them as "gods," but as images of their prototypes.

In the year 843, on the first Sunday of the Fast, Saint Theodora and her son, Emperor Michael, venerated the Holy Icons together with the clergy and the people. Since that time this event has been commemorated every year, because it was definitively determined that we do not worship the Icons, but we honor and glorify all the Saints who are depicted on them. We worship only the Triune God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and no one else, neither a Saint, nor an Angel.

Originally, the Holy Prophets Moses, Aaron, and Samuel were commemorated on this Sunday. The Alleluia verses appointed for today’s Liturgy reflect this older usage.

The Holy Martyr Conon of Isauria was born in Badinḗ (Βαδινή), a village near the city of Isauria in Asia Minor, whose inhabitants had received the Christian Faith from the Apostle Paul. From his youth, Saint Conon was protected by the Archangel Michael, who helped him in many difficult situations during his life.

At the insistence of his parents, Conon was betrothed to a girl named Anna, and on their wedding night, he persuaded her that they should remain virgins. He took a candle and put it under a vessel and asked his bride: "Which is better, light or darkness?"

"Light," she replied.

Then he spoke to her about Christ, and how the spiritual life was far superior and more desirable than the physical. Thus, Conon and Anna lived together as brother and sister. Later, Conon brought his wife and her parents to the Christian Faith.His father, Saint Nestor, rebuked the idolaters, but they opposed him, saying that there is no other God but the idols. He converted them and prepared them to confess Christ with a loud voice, and to be baptized. As a result, Saint Nestor was put to death, thereby receiving a Martyr's crown.

Shortly thereafter, Conan's wife and her parents died, and he withdrew completely from this earthly life, devoting himself to the monastic labors of prayer, fasting and divine contemplation.

By the grace of God, Saint Conan received so much power and authority over the demons, that he was able to order some of them to farm the land. Others were sent to protect the fruit, and then he enclosed the rest in clay vessels, which he sealed. He hid and buried these in the foundation of his house.

In his old age, the holy ascetic received the gift of working miracles.Through his preaching and miracles, many pagans were turned to Christ. When a persecution of Christians began in Isauria, Saint Conon was one of the first to suffer. He was tortured severely for refusing to sacrifice to the idols. However, when the inhabitants of Isauria learned of the torments to which the Saint was subjected, they went armed with weapons in order to protect the Martyr. Fearing the people's wrath, the torturers fled, and the Isaurians found the Martyr wounded and bloodied. Those who were sick anointed themselves with his blood, and they were healed. Saint Conon was saddened because he had not been found worthy of being martyred for the Lord. He lived in Isauria for two more years, and then he departed to the Lord in the second century.

After the Saint's repose, some Christians wanted to convert his house into a church. As they were digging, they found the clay vessels containing the evil spirits. When one of the jars was opened the demons came forth in the form of fire. The building collapsed, the wood and the ropes were burnt, and no one was able to approach that place until after sunset. After some time, that place was freed from the influence of the demons, by the prayers of Saint Conon, and through the prayer and fasting of the Christians who lived there.

On March 5, 1463, the relics of holy Prince Theodore and his sons, David and Constantine were uncovered at Yaroslavl. The chronicler, an eyewitness to the event, wrote: “At the city of Yaroslavl in the monastery of the Holy Savior they unearthed three Great Princes: Prince Theodore Rostislavich and his sons David and Constantine, and brought them above the ground. The Great Prince Theodore was a man of great stature, and they placed his sons David and Constantine beside him. They were shorter than he was. All three had lain in a single grave.”

The physical appearance of the holy prince so impressed the eyewitnesses and those present at the uncovering of the relics, that an account of this event was entered into the Prologue (lives of saints) in Saint Theodore’s Life, and also into the text of the Manual for Iconographers.

Saints Theodore, David and Constantine are also commemorated on September 19.

Saint Adrian of Poshekhonye was born at Rostov the Great at the end of the sixteenth century, of pious parents named Gregory and Irene. Saint Adrian received monastic tonsure at the monastery of Saint Cornelius of Komel (May 19).

Among the brethren gathered around Saint Cornelius were some capable builders and iconographers, so the monastery churches were constructed and adorned by the saints themselves. In the final years of Saint Cornelius’s life, Kazan Tatars invaded the territory around the monastery, and he led all the brethren to the River Ukhtoma. But the Tatars did not touch the monastery, being frightened off by the sight of the many soldiers defending it, and they soon withdrew from the Vologda district. Saint Cornelius returned to the monastery with the brethren and reposed there on May 19, 1537.

Three years after the death of Saint Cornelius, Saint Adrian, then a hierodeacon, greatly desired to go into a wilderness place and found a monastery in honor of the Most Holy Theotokos. The Lord helped him fulfill his intention. A certain unknown Elder of striking appearance came to the Corniliev monastery. Saint Adrian asked him his name, and the Elder referred to himself as “the lowly one.”

When Saint Adrian invited him to his own cell and asked him to say something beneficial for the soul, the Elder said that he would show Saint Adrian the spot where he should build the church and monastery of the Most Holy Theotokos.

Saint Adrian immediately went to the Superior, Igumen Laurence, and sought his blessing to live in the wilderness. Recalling Saint Cornelius’s order that any monks who wished to withdraw into the wilderness should be released from the monastery, Igumen Laurence did not hinder Saint Adrian but gave him his blessing. He also sent with him his assistant, Elder Leonid. After they prayed at the grave of Saint Cornelius, Saint Adrian and Elder Leonid went on their way, led by the mysterious black-robed monk. Saint Adrian carried with him an icon of the Dormition of the Mother of God, which he also painted.

On September 13, 1540, the eve of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord, Saint Adrian and Elder Leonid arrived in the wild Poshekhonye forest, near the settlements of Belta, Patrabolsha, Shelshedolsk and Ukhorsk.

They halted at the banks of the River Votkha. There the Elder leading them suddenly became invisible. The astonished travelers began to chant the Canon and service of the Feast, with tears of thanks to God. Indeed this was a portent of the future fame of the monastery, a place where God would be glorified.

For three years Saint Adrian and the Elder Leonid survived in the wilderness solitude, suffering want, overcoming temptations from the devil and the whisperings of wicked folk, and then they began to fulfill their intention. Choosing a suitable moment, the ascetics went to Moscow to ask the blessing of Metropolitan Macarius to establish a monastery and church in honor of the Dormition of the Mother of God on the Poshekhonye side of the River Votkha.

Saint Macarius gave his blessing to the ascetics to build the monastery, and he gave them a written document to that effect. He ordained Adrian to the priesthood and elevated him to the rank of igumen. In the document he had given to Saint Adrian, the hierarch bade “priests, deacons, monks and laymen to listen to him and obey him in everything, as befits a pastor and teacher.”

At Moscow the Poshekhonye ascetics found generous benefactors who gave the monks abundant offerings to build their church. Returning to their wilderness spot on May 31, 1543, Saint Adrian laid the foundations for the church with a trapeza, in honor of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos.

Having embellished and consecrated the new church, Saint Adrian began the construction of the monastery. The strict monastic Rule of Saint Cornelius was introduced at the monastery. Having nothing of their own, a little being sufficient for everyone, the saints devoted a large portion of their time to prayer, both in church and in their cells, and no small time was allotted to the reading of Holy Scripture. This reading was done “not in an elegant voice, nor for effect, but in a humble and mild voice. One reads, and another speaks of what is read.” They also read in private.

In addition to his duties as igumen, Saint Adrian also occupied himself with painting icons. When his holy soul longed for complete silence, he withdrew into the depths of the forest into the cell and chapel he had built one verst away from the monastery.

Six years after the founding of the monastery, Elder Leonid reposed. Saint Adrian and the brethren buried him with reverence. The number of the brethren had increased during this time. They built three cells as dwellings, and a fourth for preparing food and baking bread.

Saint Adrian began to make plans for the construction of a large stone church, and he gathered a sum of money for this purpose. One year after the repose of Elder Leonid, during Great Lent of 1550, on the eve of the commemoration of the 42 Ammoreian Martyrs (March 6), armed robbers burst into the monastery and murdered Saint Adrian after beating him.

The holy relics of Saint Martyr Adrian were uncovered on December 17, 1626, solemnly transferred into the monastery church and placed in an open crypt by the right kliros (choir). Many miracles occurred at the grave of Saint Adrian.

The Holy Martyr Onesimus (Onisius) lived in Palestine. He was beheaded with the sword for confessing faith in Christ.

The Holy Martyr Conon the Gardener was born in Nazareth of Galilee, but he lived in the city of Mandona, where he occupied himself with gardening. He was a God-fearing man, sincere in heart, and without malice. The saint suffered for his faith in Christ under the emperor Decius (249-251). When they brought him to trial, he unwaveringly and firmly confessed his faith. The torturers drove nails into his feet and dragged him behind a chariot until the sufferer collapsed from exhaustion. With a prayer, he surrendered his spirit to the Lord.

No information on the life of this saint is available at this time.

The Holy Martyr Eulogius was a native of Palestine. After the death of his pagan parents he gave away all his inheritance to the poor, and he himself became a wanderer and went through Palestine, converting pagans to Christianity. During the time of a persecution he was arrested, subjected to terrible tortures and beheaded.

The Holy Martyr Eulampius lived in Palestine. He was beheaded for his faith in Christ.

Saint Mark the Ascetic was born in Athens during the fifth century, and became a monk in the Nitrian desert (Lower Egypt). From his youth his fondest pursuit was the reading of Holy Scripture. It is said that he knew the whole Bible by heart.

Nine of his thirty discourses have come down to us. Three of them are in Volume I of the English PHILOKALIA. The Byzantines had such a high regard for his writings that they said, “Sell everything and buy Mark.”

He was noted for his gentleness and purity of soul. He was known as “the Ascetic” because of his abstinence. He lived for ninety years as a solitary, then surrendered his soul to God when he was one hundred and twenty years old.

Saint Hesychius the Faster was born in the eighth century in the coastal city of Adrineia in Bithynia. Raised since his youth in piety, he left his parental home and practiced asceticism in a wilderness spot on Mount Maionis. Despite the threat of demons and wild animals and robbers living there, the holy ascetic in seeking greater solitude settled there and built himself a cell, digging himself a garden and eating from the fruit of his labors. After a certain while disciples began to throng to him. At a spring of water in a valley not far off Saint Hesychius built a church in the name of the holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called. Even during his lifetime he was granted the gift of wonderworking.

One time they brought a demon-possessed girl to him. Her parents, falling down at the feet of the holy ascetic, implored his holy prayers for her healing. The holy ascetic made prayer for the unfortunate one, and the devils left her. Turning to the parents of the healed girl, Saint Hesychius predicted that a women’s holy monastery would arise at the place their daughter was healed. And actually the prophecy was fulfilled in the future.

An angel appeared to Saint Hesychius three days before his end and predicted to him his approaching demise. He accepted the news with joy. And before his blessed end, the saint summoned his disciples and for a long while he instructed them. At midnight the cell of the saint and the surrounding area suddenly gleamed with a heavenly light, and Saint Hesychius fell asleep in the Lord with the words: “Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.”

At the place of his efforts, in accord with the prediction of Saint Hesychius, was later on built a women’s monastery. The holy relics of Saint Hesychius, buried at the church of the holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called, were later transferred by Theophylactus, Bishop of Amasea, to the city of Amasea (Asia Minor).

Today’s saint should not be confused with Saint Hesychius the Theologian, the priest of Jerusalem (March 28), whose writings are in the Philokalia.

In the Icon called “Nurturing,” the Mother of God is depicted with her eternal Child sitting on her left arm. Christ’s right hand is extended upward to the face of the All-Pure Virgin.

Before 1917, the holy image was located in the Kazan Cathedral on Red Square, but it was lost after the destruction of that church in 1936. The church was rebuilt in 1993, and it houses a copy of the Nurturing Icon. At that place there is a list of wonderworking icons glorified throughout Russia for their miracles.

The title of the Icon speaks for itself. Parents pray for their children in her presence, asking the Most Holy Theotokos to take them under her protection, to send them understanding, and to fill their hearts with wisdom.

Until our own time, a brief prayer has been associated with this image:

O All-Holy Lady, Virgin Theotokos, save and keep under your protection my children (names), all boys and girls and infants, both those who are baptized and those who are nameless and those being carried in their mother's womb. Cover them with your own maternal mantle. Preserve them in the fear of God and in obedience to their parents. Implore your Son and our Lord to grant them what is needful for their salvation. I entrust them to your maternal providence, for you are the divine protection of your servants. Amen.

The holy New Martyr John was born in Bulgaria in 1775. Since fanatical Moslems believed that they would be assured of an eternal “paradise” where they would enjoy beautiful virgins and an abundance of food if they could force Christians to deny Christ and follow Mohammed, they spared no effort to convert Christians through flattery or by threats of death.

When John was still a boy, he fell in with Moslem companions. Through various ways, he was led to renounce Christ and to follow Islam. He came to his senses when he was about sixteen, and was stricken with grief at his denial of Christ. He fled to Mt. Athos to the Great Lavra. Here he spent his time in repentence under the guidance of an Elder.

He lived a monastic life of great strictness for three years, yet his conscience continued to trouble him. With the blessing of his Elder, he decided to travel to Constantinople to wipe out his apostasy by confessing Christ in a public way and by shedding his blood.

The young monk dressed himself as a Turk, which a Christian was not permitted to do. Arriving in Constantinople, he went directly to the church of Hagia Sophia, which had been turned into a mosque. Right in front of the Moslems, he made the Sign of the Cross and began to recite Christian prayers. Then he said in a loud voice that he had been born a Christian, but had fallen into error and renounced Christ. Now, he declared, he wished to renounce the false religion of Mohammed in order to follow Christ once more.

The Turks fell into a frenzied rage when they heard his words. They seized him and began to torture him in various ways. “Renounce Christ,” they said, “and return to the Moslem faith, or you will be killed.”

Saint John replied, “Without Christ, there is no salvation.”

The furious Hagarenes dragged the saint out to the courtyard to behead him. In this manner, Saint John received the crown of martyrdom in 1784 at the age of nineteen.

Today we remember the miracle of Saint Theodore the Recruit and the boiled wheat. Fifty years after Saint Theodore’s martyrdom, Emperor Julian the Apostate (361-363), devised a plan to corrupt the Christians during the first week of Great Lent. He knew that Christians purify themselves through fasting, especially during this week (which is why it is known as Clean Week). Therefore, he ordered the Polemarch (military leader) of Constantinople to go secretly and sprinkle all the food in the marketplace with the blood of animals which had been offered in sacrifice to idols. Saint Theodore appeared to Archbishop Eudoxios in a dream, telling him to assemble all the Christians on Monday morning and tell them that they must not buy any food from the marketplace; instead they were to boil some kollyva and to eat it with some honey during that week. The hierarch asked Saint Theodore what he meant by kollyva. He replied, “Kollyva is what we call boiled wheat in Euchaita.” Thus the scheme of the idol-worshipping emperor was thwarted and the pious people were preserved undefiled during Clean Week.

Ever since the middle of the fifth century, the Orthodox Church has honored the holy Great Martyr Theodore the Recruit on the first Saturday of Great Lent. On Friday evening, at the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts following the prayer at the Ambo, the Canon to the holy Great Martyr Theodore, composed by Saint John of Damascus, is sung. Afterward, kollyva is blessed and distributed to the faithful. The commemoration of the Great Martyr Theodore on the first Saturday of Great Lent was established by Patriarch Nektarios of Constantinople (381-397).

The Troparion to Saint Theodore is quite similar to the Troparion for the Prophet Daniel and the Three Holy Youths (December 17 and Sunday Before the Nativity).¹ The Kontakion for Saint Theodore, who suffered martyrdom by fire, reminds us that he also had faith as his breastplate (see 1 Thessalonians 5:8).²

Saint Theodore the Recruit is also commemorated on February 17.

¹ The term “water of rest” comes from Psalm 22:2 (LXX). It is also found in the Troparion for the Prophet Daniel (perhaps from Daniel 1:12). The Hypakoe (in Tone 2) for December 17 mentions that an angel “turned the furnace into a place of rest” for the Three Holy Children. In today’s troparion (and that of Feb. 17), we should not say sweet bread, because of the term “sweetbread,” which is made from unappetizing parts of animals.

² The term “breastplate” is an exact translation from the Greek. It is not a “shield,” or any other thing.

Saint Gerasimus was a native of Lycia (Asia Minor). From his early years he was distinguished for his piety. Having received monastic tonsure, he withdrew into the desert of the Thebaid (in Egypt). Thereafter, in about the year 450, the monk arrived in Palestine and settled at the Jordan, where he founded a monastery.

For a certain while Saint Gerasimus was tempted by the heresy of Eutyches and Dioscorus, which acknowledged only the divine nature in Jesus Christ, but not His human nature (i.e. the Monophysite heresy). Saint Euthymius the Great (January 20) helped him to return to the true Faith.

Saint Gerasimus established a strict monastic Rule. He spent five days of the week in solitude, occupying himself with handicrafts and prayer. On these days the wilderness dwellers did not eat cooked food, nor did they kindle a fire, but ate only dry bread, roots and water.

On Saturday and Sunday all gathered at the monastery for Divine Liturgy and to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. In the afternoon, taking a supply of bread, tubers, water and an armload of date-palm branches for weaving baskets, the desert-dwellers returned to their own cells. Each had only old clothes and a mat, upon which he slept. When they left their cells, the door was never locked, so that anyone could enter and rest, or take whatever he needed.

Saint Gerasimus himself attained a high level of asceticism. During Great Lent he ate nothing until the very day of the All-Radiant Resurrection of Christ, when he received the Holy Mysteries. Going out into the desert for all of Great Lent, Saint Gerasimus took with him his beloved disciple Saint Cyriacus (September 29), whom Saint Euthymius had sent to him.

When Saint Euthymius the Great died, Saint Gerasimus saw how angels carried the soul of the departed up to Heaven. Taking Cyriacus with him, the monk immediately set off to the monastery of Saint Euthymius and consigned his body to the earth.

Saint Gerasimus died peacefully, mourned by his brethren and disciples. Before his death, a lion had aided Saint Gerasimus in his tasks, and upon the death of the Elder it died at his grave and was buried nearby. Therefore the lion is depicted on icons of the saint, at his feet.

Saint Gerasimus, First Vologda Wonderworker, accepted monastic tonsure on March 4 (at that time it was customary to give a new monk the name of the saint commemorated on the day of his tonsure) at the Kiev Gniloe Dormition monastery, having been attracted to the Caves where Saint Theodosius (May 3) secluded himself during Great Lent.

Out of obedience to the brethren, Saint Gerasimus accepted the rank of hieromonk. In imitation of the exploits of the Fathers of old, the monk felt drawn to Northern Rus and he arrived at the River Vologda (August 19, 1147). He blessed the emerging settlement on the right bank, “foretelling that here would be a great city.”

The saint chose the dense virgin forest for his dwelling place, separated from the settlement by the Kaisarova creek. There the monk built a hut, and in the tranquil solitude he devoted himself to the contemplation of God, unceasing prayer and work. He built a church in honor of the Most Holy Trinity, and so the first monastery in the north named for the Most Holy Trinity came into being. The monastery served for the spiritual enlightenment of the surrounding peoples.

The monk peacefully fell asleep in the Lord on March 4, 1178, the day of his monastic tonsure, and the Feast of his namesake Saint Gerasimus of the Jordan.

The Holy Hieromartyrs Joasaph of Snetogorsk and Basil of Mirozh suffered under the Germans at two of the most ancient of the Pskov monasteries during the thirteenth century. Saint Basil directed the Savior-Transfiguration Mirozh monastery, founded in the year 1156 by Saint Niphon, Bishop of Novgorod (April 8), and by Saint Abraham of Mirozh (September 24).

Saint Joasaph was igumen (and according also to some Pskov Saints’ Lives, the founder) of the monastery of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos on Mount Snatna. The ascetics devoted much labor and concern to both the outer and inner welfare of the monasteries. In accord with the strict rule of cenobitic monastic life, introduced into his monastery by Saint Joasaph, the life of the monks was filled with prayer, abstinence and work. (Almost ninety years after the death of Saint Joasaph, his monastic Rule was reintroduced in the new monastic Rule of the Snetogorsk monastery by Archbishop Dionysius of Suzdal). The Snetogorsk monastery traced its origins from the efforts of Saint Euphrosynus of Pskov (May 15) and Saint Savva of Krypetsk (August 28).

Both these monasteries were outside the city walls and did not have any defenses. On March 4, 1299, the Germans fell upon Pskov and burned the Mirozh and Snetogorsk monasteries. During the burning of the churches, Saints Basil and Joasaph and the other monks endured an agonizing death. There was at that time much suffering in the city, and for the monks of other monasteries, and also for the women and children, but “through the prayers of the holy monk martyrs, the Lord preserved the fighting men.” Under the lead of the Pskov prince, Saint Dovmont-Timothy (May 20), they came out against the enemy and near the church of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, they defeated the invaders at the banks of the Pskova River.

Saints Basil and Joasaph were buried with their fellow ascetics beneath crypts at the churches of their monasteries. The venerable head and part of the relics of Saint Joasaph were preserved in the open in a special reliquary in the church of the Snetogorsk monastery. Holy Prince Dovmont “out of his rightful inheritance” built a stone church at the Snetogorsk monastery in place of the one that had burned, and he facilitated the restoration of monastic life at the ruined monasteries.

Soon after the martyric death of Saints Basil and Joasaph their churchly glorification took place at Pskov. On the manuscript Pskov Prologue of the fourteenth-fifteenth centuries, they are listed on March 5. But in the Pskov Chronicle and old Pskov Synodikons (Saint lists), the day of the blessed death of the holy monk martyrs is given as March 4, and at present, this is the day of their commemoration. The Chronicle mentions the presbyter Joseph, and the Prologue mentions the presbyter Constantine as their fellow sufferers.

Holy Prince Basil of Rostov belonged in lineage to the Suzdal Monomashichi, famed in Russian history. The saint’s great-grandfather was Yuri Dolgoruky, and his grandfather was Great Prince Vsevolod III “Big-Nest” (+ 1212), brother to Saint Andrew Bogoliubsky (July 4), who had been heir to and continuer of Saint Andrew Bogoliubsky’s work. From Vladimir-on-Klyazma, which became the capital of the old Rostovo-Suzdal principality, Vsevolod “Big-Nest” single-handedly set the course of affairs of the whole of Great Rus. The “Lay of Igor’s Campaign” (“Slovo o polku Igoreve”) says that he could “splash the Volga with oars, and bail out the Don with helmets.”

The oldest grandson of Vsevolod from his oldest son Constantine, Saint Basil was born on December 7, 1208 in Rostov, where his father ruled as prince. He spent his childhood there, and in 1216, when Constantine Vsevolodovich became Great Prince of Vladimir, Rostov was apportioned to Basil (he was then eight years old) as his princely appanage to rule himself.

Military valor, sacred duty of service to country, the sense of justice and the heeding of one’s elders, all these are traditional features of a Russian princely defender of the land, and all were present in Basil. The saint’s father, Great-prince Constantine, died on February 2, 1218, when Basil was not yet ten years of age. The guide of the young Rostov prince then became his uncle, the Great Prince Saint Yuri of Vladimir (February 4).

For twenty years Prince Yuri ruled Vladimir, and for all these years Basil was his closest friend and confidant. The chronicles take note of the vibrantly handsome figure of Basil, his bright and majestic glance, his daring in trapping wild game, his beneficence, his mind and deep studiousness, together with his mildness and good-nature in relations with the nobles: “Whoever served him, whoever ate his bread and drank the cup with him, could never be the servant of another prince.”

In the year 1219 Basil participated in a campaign of the Vladimir-Suzdal forces against the Volga Bulgars, and in 1221 in a campaign to the mouth of the River Oka. Saint Yuri was then held hostage at Nizhni Novgorod.

In 1223 the first Tatars (Mongols) appeared on the southern steppes, “an unknown people”, coming out of Asia. Their first victims were the Polovetsians allied with Rus. The Russian princes, with the Polovetsian khans (many of whom had accepted Holy Baptism), decided to resist the plunderers of the steppes before they reached the Russian Land. Saint Basil headed an auxiliary detachment, sent by Great Prince Yuri to participate in the Russian steppe campaign.

The enemy showed up sooner than they expected. And the centuries-old division of appenage principalities proved incapable of effective action in a large scale war. The detachment of Basil was not in time for the decisive battle, and from Chernigov came the sad news of the destruction of the Russian forces at the River Kalka on June 16, 1223. This was a bad omen, and the storm loomed on the east. Basil and his company returned to Rostov.

In 1227 (or 1228) Basil married, taking Maria, daughter of Saint Michael of Chernigov (September 20) as his wife. Basil’s uncle, Saint Yuri, had previously married Saint Michael’s sister [i.e. Basil’s uncle Yuri had married Maria’s aunt]. In 1231 Basil’s oldest son Boris was born.

The storm clouds thickened over Russia. On May 3, 1230, “the earth shook during Liturgy”, and famine and pestilence came upon Rus that year. In 1232 the Tatars made winter camp, having barely reached the capital of the Volga Bulgars. Life took its course, and Prince Yuri in 1236 married off his sons Vladimir and Mstislav, and Basil rejoiced at their weddings. All of them, however, had little more than a year to live, for the Tatars had already taken the Volga-Bulgarian land.

In 1237 the Tatar whirlwind broke upon Rus. In December Ryazan fell under Batu. Prince Yuri had decided not to send his forces over to provide assistance, since he was faced with the difficult defense of Vladimir. The Tatars offered him peace, and he was prepared to negotiate. But the conditions of the peace, tribute and vassal servitude under the Khan, were unacceptable. “A glorious fight,” said the prince, “is better than a shameful peace.” The first battle with the Tatars was at Kolomna, and Vsevolod Yurievich commanded the troops, but they were cut to pieces. The enemy turned then towards Moscow, which they captured and burned. Yuri’s other son, Vladimir, was captured while leading the defense of Moscow.

Saint Yuri and his faithful companion Saint Basil were determined to fight “for the Orthodox Christian Faith” against the “godlessly vile Tatars.” Having organized his defenses and leaving his sons Vsevolod and Mstislav at Vladimir, Prince Yuri went beyond the Volga to gather new troops to replace those annihilated by Batu.

With him were his nephews, Saint Basil of Rostov and his company, and his brothers, Vsevolod and Vladimir. The Great Prince awaited the arrival of his brothers Yaroslav and Svyatoslav and their forces.

On Meatfare Saturday, February 3, 1238, quickly and without hindrance upon the wintry roads, the Tatar army approached Vladimir. Despite heroic defense, the fate of the city was sealed. Bishop Metrophanes for spiritual strength tonsured all the princes and princesses remaining in the city into the angelic schema. The city fell on February 7.

The final outpost of the Vladimirites was the Dormition cathedral, repository of the most holy object in Russia: the wonderworking Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. The Tatars piled wood and kindling around the cathedral and made a tremendous fire. Bishop Metrophanes died in the fire and smoke, together with a thousand defenseless women and children, and Prince Yuri’s entire family: his wife Agathia, daughter Theodora, daughters-in-law Maria and Christina, and the infant grandson Demetrius. His sons Vsevolod and Mstislav, together with the previously captured Vladimir, were subjected to tortures and then slaughtered “before the eyes of the Khan”. (In several of the old collections of Saints’ Lives, all of them are listed as saints).

Saint Yuri had been with his forces near Yaroslavl. Learning of the destruction of the capital and the death of those near and dear to him, “he lamented in a loud voice with tears.” He said it would be better for him to die rather than continue to live in this world, since he alone survived. Saint Basil, arriving with the Rostov company, encouraged him to continue with the military effort.

On March 4, 1238 the decisive battle took place at the River Sita. The Tatars unexpectedly managed to encircle the Russian army, and a slaughter ensued. Few Russian warriors remained alive after this terrible battle, but the enemy paid an expensive price for its victory. Saint Yuri was cut down in distinguished combat, and the wounded Basil was brought to Batu’s headquarters.

The Tatars demanded that he “follow their vile customs, be subject to their will and fight for them.” The holy prince angrily refused to betray his homeland or Holy Orthodoxy. “You cannot take the Christian Faith from me” said the holy prince, like one of the ancient Christian confessors. “They tortured him a great deal, and then killed him in the Shernsk woods.” Thus did holy Prince Basil commit his soul to God, resembling in death the holy Passion-Bearer Boris (July 24), the first of the Rostov princes, whom he had imitated in life. Like Saint Boris, Saint Basil was not even thirty years of age.

Bishop Cyril of Rostov, going out on the field of carnage, buried the fallen Orthodox warriors, and he sought the body of holy Prince Yuri (they did not find his cut-off head in the mass of broken bodies). He brought his holy relics to Rostov, to the Dormition cathedral. The body of Saint Basil was found in the Shernsk woods by a priest’s son and was taken to Rostov. There the prince’s wife, his children, Bishop Cyril and all the inhabitants of Rostov met the body of their beloved prince with bitter wailing, and they buried him beneath the arches of the cathedral church.

Describing the burial of Prince Basil, the chronicler said: “The multitude of Orthodox people wept bitterly, when they saw the departed father and nourisher of orphans, the great comforter of the sorrowful, and… the setting of a luminous star…. By his martyr’s blood his transgressions and those of his brethren were washed away.”

The people regarded it as a sign of God’s mercy that the two princely comrades-in-arms were buried side by side in the Rostov cathedral church: “Behold the wonder, in death God has placed their bodies together.” (Later on, the relics of holy Prince Yuri were transferred to the restored Vladimir Dormition cathedral).

The Church venerates Saints Basil and Yuri as Passion-Bearers, and heroic defenders of the Russian Land. Their holy example has inspired Russian soldiers in the fight against hostile invaders. The most detailed account of the life and deeds of holy Princes Basil and Yuri is preserved in the Lavrentiev Chronicle, written by the monk Laurence with the blessing of Saint Dionysius, Archbishop of Suzdal, in the year 1377, three years before the Battle of Kulikovo Pole.

Holy Prince Daniel of Moscow was born at Vladimir in the year 1261. He was the fourth son of Saint Alexander Nevsky (August 30 and November 23) and his second wife Bassa. When he was two years old he lost his father. The date of his mother’s repose is not indicated in the Chronicles; we know only that she was buried in the church of the Nativity of Christ at the Vladimir Dormition monastery (the Princess monastery), and the people in the surroundings venerated her as “Righteous.”

In 1272, Prince Daniel received as his allotted portion the city of Moscow and its adjacent lands. The holy prince built a church (and a monastery beside it) in honor of his patron saint, Saint Daniel the Stylite (December 11) on the banks of the River Moskva.

During this period, the Moscow principality was small and unobtrusive. While growing up, Prince Daniel strengthened and expanded it, not in unjust or coercive ways, but peacefully and with benevolence. It was a time of unrest. Fratricidal strife among the appanage princes was rife. Often bloodshed was averted, thanks to Prince Daniel and his incessant striving for unity and peace in the Russian Land.

In 1293 his brother, the Great Prince Alexander, with Tatars summoned from the Horde and headed by Diuden (“the Diudenev Host”), laid waste to Russian cities: Murom, Suzdal, Kolomna, Dmitrov, Mozhaisk, and Tver. Prince Daniel decided to join them to Moscow to save their people from perishing, for they were not strong enough to resist.

The prince braced himself for terrible destruction and pillaging. Standing up for his rights, Saint Daniel was compelled to come out against his brother near a place called Yurievo Tolchische (“Yurievo Threshing-Mill”), but his desire for peace prevailed, and bloodshed was averted.

In 1300, when the Ryazan prince Constantine was making secret preparations for a sudden assault on the Moscow principality, Prince Daniel went to Ryazan with an army. He defeated the enemy, took Constantine captive,and destroyed a multitude of Tatars. This was a first victory over the Tatars, though not a tremendous victory, but it was noteworthy as a first push towards freedom.

When he had beaten the Ryazan prince and scattered his confederates the Tatars, Prince Daniel did not take advantage of his victory to seize foreign lands or take booty, as was the accepted custom during these times. Instead, he displayed an example of true non-covetousness, love and fraternity. The holy prince never resorted to arms to seize the lands of others, nor did he ever take away the property of other princes either by force or by treachery. And so the Lord saw fit to expand the boundaries of his princely realm.

Prince John of Pereslavl-Zalessk, Daniel’s nephew, was gentle and pious and benevolent towards the poor, and he esteemed and loved his uncle. Dying childless in 1302, he bequeathed his principality to Saint Daniel. The Pereslavl lands together with Dmitrov, had the most inhabitants after Rostov, with the corresponding fortification befitting a major city. Pereslavl-Zalessk was well protected on all sides. But the holy prince remained faithful to Moscow and did not transfer the capital of his princedom to the stronger and more significant seat of Pereslavl. This annexation allowed Moscow to be considered as the most significant principality. Here the principle of the unification of the Russian Land into a single powerful realm was set in place.

Through the ages God’s providence concerning Russia and its destiny was clearly manifest!

Grateful for the constant blessings of the Hodēgḗtria (She who leads the Way) both in his personal life, and also in the life of the Russian realm, Saint Daniel’s father, Saint Alexander Nevsky said, “God is not in might, but in right!”

In 1303 Saint Daniel fell seriously ill. He assumed the great schema and commanded that he be buried at the Danilov monastery. In his deep humility he wanted to be buried not within the church, but in the common monastery cemetery. The holy prince died on March 4.

Less than thirty years after the repose of holy Prince Daniel, the Danilov monastery he founded was transformed into the Moscow Kremlin, the church was transformed into a parish church, and the cemetery became non-monastic.

At the time of Great Prince Ivan III (1462-1505), Saint Daniel gave reminders of himself to his forgetful descendents. He appeared as a stranger to a youth who attended the Great Prince and said: “Don’t be afraid of me. I was a Christian and the master of this place, my name is Daniel Prince of Moscow, and by the will of God I am here. Tell Great Prince John about me saying: you are enjoying yourself while you have forgotten me, but God has not forgotten me.”

After this, the Great Prince ordered panikhidas for his ancestral princes to be sung in the cathedral. During the time of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, the dying son of a barge merchant was healed at the grave of Saint Daniel. The Tsar, struck by the miracle, renovated the ancient Danilov monastery and established a yearly church procession. The Metropolitan led the way to the the holy prince’s tomb, and served a panikhida there.

In 1652 holy Prince Daniel was glorified by the uncovering of his incorrupt relics, which were transferred on August 30 to the church dedicated to the Holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council.

The holy relics were placed in a reliquary “to the glory of the Holy Trinity and for the healing of the infirm.” Metropolitan Platon of Moscow (+ 1812), in the Life of the holy prince which he compiled, writes: “The founder laid the foundation of Moscow’s grandeur, modestly making only a small path to it. Just as any edifice, which is not built with excessive haste, but rather with great artistry and skill, receives a particular firmness and stands indestructible for a long time; like a tall tree that grows for many centuries after beginning as a small sapling, then slowly becomes sturdier, with its branches spreading about far around, so this city was to grow from small, but firm beginnings, so that its first sparkle would not bedazzle the eyes of the envious, and so it would not be shaken or felled early on, before it had attained its full height. Thus did this founder prepare the great city given him, giving it a modest but steady radiance, undisturbed by any gusts of the wind. He left the great glory of its rise to his son Great Prince John, called Kalita.”

The Holy Martyr Paul and his sister Juliana were executed under the emperor Aurelian (270-275) in the Phoenician city of Ptolemais. The emperor happened to visit Ptolemais, and among those who met him was Paul, who made the Sign of the Cross. They arrested him and threw him in prison.

On the following day, when they brought him to trial, he openly and boldly confessed his faith in Christ, for which he was subjected to fierce tortures. Juliana, seeing the suffering of her brother, began to denounce the emperor for his injustice and cruelty, for which she was also subjected to torture.

They beat the martyrs, tore their bodies with iron hooks, burned them over red-hot grates, but they were not able to break the wondrous endurance of the Lord’s confessors. Three soldiers torturing the saints were struck by the courageous spirit of the martyrs, and they in turn believed in Christ. These newly chosen of God were named Quadratus, Acacius and Stratonicus, and they were immediately executed.

The tormentor tried to seduce Saint Juliana with a promise to marry her, if she were to renounce Christ, but the saint refused the offer and remained steadfast. By order of the emperor they sent her to a brothel to be defiled. The Lord also preserved her there, and anyone who tried to touch the saint lost his sight. Then the enraged emperor commanded that they again burn the bodies of the saints. Those who saw the suffering of the saints began to murmur loudly, and Aurelian gave orders to behead the martyrs. With gladdened face the brother and sister went to execution singing, “For Thou hast saved us from those who afflicted us and hast shamed those who hated us” (Ps. 43/44:7).

Saint James the Faster lived a life of asceticism near the Phoenician city of Porphyrion in the sixth century. For fifteen years, he lived in a cave devoting himself to monastic deeds, and he received the gift of wonderworking from the Lord. Under his influence many of the local inhabitants were converted to the Christian Faith.

News of the ascetic spread everywhere, and so went to another place so that he would not fall into temptation. He found a new cave, and lived there for thirty years. The devil set terrible snares for the ascetic. James healed a young girl from demonic possession, but then fell into sin with her. In order to conceal his sin, he killed the girl and threw her into a river.

Distraught over this sin, he repented for what he had done. For a long time he hid himself away in the wilderness, bereft of shelter and peace, tormented by the pricks of conscience, and he was on the point of forsaking the monastic life and returning to the world. But the immeasurable mercy of God, against which the sins of this world cannot prevail, and which desires salvation for all mankind, would not permit the ruin of this monk who had toiled so many years for the Lord.

The Lord thwarted the devil’s intent to destroy the ascetic, and returned him through repentance to the path of salvation. Wandering about the wilderness, James saw a monastery, and entering it, he confessed his sin before the igumen and the brethren. The igumen urged him to remain with them, fearing that he would ultimately fall into despair. But James went off and again he wandered the wilderness for a long time.

Finally the All-Beneficent Providence of God brought him to a certain desert-dweller filled with grace and wisdom. Lifting the burden from him, the desert-dweller suggested that James remain with him. But James would not remain with the Elder, though encouraged and given hope by him, and he secluded himself in a cave and there for ten years offered repentance to God, weeping and wailing, and asking forgiveness for the sin he committed. The Lord heard the prayers of the penitent monk and granted him His mercy. James reacquired his gift of wonderworking. He remained in the cave until the time of his death. He was also buried there.

The Translation of the Relics of the Right-Believing Prince Saint Wenceslas (Vyacheslav) of the Czech Lands.

On September 28, 935, when Saint Wenceslas went to Matins, he was wickedly murdered at the doors of the church by his own brother and his brother’s servants. His body was stabbed and discarded without burial.

The mother, hearing of the murder of her son, found and placed his body in a recently consecrated church at the princely court. They were not able to wash off the blood splashed on the church doors, but after three days it disappeared by itself.

After repenting of his sin, the murderer transferred the relics of Saint Wenceslas to Prague, where they were placed in the church of Saint Vitus, which the martyr himself had constructed. The memory of Prince Wenceslas is honored from of old in the Russian Orthodox Church.

Saint Wenceslas is also commemorated on September 28.

Saint Gregory is mentioned in the Patmos Codex 266 as follows: “The Holy Fathers Gregory of Constantia, Cyprus and Adrian.” Perhaps Saint Adrian was also a Bishop on Cyprus.

No information available at this time.

The Holy Martyrs Eutropius, Cleonicus and Basiliscus suffered in the city of Pontine Amasea (Asia Minor) in about the year 308.

The brothers Eutropius and Cleonicus, and Basiliscus the nephew of the Great Martyr Theodore the Recruit (February 17), were comrades. After the martyric death of Saint Theodore, they wound up in prison and by their preaching brought many of the pagans in prison with them to the Christian Faith.

When he tortured Saint Theodore, the governor Publius perished shamefully, struck down by divine wrath. Asclepiodotus was chosen as ruler of Amasea, and was more inhumane than his predecessor. Knowing the comrades of Saint Theodore the Recruit were all in prison, the governor commanded that they be brought to him. Saints Eutropius, Cleonicus and Basiliscus thus firmly confessed their faith in Christ before this new governor. They were mercilessly beaten, so that their bodies were entirely bruised.

As he was being tortured Saint Eutropius prayed loudly to the Savior, “Grant us, O Lord, to endure these wounds for the sake of the crown of martyrdom, and help us, as You helped Your servant Theodore.” In answer to the saint’s prayer, the Lord Himself appeared to the martyrs with His angels and the holy Great Martyr Theodore the Recruit, saying to them: “Behold, the Savior has come to help you, that you may know life eternal.”

Soldiers and many of the people standing nearby were also granted to behold the Savior. They urged Asclepiodotus to halt the tortures. Seeing that the people were distraught and ready to believe in the true God, the governor commanded the martyrs to be taken away. The governor then invited Saint Eutropius to supper and urged him to offer public sacrifice to the pagan gods, yet remain a Christian in soul. Eutropius refused this offer.

On the following day they brought the martyrs to a pagan temple, to force them to offer sacrifice. Eutropius entreated the Savior: “Lord, be with us, and destroy the raging of the pagans. Grant that on this place the Bloodless Sacrifice of the Christians be offered to You, the true God.” No sooner had these last words been spoken, than an earthquake began. The walls of the temple collapsed, and the statue of the goddess Artemis was smashed to bits. Everyone fled from the temple to avoid being crushed among the rubble. In the noise of the earthquake a voice was heard from on high: “Your prayer has been heard, and on this place a house of Christian prayer shall be built.”

When the earthquake ended, the governor Asclepiodotus, barely recovered from his fright, gave orders to drive high wooden stakes into the ground, tie the martyrs to them and pour boiling tar over them. The saints began to pray to God, and Eutropius cried out turning to the torturers: “May the Lord turn your deed against you!”

The tar began to flow beside the bodies of the martyrs, like water over marble, scorching the torturers. Those seeing this fled in terror, but the governor in his bitterness gave orders to rake their bodies with iron hooks and to sting their wounds with mustard mixed with salt and vinegar. The saints endured these torments with remarkable firmness.

The night before their execution the saints spent their time at prayer, and again the Lord appeared to them and strengthened them.

On the morning of March 3, Saints Eutropius and Cleonicus were crucified, but Basiliscus was left in prison.

Saint Basiliscus was executed on May 22 in the city of Komana. They beheaded him, and threw his body into a river, but Christians found his relics and buried them in a ploughed field. Later at Komana a church was built and dedicated to Saint Basiliscus.

An account of the life of the holy martyr is found under May 22.

The holy virgin Piamoun (Πιαμούν) was from Egypt, and she lived during the IV century. Her Life is recorded by Palladius in his Lausiac History.

When the Saint was very young her father died, but her Christian mother raised her with discipline and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). When she grew up, she and her mother engaged in works of mercy and compassion. They were not wealthy, but out of their meagre income, they were able to help their poor and weak brethren.

Saint Piamoun would eat a little food in the evening, and at night she kept constant vigil. She also labored at weaving linen, and she was found worthy of the gift of foresight.

One day a certain village in Upper Egypt attacked another village because of a quarrel about sharing the waters of the Nile. They fought so violently that many men were killed. This village then moved stealthily against the Saint's village. Men marched with staves and spears, intending to kill the inhabitants.

An Angel of the Lord appeared to Saint Piamoun and warned her that her village would be attacked by the stronger villagers. Summoning the priests of her church, she said, "Go forth to meet the enemy, for they are coming against you, otherwise you and the village will perish. If you beg them not to attack, then perhaps they will spare the village."

The priests were afraid and told her, "We do not dare to face them, for we know their ferocity and their arrogance. However, if you wish to save the village and your own house, then you go out to meet them."

The holy virgin did not go forth, but instead she went up to her roof and stood all night long in prayer. She made many bows and prayed that God would immobilize the enemy where they stood, three miles from her village. Immediately they became paralyzed and were unable to move from that place. It was revealed to them that it was the prayers of Saint Piamoun which hindered them from moving. Therefore, they sent a message to the villagers that they wished to make peace. They also told them to give thanks to God, for it was the prayers of Saint Piamoun which had prevented them from attacking.

When her mother reposed, the venerable one continued the work of ministering to her suffering brothers and sisters by herself. She visited their homes, comforted them, and strengthened their faith.

When Saint Piamoun reposed in 337, there was widespread mourning in her village.

It is not known just when or where Saint Zenon and Saint Zoilos lived, but according to the Byzantine verse Synaxarion, they died while living in the world (Paris. Coislin. 223, from the year 1301).¹

The names of Saint Zenon and Saint Zoilos and a couplet composed for them were included in the Greek Menaion (printed in Venice in 1596) and in the Synaxaristis. When the Greek Synaxaria were translated into Slavonic, their names and the couplet in their honor were included in the various Prologs. From there, they were incorporated into the Great Reading Menaion (Ве­ли­кие Ми­неи Че­тии) for March, and into the modern calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The couplet reads: "Released from this life, Zenon and Zoilos went forth to a better life" (literally "existence").

¹ Le fonds Coislin is a collection of Greek manuscripts acquired by Pierre Séguier, but named for Henri-Charles de Coislin, its second owner. It is now held in the National Library of France.

The Volokolamsk Icon of the Mother of God is a copy of the Vladimir Icon of the Moscow Dormition cathedral. The icon was brought from Zvenigorod to the Dormition monastery of Saint Joseph of Volokolamsk on March 2, 1572, during the second week of Great Lent and was solemnly met by Igumen Leonid (1563-1566; 1568-1573) and all the monastic brethren.

It is distinguished by its particular depiction on the margins of Saint Cyprian (right) and Saint Gerontius (left), Metropolitans of Moscow.

The name of Metropolitan Cyprian is associated with the first arrival of the ancient Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God from Constantinople to Moscow in the year 1395, and under Metropolitan Gerontius in 1480 the Vladimir Icon came finally to Moscow.

In the year 1588 the Volokolamsk Icon was dedicated atop the gate in the church at the south gates of the Saint Joseph of Volokolamsk monastery in honor of the Meeting of the Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos (August 26).

At the end of the seventeenth century, when a church of the same name was built in Moscow at Staraya Basmanna, the church atop the gate of Saint Joseph of Volokolamsk was rededicated in honor of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul. The Volokolamsk Icon was transferred to its proper place on the iconostasis of the new cathedral Dormition church of the monastery of Saint Joseph of Volokolamsk.

In 1578, the icon was recognized as wonderworking.

The Holy Catholicos John IV (Chrysostom) led the Apostolic Church of Georgia from approximately 980 to 1001.

Catholicos Basil III’s “Story of Saint Shio’s Miracles” describes how the hitherto childless parents of Saint John prayed at length to Saint Shio of Mgvime. After the birth of John, his God-fearing parents sent him to be raised at Shio-Mgvime Monastery.

There he acquired the sanctity and wisdom for which he would later be called “Chrysostom,” meaning “golden mouth” in Greek. By this name he has been known throughout the history of the Georgian Church.

There is yet another John called “Chrysostom” who was also a Catholicos, from 1033 to 1049. This John was a disciple of Holy Catholicos-Patriarch Melchizedek I and his successor as chief shepherd of the Georgian Church.

His life and labors were full of the same holiness as those of the holy catholicos John who is commemorated on this day. For this reason John IV and John V are often erroneously believed to be one and the same person.

The Georgian Orthodox Church commemorates Saint Shio of Mgvime several times throughout the year. Saint John of Zedazeni and his twelve disciples, among whom was Saint Shio of Mgvime, are commemorated on May 7; the repose of Saint Shio is celebrated on May 9; and on Cheese-fare Thursday the Church celebrates the miracle that, for centuries, occurred every year at Saint Shio’s grave.

The 19th-century historian Marie Brosset wrote that every year prior to the 18th century, on Cheese-fare Thursday, the relics of Saint Shio rose up out of the ground from the place of their burial. Those who approached them in faith and reverence received healing of their afflictions.

In the 18th century the Persian shah Nadir (1736-1747) invaded Georgia. Hearing about this miracle and becoming convinced of its truth, the enraged shah assailed the monastery and destroyed the shrine containing the saint’s holy relics. A group of Christians later gathered Saint Shio’s holy relics and reburied them in their former place, but to this day they have never risen again.

The Hieromartyr Theodotus, a native of Galatia in Asia Minor, was Bishop of Cyrenia in Cyprus. During a time of persecution against Christians under the impious emperor Licinius (311-324), Saint Theodotus openly preached Christ, calling on the pagans to abandon idolatry and turn to the true God. Sabinus, the governor of Cyprus, ordered that Bishop Theodotus be arrested and brought to trial.

When he heard about this order, the saint did not wait for the soldiers to be sent after him, but immediately went to the governor saying, “I, whom you seek, am here. I have shown myself in order to preach Christ my God.”

The governor ordered that the saint be beaten without mercy, suspended from a tree, raked with sharp implements, and then be taken to prison. Five days later Saint Theodotus was brought to the governor, who presumed that after his tortures the bishop would prefer to renounce Christ, rather than endure new sufferings.

However, Saint Theodotus did not cease to preach about Christ. At first they put the saint on an iron grate, under which they lit a fire, and then hammered nails into his feet and let him go. Many witnessed the sufferings of the martyr. Astonished at the saint’s endurance and his divinely-inspired speech, they came to believe in Christ. Learning of this, Sabinus gave orders to stop the torture and throw the saint into prison.

During the reign of Saint Constantine the Great (May 21), the freedom to confess their faith was given to all Christians, and among those set free from prison was Saint Theodotus. The saint returned to Cyrenia and after two years serving as bishop he peacefully fell asleep in the Lord in about the year 326.

Saint Arsenius, Bishop of Tver, was born at Tver, and in his early years received monastic tonsure in the Kiev Caves monastery. Even among the monks of this ancient monastery, distinguished for their piety, Arsenius was noted for his saintly life as well as for his strictness in keeping his monastic vows, his knowledge of the Church typikon, his study of Holy Scripture, and his love for work.

Under Metropolitan Cyprian of Kiev (1380-1382) he served as archdeacon, and when the Metropolitan was absent, he governed the administration of the Kiev metropolitanate. On July 3, 1390 he went with Metropolitan Cyprian to Tver, where at the request of Prince Micjae of Tver, a Council of Russian and Greek hierarchs had been convened to pass judgment upon Bishop Euthymius of Tver.

The prince and the bishop were involved in a lengthy dispute, and many of the people of Tver made serious accusations against the bishop. After unsuccessful attempts to restore peace to the Tver church, Metropolitan Cyprian deposed Euthymius as bishop and sent him off to Moscow to the Chudov monastery.

Saint Arsenius was appointed to the Tver cathedra, but he was both troubled and afraid to accept this position, in view of the great enmity and spite in that place. Upon the return of Metropolitan Cyprian and archdeacon Arsenius to Moscow, the Prince sent his nobles to the Metropolitan with a petition to consecrate Arsenius as Bishop of Tver. This time Arsenius also refused. In the words of the chronicle for the year 1390 “even at the Metropolitan’s entreaty, Archdeacon Arsenius would not go to Tver.”

After threatening Arsenius with suspension, the Metropolitan and the Prince finally got him to agree to accept episcopal consecration, which took place on August 15, 1390. Among the bishops taking part in the laying on of hands was Saint Stephen, Bishop of Perm (April 26).

Bishop Arsenius, as a man of great prayer and peacemaker, was able to end much of the discord in the Tver principality. During his episcopacy, from 1390 to 1409, cathedrals were built and consecrated in honor of the Archangel Michael at Staritsa and Mikulina, and the Savior-Transfiguration cathedral was restored with the construction of a cathedral belltower. The saint founded the Zheltikov monastery on the river Tmaka near Tver, where a church was built in honor of Saints Anthony and Theodosius of the Kiev Caves (1394), and a stone Dormition cathedral.

Desiring that the monks of this new monastery would always be edified by the asceticism of the Fathers of the Caves, Saint Arsenius gave orders to compile a list from the Kiev Caves Paterikon, using the most ancient manuscripts of this precious memorial of Russian literature. This compilation was known as the Arseniev Redaction.

The saint died on March 2, 1409, and was buried in the Zheltikov monastery of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, which he founded. In 1483 his relics were found incorrupt and were placed in the monastery cathedral. In the same year hieromonk Theodosius composed a Life and a Canon in honor of the holy bishop.

At a Council of 1547 Saint Arsenius’ commemoration was established throughout all the Church.

The Holy Martyr Euthalia lived with her mother and brother in Leontina on the island of Sicily. Euthalia’s mother, a pagan, suffered for a long while with an issue of blood. Once, the Martyrs Alphaeus, Philadelphus and Cyprian (May 10) appeared to her in a dream and told her she would be healed only if she believed in Christ and was baptized.

After being baptized with her daughter, she was healed of her infirmity. When Euthalia’s pagan brother Sirmianus learned of the baptism, went into a violent rage. The mother succeeded in fleeing, but Saint Euthalia confessed herself a Christian and suffered martyrdom. After fierce tortures, the saint was beheaded with a sword.

The Holy Martyr Troadius suffered for Christ in Neocaesarea, Pontus under the emperor Decius (249-251), enduring horrible tortures. Saint Gregory of Neocaesarea (November 17) foretold his martyrdom and witnessed his sufferings in a vision. He also saw the soul of Saint Troadius departing from his body and hastening joyfully to Heaven.

Saint Agathon of Egypt, a contemporary of Saint Macarius the Great (January 19) and a disciple of Saint Lot (October 22), he lived in asceticism in a skete in Egypt. He was distinguished by exceptional meekness, accounting himself the most sinful of men.

Once, monks who had heard of his discernment came to Saint Agathon to see if they could make him lose his temper. They asked him, “Are you Abba Agathon, a fornicator and a proud man?”

“Yes, that is true,” the monk replied.

“Are you the Agathon who is always talking nonsense?” the monks inquired.

“I am,” the saint agreed.

“Are you Agathon the heretic?” the monks persisted.

Saint Agathon said, “I am not a heretic.”

They asked the saint why he agreed with them when they accused him of vices, but then denied this last charge. Agathon replied, “I accepted the first accusations, since that was beneficial for my soul. But heresy is separation from God, and I do not wish to be separated from God.”

Astonished at his discernment, they returned to their monastery, edified.

When asked which was more important for salvation, bodily asceticism or interior vigilance, Saint Agathon said, “Man is like a tree. Bodily asceticism is the foliage, but interior vigilance is the fruit. Holy Scripture says that ‘every tree which does not bring forth good fruit shall be cut down and thrown into the fire’ (Mt.3:10). Therefore, we should focus our attention on the fruit. But a tree also needs the protection of its foliage, which is bodily asceticism.”

Saint Agathon died in about the year 435. For three days before his repose the monk sat in silence and concentration, as though disturbed about something. When the monks questioned him, he answered that he saw himself before the Judgment Seat of God. “How is it possible that you, Father, should fear judgment?” they asked him.

“I have done my best to keep the commandments of the Lord, but I am a man. How can I be certain that my deeds have been pleasing to God?”

“Do you not trust that all the good deeds which you have accomplished are pleasing to God?” asked the monks.

“I have no such hope until I see God. His judgment is not man’s judgment.” Having said this, the saint departed to the Lord.

Saint Agathon is commemorated on January 8 on the Greek calendar.

400 Martyrs Slain by the Lombards in Sicily refused to participate in idol worship and were massacred by the Lombards (a Germanic tribe) in the year 579. Among those who perished, the names of the presbyter Sanctulus and the hermit Hospicius have been preserved.

St Gregory Dialogus (March 12) has written of them.

Saint Sabbatius of Tver pursued asceticism with the blessing of Saint Arsenius, Bishop of Tver, at a distance 15 versts from Tver. Saint Sabbatius established a monastery there, known for the strictness and holiness of its rule. Such ascetics as Saint Joseph of Volokolamsk (September 9) and Saint Cornelius of Komel (May 19) went there to be instructed in monasticism. The chains found in the cave where Saint Sabbatius practiced silence testify to his ascetic deeds. He died no later than the year 1434.

The “Reigning” Icon of the Mother of God appeared on March 2, 1917, the day of Tsar Nicholas’s abdication, in the village of Kolomskoye near Moscow.

In February 1917, an elderly woman named Eudokia saw the Mother of God in a dream telling her to go to Kolomskoye to find a large blackened icon in a church. After the vision was repeated three times, she went to Kolomskoye to search for the icon with the priest Nicholas.

In the basement of the church they found the icon and started wiping off the accumulated dust. Then they were able to see the Most Holy Theotokos wearing a crown and sitting on a throne. Immediately, Father Nicholas celebrated a service of Thanksgiving and an Akathist.

News of the icon’s discovery spread throughout Russia, and there were several miracles of healing from physical and mental infirmities. As time went by, the icon renewed itself and became brighter and brighter. Particularly striking was the blood-red robe of the Virgin.

Since the icon was revealed just as the Tsar abdicated, many people believed that the Queen of Heaven had assumed royal authority over the Russian land, and so the icon became known as the “Reigning” icon. It was discovered that the icon had come from the Ascension convent in Moscow. In 1812, before Napoleon’s invasion, this icon and others were sent to Kolomskoye’s Ascension church for safekeeping. Apparently forgotten, the icons were never returned to Moscow.

A Service and Akathist to the “Reigning” Icon were composed with the assistance of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon (+ 1925). Many copies of the icon were venerated throughout Russia, but these were confiscated by the Soviets. The Service and Akathist to the icon were also forbidden to be served.

The original icon is said to be in the Novodevichii Museum in Moscow, and there is a copy in the Church of the Kazan Mother of God in Kolomskoye.

The “Reigning” Icon, which belongs to the Panachranta type, shows the Theotokos seated on a throne with Her Son.

Holy Monastic Martyr Eudokia was a Samaritan, a native of the city of Heliopolis in Phoenicia (modern Baalbek), who lived during the reign of Trajan (98-117). Her pagan impiety took her off the good path, and for a long time she led a sinful life. Her soul was deadened and her heart hardened.

Eudokia awoke one night at midnight and heard singing from the house of a Christian woman next to hers. A monk was reading from a book which described the Last Judgment, the punishment of sinners, and the reward of the righteous. The grace of God touched Eudokia’s heart, and she grieved because of her great wealth and for her sinful life.

In the morning Eudokia hastened to call on the man whose rule of prayer she heard the previous night. This was a monk named Germanus, returning from pilgrimage to the holy places to his own monastery. Eudokia listened for a long time to the guidance of the Elder, and her soul was filled with joy and love for Christ. She asked Germanus to stay in her home for a week, during which she secluded herself in her room, and spent her time in fasting and prayer.

The Elder Germanus told her to give away her wealth and to forget her previous life. Eudokia received holy Baptism from Bishop Theodotus of Heliopolis. She entered a monastery and took upon herself very strict acts of penitence. The Lord granted forgiveness to the penitent sinner and endowed her with spiritual gifts.

After she had become the head of the monastery, the young pagan Philostrates (one of her former lovers) heard of her conversion to Christ and longed to see her again. Aflame with impious passion, he came into the monastery in the guise of a monk and began to urge Eudokia to return to Heliopolis, and resume her former life. “May God rebuke you and not allow you to leave these premises,” Eudokia cried. Then the impostor fell down dead. Fearing that she had served as an accomplice to murder, the sisters intensified their prayer and besought the Lord to reveal to them His will.

The Lord appeared to Saint Eudokia in a vision and said: “Arise, Eudokia, and pray for the resurrection of the dead man.” Through Eudokia’s prayers, Philostrates revived. Having been restored to life, the pagan begged the nun to forgive him. After he was baptized, he went back to Heliopolis. From that time he never forgot the mercy of God shown him, and he started onto the way of repentance.

Some time passed, and another situation occurred. Inhabitants of Heliopolis reported to the governor Aurelian, that Eudokia had taken gold and silver out of the city and concealed it at the monastery. Aurelian sent a detachment of soldiers to confiscate these supposed treasures. For three days the soldiers tried in vain to approach the walls of the monastery, but an invisible power of God guarded it.

Aurelian again sent soldiers to the monastery, this time under the command of his own son. But on the very first day of the journey Aurelian’s son injured his leg and soon died. Then Philostrates counseled Aurelian to write to Mother Eudokia, imploring her to revive the youth. And the Lord, in His infinite mercy, and through the prayers of Saint Eudokia, restored the youth to life. Having witnessed this great miracle, Aurelian and his close associates believed in Christ and were baptized.

When persecutions against Christians intensified, they arrested Eudokia and brought her to the governor Diogenes to be tortured. While torturing the saint, the military commander Diodorus received news of the sudden death of his wife Firmina. In despair he rushed to Saint Eudokia with a plea to pray for his departed wife. The monastic martyr, filled with great faith, turned to God with prayer and besought Him to return Firmina to life. As eyewitnesses of the power and grace of the Lord, Diodorus and Diogenes believed in Christ and were baptized together with their families. Saint Eudokia lived for awhile at the house of Diodorus and enlightened the newly-illumined Christians.

Once,the only son of a certain widow, who was working in the garden, was bitten by a snake and died. The mother wept bitterly for her dead son, and asked Diodorus to resurrect him. Learning of her grief, Saint Eudokia said to Diodorus, “The time is at hand for you to show faith in the Almighty God, Who hears the prayers of penitent sinners and in His mercy grants them forgiveness.”

Diodorus was distressed, not considering himself worthy of such boldness before the Lord, but he obeyed Saint Eudokia. He prayed and in the name of Christ he commanded the dead one to rise, and before the eyes of everyone present the youth revived.

Saint Eudokia returned to her monastery, where she lived in asceticism for fifty-six years.

After Diogenes died the new governor was Vicentius, a fierce persecutor of Christians. Having learned of the accomplishments of the saint, he gave orders to execute her. The holy martyr was beheaded on March 1, 107.

Saint Martyrius of Zelenets, in the world Menas, was born in the city of Veliki Luki (Great Meadow) in the sixteenth century. His parents, Cosmas and Stephanida, died when he was just ten years old. He was raised by his spiritual Father, a priest of the city’s Annunciation church, and the child’s soul cleaved to God.

The widowed priest Boris became a monk with the name Bogolep at the Trinity-Sergius monastery in Veliki Luki. Menas often visited him at the monastery, and later on he himself received monastic tonsure there taking the name Martyrius. For seven years both teacher and disciple toiled for the Lord unrelentingly in a single cell, encouraging each other in deeds of work and prayer. Saint Martyrius had the obediences of “kellarios” [cellarer], treasurer, and “ponomar” [or altar server].

It was at this time that the Mother of God first showed Her special solicitude for Saint Martyrius. At mid-day he dozed off in the bell tower and beheld the Tikhvin (Hodēgḗtria) icon of the Most Holy Theotokos in a fiery column. The monk venerated it, and it was still hot from the fiery column. When he awoke, he still felt this heat on his forehead.

On the spiritual advice of Saint Martyrius, the grievously ill monk Abramius went to venerate the wonderworking Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God, and he received healing. Saint Martyrius was filled with intense faith in the intercession of the Mother of God. He began to pray that the Heavenly Queen would show him where he might go for the ascetic feat of complete silence, for which his soul yearned.

The monk secretly withdrew into a desolate place situated 60 versts from Veliki Luki. As he himself writes, “in this wilderness I received fearful visitations from demons, but I prayed to God, and the demons were put to shame.”

In a letter to Elder Bogolep, Saint Martyrius asked his blessing to dwell in the wilderness, but the spiritual father advised him to return to the cenobitic life where he would be of use to the brethren. Not daring to disobey his experienced Elder, and not knowing how to proceed, Saint Martyrius went to Smolensk to venerate the wonderworking Hodēgḗtria [She who leads the way] Icon of the Mother of God and the relics of Saints Abramius and Ephraim (August 21). These saints appeared to Saint Martyrius in a dream, and they reassured him that he would be permitted to live in the wilderness, “wherever God will bless and the Most Holy Theotokos will guide you.”

Saint Martyrius then went to the Tikhvin monastery, hoping that the Mother of God would resolve his dilemma. The monk Abramius, who remained at this monastery in gratitude to the Mother of God for his healing, told Saint Martyrius about a secret place, over which he had seen a radiant Cross of stars. This time he received the blessing of the Elder. Saint Martyrius took with him two small icons: one of the Life-Creating Trinity, and the other of the Tikhvin Mother of God. He then settled in Zelents (the green island), which was a beautiful island in a forested swamp.

Harsh and painful was the life of the monk in the wilderness, but neither cold, nor deprivation, nor wild beasts, nor the wiles of the enemy were able to shake his resolve. He built a small chapel for the glorification of, and in gratitude to, the Lord and the Most Holy Theotokos. He was again deemed worthy to see an icon of the Mother of God in a dream. This time it was floating on the sea. To the right of the icon he saw the Archangel Gabriel who told him to venerate the icon. Saint Martyrius went into the water, and the icon began to sink in the sea. The saint then cried out, and a wave carried him to shore. With that, the icon vanished.

The wilderness was sanctified by the life of the hermit, and many began to arrive, not only to be instructed by the word and example of the monk, but also to settle there with him. The increased number of disciples prompted the monk to build a church dedicated to the Life-Creating Trinity, where he placed his own icons of the Trinity and of the Tikhvin Mother of God. As a sign of the grace of God resting upon the monastery of Saint Martyrius, his disciple Saint Gurias was permitted to see a Cross in the heavens, shining over the cross on top of the church.

This was the beginning of the Trinity Zelenets monastery, “the green wilderness monastery of Martyrius.” The Lord blessed his labors, and the grace of God shone visibly upon him. The fame of his discernment and gift of healing became known to many. Many eminent people of Novgorod began to send gifts to the monastery. With funds provided by the pious boyar Theodore Syrkov, a heated church was built and consecrated in honor of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos in memory of the first church at Veliki Luki, from which the saint had begun his path to God.

Saint Martyrius continued to receive help from the Mother of God. She appeared to him on a bench in the corner where the icons stood. The saint recalled: “I looked upon Her without lowering my eyes… I gazed upon Her holy face, at her eyes filled with tears, ready to trickle down Her all-pure face. I awoke from the dream and was afraid. I lit a candle from the lampada, in order to see whether or not the Most Pure Virgin sat at the place where I saw Her in the dream. I went up to the icon of the Hodēgḗtria and was convinced that in truth the Mother of God had appeared to me as She is depicted on my icon.”

Soon after this (about the year 1570) Saint Martyrius was ordained priest at Novgorod by the archbishop (Alexander or Leonid). He was already an igumen in 1582.

Later, the Lord granted the Zelenets wilderness monastery an even wealthier benefactor. In 1595 at Tver Saint Martyrius resurrected the son of the former Kasimov ruler Simeon Bekbulatovich, praying in front of his own icons of the Life-Creating Trinity and the Tikhvin Mother of God. He placed both icons upon the chest of the dead child, and he awoke as if from sleep. In gratitude Simeon built a church in honor of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God and of Saint John Chrysostom, the Heavenly patron saint of the ruler’s son John.

In 1595 Tsar Theodore endowed the monastery with a sufficient quantity of land for its support.

Having reached a great old age and preparing for death, Saint Martyrius dug a grave for himself, and near it he placed a coffin fashioned by his own hands. He often came there to weep. Sensing his imminent departure, the monk assembled the brethren and told his children in the Lord to have steadfast hope in the Most Holy Trinity and to trust the Mother of God, as he himself had always trusted in Her. After receiving the Holy Mysteries of Christ, he gave the brethren his blessing with the words: “Peace to all the Orthodox.” With spiritual joy he fell asleep in the Lord on March 1, 1603.

The saint was buried in the grave he dug near the church of the Mother of God. Later, his holy relics rested beneath a crypt in the church of the Most Holy Trinity, beneath the lower temple in honor of Saint John the Theologian. Cornelius, a former monk of the Zelenets monastery, and later Metropolitan of Kazan and Novgorod (+ 1698), compiled a service and wrote the Life of Saint Martyrius, making use of personal notes and the saint’s testament.

The memory of Saint Martyrius of Zelenets and Veliki Luki is celebrated also on November 11.

The Holy Martyrs Nestor and Tribiminus were natives of the Asia Minor district of Pamphylia. They fearlessly preached Christ during a persecution in the reign of the impious emperor Decius (249-251).

When the saints were brought before the pagan court, the governor ordered that all sorts of instruments of torture be placed before them in order to frighten them and force them to renounce the Christian Faith. The saints replied that no one could separate them from Christ.

The angry judge then gave orders to torture them. They scourged the holy martyrs with dried ox thongs, suspended them from a tree and flayed their bodies, but Saints Nestor and Tribiminus did not cease to glorify the Lord. When they were beheaded, they inherited the Heavenly Kingdom.

The Holy Martyr Antonina suffered at Nicea during a persecution under the emperor Maximian (284-305). After fierce tortures, Saint Antonina was thrown into prison, but Maximian could not force the saint to renounce Christ and offer sacrifice to idols.

Angels of God appeared to the holy martyr and the executioners took fright. Even when they placed her on a red-hot metal bed, Saint Antonina remained unharmed, by the power of God. Finally, after long torture they sewed the saint into a sack and sank it in a lake.

Saint Marcellus and Saint Anthony were thrown into a fire, where they shone forth brighter than gold in a crucible, receiving crowns of martyrdom from Christ our God.

The Life of Saint Domnina the Younger¹ was written by Theodoret of Cyrrhus in his Historia Religiosa (English title: A History of the Monks of Syria), containing the Lives of thirty ascetics.

The holy virgin Domina was born in the city of Cyrrhus in Syria, to pious and God-loving parents. From a young age she envied the life of the holy ascetics and emulated Saint Maron († February 14) by building a shack in a corner of her mother's garden. Her only food was lentils soaked in water. Early in the morning, and again at night, she went to the church, in order to pray and glorify the name of God. She always covered herself with a cloak so that no one would see her face. Theodoret says she spoke "softly and indistinctly, and her words were always accompanied by tears.”

After a long life of austere asceticism, the Venerable Domnina reposed in peace around the year 460.

¹ Not to be confused with another Saint Domnina commemorated on October 4.

Saint Agapius of the Holy Mountain, was a novice in obedience to a virtuous Elder who lived in silence at the Holy Trinity kellia at Kolitsa, within the boundaries of Vatopedi on Mt. Athos. He was taken into captivity by Turks who had landed on the shore of Athos. They took him to Magnesia and there he worked in chains for twelve years. But he did not lose hope for freedom and fervently he prayed to the Mother of God to free him from this bitter captivity.

The Queen of Heaven manifested Her Mercy to the patient sufferer. She appeared to him in a dream and ordered him “to go to his Elder without fear.” When he awoke, he saw that he was free of his bonds, and the doors were open. Without hindrance, Saint Agapius departed from his master and returned to Mount Athos.

The Elder grieved when he saw his novice, for he thought that Agapius had secretly escaped from his master. “You have deceived the Hagarene,” he said, “but no one can deceive God. If you wish to save yourself, return to your master and serve him.” Saint Agapius returned to his master without complaint.

The Moslem was amazed to see Agapius after he had escaped. Hearing the story of what had happened, he was struck by the virtue of Agapius’ Elder and the loftiness of the Christian Faith. The master and his two sons went to the Holy Mountain with Saint Agapius. There they were baptized and became monks, living in asceticism for the rest of their lives.

Saint Agapius lived in the thirteenth century.

Saint David, Patron of Wales, said to have been the son of a Welsh chieftain, lived in the latter half of the sixth century. Ordained to the priesthood, he studied under the tutorship of a disciple of Saint Germanus, who later became Bishop of the Isle of Man, and engaged in missionary work and the building of churches in many places. Eventually, he settled in the southwest corner of Wales, at Menevia. There he founded a monastery known for its extreme austerity, in imitation of the desert fathers. Eventually he was consecrated Bishop of the primatial See of Wales, Menevia, afterwards known as Saint David’s in his honor. He reposed in the Lord about the year 601 AD and, through the years, has been venerated as one of the greatest and most beloved saints of the British Isles.