Saint Leo was born in Ravenna, Italy, of pious and noble parents. He was famed for his benevolence and charity, as well as his Christian love for the poor and wanderers. After completing his studies, he was ordained as a priest at Ravenna, and later, because of his purity and his most spiritual life, he was consecrated as Bishop of Catania in Sicily. He became the protector of orphans and widows, teaching and shepherding his flock.

The Saint was also distinguished for his struggles against heretics, whom he defeated and shamed, not only by his words, but also through his writings. The Lord honored him with the charisms of healing people from various diseases, and of working miracles.

During Saint Leo's episcopate, there was a sorcerer named Heliódoros who lived in Catania and deceived people with his fraudulent miracles. He was once a Christian, but then he denied the Savior and became a servant of the devil. Saint Leo urged Heliódoros to refrain from his evil deeds and return to God, but all in vain. One day Heliódoros audaciously entered the church where the bishop was performing the Divine Services, and tried to create a disturbance, sowing confusion and temptation with his sorcery.

Seeing the people beset by demons under the sorcerer's spell, Saint Leo knew that the time for meek exhortation had passed. He came out of the altar and tied his omophorion around the sorcerer's neck, leading him out of the church and into the city square. There he forced Heliódoros to confess all his wicked deeds. Then he commanded that a fire be lit, and jumped into the flames with the sorcerer. There they stood until Heliódoros was consumed by the fire. Saint Leo, by God's grace, remained unharmed. This miracle brought the Hierarch great renown during his lifetime, therefore, the Saint was invited to visit Constantinople by Emperors Leo IV (775 – 780) and Constantine VI (780 – 798), where he received many honors. Saint Leo reposed peacefully in 785.

After his death, a woman with an issue of blood received healing at his grave. The Saint's body was placed in the church of the holy Martyr Lucy (December 13), which he himself had built. Later on, his relics were transferred to the church of Saint Martin, the Bishop of Tours (November 11) in Rome.

Saint Agathon of the Kiev Caves was a great ascetic, and he healed the sick by a laying his hands upon them. He also possessed the gift of prophecy and foretold the time of his own death. His memory is celebrated also at the Synaxis of the Monks of the Far Caves on August 28.

The Hieromartyr Cornelius of the Pskov Caves was born in the year 1501 at Pskov into the noble family of Stephen and Maria. In order to give their son an education, his parents sent him to the Pskov Mirozh monastery, where he worked under the guidance of an Elder. He made candles, chopped wood, studied his letters, transcribed and adorned books, and also painted icons. Having finished his studies, Cornelius returned to his parental home with the resolve to become a monk.

Once, the government clerk Misiur Munekhin took Cornelius with him to the Pskov Caves monastery in the woods. The solemnity of services in the cave church produced such a strong impression on Cornelius that he left his parental home forever and received monastic tonsure at the Pskov Caves monastery.

In 1529, at the age of twenty-eight, Saint Cornelius was made igumen and became head of the monastery. While he was igumen, the Pskov Caves monastery reached its prime. The number of brethren increased from 15 to 200 men. This number of monks was not surpassed under any subsequent head of the monastery.

The activity of Saint Cornelius extended far beyond the bounds of the monastery. He spread Orthodoxy among the Esti [Aesti] and Saeti people living around the monastery, he built churches, hospices, homes for orphans and those in need. During a terrible plague in the Pskov region Saint Cornelius walked through the plague-infested villages to give Communion to the living and to sing burial services for the dead.

During the Livonian war Saint Cornelius preached Christianity in the occupied cities, built churches, and distributed generous aid from the monastery storerooms to the Esti and Livonians suffering from the war. At the monastery he selflessly doctored and fed the injured and the maimed, preserved the dead in the caves, and inscribed their names in the monastery Synodikon for eternal remembrance.

In the year 1560, on the Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God, Saint Cornelius sent a prosphora and holy water as blessing for the Russian armies besieging the city of Thellin. On that very day the Germans surrendered the city.

In 1570 when a See was established in Livonian Yuriev, a certain igumen Cornelius was appointed as Bishop of Yuriev and Velyansk (i.e., Thellin). Some have identified him with Saint Cornelius, but this does not correspond with actual events.

Saint Cornelius was a great lover of books, and at the monastery there was quite a collection of books. In 1531 his work entitled, “An Account of the Origin of the Pechersk Monastery” appeared. In the mid-sixteenth century the Pskov Caves monastery took over the tradition of writing chronicles from the Spaso-Eleaszar monastery.

At the start of the chronicles were accounts of the first two Pskov chronicles from 1547 to 1567. Besides this, Igumen Cornelius left behind a great monastery Synodikon for remembering the deceased brothers and benefactors of the monastery, and from the year 1588 he began to maintain the “Stern Book” [“Kormovaya kniga”: since the rear of a ship is called the stern, the sense of the title is “looking back in remembrance”]. He also compiled a “Description of the Monastery” and a “Description of the Miracles of the Pechersk Icon of the Mother of God.”

Saint Cornelius expanded and beautified the monastery, he further enlarged the monastery caves, he moved the wooden church of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste beyond the monastery enclosure to the monastery gate, and on its site he built a church in the name of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos in the year 1541. In 1559, he constructed a church dedicated to the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos.

The Caves monastery, on the frontier of the Russian state, was not only a beacon of Orthodoxy, but also a bulwark against the external enemies of Russia.

In 1558-1565, Saint Cornelius built a massive stone wall around the monastery, and over the holy gates, he built a stone church dedicated to Saint Nicholas, entrusting the protection of the monastery to him. In the church was a sculpted wooden icon of “Nicholas the Warrior.”

In the chronicle compiled by the hierodeacon Pitirim, the martyric death of Saint Cornelius was recorded: “This blessed Igumen Cornelius … was igumen forty-one years and two months. Not only as a monk, but also by his fasting and holy life, he was an image of salvation … in these times there was much unrest in the Russian land. Finally, the earthly Tsar (Ivan the Terrible) sent him from this corruptible life to the Heavenly King in the eternal habitations, on February 20, 1570, in his 69th year.” (This information is on a ceramic plate, from the ceramics covering the mouth of the tomb of Saint Cornelius).

In the ancient manuscripts of the Trinity-Sergiev Lavra it was written that Igumen Cornelius came out from the monastery gates with a cross to meet the Tsar. Ivan the Terrible, angered by a false slander, beheaded him with his own hands, but then immediately repented of his deed, and carried the body to the monastery. The pathway made scarlet by the blood of Saint Cornelius, along which the Tsar carried his body to the Dormition church, became known as the “Bloody Path.” Evidence of the Tsar’s repentance was the generous recompense he made to the Pskov Caves monastery after the death of Saint Cornelius. The name of the igumen Cornelius was inscribed in the Tsar’s Synodikon.

The body of Saint Cornelius was set into the wall of “the cave formed by God,” where it remained for 120 years without corruption. In the year 1690, Metropolitan Marcellus of Pskov and Izborsk, had the relics transferred from the cave to the Dormition cathedral church and placed in a new crypt in the wall.

On December 17, 1872 the relics of Saint Cornelius were transferred from the former tomb into a copper-silver reliquary. They were placed into a new reliquary in 1892. It is presumed that the service to the martyr was composed for the Uncovering of the Relics in the year 1690.

The Hieromartyr Sadoc, Bishop of Persia, and 128 Martyrs with him suffered in Persia under Sapor II. Saint Sadoc was successor of the hieromartyr Simeon (April 17). He once had a dream, in which Saint Simeon told him of his own impending martyric death. Standing in great glory atop a ladder reaching up to Heaven, Saint Simeon said, “Ascend to me, Sadoc, and be not afraid. Yesterday I ascended, and today you will ascend.”

Soon the emperor Sapor, renewing the persecution against Christians, ordered that Saint Sadoc be arrested with his clergy and flock. In all, 128 people were arrested, including nine virgins. They were thrown into prison, where they were cruelly tortured for five months. They were told to renounce the Christian Faith and instead to worship the sun and fire. The holy martyrs bravely answered, “We are Christians and worship the One God.” They were sentenced to beheading by the sword.

Saint Agathon, Pope of Rome, was the son of pious Christian parents, who provided him an excellent education. After their death, Saint Agathon distributed his inheritance to the poor and became a monk. His virtuous life could not remain concealed from people. In 679, he was elected as the Bishop of Rome, and he remained in this position until his death in 682.

In the course of its centuries-old history, Valaam Monastery, located near the border of Great Novgorod with Sweden, was repeatedly ravaged by the Swedes. The latter were attracted both by a desire for profit and by a desire to plant the Latin faith in the surrounding lands.

Under King Gustav Vasa (1523-1560), the Reformation took place in Sweden. During the reign of his son John III, a military detachment of Lutheran converts, who, according to St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), " still breathed a fanatical predilection for their newborn faith," pursued the Orthodox King, crossed the ice from the mainland to the island and attacked the Monastery. February 20, 1578 " 18 old men and 16 novices were martyred for their steadfastness in the Orthodox Faith." Their names with the note "beaten by the Germans on Valaam elders and servants" were entered into the Synodikon, which later ended up in Vasiliev Monastery: Hieromonk Titus, Schema-monk Tikhon, Monk Gelasios, Monk Sergius, Monk Barlaam, Monk Savva, Monk Konon, Monk Sylvester, Monk Cyprian, Monk Pimen, Monk John, Monk Samon, Monk Jonah, Monk David, Monk Cornelius, Monk Niphon, Monk Athanasios, Monk Serapion, Monk Barlaam, the novices Athanasios, Anthony, Luke, Leóntios, Thomas, Dionysios, Philip, Ignatius, Basil, Pakhomios, Basil, Theophilos, John, Theodore, and John.

According to legend, in the XIX century, one of the Valaam monks near the Hermitage of Igoumen Nazarius was vouchsafed a vision of some unknown black-robed monks: "they marched in two rows from a green grove flooded with sunlight and sang the ancient Znamenny funeral hymns. They walked with their hands folded on their breasts, but their appearance was bright, and their eyes revealed an unspeakable meekness. Only when the procession approached the monk did he see that all the black robes were sprinkled with blood and covered with wounds. Where they passed, the grass was not bent. They disappeared just as they had appeared, into the green thicket, and the quiet echoes of the funeral hymns were in the air for a long time."

With the blessing of Igoumen Damascene, every year on February 20, the day of the martyrdom of the 34 monks, Valaam Monastery served the Divine Liturgy "for their eternal rest," and the cathedral panikhida was also sung.

At the Jubilee Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, held on August 13-16, 2000, the 34 Monastic Martyrs were canonized for Church-wide veneration.

Saints Archippus, Philemon and Apphia, Apostles of the Seventy were students and companions of the holy Apostle Paul. In the Epistle to Philemon, the Apostle Paul names Saint Archippus as his companion, and mentions him again in the Epistle to the Colossians (Col. 4:17).

Saint Archippus was bishop of the city of Colossae in Phrygia. Saint Philemon was an eminent citizen of this city, and the Christians gathered in his home to celebrate church services. He was also made a bishop by Saint Paul and he went about the cities of Phrygia, preaching the Gospel. Later on, he became archpastor of the city of Gaza. Saint Apphia, his wife, took the sick and vagrants into her home, zealously attending to them. She was her husband’s co-worker in proclaiming the Word of God.

During the persecution against Christians under the emperor Nero (54-68), the holy Apostles Archippus and Philemon and Apphia were brought to trial by the ruler Artocles for confessing faith in Christ. Saint Archippus was brutally slashed with knives. After torture, they buried Saints Philemon and Apphia up to the waist in the ground, and stoned them until they died.

Saint Archippus is also commemorated on November 22.

The Holy Martyrs Maximus, Theodotus, Hesychius and Asclepiodota suffered for the Faith at Adrianopolis, during the persecution under the emperor Maximian (305-311). The holy martyrs endured many sufferings. At first they tied them to a tree and tore them with iron hooks. After this, they led them from city to city, and then gave them to be eaten by wild beasts.

Kept safe by the grace of God, the holy martyrs remained unharmed. Finally, they received a martyr’s death at the hands of the torturers. Saint Asclepiodota was thrown to the ground and beaten, and then they tied her to a tree and threw stones at her. Finally, she was beheaded.

The Holy Confessors Eugene and Macarius were presbyters of the Antiochian Church. During the reign of Julian the Apostate (361-363) they were brought to the emperor for trial for their refusal to participate in pagan orgies. The presbyters boldly denounced him for his apostasy and they were given over to fierce tortures, which they underwent with prayer and spiritual rejoicing.

After the tortures, they sent them off to exile at Oasim, an oasis in the Arabian desert, and they intended to settle there upon a hill. The local people warned the saints that they should immediately abandon the place, since an enormous snake lived there. The holy martyrs asked them to point out this place, and through their prayer a lightning bolt struck the cave, reducing the monster to ashes.

Saints Eugene and Macarius began to live in this cave. The confessors prayed that they might die together. The Lord heard their prayer, and they died in 363 at the same time.

Saint Dositheus, a disciple of Saint Abba Dorotheus (June 5), lived during the sixth-seventh centuries, and was raised in a rich and renowned family. Young Dositheus listened to tales of the holy city of Jerusalem from the servants of his grandfather, a military commander, and this kindled within him the desire to go there. Soon his wish came true.

At Gethsemane, he gazed for a long time at a picture of the Dread Last judgment. Suddenly he saw beside him a woman, who explained to him what was depicted in the image. The youth asked, “How is it possible to avoid the eternal torments?”

She replied, “Fast, do not eat meat, and pray constantly to God.” After this, his strange guide suddenly became invisible. She who conversed with him had been the Most Holy Theotokos. The appearance of the Mother of God produced a strong impression on the youth, and he decided to enter a monastery headed by Abba Seridus (August 13), and populated by such great ascetics as Saints Barsanuphius (February 6) and John (June 19).

Dositheus, asking to be accepted among the brethren, was sent to the Elder Dorotheus. Saint Dositheus fulfilled his obedience in the monastery infirmary, caring for all the sick. Saint Dorotheus trained his disciple in abstinence and fasting, gradually decreasing the quantity of food he consumed each day.

He also weaned the youth from vexation and anger, by constantly reminding him that every unkind word said to a sick person, is said to Jesus Christ Himself. By revealing his thoughts to the Elder and through unhesitating obedience, Saint Dositheus liberated his soul from passions. After five years of tending the sick and obeying his Elder, Saint Dositheus fell into serious sickness. Patiently enduring his sufferings, he prayed constantly and never complained.

Not long before his death he asked a message be sent to Saint Barsanuphius: “Father, grant me pardon, I cannot live much longer.” He replied, “Have patience, my son, for the mercy of God is near.” After several days Saint Dositheus again sent this message to the Elder: “My master, I cannot live any longer.” Then Saint Barsanuphius blessed him to depart to God, and he asked the dying one to pray for all the brethren when he stood before the Holy Trinity.

The brethren were astonished that the great Abba Barsanuphius would ask the prayers of a monk who had lived at the monastery for only five years without any great ascetic accomplishments (they had not seen his vigils and his abstinence). But after the death of the young monk, a certain experienced ascetic was praying that the final resting place of the departed fathers of the monastery might be revealed to him, and in a dream he saw young Dositheus among these saints. Saint Dositheus was given great glory in the Kingdom of Heaven for his perfect obedience to his Elder and for cutting off his own will.

In Greek usage, both Saints are commemorated on August 13.

Saint Rabulas was born in the Syrian city of Samosata and he received an excellent education. While still young, he became a monk and struggled in the deserts and on the mountains, following the example of the holy Prophet Elias (July 20) and Saint John the Baptist of the Lord (January 7, February 24, May 25, June 24, August 29, September 23, October 12).

Somewhat later, Saint Rabulas went to Phoenicia, where for a long while he lived in asceticism and was glorified by spiritual gifts. The emperor Zeno gave Saint Rabulas monetary help to build a monastery, built with the assistance of Bishop John of Beruit.

Around the new monastery lived many pagans, who were gradually converted to Christianity through the efforts of the monks. Under Xeno’s successor Anastasius (491-518), Saint Rabulas came to Constantinople, and having received financial help from the emperor, he built several more monasteries in various places. One of them was named after the holy ascetic.

Saint Rabulas spent all his life at work, and he was gentle and kind and well-disposed towards people. He was also a man of great prayer. He lived to be eighty, and before his death he heard a voice: “Come unto Me all ye who labor and are heavy laden” (Mt. 11:28).

Saint Rabulas fell asleep in the Lord around the year 530 after a short illness.

Saint Theodore was born near the town of Romanov in the province of Yaroslavl in 1719, the son of Prince Ignatius Ushakov and his wife Paraskevḗ (or Irene). At his Baptism, he was named John.

As a young man, John Ushakov enlisted in the Preobrazhensky Guard Regiment in Petersburg, and attained the rank of sergeant. Life in the capital was fraught with great spiritual danger for a young person, but God delivered John from the wrong path.

When John was twenty, at a drinking party with his friends, one of them suddenly collapsed and died. They all experienced fear and sadness, but this seemed to affect John more than the others.This incident is remarkably similar to the circumstances surrounding the death of Major Andrew Petrov, the husband of Blessed Xenia of Saint Petersburg (January 24), but it may be only coincidental.

In any case, John decided to leave Saint Petersburg and live in the wilderness, dedicating himself to God. While walking near the city of Yaroslavl disguised as a laborer, he saw his uncle out with his servants. His uncle did not recognize him because of his poor clothing, but John was reminded of his former life of luxury and ease. He soon banished this thought and resolved to dwell in the wilderness.

While walking in the forests near the White Sea, John came upon an abandoned cell, so he decided to remain there in solitude and pray to God. He lived there for three years in great hardship and affliction. Government regulations of the time enjoined citizens not to permit monks to live in the forests. When John came to the village for supplies, he was beaten within an inch of his life, and was forced to flee.

John eventually came to the region south of Kiev, reaching the Ploschansk Monastery. He begged the igumen to accept him, saying that he was the son of a priest. He could not admit to being a sergeant of the Guard, since legal obstacles would have made it very difficult for him to enter monastic life.

The igumen would not accept him for a long time, since he did not have the proper identification papers. Finally, he did accept John and assigned him to read in church. After hearing him read, the igumen realized that John was not from a priestly family, but probably belonged to the nobility. Fearing trouble with the authorities, he ordered John to live in the forest near the monastery where other ascetics were living. He found an empty cell and received the blessing of these Fathers to remain there.

When a team of investigators came to the forest looking for monks living there illegally, John was caught. Since he had no documents and admitted to being a sergeant in the Guard, he was brought to Saint Petersburg and taken to the empress Elizabeth. When he was taken to the empress, she asked, “Why did you desert my regiment?”

John explained that he had done so in order to save his soul. Elizabeth forgave him and was willing to restore him to his former rank, but John said that he did not want his former life or rank.

The empress then asked why he had snuck away in secret instead of asking to be discharged. John replied, “If I had troubled Your Majesty with such a request, you would not have believed that a young man such as I could have borne such a burden. I have now been tested in the spiritual life, and I ask Your Majesty to bless me to continue in it until my death.”

Elizabeth agreed to this, but stipulated that he should remain in the Saint Alexander Nevsky Lavra in Saint Petersburg. Soon, at her express command, John was tonsured in August of 1748 at the age of twenty-nine. Archbishop Theodosius, who then governed the monastery, ordered that he be named Theodore, in honor of Saint Theodore of Yaroslavl (September 19).

While Father Theodore was in the Lavra, people would visit and ask him about how to please God while living in the world. He tried to tell them that there were older, wiser monks there who would be able to instruct them better than he could. Still, they insisted, so he tried to help them. He found, however, that he could not always answer their questions or find solutions to their problems, so he began to read patristic books, especially the works of Saint John Chrysostom, asking God to enlighten him so he could understand the Scriptures and the teachings of the Fathers. He learned many things from his reading, and he was able to instruct people for their spiritual profit. This caused jealousy among some of the older monks, who complained to the archbishop that this young monk was attracting people to himself and disturbing the tranquility of the monastery. The hierarch ordered that no visitor requesting to see Father Theodore should be admitted.

Father Theodore went to the steward of the monastery, asking him why people could not see him. He was told that because he presumed to instruct people, attracting many visitors, that the routine of the monastery was disrupted.

“If there is something in my teaching which seems unlawful to His Eminence,” Father Theodore responded, “then he should question me. It is sinful, however, to cause unnecessary sorrow to those seek spiritual profit.”

The archbishop was furious, but he ordered that people should be allowed to see Father Theodore again. The jealousy and difficulties continued for ten years, and Father Theodore endured his trials with patience. In 1757, he wanted to transfer to Sarov Monastery, and when the brethren of the Lavra found out about this, they insisted that he submit a written request for transfer.

Obtaining his release, Father Theodore left Saint Petersburg with many of his disciples, male and female. Along the way they stopped at Saint Nicholas Convent in Arzamas, where he settled his women disciples. Soon they moved to the vacant Alexeyevsky Convent. The male disciples went with him to Sarov.

In 1759, after two years at Sarov, Father Theodore asked Igumen Ephraim to let him have the Sanaxar Monastery, because the number of his disciples had increased. Sanaxar had been founded in 1659, but was closed by Tsar Peter I in the first half of the eighteenth century, and the property was administered by the Sarov Monastery. After moving to Sanaxar Hermitage, Father Theodore began the work of building cells and storerooms. Bishop Pachomius of Tambov appointed Father Theodore as the Superior. He also ordained the reluctant Father Theodore to the holy priesthood on December 13, 1762. Father Theodore began setting things in order, establishing a Rule for the reverent, unhurried celebration of the services. He also set down a cell Rule for the monks to follow. Everyone shared in the work (except those who were too old or too sick), including the Superior.

The number of monks at Sanaxar continued to increase, but not all of them had been tonsured. It was necessary to obtain permission to have them tonsured, for the number of monks allowed to live in a monastery was regulated by law. On April 23, 1763 Empress Catherine II decreed that all of Father Theodore’s monks should be tonsured. The following year, she issued a decree limiting the number of monasteries, those not specifically approved would be closed.

Sanaxar Hermitage was among the monastic institutions scheduled to be closed, but it remained open through Father Theodore’s efforts. Father Theodore was raised to the rank of igumen in October of 1764, and Sanaxar was reclassified as a Monastery on March 7, 1765.

Because of the number of brethren, it became necessary to build a larger stone church to replace the small wooden one. A foundation was dug and a Molieben served at the site. Suddenly, a swarm of bees came and settled on the spot where the altar would be. This was taken as a sign of an increase in the number of brethren, and an abundance of grace in the monastery.

According to N. Subbotin’s 1862 book on Archimandrite Theophanes of the Saint Cyril of New Lake Monastery (who was a novice at Sanaxar at the same time that Saint Herman was), Igumen Theodore ordered a monk named Herman to brush the bees into a hive. It is probable that this was the future Saint Herman of Alaska (December 13). In another edition of the book, the brother’s name is given as Gerasimus. After this account, Subbotin mentions “Father Herman, who is now in America.” The discrepency in names may be explained if Saint Herman’s name before his tonsure was Gerasimus. Saint Herman, in one of his letters to Father Nazarius, says that he had friends at Sarov and Sanaxar, so Saint Theodore may have been one of Saint Herman’s early instructors.

Saint Theodore once visited Saint Tikhon (August 13) at the Zadonsk Monastery. It is not known how long the two had known one another, but the retired bishop received him with love. This visit was providential, because Saint Tikhon also knew what it was to suffer offenses from superiors, from worldly-minded monks, and from laymen. Perhaps he even advised Father Theodore on how to endure the trials which lay ahead of him.

When Father Theodore returned to Sanaxar a royal edict was delivered to him by a courier. It ordered him to be sent as an exile to Solovki Monastery as a troublemaker. He was deprived of the rank of Igumen and Hieromonk, and the Superior of Solovki was ordered to keep a close eye on him. Father Theodore remained there for nine years (1774-1783).

His release came about thanks to his disciple Archimandrite Theophanes (Sokolov), who found himself assigned as cell attendant to Metropolitan Gabriel of Saint Petersburg. Desiring to help his Elder, Father Theophanes made the Metropolitan aware of Father Theodore’s situation. His Eminence asked Father Theophanes to prepare a memorandum setting forth the facts of the case in detail. As a result, Metropolitan Gabriel asked Empress Catherine II to release Father Theodore and permit him to return to Sanaxar.

On April 18, 1783 she issued a decree authorizing his release. Because of his weakened condition from the cold and fumes from smoky stoves, it took him a long time to make his way back to Sanaxar. He arrived at Arzamas Monastery on October 9, 1783 where he was greeted by the sisters, and by two hieromonks from Sanxar. Others were also on hand to meet the Elder: superiors from other monasteries, respected nobles, merchants, and ordinary men and women. He stayed about a week, instructing the nuns each day. Finally, he prepared to return to Sanaxar. The entire brotherhood came to meet him at the ferry on the Moksha River. After receiving his blessing, they accompanied him on the walk to Sanaxar. Father Theodore thanked the brethren for their continued love, and for completing the church without him.

Within a few days after his return, Father Theodore faced renewed persecution. Hierodeacon Hilarion accused him of being “a heretic and an atheist,” and placed these accusations before the Holy Synod. They determined that Hierodeacon Hilarion was at fault and should be punished. He later asked Father Theodore’s forgiveness in front of the whole community.

The Superior of the Monastery, Father Benedict, was jealous of Father Theodore because of the crowds of visitors who came to see him. He complained to the local bishop, saying that the quiet of the monastery was being disturbed by so many people. Investigators were sent, but they did not interview anyone who might have said anything favorable to Father Theodore. As a result, Father Theodore was forbidden to receive visitors.

Once again, Father Theophanes brought the Elder’s plight to the attention of Metropolitan Gabriel. His Eminence sent a note saying that he was well-disposed toward Father Theodore. As a result, he was given a bit more freedom, but his disciples could only seek his advice by writing letters.

Father Benedict became ill, and Father Theodore went to his cell to ask his forgiveness. Father Benedict turned his face to the wall and refused to speak to the Elder. After suffering for a while, Father Benedict died on December 27, 1778.

After the Superior’s death, Father Theodore was once again permitted to visit the nuns of the Alexeyevsky Convent at Arzamas. After delivering a moving homily on Psalm 136 (“By the rivers of Babylon”) he left Arzamas and stopped at the monastery in Sarov. There he asked forgiveness of everyone, then rushed back to Sanaxar. He arrived on Wednesday of Cheesefare Week and spoke to his disciples in his cell around noon. Then he dismissed them to return to their cells.

Two noble disciples of Saint Theodore remained behind to ask his advice. Suddenly his expression changed and he began to weep for about fifteen minutes, lamenting how he had sinned in his youth. Then he ordered them to their cells, saying that he was feeling weak.

It was not rare for the Elder to be ill, but this weakness seemed unusual. His two disciples left and returned to their cells. Soon after this, his cell attendant knocked on the door with the customary prayer, but received no reply. He entered the cell and found Father Theodore lying on his bed and praying, so he left and told the brethren about this. They all came to see him, but he would not speak.

About five hours later, around nine o’clock on the evening of February 19, 1791, Saint Theodore surrendered his soul to God.

Saint Theodore’s relics were uncovered on April 21, 1999, and he was glorified for local veneration on June 28, 1999. He was glorified for national veneration by the Orthodox Church of Russia in 2004.

Saint Theodore of Sanaxar, who is also commemorated on April 21 (the uncovering of his relics in 1999), should not be confused with his famous relative Saint Theodore (Ushakov), Admiral of the Russian Fleet (October 2).

The Cyprus Icon of the Mother of God. In this icon the Mother of God is depicted sitting on a throne with the Divine Infant in Her arms. There is an angel on either side of Her.

The prototype of this holy icon manifested itself in the year 392 on the island of Cyprus at the tomb of Righteous Lazarus, the friend of Christ (October 17), and is kept there in a monastery. Renowned copies of the Cyprus Icon are at the Moscow’s Dormition Cathedral, and in the Nikolo-Golutvin church in the village of Stromyn, Moscow diocese (Commemorated on the Sunday of Orthodoxy).

During the week of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, the Greek Synaxarion has an account of an icon which is probably the Cyprus Icon. On the island of Cyprus a certain Arab was passing by a church dedicated to the Most Holy Theotokos. In order to display his hatred for Christianity, the man shot an arrow at an icon of the Mother of God which hung by the gate. The arrow struck the Virgin’s knee, from which blood began to flow. Overcome with fear, the Arab spurred his horse and rode for home, but was struck dead before he could get there. In this way, he was punished for his impiety.

Other days commemorating the Cyprus Icon are the Day of the Holy Spirit, April 20, and July 9. Some copies of the Cyprus Icon have additional names such as “Cleansing,” “Knife,” and “Hawk.”

The “Stromyn” Cyprus Icon became famous in 1841. An eighteen-year-old girl from Stromyn, a village not far from Moscow, was close to death from an illness. In a dream she saw the Cyprus Icon standing over the entrance to the church, and a voice came from the icon: “Take me into your home and have the priest serve a Molieben with the Blessing of Water, and you will be cured.”

The sick girl was brought to the church and finally located the icon after a long search. The girl obeyed the command of the Most Holy Theotokos, and after the Molieben she felt strong enough to carry the icon back to the church herself. Shortly thereafter, she was completely healed. The “Stromyn” Cyprus Icon continued to work miracles of healing, which the rector of the church reported to the holy Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow (November 19).

Saint Conan was born in Cilicia. While still at an early age he became a monk at the Pethukla monastery near the Jordan River, where he was ordained presbyter. Archbishop Peter of Jerusalem learned about the strict ascetic and sent people to him for Baptism. Saint Conan baptized those who came and anointed them with holy chrism, but he would not baptize women. Saint John the Forerunner appeared to him, promising to help him in his struggle with temptations.

A girl came from Persia seeking Baptism. She was so beautiful that Saint Conan could not anoint her with the holy chrism, since she was naked. For two days the girl remained without being baptized or anointed with the holy chrism. Saint Conan wanted to find a pious woman to anoint her, but it was difficult to find such a woman, since the area was so remote.

The ascetic decided to leave the monastery, but on the way Saint John the Forerunner again appeared to him and said, “Return to your monastery, for I shall relieve you of your conflict.” Saint Conan tried to argue and to refuse, saying that when Saint John the Forerunner had appeared before, he had promised to free him from temptation.

Saint John the Baptist then signed the ascetic with the Sign of the Cross and said that he would receive a reward for his struggle with temptations. Then he commanded him to return to the monastery and to have no further doubts.

Saint Conan obediently fulfilled the advice of Saint John, and he anointed the Persian maiden with chrism without even noticing that she was a woman. After this the ascetic lived at the monastery for twenty years. Having achieved perfect dispassion, he peacefully fell asleep in the Lord about the year 555.

The Monastic Martyr Philothea was born in Athens in 1522. Her parents, Syriga and Angelos Benizelos, were renowned not only for being eminent and rich, but also deeply devout. Often the kind-hearted Syriga had implored the Most Holy Theotokos for a child. Her fervent prayers were heard, and a daughter was born to the couple. They named her Revoula.

The parents raised their daughter in deep piety and right belief, and when she was twelve years old they gave her away in marriage. Her husband turned out to be an impious and crude man, who often beat and tormented his wife. Revoula patiently endured the abuse and she prayed to God, that He might bring her husband to his senses.

After three years Revoula’s husband died, and she began to labor in fasting, vigil and prayer. The saint founded a women’s monastery in the name of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called (November 30 and June 30). When the monastery was completed, the saint was the first to accept monastic tonsure, with the name Philothea.

During this time Greece was suffering under the Turkish Yoke, and many Athenians had been turned into slaves by their Turkish conquerors. Saint Philothea utilized all her means to free her fellow countrywomen, ransoming many from servitude. Once, four women ran away from their Turkish masters, who demanded that they renounce their Christianity, and took refuge in the monastery of Saint Philothea.

The Turks, having learned where the Greek women had gone, burst into the saint’s cell, and beat her. They took her to the governor, who threw the holy ascetic into prison. In the morning, a mob of Turks had gathered, and they led her out of the prison. The governor said that if she did not renounce Christ, she would be hacked to pieces.

Just when Saint Philothea was ready to accept a martyr’s crown, a crowd of Christians assembled by the grace of God. They pacified the judges and freed the holy ascetic. Returning to her monastery, Saint Philothea continued with her efforts of abstinence, prayer and vigil, for which she was granted the gift of wonderworking. In Patesia, an Athens suburb, she founded a new monastery, where she struggled in asceticism with the sisters.

During the Vigil for Saint Dionysius the Areopagite (October 3), the Turks seized Saint Philothea and tortured her. Finally, they threw her down on the ground half-dead. The sisters tearfully brought the holy martyr, flowing with blood, to Kalogreza, where she died on February 19, 1589. Shortly thereafter, the relics of the holy Monastic Martyr Philothea were brought to the Athens cathedral church.

Saint Leo I the Great, Pope of Rome (440-461), received a fine and diverse education, which opened for him the possibility of an excellent worldly career. He yearned for the spiritual life, however, and so he chose the path of becoming an archdeacon under holy Pope Sixtus III (432-440), after whose death Saint Leo was chosen as Bishop of Rome in September 440.

These were difficult times for the Church, when heretics assaulted Orthodoxy with their false teachings. Saint Leo combined pastoral solicitude and goodness with an unshakable firmness in the confession of the Faith. He was in particular one of the basic defenders of Orthodoxy against the heresies of Eutyches and Dioscorus, who taught that there was only one nature in the Lord Jesus Christ. He was also a defender against the heresy of Nestorius.

He exerted all his influence to put an end to the unrest by the heretics in the Church, and by his letters to the holy emperors Theodosius II (408-450) and Marcian (450-457), he actively promoted the convening of the Fourth Ecumenical Council, at Chalcedon in 451, to condemn the heresy of the Monophysites.

At the Council at Chalcedon, at which 630 bishops were present, a letter of Saint Leo to the deceased Saint Flavian, Patriarch of Constantinople (447-449) was read. Saint Flavian had suffered for Orthodoxy under the “Robber Council” of Ephesus in the year 449. In the letter of Saint Leo the Orthodox teaching about the two natures [the divine and the human] in the Lord Jesus Christ was set forth. All the bishops present at the Council were in agreement with this teaching, and so the heretics Eutyches and Dioscorus were excommunicated from the Church.

Saint Leo was also a defender of his country against the incursions of barbarians. In 452, by the persuasive power of his words, he stopped Attila the Hun from pillaging Italy. Again in the year 455, when the leader of the Vandals [a Germanic tribe], Henzerich, turned towards Rome, he persuaded him not to pillage the city, burn buildings, nor to spill blood.

He knew the time of his death beforehand, and he prepared himself, with forty days of fasting and prayer, to pass from this world into eternity.

He died in the year 461 and was buried at Rome. His literary and theological legacy is comprised of 96 sermons and 143 letters, of which the best known is his Epistle to Saint Flavian.

Saint Cosmas of Yakhrom was the servant of a certain Boyar, whom he comforted during his long illness by reading to him from books. And so, travelling from town to town, they happened to stop at the Yakhrom River. Exhausted by their long journey, they fell into a sound sleep. Suddenly, Cosmas was awakened by a vision of extraordinary light. In a tree, Cosmas saw an icon of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, and he heard a mysterious voice say: "Pay attention, Cosmas, and understand the words of life. Lead a God-pleasing life and seek the joy of the righteous, so that you may receive eternal blessings.”

The voice also commanded him to become a monk and to build a monastery.

Reverently, he took the Icon of the Mother of God and brought it to his sick master. As soon as it was placed on the old man, he was healed of his infirmity. When his term of servitude expired, Saint Cosmas went to the Kiev Caves Lavra. After giving the Icon to the brethren, he was tonsured in that Monastery. After he was tonsured, he astonished even experienced monks by his asceticism. The Saint contested there for many years, and then he had a vision of an Angel telling him to leave the Lavra and to take with him the Icon of the Mother of God which had appeared to him.

He asked the monks for the Icon, and left Kiev, arriving at the place where the wonderworking Icon had appeared to him. There, with the help of some pious donors, he built a temple dedicated to the Dormition of the Mother of God. He remained at the church, engaging in various monastic struggles which he had imposed on himself. Disciples began to gather around the Saint, a Monastery was established, and Saint Cosmas was chosen as its Igoumen. During this time, word of his ascetic struggles even reached the ears of the Great Prince.

Saint Cosmas reposed at an advanced age on February 18, 1492, and was buried in the Monastery which he founded. He is also commemorated on October 14, the Feast of the Yakhrom Icon of the Mother of God.¹

¹ Many sources indicate that it was an icon of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos which appeared to Saint Cosmas, but only a reputed copy of the Icon has been preserved, which depicts the Mother of God according to the "Tenderness" category of Russian icons.

Saint Agapitos came from Cappadocia and was the son of pious and God-loving parents. He lived during the time of the emperors Diocletian (284-305) and Maximian (285-305). At a young age he departed for a monastery near Synnada in Phrygia, where he became a monk. He was loved by the Igumen because of his virtuous life and so he was taught how to read and write. He also received from God the gift of working miracles, performing over a hundred of them. By his prayers he killed a great dragon, which had appeared near the monastery, carrying off both people and animals. This was a great benefit for those who had turned to him for help.

Later on, during the reign of Licinius (308-323) Saint Agapitos was recruited into the army against his will. There he saw the victorious Martyrs Victor, Dorotheos, Theodoulos, Agrippa and many others, being tortured for their faith in Christ. Right away he wanted to join them in their martyrdom. Though they were perfected in Christ by the sword, he was preserved and, by God's providence, he suffered no harm, even though they wounded him with a spear. His life was spared so that he might lead many to salvation.

The holy Emperor Constantine the Great (May 21) heard that Saint Agapitos could heal people by his prayers. The emperor sent him a sick servant, and he was cured. Saint Constantine wished to reward Saint Agapitos, but he asked only that he be discharged from military service and be permitted to return to his monastery. His request was granted, and so he went back to the monastery.

Saint Agapitos devoted himself to the study of the Holy Gospel, and the Bishop of Synnada ordained him to the holy priesthood. After the bishop reposed, Saint Agapitos was chosen to succeed him in this position by the common consent of the clergy and the people.

After governing his flock in a God-pleasing manner, instructing them in the Orthodox Faith, and in virtuous living, Saint Agapitos reposed in peace

Saint Flavian the Confessor, Patriarch of Constantinople, occupied the patriarchal throne of Constantinople under the holy Emperor Theodosius the Younger (408-450) and his sister the holy Empress Pulcheria (September 10).

At first he was a presbyter and caretaker of church-vessels in the cathedral. He became Patriarch after the death of holy Patriarch Proclus (November 20). During this time, various disturbances and heresies threatened church unity.

In the year 448, Saint Flavian convened a local Council at Constantinople to examine the heresy of Eutyches, which admitted only one nature (the divine) in the Lord Jesus Christ. Persisting in his error, the heretic Eutyches was excommunicated from the Church and deprived of dignity, but Eutyches had a powerful patron in the person of Chrysathios, a eunuch close to the emperor.

Through intrigue Chrysathios brought Bishop Dioscorus of Alexandria over to the side of Eutyches, and obtained permission from the emperor to convene a church council at Ephesus, afterwards known as the “Robber Council.”

Dioscorus presided at this council, gaining the acquittal of Eutyches and the condemnation of Patriarch Flavian by threats and force. Saint Flavian was fiercely beaten up during the sessions of this council by impudent monks led by a certain Barsumas.

Even the impious president of the Robber Council, the heretic Dioscorus, took part in these beatings. After this heavy chains were put upon Saint Flavian, and he was sentenced to banishment at Ephesus. The Lord, however, ended his further suffering, by sending him his death (+ August 449). The holy Empress Pulcheria withdrew from the imperial court. Soon the intrigues of Chrysathios were revealed. The emperor dismissed him, and restored his sister Saint Pulcheria. Through her efforts, the relics of holy Patriarch Flavian were reverently transferred from Ephesus to Constantinople.

Nicholas Batonishvili was the son of Levan I, King of Kakheti (1520-1574). He lived during the grievous period of the Persian invasion of eastern Georgia. The young prince chose the path of monastic life and bravely helped his elder brother, King Alexandre II (1574-1605).

Despite his royal blood, he preferred the monk’s habit and the sweet, light yoke of Christ to the glamour and opulence of his inheritance.

According to God’s will, Nicholas was enthroned as Catholicos of All Georgia. The Georgian chronicle Life of Kartli (Kartlis Tskhovreba) relates the date of his enthronement as Saturday, February 28, 1584.

Armed with the highest hierarchical rank, royal blood, and personal integrity, Catholicos Nicholas was an exemplary leader for the Georgian nation. He struggled to plant the seeds of Christian love between countries of like faith.

He corresponded with Patriarch Job of Russia (1586-1590) and even sent him a horse. He also donated a leather-bound illuminated manuscript of the Gospels, copied in 1049, to the Metekhi Church of the Theotokos.

In his book Pilgrimage, the renowned eighteenth-century historian Archbishop Timote (Gabashvili) reports that there is an icon of Holy Catholicos Nicholas hanging in the refectory at the Ivḗron Monastery on Mt. Athos. Bishop Timote also describes another refectory, built by Ashotan Mukhran-Batoni, and notes, “There, I believe, Catholicos Nicholas Batonishvili reposed.”

No information available at this time.

No information available at this time.

The Holy Great Martyr Theodore the Recruit¹ was a soldier in the city of Amáseia in Pontus (Asia Minor) on the coast of the Euxine (Black) Sea, under the command of the Praepositus (regimental commander) Brincus. Saint Theodore was ordered to offer sacrifice to idols, but he proclaimed his faith in Christ the Savior in a loud voice. Brincus gave him a few days to think it over, during which time the Saint prayed.

Theodore was accused of setting a pagan temple on fire and destroying the idol of Rhea, and so he was thrown into prison to be starved to death. The Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him there, comforting and encouraging him. When he was brought before the Governor Publius, Theodore boldly confessed his faith, for which he was subjected to new torments and condemned to be burnt alive. The Great Martyr Theodore mounted an enormous pyre, and after he made the Sign of the Cross, the wood was lit, but the Holy Spirit cooled the flames. Saint Theodore stood in the flames, praising and glorifying God. Then he gave his holy soul into God's hands, and the onlookers saw his soul ascending to Heaven, according to the author of his Life, who was also an eyewitness.

This occurred in about the year 306 under the Roman Emperor Galerius (305-311). Unharmed by the fire, Saint Theodore's body was buried under a widow's house in the city of Eukháϊta, not far from Amáseia. Later, his relics were transferred to Constantinople, to the church which bears his name. His head is in the city of Gaeto, Italy.

Fifty years after the Saint Theodore's martyrdom, Emperor Julian the Apostate (reigned 361-363), planned to commit an outrage upon the Christians during the first week of Great Lent. He ordered the city magistrate of Constantinople to sprinkle all the food in the marketplaces with blood which had been offered to idols. Saint Theodore appeared to Archbishop Eudoxios in a dream, and told him to inform all the Christians that no one should buy anything in the marketplaces, but to eat boiled wheat with honey (kolyva) instead.

In remembrance of this occurrence, the Orthodox Church commemorates the holy Great Martyr Theodore the Recruit each year on the first Saturday of Great Lent. On Friday evening, at the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, after the prayer at the Ambo, the Canon to the Holy Great Martyr Theodore, composed by Saint John of Damascus, is sung. After this, kolyva is blessed and distributed to the faithful. The celebration 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 very similar to the Troparion for the Prophet Daniel and the Three Holy Youths (on the Sunday Before the Nativity of the Lord). The Kontakion to Saint Theodore, who suffered martyrdom by fire, reminds us that he also had faith as his breastplate (see I Thessalonians 5:8).

In iconography, Saint Theodore the Recruit is depicted in four different ways: either alone in military garb, battling a large snake, or together with Saint Theodore the Commander, standing upright or riding horses. He always wears his military uniform.

We pray to Saint Theodore the Recruit for the recovery of stolen articles.

¹ His title comes from the Latin word tiro, because he was a newly-enlisted recruit, not because he came from the city of Tyre, as some misinformed persons imagine.

The Hieromartyr Hermogenes, Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus, was born in Kazan around 1530, and was descended from the Don Cossacks. According to the Patriarch’s own testimony, he served as priest in Kazan in a church dedicated to Saint Nicholas (December 6 and May 9), near the Kazan bazaar. Soon he became a monk, and from 1582 was archimandrite of the Savior-Transfiguration monastery at Kazan. On May 13, 1589 he was consecrated bishop and became the first Metropolitan of Kazan.

While he was the priest at Saint Nicholas, the wonderworking Kazan Icon of the Mother of God (July 8) was discovered in Kazan in 1579. With the blessing of Archbishop Jeremiah of Kazan, he carried the newly-appeared icon from the place of its discovery to the Church of Saint Nicholas. Having remarkable literary talent, the saint in 1594 compiled an account describing the appearance of the wonderworking icon and the miracles accomplished through it. In 1591 the saint gathered newly-baptized Tatars into the cathedral church and for several days he instructed them in the Faith.

The relics of Saint Germanus, the second archbishop of Kazan (September 25, November 6, and June 23), who died at Moscow on November 6, 1567 during a plague, were transfered and buried in Saint Nicholas Church in 1592. With the blessing of Patriarch Job (1589-1605), Saint Hermogenes reburied the relics at the Sviyazhsk Dormition monastery.

On January 9, 1592 Saint Hermogenes addressed a letter to Patriarch Job, in which he asked for permission to commemorate in his See of Kazan those Orthodox soldiers who gave their lives for the Faith and the nation in a battle against the Tatars. In the past, it was customary to enter into the diptychs the names of all Orthodox warriors who had fallen in battle, and to commemorate them.

At the same time he mentioned three martyrs who had suffered at Kazan for their faith in Christ, one of whom was a Russian named John (January 24) born at Nizhny Novgorod and captured by the Tatars. The other two, Stephen and Peter (March 24), were newly-converted Tatars.

The saint expressed regret that these martyrs were not inserted into the diptychs read on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, and that “Memory Eternal” was not sung for them. In answer to Saint Hermogenes, the Patriarch issued a decree on February 25, which said: “to celebrate at Kazan and throughout all the Kazan metropolitanate a panikhida for all the Orthodox soldiers killed at Kazan and the environs of Kazan, on the Saturday following the Feast of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos (October 1), and to inscribe them in the great Synodikon read on the Sunday of Orthodoxy,” and also ordered that the three Kazan martyrs be inscribed in the Synodikon, leaving it to Saint Hermogenes to set the day of their memory. Saint Hermogenes circulated the Patriarchal decree throughout his diocese, and required all the churches and monasteries to serve Liturgies, Panikhidas and Lityas for the three Kazan martyrs on January 24.

Saint Hermogenes displayed zeal in the faith and firmness in the observance of Church traditions, and he devoted himself to the enlightenment of Kazan Tatars with the faith of Christ.

In 1595, with the active participation of the Saint Hermogenes, the relics of the Kazan Wonderworkers Saint Gurias, the first archbishop of Kazan (October 4, December 5, June 20), and Saint Barsanuphius bishop of Tver (October 4, April 11) were discovered and uncovered. Tsar Theodore Ioannovich (1584-1598) had given orders to erect at the Kazan Savior-Transfiguration monastery a new stone church on the site of the first one, where the saints were buried.

When the graves of the saints were discovered, Saint Hermogenes came with a gathering of clergy. He commanded the graves to be opened and, when he saw the incorrupt relics and clothing of the saints, he notified the Patriarch and the Tsar. With the blessing of Patriarch Job and by order of the Tsar, the relics of the newly-appeared wonderworkers were placed in the new church. Saint Hermogenes himself compiled the lives of hierarchs Gurias and Barsanuphius.

Having been found worthy of the patriarchal throne, Metropolitan Hermogenes was elected to the primatial See, and on July 3, 1606 he was installed as Patriarch by the assembly of the holy hierarchs at Moscow’s Dormition cathedral. Metropolitan Isidore handed the Patriarch the staff of the holy hierarch Peter, Moscow Wonderworker (October 5, December 21, August 24), and the Tsar gave as a gift to the new Patriarch a panagia, embellished with precious stones, a white klobuk and staff. In the ancient manner, Patriarch Hermogenes made his entrance riding upon a donkey.

The activity of Patriarch Hermogenes coincided with a difficult period for the Russian state: the appearance of the false Tsarevich Demetrius and the Polish king Sigismund III. The first hierarch devoted all his powers to the service of the Church and the nation.

Patriarch Hermogenes was not alone in this exploit: his self-sacrificing fellow-countrymen followed his example and assisted him. With special inspiration His Holiness the Patriarch stood up against the traitors and enemies of the nation, who wanted to spread Uniatism and Western Catholicism throughout Russia and to wipe out Orthodoxy, while enslaving the Russian nation.

When the imposter arrived at Moscow and settled himself at Tushino, Patriarch Hermogenes sent two letters to the Russian traitors. In one of them he wrote: “…You have forgotten the vows of our Orthodox Faith, in which we are born, baptized, nourished and raised. You have violated your oath and the kissing of the Cross to stand to the death for the house of the Most Holy Theotokos and for the Moscow realm, but have fallen for your false would-be Tsarevich … My soul aches, my heart is sickened, all within me agonizes, and all my frame shudders; I weep and with sobbing I lament: Have mercy, have mercy, brethren and children, on your own souls and your parents departed and living … Consider, how our nation is devastated and plundered by foreigners, who offer insult to the holy icons and churches, and how innocent blood is spilled, crying out to God. Think! Against whom do you take up arms: is it not against God, Who has created you? Is it not against your own brothers? Do you not devastate your own country?… I adjure you in the name of God, give up your undertaking, there is yet time, so that you do not perish in the end.” In the second document the saint appeals: “For the sake of God, come to your senses and turn around, gladden your parents, your wives and children; and we stand to pray God for you…”

Soon the righteous judgment of God fell upon the Brigand of Tushino: he was killed by his own close associates on December 11, 1610. But Moscow continued to remain in peril, since the Poles and traitors, loyal to Sigismund III, remained in the city. The documents sent by Patriarch Hermogenes throughout the cities and villages, exhorted the Russian nation to liberate Moscow from the enemies and to choose a lawful Russian Tsar.

The Muscovites rose up in rebellion, and the Poles burned the city, shutting themselves up in the Kremlin. Together with Russian traitors they forcefully seized Patriarch Hermogenes from the patriarchal throne and imprisoned him in the Chudov monastery.

On Bright Monday in 1611, the Russian militia approached Moscow and began the seige of the Kremlin, which continued for several months. Besieged within the Kremlin, the Poles often sent messengers to the Patriarch with the demand that he order the Russian militia to leave the city, threatening him with execution if he refused.

The saint firmly replied, “What are your threats to me? I fear only God. If all our enemies leave Moscow, I shall bless the Russian militia to withdraw from Moscow; but if you remain here, I shall bless all to stand against you and to die for the Orthodox Faith.”

While still in prison, the hieromartyr Hermogenes sent a final epistle to the Russian nation, blessing the liberating army to fight the invaders. The Russian commanders could not come to an agreement over a way to take the Kremlin and free the Patriarch. He languished more than nine months in dreadful confinement, and on February 17, 1612 he died a martyr’s death from starvation.

The liberation of Russia, for which Saint Hermogenes stood with such indestructible valor, was successfully achieved. The body of the hieromartyr Hermogenes was buried in the Chudov monastery, but in 1654 was transferred to the Moscow Dormition cathedral. The glorification of Patriarch Hermogenes as a saint occurred on May 12, 1913.

Saint Theodore the Silent of the Caves chose the exploit of silence, in order to dwell constantly in remembrance of God, and to safeguard himself from temptation even by a word. He was glorified by the Lord with the gift of wonderworking. His memory is celebrated also on August 28.

Righteous Mariamne “The Apostolic Virgin” and sister of the holy Apostle Philip (November 14), made a vow of virginity and became the companion of her brother Philip and the holy Apostle Bartholomew (June 11), actively assisting them in their apostolic work.

The Church historian Nikēphóros Callistus describes their successful preaching in the Phrygian city of Hieropolis, where they were arrested and locked up in prison. They put the Apostle Philip to death on a cross, but Saint Mariamne and Saint Bartholomew were set free. Saint Bartholomew went to preach the Gospel in India. Saint Mariamne, after burying the body of Saint Philip, preached the Gospel at Lykaonia (Asia Minor). She died there in peace.

The Holy Martyr Menas Kallikelados (Well Speaking), an Athenian, died as a martyr with Saints Hermogenes and Eugraphus in about the year 313 (December 10). During the reign of Emperor Basil the Macedonian (867-886), the military commander Marcian discovered the saint’s relics after Saint Menas appeared to a certain pious man in a dream to reveal where they were.

The Weeping Tikhvin Icon of Mt. Athos is to be found behind the altar in the Prophet Elias Skete. On February 17, 1877 (Thursday of the Second Week of Lent) seven monks remained in the church after the Hours had been read. They were astonished to see tears flowing from the right eye of the icon, and collecting on the frame. Then a single large tear came from the left eye.

The monks wiped the tears from the icon’s face, then left the church and locked the doors behind them. Three hours later, they returned for Vespers and saw traces of tears on the icon, and a single tear in the left eye. Again they wiped the tears from the icon, but they did not reappear.

Regarding this manifestation of tears as a sign of mercy from the Mother of God, the monks established an annual commemoration of the icon on February 17. The weeping Tikhvin Icon of Mt. Athos is not to be confused with the original wonderworking Tikhvin Icon (June 26).

Saint Joseph was a monk of Dionysiou Monastery on Mt. Athos, where he shone forth with the virtues of monastic life. He was an iconographer, and he painted the icon of the holy Archangels on the iconostasis of Dionysiou’s main church.

In obedience to the instructions of Igumen Stephen, Saint Joseph traveled to Constantinople with Eudocimus, who had apostasized from Orthodoxy to become a Moslem. Eudocimus repented, and wished to wipe out his sin through martyrdom.

When faced with torture and death, however, the unfortunate Eudocimus denied Christ again, blaming Joseph for turning him from Islam.

Saint Joseph was arrested and threatened with death. In spite of many tortures, he refused to convert to Islam. This holy martyr of Christ was hanged on February 17, 1819, and so he obtained an incorruptible crown of glory.

Some sources list his commemoration on February 17, while others list him on September 14 or October 26.

Saint Auxibius was born at Rome in a rich family. He was raised with his brother Tempstagoras, and from an early age he displayed remarkable talents. In the schools of Rome he easily learned the secular sciences. His parents wanted their son to marry. Learning of this, the youth secretly left Rome and journeyed to the East.

Arriving upon the island of Cyprus, he settled in the environs of Limnitis, not far from the city of Soli. By God’s dispensation, he encountered the holy Apostle and Evangelist Mark (September 27, October 30, January 4, April 25), preaching the Word of God at Cyprus. Saint Mark established Auxibius as bishop in the city of Soli, and himself went to preach at Alexandria.

Saint Auxibius went toward the western gates of the city and settled near the pagan temple of Zeus. Gradually he converted the local pagan priest and other idol-worshippers to Christianity. Once, Saint Heraklides (September 17) came to Saint Auxibius. He had been made a bishop in Cyprus earlier by Saint Mark, and he consulted with Saint Auxibius to preach the Gospel of Christ.

One day, Saint Auxibius arrived at the marketplace and began to preach to the people about Christ. Many, seeing the miracles and the signs worked by the saint, believed in Christ. Among the converted were many people from the surrounding villages. One man, by the name of Auxinios, remained with Saint Auxibius and assisted him until the end of his days.

After a certain while Tempstagoras, the brother of Saint Auxibius, came from Rome. He was baptized with his wife, became a priest, and served in one of the churches. Saint Auxibius guided his diocese for fifty years and died peacefully in the year 102, leaving his disciple Auxinios upon the cathedra.

The Holy New Martyr Theodore was born of pious parents in Neochorion near Constantinople in 1774. He worked in the palace of the Sultan, where he converted to Islam.

When a plague broke out in Constantinople, he realized the gravity of his sin and returned to Christianity. He went to Chios and then to Mytilene, where he confessed Christ before the Moslem authorities. He was imprisoned, tortured, then hanged by the Turks in 1795.

Saint Theodosius the Bulgarian and his disciple Romanus. Saint Theodosius began his exploit in the city of Viddino, at the Nikolaev monastery. After the death of the igumen Job he settled near Trnovo, then the capital city of Bulgaria, at the Holy Mountain monastery of the Most Holy Theotokos in search of a spiritual guide.

He left the Holy Mountain monastery and for a long time went from monastery to monastery. Finally, he learned about the desert monastery called “Concealed” where in pursuit of asceticism Saint Gregory of Sinai (August 8) had moved from Athos. Saint Theodosius found in him an experienced guide of the contemplative life. Saint Gregory taught, “Before death we lay in Hades; whoever does not recognize sincerely that he is a sinner, and that the beasts and cattle are more pure, is more wicked than the demons, having become their obedient slave.”

The wilderness monastery of Saint Gregory of Sinai suffered often from robbers. The abbot sent Saint Theodosius to the emperor Alexander with a request to defend the monastery. The pious Bulgarian Tsar, at the request of the ascetic, provided him with the means to surround the monastery with strong walls with towers, and made the monastery secure with land and cattle.

During his final journey to Trnovo on an errand for the abbot to the Tsar, a nobleman asked Saint Theodosius to take him along to the monastery. The holy ascetic brought him to Saint Gregory of Sinai. This was Romanus, who became the sincere and beloved disciple of Saint Theodosius.

After the death of Saint Gregory of Sinai (November 27, 1347), Saint Theodosius refused to become head of the monastery, and he left the monastery with his disciple Romanus for solitary struggles. They founded a monastery on a hill near Trnovo, afterwards called Theodosiev.

Saint Theodosius was famous as a zealous defender of Orthodoxy against many heresies, especially the Bogomils, Judaizers and Messalians. Their false teachings were especially pernicious. The Patriarch and the Tsar rendered great help to Saint Theodosius in the struggle with the heretics. In addition to this, the holy ascetic translated Greek writings into Slavonic.

In 1360, he became grievously ill. Wishing to see his friend Saint Callistus once more, he went to him at Constantinople, entrusting the direction of the monastery to his disciple Romanus.

Saint Theodosius died at Constantinople on February 17, 1362. His disciple Saint Romanus became head of the monastery.

No information available at this time.

No information available at this time.

Holy Hieromartyr Theodore of Atchara belongs to the glorious multitude of Atcharan faithful who were martyred at the hands of the Ottomans.

Saint Theodore was born in the late 18th century. At that time the Ottoman invaders had nearly completed the forced Islamization of the Atcharan region. They had already annihilated those who resisted the conversion and were beginning to evict those who, in spite of their apparent acceptance of Islam, continued to “arouse suspicions.” Some abandoned their native region and fled to foreign lands.

Saint Theodore was born to a family that had been forced into exile. From his childhood he watched his fellow countrymen, who had been forcibly converted to Islam, secretly retain their Christian way of life. It is unclear how the saint’s family settled in Trebizond (modern Trabzon). It is known, however, that Saint Theodore managed to free himself from Islam, receive Christianity, and find refuge at a Georgian monastery in Smyrna (now Izmir). There he was tonsured a monk and later raised to the rank of proigoumenos (deputy abbot). It is also known that Saint Theodore converted his nephew to Christianity during that time.

In 1822 Saint Theodore set out on a pilgrimage to Mt. Athos. But at the same time the Ottomans were attempting to crush the Greek independence movement, and the Holy Mountain was surrounded by Ottoman soldiers. They captured the faithful pilgrim and killed him. Then they tossed the holy martyr’s body into the sea.

The Holy Synod of the Georgian Apostolic Orthodox Church canonized Holy Martyr Theodore on October 17, 2002.

The Holy Martyrs Pamphίlios the Presbyter, Valens the Deacon, Paul, Porphyrios, Séleukos, Theódoulos, Julian, Samuel, Elias, Daniel, Jeremiah, and Isaiah suffered martyrdom during the reign of Emperor Diocletian (284 – 305) at Caesarea in Palestine.

The holy Martyr Pamphίlios, a native of the city of Beirut, was educated at Alexandria, after which he was ordained as a priest at Caesarea. He devoted much labor to collating manuscripts and correcting the copyists' errors in the manuscripts of the New Testament. These texts were copied and distributed to anyone who wanted them. Thus, many pagans were converted to Christ by them.

His works were gathered into the extensive library of spiritual books available for the enlightenment of Christians. Saint Jerome (IV-V century) had deep respect for Saint Pamphίlios and considered himself fortunate to have located and acquired several of his manuscripts.

Actively assisting Saint Pamphίlios in proclaiming the faith in Christ were Saint Valens, a Deacon of the Church, and Elias, a man stooped with age and well-versed in the Holy Scriptures, and Saint Paul, ardent in his faith and love for Christ the Savior. All three were imprisoned for two years by Urban, the governor of Palestinian Caesarea.

During the rule of his successor Firmilian, 130 Christians were sentenced in Egypt and sent to Cilicia (Asia Minor) to work in the gold mines. Five young brothers accompanied them to the place of exile. On their return to Egypt they were detained at Caesarea and thrown into prison for confessing Christ.

These young men appeared before Firmilian, together with those previously imprisoned incarcerated: Saints Pamphίlios, Valens and Paul. The five Egyptian youths took the names of Old Testament Prophets, Elias, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Samuel, and Daniel. Asked where they were from, the youths said that they were citizens of Jerusalem, meaning the heavenly Jerusalem. Firmilian knew nothing of such a city, since Jerusalem had been razed to the ground by Emperor Titus in the year 70. Emperor Hadrian (117-138) built a new city on the site, which was called Aelia Capitolina.

Firmilian tortured the youths for a long time, trying to learn the location of this unknown city, and he tried to persuade them to apostatize. Accomplishing nothing, the governor sentenced them to be beheaded with a sword, along with Pamphίlios, Valens, and Paul.

Before this took place, one of Pamphilios' servants endured suffering. This was the eighteen-year-old youth Porphyrios, who was meek and humble. He had heard the death sentence for the condemned martyrs, and asked the governor for permission to bury the bodies after their execution. Because of this he was also sentenced to death, and was thrown into a fire.

A pious Christian named Séleukos, a former soldier, praised the deeds of the Martyrs. He went to Pamphίlios and told him of the martyric death of Saint Porphyrios. He was arrested by soldiers and, on Firmilian’s orders, he was beheaded with a sword, together with the others.

One of the governor’s servants, Theódoulos, was a man of venerable age, and a secret Christian. He met the Martyrs as they were being led to execution. He embraced them and asked them to pray for him. Soldiers brought him before Firmilian, at whose orders he was crucified.

The young Julian, a native of Cappadocia who had come to Caesarea, saw the bodies of the Saints which had been thrown to wild beasts without burial. Julian knelt down and venerated the bodies of the sufferers. Soldiers apprehended him and took him to the governor, who condemned him to be burnt alive. The bodies of all twelve Martyrs remained unburied for four days, but neither beasts nor birds would touch them. Embarrassed by this situation, the pagans permitted the Christians to take the bodies of the martyrs and bury them.

Although these twelve Martyrs came from various places, they were also united by their love for Christ, and from Him they received unfading crowns of glory.

Saint Maruthas was Bishop of Tagrith (Martyropolis), a city which he founded between the Byzantine Empire and Persia. He was famed for his knowledge and his piety, he wrote about the martyrs, and he suffered for his faith in Christ under the Persian emperor Sapor. He also left behind other works in the Syrian language, among which the most famous are: “Commentary on the Gospel,” “Verses of Maruthas,” “Liturgy of Maruthas” and “The 73 Canons of the Ecumenical Council at Nicea” (325) with an account of the acts of the Council.

In the year 381 Saint Maruthas participated in the Second Ecumenical Council at Constantinople, convened against the heresy of Macedonius. In 383, he attended the Council of Antioch against the Messalians.

During the years 403-404 Saint Maruthas set off to Constantinople to plead with the emperor Arcadius to protect Persian Christians. He was twice sent by the emperor Theodosius the Younger to the Shah Izdegerd to secure the peace between the Empire and Persia.

In the year 414 Saint Maruthas, having done his duty as envoy to the court of Izdegerd, persuaded the Shah to a favorable disposition towards Christians, and he assisted greatly in the freedom of Christians in Persia. He rebuilt Christian churches razed during the persecution by the Persian ruler Sapor. He also located relics of saints who had suffered martyrdom and transferred them to Martyropolis. He died there in 422. The relics of Saint Maruthas were later transferred to Egypt and placed in a skete monastery of the Mother of God.

No information available at this time.

Saint Flavian, Archbishop of Antioch, was a contemporary of Saint John Chrysostom. He attempted to obtain from the emperor Theodosius (379-395) a pardon for the citizens of Antioch, who had angered the emperor by destroying his statue. Saint Flavian’s death was peaceful and without illness. He is also commemorated on September 27.

The Holy New Martyr Elias (Nikolayevich) was born in a Moscow village in the XIX century. He studied at the Moscow Theological Academy and married a devout woman named Eugenia. Then he was then ordained as a priest and served in the small church of a poorhouse, and in the parish of Saint Nicholas Tolmachev in Moscow, before the October revolution of 1917 broke out.

Saint Elias was a most pious priest. His church was a beacon of spiritual light for many believers. He was married, but he lived an ascetical life. In 1932 the Soviet secret police arrested and imprisoned him. He was exiled to the Krasnaya Visera River region. Matushka Eugenia spent the entire night in prayer and tears. But in the morning she fell asleep and then she saw the Theotokos in a dream, who told her not to be afraid.

Two years later, Matushka Eugenia visited him at his place of exile and brought him a Gospel and a small vial of holy water. The guards confiscated the Gospel. When they asked her what was in the vial, she replied that for them it was plain water, but for herself and her husband it was sacred, their medicine. The Saint looked as if he had been tortured. They did not allow him to serve, and this caused him immeasurable grief. He began to tell Eugenia of his martyrdom. When they brought him and many others to the place of exile, they were forced to walk on the surface of the melting snow. The thin layer of ice was breaking up beneath their feet and the "convicts" were sinking in the snow up to the waist. Wet to the bone, with nothing to eat or drink all day, they were forced to spend the night inside a hut. The exhausted men immediately fell to the floor and fell asleep as if dead. Only the Saint stayed awake. Around midnight he cried from the depths of his heart: "Lord, why have you forsaken me? I have served you so faithfully. I devoted my entire life to You. How many times have I read the Akathist Hymn and the Canons? I served in the church with reverence. Why, O Lord, have You forsaken me, and why do I suffer so much? O Most Holy Theotokos, Holy Hierarch Nicholas, Holy Father Seraphim, and all the Saints of God! After all my prayers to you, why am I tormented so much?"

Suddenly a divine visitation, like a flame, touched his aching soul and flooded it with otherworldly consolation. The light of faith secretly illumined his heart and ignited in him an inexpressible and irresistible love for Christ, which, as the Apostle Paul says, "he heard unspeakable words which no man may utter."¹ When dawn came, he was a young man, born again as if he had been baptized in fire.

As he bade farewell to Matushka Eugenia, the Saint said to her: "You know, my heart is ablaze for Christ. I think I came here to understand that there is absolutely nothing better, nothing more wonderful than He. I wish to die for Him!"

When Matushka arrived back in Moscow, she learned that there had been a fire in the concentration camp and that Saint Elias was burned along with eleven other Christians.

¹ 2 Corinthians 12:4.

Today’s Gospel reading is Matthew 25:31-46, the parable of the Last Judgment. It reminds us that while trusting in Christ’s love and mercy, we must not forget His righteous judgment when He comes again in glory. If our hearts remain hardened and unrepentant, we should not expect the Lord to overlook our transgressions simply because He is a good and loving God. Although He does not desire the death of a sinner, He also expects us to turn from our wickedness and live (Ezek. 33:11). This same idea is expressed in the prayer read by the priest after the penitent has confessed his or her sins (Slavic practice).

The time for repentance and forgiveness is now, in the present life. At the Second Coming, Christ will appear as the righteous Judge, “Who will render to every man according to his deeds” (Rom. 2:6). Then the time for entreating God’s mercy and forgiveness will have passed.

As Father Alexander Schmemann reminds us in his book GREAT LENT (Ch. 1:4), sin is the absence of love, it is separation and isolation. When Christ comes to judge the world, His criterion for judgment will be love. Christian love entails seeing Christ in other people, our family, our friends, and everyone else we may encounter in our lives. We shall be judged on whether we have loved, or not loved, our neighbor. We show Christian love when we feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit those who are sick or in prison. If we did such things for the least of Christ’s brethren, then we also did them for Christ (Mt.25:40). If we did not do such things for the least of the brethren, neither did we do them for Christ (Mt.25:45).

Today is the last day for eating meat and meat products until Pascha, though eggs and dairy products are permitted every day during the coming week. This limited fasting prepares us gradually for the more intense fasting of Great Lent.

Saint Onesimus, Apostle of the Seventy in his youth was a servant of Philemon, a Christian of distinguished lineage, living in the city of Colossae, Phrygia. Guilty of an offense against his master and fearing punishment, Saint Onesimus fled to Rome, but as a runaway slave he wound up in prison. In prison he encountered the Apostle Paul, was enlightened by him, and was baptized.

In prison Saint Onesimus served the Apostle Paul like a son. Saint Paul was personally acquainted with Philemon, and wrote him a letter filled with love, asking him to forgive the runaway slave and to accept him like a brother. He sent Saint Onesimus with this letter to his master, depriving himself of help, of which he was very much in need.

After he received the letter, Saint Philemon not only forgave Onesimus, but also sent him back to Rome to the apostle. Saint Philemon (January 4, February 19, and November 22) was afterwards consecrated bishop of the city of Gaza.

After the death of the Apostle Paul, Saint Onesimus served the apostles until their end, and he was made a bishop. After the death of the holy apostles he preached the Gospel in many lands and cities: in Spain, Carpetania, Colossae, Patras. In his old age, Saint Onesimus occupied the bishop’s throne at Ephesus, after the Apostle Timothy. When they took Saint Ignatius the God-Bearer (December 20) to Rome for execution, Bishop Onesimus came to meet with him with other Christians, as Saint Ignatius mentions in his Epistle to the Ephesians.

During the reign of the emperor Trajan (89-117), Saint Onesimus was arrested and brought to trial before the eparch Tertillus. He held the saint in prison for eighteen days, and then sent him to prison in the city of Puteoli. After a certain while, the eparch sent for the prisoner and, convincing himself that Saint Onesimus maintained his faith in Christ, had him stoned, after which they beheaded the saint with a sword. A certain illustrious woman took the body of the martyr and placed it in a silver coffin. This took place in the year 109.

Saint Paphnutius had the gift of tears, which Saint John of the Ladder says (Step 6:1) is preceded by the remembrance of death. For worldly people, this remembrance may lead to fear and distress, but for Saint Paphnutius it led to constant prayer and the guarding of his mind.

By remembering the hour of death and God’s judgment, Saint Paphnutius was able to free himself from worldly distractions and passions through prayer, repentance and fasting. This, in turn, led to tears.

Our venerable Mother Euphrosynē was born at the beginning of the fifth century in the city of Alexandria. She was the only child of illustrious and wealthy parents. When she was twelve years old, her mother reposed, and so the girl was raised by her Father, Paphnutios, who was a very devout Christian. He was in the habit of visiting a certain monastery, where the Igoumen was his Spiritual Father.

When Euphrosynē turned eighteen, her father wanted her to marry. He went to the monastery to obtain the Igoumen's blessing for his daughter's wedding. The Igoumen talked with her and gave her his blessing, but Saint Euphrosynē longed for the monastic life. One day, she gave away her possessions to the poor, and then she snuck out of the house.

The Saint had decided to enter a monastery in order to spend her life in solitude and prayer, but she was afraid that her father was apt to find find her in a women’s monastery. Therefore, she disguised herself as a man and entered the same men's monastery which she had visited with her father from her childhood, calling herself Smaragdos. The monks did not recognize Euphrosynē dressed in men’s clothes, and so they received her into the monastery. The monks were impressed by her spiritual struggles and by her willingness to serve everyone.

There in a solitary cell, Saint Euphrosynē spent 38 years in spiritual endeavors, fasting and prayer, thereby attaining a high level of spiritual accomplishment.

Paphnutios was deeply saddened by the loss of his beloved daughter; more than once, on the advice of his Spiritual Father, he spoke to the "monk" Smaragdos, disclosing his grief and receiving spiritual comfort. Before her death, Saint Euphrosynē revealed her secret to her grieving parent and insisted that no one but he should prepare her body for burial. After he buried his daughter, Paphnutios distributed all his wealth to the poor and to the monastery, and then he was tonsured. For ten years, until the time of his own repose, he labored in his daughter's cell.

By her life, Saint Euphrosynē reminds us that we must renounce "worldly passions and live soberly, uprightly, and devoutly" (Titus 2:12). That is, after rejecting the desires of this vain and sinful world, we ought to live abstemiously, with justice toward our fellow human beings, and with piety toward God.

Saint Euphrosynē and her father are also commemorated on September 25.

Saint Eusebius the Hermit lived in the fourth century and lived in asceticism on a mountain near the village of Asicha in Syria. He led a very strict life under the open sky, patiently enduring the summer heat and winter cold. He wore skins for clothing, and nourished himself on the pods of peas and beans.

Though he was elderly and infirm, he ate only fifteen figs during the Great Forty day Fast. When many people began to flock to Saint Eusebius, he went to a nearby monastery, built a small enclosure at the monastery walls and lived in it until his death.

Saint Eusebius died at the age of ninety, sometime after the year 400.

Today's celebration commemorates the transfer of the Icon from Moscow to Vil'na (Vilnius), Lithuania. According to local tradition, this Icon (of the Hodēgḗtria type) was painted by the Holy Evangelist Luke, and was brought from Palestine to Constantinople. For many years it belonged to the family of the Byzantine emperors. Later, they sent the Icon to the rulers of Galicia and Chervona Rus'.

After the fall of the Galician principality, the Icon became the property of the Great Princes of Moscow. It did not stay In Moscow very long, however. In 1495, Grand Duke Ivan III (1462-1505), blessed his daughter Elena with the Icon before giving her in marriage to the Lithuanian Grand Duke Alexander. Thus, the Icon came with her to the Lithuanian capital of Vil'na, where it remains today.

According to another legend, which is more credible, this Icon was brought to Moscow by Princess Sophia Palaiologina in 1472 when she married Ivan III. Both legends converge in all other details.

When Princess Elena died, the holy Icon of the Mother of God was placed above her tomb in the Cathedral of the Most Holy Theotokos.

After the relationship between the courts of Moscow and Lithuania came to an end, Ivan the Terrible (1530-1584) tried to bring the wonderworking Icon back to Moscow, offering Grand Duke Sigismund II of Lithuania (1520-1572) fifty noble Lithuanian prisoners in exchange, but Sigismund strongly opposed this, because all the clergy, both the Orthodox and the Uniates, did not want to lose this treasure.

The Icon remained In the Cathedral of the Mother of God until the XVIII century, Later, it was moved to the church of Saint John the Forerunner. Afterward, the Icon was transferred to Vil'na's Holy Trinity Monastery, which was then in possession of the Uniates, and the Cathedral of the Mother if God was also given to them.

Only in 1839 were Holy Trinity Monastery and the Hodēgḗtria Icon returned to the Orthodox. Since that time, the Icon of the Mother of God has been there with other local icons, and was honored by all the Orthodox. It has replaced her lost Ostro Bram (the Dawn Gates) Icon (which is commemorated on December 26 and April 14).

The Hodēgḗtria Icon is painted on four boards which have been joined together. Some are made of cypress wood, and the others of birch. It was restored in 1864.

In a monastery on the outskirts of Vil'na, there is another Vil'na Icon, which appeared in 1341. It is not unlike the Hodēgḗtria Icon. It is a full length depiction of the Mother of God, who stands on a crescent moon, and Holy Angels hold a crown over her pure head. In some variations of this Icon she stands on clouds, surrounded by Angels, and is wearing a crown.

The Vil'na Icon is also commemorated on April 14.

In Perm Gubernia, Shadrinsk county, on the banks of the Iseti River, is the Dalmatian Monastery of the Dormition. In the cathedral church of this monastery is a wonderworking Icon of the Dormition of the Mother of God, which belonged to Father Dalmatios (Δαλμάτιος), the founder of this monastery.

In the first half of the XVII century, a certain resident of Tobolsk, a nobleman by the name of Demetrios Mokrinsky, left his wife and children, and went to the Nev'yan Monastery (Tobolsk Diocese), where he was tonsured with the name Dalmatios, in honor of the fourth century ascetic Saint Dalmatios of Constantinople (August 3).

Since Father Dalmatios was known for his exalted life of asceticism and virtue, the brethren of the Nev'yan Monastery wanted to choose him as their Igoumen, but out of humility, the Elder would not accept such an august position with all its responsibilities. He left the monastery, taking with him an Icon of the Dormition of the Mother of God.

In 1644 he arrived in Perm Gubernia, where he settled in a cave on land owned by the Tyumen Tatar Ilegei. When Iligei discovered that a monk had settled on his property, and even intended to establish a monastery there, he was indignant. Gathering his relatives, he went with the intention of expelling Dalmatios. Iligei spent the night near the cave, beyond the River Iseti, waiting for dawn to make an unexpected attack on the recluse.

Father Dalmatios seemed to be in imminent danger of death, if he tried to resist or defend himself. He could not expect help from anyone anywhere, nor could he flee, since he did not know that an enemy lurked beyond the river in the darkness of night, ready to spill his blood at any moment. The monk did not require any human protection, however, for his protector was the Queen of Heaven.

When Iligei was asleep, the Mother of God appeared to him in a dream, wearing a crown and dressed in a crimson robe, holding a flaming sword in her hands. The Most Holy Theotokos strictly forbade him to harm Father Dalmatios, and ordered Iligei to give the monk some land for a monastery. Awakened by this terrible vision, the Tatar went to Father Dalmatios, accompanied by all his companions, and gave him a piece of land on which to build a monastery.

The Queen of Heaven's wondrous protection of Dalmatios occurred in 1646. In that same year, the Dalmatian Monastery was founded.

At the end of 1646, the newly-established monastery was attacked by the Kalmyks. They set fire to the monastery's buildings; some of the monks who fled were killed, and some were taken captive. During this time, only Dalmatios, the founder of the monastery, escaped death, saved by the wonderworking Icon. This was the same Icon of the Dormition of the Mother of God which he brought with him from the Nev'yan Monastery. When the Kalmyks went away, Elder Dalmatios returned to the same site and began working alone to rebuild the monastery. A few years later, because of his diligence, a wooden church was already standing on the site of the ruined monastery, and nearby there were also cells for monks. Pilgrims began to visit and made donations for the adornment of the monastery and the temple. From that time, word of the monastery quickly spread all over, not only in the places close by, but also in very remote places.

In 1651, less than twenty years after the founding of the Dalmatian Monastery, it was attacked again. This time it was attacked by the Siberian Prince Devlet-Girei. He ransacked and burned the monastery. The Icon of the Mother of God, however, remained unscathed, although the church completely burned down. In just one place, on the back of the board, there was a scorched spot where a certain Muslim had put his hand.

In 1702, the icon was restored by the Tobolsk iconographer Ivan Nikitin.

The monastery was restored by Archimandrite Isaac, the son of Father Dalmatios. He built a stone church in 1707, and in it he placed the wonderworking Icon of the Dormition of the Mother of God.

During the reign of Empress Catherine II, the monastery withstood a three-day siege by the troops of Emelian I. Pugachev, while the monks prayed before the Dalmatian Icon.

In 1800 the Icon was adorned with a gilded riza with silver crowns and precious gems, by order of Igoumen Gideon. In 1864 Archimandrite Methodios ordered a new silver and gilded riza from Moscow, decorated with precious stones. The Icon was in a special kiot, decorated with carvings, and was covered with a colorful silk curtain, which could be opened when necessary.

On April 19, 1852, many of the Monastery buildings, including the upper church, were destroyed by fire.

Once again, the Dalmatian Icon remained undamaged.

Every year on February 15th, and again on August 15th, the Monastery's Altar Feast, great crowds would travel to the Dalmatian Monastery in order to venerate the wonderworking Icon. The sick receive healing, according to their faith, from this wonderworking Icon of the Mother of God. This custom continued until 1917.

In the early 1920s, after the monastery was abolished, the monks went to other monasteries, taking the Dalmatian Icon with them. At present, there is no information about the location of the Icon.

Those who experience physical or spiritual suffering pray before the Dalmatian Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos for deliverance.

Saint Anthimos (Argyrios K. Bagianos) was born on July 1, 1869 in the vicinity of Saint Luke at Livadion, Chios. His righteous and virtuous parents, Constantine and Argyro, took care to give their child a Christian education. The young Argyrios was endowed by the Holy Spirit with the spirit of wisdom; he was foreordained by God to shine forth as a chosen vessel and to become a great guide who would lead others to Christ. His entire childhood development and upbringing was apparently due to the strong and profound influence of his Christian family environment.

On Sundays Argyrios and his family attended services at the Monastery of Nea Moni.¹ When he was eight years old he met Saint Nektarios, who was a Deacon at the time. After conversing with young Argyrios, he said to Igumen Pachomios, "Elder, do you see that child? Someday he will become a Saint."

Argyrios had little formal education, and was limited to simple elementary school knowledge. So with no theoretical knowledge of worldly acclaim, but with a good disposition, spiritual discernment, and with a particularly intense desire for the spiritual life, he advanced unwaveringly in the virtuous life with the precious gift of unshakable faith.

Divine love led him to renounce the world and its noisy turmoil, and to enter the monastic state where his virtues shone forth. The starting point for him to follow the path of monasticism was his visit to the Skete of the Holy Fathers of Chios for the restoration of his own wonderworking icon of the All Holy Virgin the Helper (Παναγία Βοηθεία), which he had received from his mother. Since that time, this icon remained an integral part of his entire life. The Theotokos became a source of inexhaustible strength for him in his later difficult struggles, and she was also a fount of refreshment and respite.

His guide in the ascetical life was the venerable Elder Pachomios of Sketis, by whom he was tonsured into the small Schema, and who renamed him Anthimos.

He submitted to Elder Pachomios and through unceasing prayer and fasting, and by the harsh struggles which he undertook with God’s good will, he grew great in asceticism and in virtue. His physical and spiritual struggles left him exhausted and ill. So, with the blessing of Father Pachomios, he returned to his home in order to recuperate. Saint Anthimos, however, did not abandon his struggles. Once his health was partially restored he retired to a small isolated cell on his father’s estates in Livadia, Chios, and continued his spiritual contests. At the same time he worked as a shoemaker in order to help his poor parents, and to show mercy to those who were afflicted.

In his cell, by unceasing prayer, and by studying the lives of the great ascetics, he was strengthened and he made progress in his spiritual formation, but he also provoked the demonic rage of the Evil One. He struggled severely and effectively, conducting multifaceted and victorious contests against the Evil One with ardent prayer, and each day he ascended the blessed Ladder of virtues and holiness. In 1909, at the age of forty, he was tonsured into the Great Schema by Hieromonk Andronikos, the successor of Father Pachomios.

The virtuous ascetic Anthimos was a chosen vessel and was ready for the office of the priesthood, but the local bishop refused to ordain him because of his lack of education. In 1910, he was invited to Adramyttium in Asia Minor by his godfather, Stephen Diomataris, for this purpose. The saint’s ordination by the Bishop of Smyrna was not a typical event.

In his case, there were signs of divine approval following the ordination. Earthquake, lightning, thunder, and a cataclysmic rainfall occurred at that sacred hour. The vigil lamps swayed, and one of them fell down. After the ordination there was calm, stillness, and joy from God. These physical phenomena revealed and bore witness to the fact that God was pleased by his ordination.

As long as he remained in Adramyttium, he shone forth in a dazzling way because of his virtue and holiness, by which he healed those in the region who were possessed by demons, something his fellow priests were unable to do. His spiritual radiance stirred up the passion of jealousy in his concelebrants. Wishing to free them from this passion, the Saint left Adramyttium in 1911 and went to Mount Athos, where the Hagiorite monks freely bestowed many honors upon him.

Returning to Chios, he was assigned as the priest for the home for lepers, which became a new setting for his virtues and charitable activities. The icon of the Panagia Ypapanti (the Meeting of the Lord), the protectress of the hospital for lepers, focuses on all her acts of kindness.

The Lady Theotokos, through the prayers of Saint Anthimos, performed countless miracles of healing the infirmities of the faithful, both those whose names are known and those who remain anonymous. This institution for unfortunate lepers became a spiritual center of physical and mental health. His entire ministry at the home for lepers shows his deepest faith and his very valuable contributions.

Here the greatness of the Saint is revealed. As the priest of that church, Saint Anthimos was always found with the lepers: he ate with them, he talked to them, and he communed them with the Spotless Mysteries. After the Divine Liturgy he rested.

In that hallowed atmosphere, he envisioned the establishment of a Monastery to shelter nuns who had fled there from Asia Minor following the exchange of populations (1922-1924).² So his dreams moved forward toward their fulfillment. In 1927, after he had a vision of the Theotokos, he received permission to build such a monastery. He also built the magnificent temple dedicated the icon of the Mother of God the Helper (Παναγία Βοηθεία) in 1930. From that time he settled in the Monastery filled with devotion to the Most Holy Theotokos, and there he advanced in his life of asceticism, filled with a multitude of virtues and holiness through the intercession and help of the Theotokos, and he shepherded his flock with great affection and love, strengthening and consoling them with his sweet and simple speech, healing the sicknesses and afflictions of those who had recourse to him.

After his life-long ministry, now at the age of 90, fully ripe and full of days, with a dignity which was reminiscent of the great ascetics of the desert, he celebrated his last Divine Liturgy on January 27, 1960. A few days later he reposed in peace.

Saint Anthimos was glorified by the Church of Constantinople on August 13, 1992.

¹ The monastery was dedicated to Saints Nikḗtas, John, and Joseph.

² At that time many Greeks in Asia Minor were sent to Greece, and many Turks in Greece went to Turkey.

On the day before Meatfare Sunday, on which we remember the Last Judgment, the Orthodox Church prays for those of its members who may have died unexpectedly because of wars, plagues, starvation, or any other sort of death while they were in a foreign country, or while they were traveling by sea, by land, or by air. The Church also prays for the poor, or for those who may not have received a proper burial, or who had no one to request Memorial Services to be offered for them.

We pray for the departed on this Saturday because the Orthodox Church has established Saturday as the proper day of the week for remembering the dead. On this day before we hear the Gospel about the Last Judgment, we should pause to recall our own inescapable death when we shall appear before Christ to give an account of our lives. May we have "an acceptable defense before His dread Judgment Seat."

As we prepare for the spiritual struggles of the Great Fast, we should remember that we have been given this present life for repentance and for entreating God's mercy. When Christ comes in glory to judge the world, it will be too late then to say that we repent, or to ask for mercy. Therefore, we should make the most of the time that has been given us in order to struggle against every sinful impulse which separates us from God, to confess our sins, to correct ourselves, and to pursue a life of virtue and holiness.

During the week leading up to Meatfare Sunday, we do not sing "Alleluia" in place of "God is the Lord," at Matins. "Alleluia" is appointed to be sung on the Wednesday and Friday of Cheesefare Week, and also during Great Lent. See the TYPIKON or the OCA rubrics book for information about the structure of the pre-Lenten and Lenten services.

Saint Auxentius, by origin a Syrian, served at the court of the emperor Theodosius the Younger (418-450). He was known as a virtuous, learned and wise man, and he was, moreover, a friend of many of the pious men of his era.

Distressed by worldly vanity, Saint Auxentius was ordained to the holy priesthood, and then received monastic tonsure. After this he went to Bithynia and found a solitary place on Mount Oxia, not far from Chalcedon, and there he began the life of a hermit (this mountain was afterwards called Mt. Auxentius). The place of the saint’s efforts was discovered by shepherds seeking their lost sheep. They told others about him, and people began to come to him for healing. Saint Auxentius healed many of the sick and the infirm in the name of the Lord.

In the year 451 Saint Auxentius was invited to the Fourth Ecumenical Council at Chalcedon, where he denounced the Eutychian and Nestorian heresies. Familiar with Holy Scripture and learned in theology, Saint Auxentius easily bested those opponents who disputed with him. After the end of the Council, Saint Auxentius returned to his solitary cell on the mountain. With his spiritual sight he saw the repose of Saint Simeon the Stylite (459) from a great distance.

Saint Auxentius died about the year 470, leaving behind him disciples and many monasteries in the region of Bithynia. He was buried in the Monastery of Saint Hypatius at Rufiananas, Syria.

Saint Cyril Equal of the Apostles, Teacher of the Slavs (Constantine in the schema), and his older brother Methodius (April 6), were Slavs, born in Macedonia in the city of Thessalonica.

Saint Cyril received the finest of educations, and from the age of fourteen he was raised with the son of the emperor. Later, he was ordained as a priest. Upon his return to Constantinople, he worked as a librarian of the cathedral church, and as a professor of philosophy. Saint Cyril successfully held debates with iconoclast heretics and with Moslems.

Yearning for solitude, he went to Mount Olympos to his older brother Methodius, but his solitude lasted only a short while. Both brothers were sent by the emperor Michael on a missionary journey to preach Christianity to the Khazars in the year 857. Along the way they stopped at Cherson and discovered the relics of the Hieromartyr Clement of Rome (November 25).

Arriving at the territory of the Khazars, the holy brothers spoke with them about the Christian Faith. Persuaded by the preaching of Saint Cyril, the Khazar prince together with all his people accepted Christianity. The grateful prince wanted to reward the preachers with rich presents, but they refused this and instead asked the prince to free and send home with them all the Greek captives. Saint Cyril returned to Constantinople together with 200 such captives set free.

In the year 862 began the chief exploit of the holy brothers. At the request of Prince Rostislav, the emperor sent them to Moravia to preach Christianity in the Slavic language. Saints Cyril and Methodius by a revelation from God compiled a Slavonic alphabet and translated the Gospel, Epistles, the Psalter and many Service books into the Slavonic language. They introduced divine services in Slavonic.

The holy brothers were then summoned to Rome at the invitation of the Roman Pope. Pope Adrian received them with great honor, since they brought with them the relics of the Hieromartyr Clement. Sickly by nature and in poor health, Saint Cyril soon fell ill from his many labors, and after taking the schema, he died in the year 869 at the age of forty-two. Before his death, he expressed his wish for his brother to continue the Christian enlightenment of the Slavs. Saint Cyril was buried in the Roman church of Saint Clement, whose own relics also rest there, brought to Italy from Cherson by the Enlighteners of the Slavs.

Saint Isaac was the first person in northern lands to live as a fool for Christ. His name in the world was Chern. Before becoming a monk, he was a rich merchant in the city of Toropets in the Pskov lands. Having distributed all his substance to the poor, he went to Kiev and received the monastic tonsure from Saint Anthony (July 10).

He led a very strict life of reclusion, eating only a single prosphora and a little water at the end of the day. After seven years as a hermit, he was subjected to a fierce temptation by the devil. Having mistaken the Evil One for Christ, he worshipped him, after which he fell down terribly crippled. Saints Anthony and Theodosius took care of him and nursed him. Only after three years did he begin to walk and to speak. He did not wish to attend church, but he was brought there by force.

Upon his return to health he took upon himself the exploit of holy foolishness, enduring beatings, nakedness and cold. Before his death he went into seclusion, where again he was subjected to an onslaught of demons, from which he was delivered by the Sign of the Cross and by prayer.

After his healing he spent about twenty years in asceticism. He died in the year 1090. His relics rest in the Caves of Saint Anthony, and part of them were transferred to Toropets by the igumen of the Kudin monastery in the year 1711. The Life of the Blessed Isaac was recorded by Saint Nestor in the Chronicles (under the year 1074). The account in the Kiev Caves Paterikon differs somewhat from that of Saint Nestor. In the Great Reading Menaion under April 27 is the “Account of Saint Isaac and his Deception by the Devil.”

The Kiev Caves Icon of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos (May 3) is one of the most ancient icons in the Russian Orthodox Church. The Mother of God entrusted it to four Byzantine architects, who in 1073 brought the icon to Saints Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves. The architects arrived at the monks’ cave and asked, “Where do you want to build the church?” The saints answered, “Go, the Lord will point out the place.”

“How is it that you, who are about to die, have still not designated the place?” the architects wondered. “And they gave us much gold.”

Then the monks summoned all the brethren and they began to question the Greeks, saying, “Tell us the truth. Who sent you, and how did you end up here?”

The architects answered, “One day, when each of us was asleep in his own home, handsome youths came to us at sunrise, and said, ‘The Queen summons you to Blachernae.’ We all arrived at the same time and, questioning one another we learned that each of us had heard this command of the Queen, and that the youths had come to each of us. Finally, we beheld the Queen of Heaven with a multitude of warriors. We bowed down to Her, and She said, ‘I want to build Myself a Church in Rus, at Kiev, and so I ask you to do this. Take enough gold for three years.’”

“We bowed down and asked, ‘Lady Queen! You are sending us to a foreign land. To whom are we sent?’ She answered, ‘I send you to the monks Anthony and Theodosius.’”

“We wondered, ‘Why then, Lady, do You give us gold for three years? Tell us that which concerns us, what we shall eat and what we shall drink, and tell us also what You know about it.’”

“The Queen replied, ‘Anthony will merely give the blessing, then depart from this world to eternal repose. The other one, Theodosius, will follow him after two years. Therefore, take enough gold. Moreover, no one can do what I shall do to honor you. I shall give you what eye has not seen, what ear has not heard, and what has not entered into the heart of man (1 Cor.2:9). I, Myself, shall come to look upon the church and I shall dwell within it.’”

“She also gave us relics of the holy martyrs Menignus, Polyeuctus, Leontius, Acacius, Arethas, James, and Theodore, saying, ‘Place these within the foundation.’ We took more than enough gold, and She said, ‘Come out and see the resplendent church.’ We went out and saw a church in the air. Coming inside again, we bowed down and said, ‘Lady Queen, what will be the name of the church?’”

“She answered, ‘I wish to call it by My own name.’ We did not dare to ask what Her name was, but She said again, ‘It will be the church of the Mother of God.’ After giving us this icon, She said, ‘This will be placed within.’ We bowed down to Her and went to our own homes, taking with us the icon we received from the hands of the Queen.”

After hearing this account, everyone glorified God, and Saint Anthony said, “My children, we never left this place. Those handsome youths summoning you were holy angels, and the Queen in Blachernae was the Most Holy Theotokos. As for those who appeared to be us, and the gold they gave you, the Lord only knows how He deigned to do this with His servants. Blessed be your arrival! You are in good company: the venerable icon of the Lady.” For three days Saint Anthony prayed that the Lord would show him the place for the church.

After the first night there was a dew throughout all the land, but it was dry on the holy spot. On the second morning throughout all the land it was dry, but on the holy spot it was wet with dew. On the third morning, they prayed and blessed the place, and measured the width and length of the church with a golden sash. (This sash had been brought long ago by the Varangian Shimon, who had a vision about the building of a church.) A bolt of lightning, falling from heaven by the prayer of Saint Anthony, indicated that this spot was pleasing to God. So the foundation of the church was laid.

The icon of the Mother of God was glorified by numerous miracles.

The Right-believing Prince Michael of Chernigov and his Boyar Theodore were put to death by Batu of the Golden Horde on September 20, 1244. At first, some devout Russian Christians secretly took their relics. Later, the relics of the holy wonderworkers were transferred to the city of Vladimir, then to Chernigov, after Chernigov was ceded to the Poles in the year 1572. On February 14, 1578 Tsar Ivan the Terrible transferred their relics to a church which was dedicated to them in Moscow, with the blessing of Metropolitan Anthony.

In 1770 the relics of Saints Michael and Theodore were transferred to the Meeting of the Lord (Сретенский) cathedral, Since November 21,1774, they have been kept in a hidden place in Moscow's Holy Archangels Cathedral in the Kremlin.

The Holy Martyrs and Confessors Michael and Theodore are commemorated on September 20 (the day of their martyric death); on February 14 (the Translation of their Holy Relics in 1578; and on the Sunday before August 26 (Synaxis of the Moscow Saints).

Saint Maron was born in the fourth century near the city of Cyrrhus in Syria. He spent almost all his time beneath the open sky in prayer, vigil, ascetical works and strict fasting. He obtained from God the gift of healing the sick and casting out demons. He counselled those who turned to him for advice to be temperate, to be concerned for their salvation, and to guard against avarice and anger.

Saint Maron, a friend of Saint John Chrysostom, died before 423 at an advanced age.

Some of Saint Maron’s disciples were James the Hermit (November 26), Limnius (February 23), and Domnina (March 1). Saint Maron founded many monasteries around Cyrrhus, and converted a pagan temple near Antioch into a Christian church.

Saint Abraham, Bishop of Charres, lived during the mid-fourth and early fifth centuries, and was born in the city of Cyrrhus. In his youth he entered a monastery. Later he became a hermit in Lebanon, a place where many pagans lived.

Saint Abraham suffered much vexation from the pagans, who wanted to expel him from their area. He once saw tax-collectors beating those who were unable to pay. Moved to pity, he paid the taxes for them, and those people later accepted Christ.

The Christian inhabitants of this village built a church and they fervently besought Saint Abraham to accept the priesthood and become their pastor. The monk fulfilled their wish. Having encouraged his flock in the faith, he left them another priest in place of himself, and he again retired to a monastery.

For his deep piety he was made bishop of Charres; the saint constantly taught his pastors by his God-pleasing life. From the time of his accepting of the priesthood, he never used cooked food. The emperor Theodosius the Younger wanted to meet the bishop and made him an invitation. After he arrived in Constantinople, Saint Abraham soon died. His remains were solemnly transferred to the city of Charres and there given over to burial.

Holy Hiero-schema monk Hilarion the Georgian (Ise Qanchaveli in the world) was born in 1776 in the village of Losiantkhevi, in the Shorapani district of Kutaisi. His parents, Khakhuli and Mariam Qanchaveli, were pious and God-fearing nobles.

According to God’s will, Ise’s uncle, the hermit Hierodeacon Stepane, took his six-year-old nephew into his care. When Stepane reposed, Ise moved to Tabakini Monastery, but learning that a seminary had opened in Tbilisi, he set off for it. On his way he visited a certain Bishop Athanasios of Nikozi to receive his blessing, but the bishop, delighted by the youth’s fervent prayers, advised him to return home to his family: “My son, you will learn much more in the wilderness than you ever could in the classroom. Return home, and the Lord, having instructed you in prayer, will lead you on a path that will serve your people and the Church.”

Ise returned to the bosom of his family, and his father took him to Kutaisi to be raised in the court of the Imeretian king. King Solomon II (1789-1815) soon recognized that the young Ise stood above all the other courtiers in piety, and he appointed him to be his personal spiritual adviser and instructor. At the king’s suggestion, Ise married the Princess Mariam. Soon after his marriage, the humble nobleman was ordained to the priesthood and appointed confessor of the court church. Only two years later Princess Mariam reposed, leaving Fr. Ise a widower.

After the Russian annexation of Kartli-Kakheti, the imperial court of the tsar increased diplomatic correspondence with the court of King Solomon II. The king was urged likewise to unite the Imeretian Kingdom to Russia. Solomon summoned a council of noblemen, and it was decided that Imereti would remain independent, while maintaining friendly relations with Russia until the king’s death. However, it was agreed that since King Solomon had no heir, after his repose the court of the imperial tsar would acquire jurisdiction over the region.

But the political climate in Georgia became increasingly tense, and the ability of the Imeretian court to govern was severely undermined.

The court was suddenly besieged with cases of envy and treason, and it became necessary for the king to flee to Turkey. Protopresbyter Ise Qanchaveli accompanied King Solomon II to his place of exile and remained with him to the end of the king’s life.

After the king’s death in 1815, Fr. Ise received an amnesty from Tsar Alexander I (1801-1825) on behalf of the king and his court. Ise himself planned to go into reclusion in the village where he was born, but King Solomon’s widow, Queen Mariam, summoned him to Moscow where she was being held in “honorable captivity.” Fr. Ise brought to her a piece of the Life-giving Cross of our Lord, which had belonged to King Solomon, and the queen preserved her husband’s treasure in the court church.

But life at the imperial court was tiresome for the God-fearing Fr. Ise, so he exchanged his clothing for beggars’ rags and set off for Mt. Athos in the year 1819.

Fr. Ise appeared before the holy fathers of Mt. Athos as an unknown pilgrim, who had come to venerate the holy places. He first visited Ivḗron Monastery and from there crossed over the peninsula to Dionysiou Monastery.

In 1821 Ise was tonsured a monk and given the name Hilarion. He was presented with new monastic garments for the tonsure service, but asked permission to remain dressed in his own rags.

Fr. Hilarion fulfilled his every obedience with love. He was dispirited only by his ignorance of the Greek language, which prevented him from hearing and understanding the Word of God during the divine services. Finally he received permission from the abbot of Dionysiou to borrow some of the Georgian books from the large collection of sacred manuscripts at Ivḗron Monastery.

Upon arriving at the monastery, Fr. Hilarion went to venerate the Ivḗron Icon of the Mother of God. While praying on his knees before the icon, a Greek archimandrite whom he knew from Moscow saw and recognized him. He bowed before him, kissed his hands and cried out: “Fr. Ise! Holy Shepherd! Confessor of the king!”

Soon the news spread through all the monasteries of Mt. Athos that the spiritual father of the king had concealed himself as a beggar.

Everywhere the monks greeted him with great reverence. But Fr. Hilarion, ashamed of the attention, withdrew to the wilderness not far from the monastery.

At that time, in retaliation for the Greek Insurrection of 1821, the Turks were pillaging Greece and slaughtering the Christians. In 1822 a certain Abdul Robut-Pasha surrounded the Holy Mountain with an enormous army and commanded the abbots of all the monasteries to submit to his authority. Representatives of all the monasteries, including Fr. Hilarion and two others from Dionysiou were sent to Chromitsa to petition the pasha. Fr. Hilarion stood boldly before the pasha, burning with a desire to be martyred at the hands of an unbeliever.

Having learned that Fr. Hilarion was a Georgian, Robut-Pasha was overjoyed: he himself was also Georgian by descent but had been kidnapped by the Turks in his early adolescence.

The pasha proposed that Saint Hilarion leave the monastery and move to his palace in Thessalonica, promising him every kind of material wealth. But Fr. Hilarion refused and condemned the ruler’s unbelief. The furious pasha began to curse the Orthodox believers and all the Christian saints, among them the Most Holy Theotokos. The holy father was allowed no opportunity to reply to the pasha’s blasphemous remarks; instead they released him and took the other monks captive.

Having returned to the monastery, Fr. Hilarion regretted that he had not properly rebuffed the blasphemous pasha. His suffering was aggravated when the unbeliever continued to martyr and massacre other Christians. Finally he asked the abbot for his blessing and set off for the Turkish court in Thessalonica. There he stood before the pasha and fearlessly trampled upon his false teachings: “You sought to deny the virginity of the Most Holy Mother of God,” he charged. “Even your prophet Muhammad admits that Jesus was born without seed of a Virgin and that the mystery of the birth of God is necessarily beyond human comprehension. He is the True God, Who took on flesh for the salvation of mankind, to rescue fallen man from the curse of sin and death!”

The pasha began to argue, but Saint Hilarion told him, “You, the son of Christian parents, are on such a brutal rampage that you have deadened the pangs of conscience calling you back to the true Faith!”

The pasha laughed and answered that he was glad to have been delivered from the “ridiculous” Christian Faith. “I am indebted to the man who kidnapped me from my parents and sold me to the Turks,” he said, “and I have since rewarded him generously for his deed. If your Faith is indeed true, why have you fallen into the hands of the invaders? Why has your beloved God punished you so?”

“You misunderstand everything, Pasha,” answered Saint Hilarion.

“Does not a loving father take up the rod when his beloved son runs wild? Truly he does this not out of hatred but out of love, desiring to save the ignorant from grave misfortune. When the father sees that his child has corrected his behavior, he casts the rod into the fire. The Lord has permitted these sorrows to befall us because of our sins. You are a staff in the hands of the Lord: when He sees that we have mended our ways, He will cast you into the fire as well!”

For three consecutive days Saint Hilarion confronted the pasha in his palace, desiring to infuriate him to the point that he would order his execution. On the fourth day Saint Hilarion arrived at the palace and began to speak about the falseness of Muhammad and the Islamic faith.

Then the pasha provoked him even further, demanding, “What do you think—where will we go after death?”

Standing amidst believers of divers faiths, Saint Hilarion boldly answered that only those who truly believe in God, who are found in the bosom of the Orthodox Faith of Christ, will be saved. The enraged bystanders demanded that the insolent monk be executed, and Abdul Robut-Pasha finally ordered his death. Saint Hilarion prepared to meet death with joy, but a pair of the pasha’s servants, Georgians by descent, requested that the pasha repeal his death sentence, since it would be shameful for them to murder their fellow countryman.

They intended to send him in secret to Mt. Athos, but instead Saint Hilarion began to minister to the sick prisoners held in Thessalonica, and he selflessly dedicated himself to their service for six months. Then, according to God’s will, he set off again for Mt. Athos. Having returned to his monastery, Fr. Hilarion labored for three years as a hermit and afterwards withdrew to the tower of New Skete (a dependency of the Monastery of Saint Paul) to lead a life of strict asceticism.

On Fridays he kept a strict fast, and on other days he ate only tiny pieces of dried bread. These he would place in a narrow-mouthed jar and eat only what he was able to draw out with his hand. He drank just one glass of water a day. Throughout the period of his reclusion in the tower, demons tempted Saint Hilarion with terrible visions.

Once a group of faithful Christians desired to visit the hermit. As the elder received no one, they were not admitted. The pilgrims therefore decided to form a human ladder, standing one on top of the other in order to reach the small window of his cell. Fearing for their lives but not wanting to break his vow of reclusion, Saint Hilarion temporarily abandoned his cell and fled to the forest.

After some time, Saint Hilarion became physically weak from his strict ascetic labors and was forced to leave behind the solitary life. With the help of his faithful friend Benedict the Georgian, he gradually regained some of his strength and moved to the Ivḗron Monastery.

At the Ivḗron Monastery he took charge of the Georgian library, organized a catalog, and compiled twelve volumes of Lives of the Saints, which he entitled The Flower Garden. He presented the twelve volumes to the abbot of Zographou Monastery before the latter departed for Russia. In Russia the abbot published the twelve volumes in the Georgian language—without mention of the name of their compiler.

Saint Hilarion reposed at Saint Panteleimon Monastery, known as the Russikon, in a cell named for Great-martyr George, on February 14, 1864. Though he was desperately ill, Saint Hilarion continued to thank the Lord sincerely until his last day. “Glory to God!” he would say. “I desired martyrdom, but God did not grant it to me. Instead He sent me an illness which will be equal in merit to martyrdom if I am able to bear it!”

Prior to his death he asked his disciple, Father Savva, to bury his body in secret, but circumstances later required that his burial place be revealed. In 1867, during the vigil for the feast of the Ascension of our Lord, a group of monks opened Saint Hilarion’s burial vault and immediately sensed a sweet fragrance issuing forth from his body. At that moment one of the hermits saw a brilliant sphere of light shining like the sun over Fr. Hilarion’s cell.

The Holy Synod of the Georgian Apostolic Orthodox Church canonized Hieroschemamonk Hilarion (Qanchaveli) on October 17, 2002, and to differentiate him from Saint Hilarion the Georgian (commemorated November 19), called him “Hilarion Kartveli, Akhali” or “Hilarion the Georgian, the New.”

Saint Martinian went to live in the wilderness at the age of eighteen, not far from the city of Caesarea in Palestine. For twenty-five years, he devoted himself to ascetic deeds and silence, and he was granted the gift of healing illnesses and casting out demons. However, the Enemy of the human race would not stop troubling the holy ascetic with various temptations.

One day a prostitute overheard some citizens of Caesarea speaking of Saint Martinian's virtuous life, so she asked them why they were amazed by it. She said that he went to live in the desert because he could not endure the temptations of the flesh in the city. Furthermore, she made a wager with them that she could topple this pillar of virtue with her beauty and seduce him.

She came to him one night, dressed in shabby clothes, pretending that she had lost her way in the storm, and asking for shelter. Reluctantly, the saint allowed her to enter his cell, because he did not wish to be the cause of her death. He went into the inner room of his cell, telling her she would have to leave in the morning. After chanting Psalms according to his Rule, he went to sleep on the floor, but he was disturbed by carnal thoughts. Meanwhile, the wicked guest opened the bag she had been carrying and changed into her beautiful clothes and adorned herself with jewels.

When morning came, Saint Martinian came out to send the woman away. Though he was tempted by the woman’s beauty, he was determined not to fall into sin. Lighting a fire, he stepped into it, saying, “You want me to burn with temptation, but I will not give in to it. Instead, I choose to burn in this fire in order to preserve my purity and to escape the unquenchable fires of Hell."

The woman was astonished at the lengths Saint Martinian was willing to go, and she realized how evil she was. She repented and asked the saint to guide her onto the way of salvation. He told her to go to Bethlehem, and enter the convent founded by Saint Paula (January 26). There she lived as a nun for twelve years in strict asceticism until her blessed repose. The woman’s name was Zoe.

After his burns healed, Saint Martinian went to an uninhabited rocky island, and lived on it under the open sky for several years, nourished by the provisions brought by a certain sailor from time to time. In return the monk wove baskets for him.

One day a ship was wrecked by a powerful storm, and a woman named Photina floated to the island on pieces of the wreckage Saint Martinian helped her to survive on the island. “Remain here,” he told her, “for I am leaving you bread and water, and in two months a boat will come and return you to the mainland."

Saint Martinian refused to stay on the island with the woman, believing that it would be better to drown than to burn with lust. He jumped into the sea and swam away, and a pair of dolphins carried him to dry land. Thereafter, Saint Martinian led the life of a wanderer. Later, he came to Athens and fell ill. Sensing the approach of death, he went into a church and lay upon the floor. God revealed to the Bishop of Athens who Saint Martinian was, and the hierarch buried his body with honor. This occurred around the year 422.

As for Saint Photina, she did not board the ship when it came to the island, electing to stay there by herself. She asked the captain of the ship to have his wife bring her men's clothing and some wool, promising to make clothes for his family. She also asked the woman to bring her bread and water in addition to the other supplies.

Saint Photina lived on the island for six years, and then she went to the Lord. Two months after her repose, the captain and his wife found her incorrupt relics and brought them to Caesarea in Palestine. He had a vision which revealed many details of Saint Photina's life, which he shared with the bishop. Then they buried her with great honor and reverence.

Saint Simeon the Myrrh-Gusher, King of Serbia Stephen Nemanya was the Great Zhupan of Serbia, and lived during the twelfth century. The saint toiled much for his fatherland: he united a large portion of the Serbian lands, and strove for the political independence of his country from the Byzantine Empire. In his zeal for the Orthodox Church, he defended his nation against heresy and false teaching.

At the age of eighty, Stephen went to Mt. Athos, where his son Saint Savva (January 12), was glorified by the holiness of his life. Together they restored the desolate Hilandar monastery, to which monks from various lands began to gather.

Saint Simeon was a great ascetic and wise guide for the monks. He died on February 13, 1200, and his relics began to exude myrrh. Saint Savva transported his father’s relics back to Serbia, and placed them in a church of the Most Holy Theotokos at the River Studenitsa. Saint Simeon had richly adorned this church while he was still ruler of Serbia.

Saint Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria, was one of the enlightened hierarchs of the sixth century. At first he was igumen of the monastery of the Mother of God in Antioch, and then in 579 he was chosen as Patriarch of Alexandria, where he served for twenty-seven years. Throughout his life, the saint struggled vigorously against heresies. He was also a friend of Saint Gregory Dialogus (March 12), and some of their correspondence has been preserved.

Saint Eulogius died in 607 or 608. Saint Photius quotes from his writings, which reveal an Orthodox theology of the two natures of our Lord Jesus Christ. Only one of his sermons, for Palm Sunday, has survived in complete form.

On February 13, the Russian Orthodox Church commemorates the appearance of Christ to Saint Martin of Tours (October 12 and November 11).

From childhood, Saint Martin was known for his compassionate heart and great pity for the poor. When he was twenty-two years old, even before he was baptized, he began to give away all his possessions to those in need, and soon he was left with just one set of clothes and a knife.

Saint Martin, like many young men, had to serve in the army for several years. One day, when the weather was very harsh and unusually cold, he met a man at the city gates of Amiens, almost naked, and begging for alms. Martin saw that people just walked past the man without taking any notice. Since Martin had already given away everything he owned, he had only his cloak and his uniform. No one else would help the beggar, so Martin felt that it was his responsibility to do something for him.

Recalling the Savior's words: "If anyone wishes to judge you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak as well" (Matthew 5:40), Martin drew his sword and cut his cloak in two. Giving half to the beggar, he wrapped himself in the other half. Seeing him in the torn cloak, those standing by began to laugh at his strange appearance. Others, who had more sense, regretted the fact that they had done nothing for the man, although they could have clothed the beggar without uncovering themselves as Saint Martin did.

That night, in his sleep, Martin saw Christ wearing half of his cloak, which he had given the beggar. The Lord told him to look at Him and to notice that it was the same garment. Then the Savior said to the Angels who surrounded Him, "Martin is still just a catechumen, but he has clothed me in this garment."

Saint Martin did not become puffed up with pride because of this vision. Instead, he saw this as a sign of God's goodness, which confirmed Christ's words: "Truly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of my brethren, you did it to me" (Matthew 25:40).

Because Saint Martin gave alms throughout his life, he was rewarded with the gift of working miracles. Let us follow his example so that we might be granted a small corner of Paradise.

Saint Seraphima (Euthymia Euthymova Morgacheva, in the world), was born on September 14, 1806 in the village of Ningvo-Lomov in the diocese of Ryazan and lived an ascetical life at a monastery in Sezhenovo, Russia. She departed to the Lord in the year 1877.

Saint George (in the world Gregory Iosifovich Konissky) was born into a prominent family on November 20, 1717 in the town of Nezin. He studied at the Kiev Theological Academy and became a monk in the Kiev Caves Lavra.

Later he served as Archbishop of Mogilev, Belarus and reposed peacefully in the year 1795.

Saint Meletius, Archbishop of Antioch, was Bishop of Sebaste in Armenia (ca. 357), and afterwards he was summoned to Antioch by the emperor Constantius to help combat the Arian heresy, and was appointed to that See.

Saint Meletius struggled zealously against the Arian error, but through the intrigues of the heretics he was thrice deposed from his cathedra by the Emperor Constantius who had become surrounded by the Arians and had accepted their position. In all this Saint Meletius was distinguished by an extraordinary gentleness, and he constantly led his flock by the example of his own virtue and kindly disposition, supposing that the seeds of the true teaching sprout more readily on such soil.

Saint Meletius was the one who ordained the future hierarch Saint Basil the Great as deacon. Saint Meletius also baptized and encouraged another of the greatest luminaries of Orthodoxy, Saint John Chrysostom, who later eulogized his former archpastor.

After Constantius, the throne was occupied by Julian the Apostate, and the saint again was expelled, having to hide himself in secret places for his safety. Returning under the emperor Jovian in the year 363, Saint Meletius wrote his theological treatise, “Exposition of the Faith,” which facilitated the conversion of many of the Arians to Orthodoxy.

In the year 381, under the emperor Theodosius the Great (379-395), the Second Ecumenical Council was convened. In the year 380 the saint had set off on his way to the Second Ecumenical Council at Constantinople, and came to preside over it.

Before the start of the Council, Saint Meletius raised his hand displaying three fingers, and then withdrawing two fingers and leaving one extended he blessed the people, proclaiming: “We understand three hypostases, and we speak about a single nature.” With this declaration, a fire surrounded the saint like lightning. During the Council Saint Meletius fell asleep in the Lord. Saint Gregory of Nyssa honored the memory of the deceased with a eulogy.

Saint Meletius has left treatises on the consubstantiality of the Son of God with the Father, and a letter to the emperor Jovian concerning the Holy Trinity. The relics of Saint Meletius were transferred from Constantinople to Antioch.

Saint Alexei, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia the Wonderworker (in the world Eleutherios), was born in the year 1292 (or according to another source, 1304) at Moscow into the family of the noble Theodore Byakont, a descendant of the Chernigov princely line.

The Lord revealed to the future Saint his lofty destiny from early childhood. At twelve years of age Eleutherios went to a field and set nets to ensnare birds. He dozed off and suddenly he heard a voice: “Alexei! Why do you labor in vain? You are to be a catcher of men."

From this day on the boy abandoned childish games and spent much time in solitude. He often attended church, and when he was fifteen he decided to become a monk.

In 1320, he entered Moscow’s Theophany Monastery, where he spent more than twelve years in strict monastic struggles. The renowned ascetics of that monastery, the Elders Gerontios and Saint Stephen (July 14), the brother of Saint Sergius of Radonezh, were guides for him and his companions.

Metropolitan Theognostos, who noticed the virtuous life and spiritual gifts of Saint Alexei, bade the future Saint to leave the monastery and manage the ecclesiastical courts. The Saint fulfilled this office for twelve years. Toward the end of 1350, Metropolitan Theognostos had Alexei consecrated as Bishop of Vladimir. Following the Metropolitan's repose in the year 1354, Saint Alexei succeeded him.

During this period the Russian Church was torn by great rifts and quarrels, in part because of the pretensions of Metropolitan Romanos of Lithuania and Volhynia. In 1356, in order to put an end to the troubles and disturbances, the Saint went to Constantinople to see the Ecumenical Patriarch. Patriarch Kallistos gave Saint Alexei the right to be called, and to consider himself, as both Archbishop of Kiev and Great Russia with the title, “Most Venerable Metropolitan and Exarch.”

On his return journey, during a storm at sea, the ship was in danger of sinking. Saint Alexei prayed and vowed to build a temple to the Saint of that day on which the ship should come to shore. The storm subsided, and the ship arrived on August 16.

In spite of problems on every side, Saint Alexei devoted himself to his flock: he appointed bishops, and established cenobitic monasteries (on the model of the Trinity Lavra, founded by Saint Sergius), and he brought order to Russian relations with the Khans of the Horde. Saint Alexei journeyed more than once to the Golden Horde. In 1357 the Khan told the Great Prince that Saint Alexei should come to him and heal the blindness of his wife Taidulla.

“That is beyond my power,” Metropolitan Alexei replied, “but I believe that God, Who gave sight to the blind, will also help me.” By his prayers, and after sprinkling the Khan's wife with holy water, she was healed.

When Great Prince John died, his young son Demetrios (the future saint), then still a minor, was taken under the Saint Alexei's guardianship. The holy Hierarch had much difficulty in reconciling and appeasing the Princes, who obstinately refused to accept Moscow's authority. Nor did Vladyka Metropolitan neglect the work of establishing new monasteries.

In 1361 he founded a Monastery dedicated to the Icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands at the Yauza in Moscow. Andronikos, the disciple of Saint Sergius, was the first Igoumen of the Monastery, thus fulfilling the vow he had made on his return journey from Constantinople, when the ship was in danger.

Metropolitan Alexei also founded the Chudov Monastery¹ in the Moscow Kremlin. Ancient monasteries were restored: the Annunciation Monastery at Nizhni-Novgorod, and Saints Constantine and Helen at Vladimir. In 1361 a women’s cenobitic monastery was named for him (Alekse'ev).

Saint Alexei reached the advanced age of seventy-eight, having spent twenty-four years upon the metropolitan cathedra. He reposed on February 12, 1378 and was buried at the Chudov Monastery in accordance with his last wishes. His relics were uncovered in a miraculous manner fifty years later, after which the memory of the great holy Hierarch and intercessor began to be commemorated.

Saint Alexei is also commemorated on May 20 (Recovery of his relics) and on October 5 (Synaxis of the Moscow Hierarchs).

¹ The Monastery is dedicated to the Miracle of the Archangel Michael (September 6).

Saint Meletios, Archbishop of Khar'kov and Akhtyrsk (in the world Michael Ivanovich Leontovich), was born on November 6, 1784 in the village of Stara Stanzhara in the Poltava district.

In 1808 Michael Leontovich successfully completed the Ekaterinoslav religious Seminary. Since he was the best student, Archbishop Platon of Ekterinoslav sent him to Peterburg, to the Saint Alexander Nevsky Spiritual Academy.¹ Graduating in 1814 with a Master's Degree, he was appointed as adjunct professor of Greek.

On March 11, 1817 they appointed Michael Leontovich as Secretary of the Academy Building Committee.

On July 30, 1817 he was transferred to the Kiev religious Seminary, serving in the position of Inspector, as well as Professor of Church History and Greek. When the Kiev Spiritual Academy opened on September 28, 1819, Michael became its first Inspector.

On February 11, 1820, on the eve of the Feast of Saint Meletios of Antioch, he was tonsured as a monk with the name Meletios, in the kathoikon of the Kiev-Bratsk Monastery, The tonsure was done by Metropolitan Eugene (Bolkhovitnikov). of Kiev. On February 22, 1820 the Monk Meletios was ordained to the diaconate by Metropolitan Eugene, and then as a Hieromonk on February 25.

On August 9, 1821 Hieromonk Meletios was appointed as Rector of the Mogilevsk religious Seminary and head of the Khutynsk Orshansk Monastery, and raised to the dignity of Archimandrite. In August 1823 he was appointed as Rector of the Pskov religious Seminary. On January 24,1824 Archimandrite Meletios was appointed as Rector of the Kiev Spiritual Academy.

In October 1826 the Holy Synod decided to name Archimandrite Meletios as Bishop of Chigirinsk, a vicar of the Kiev Diocese, and head of the Zlatoverkh Mikhailov Monastery. On October 19, 1826 he was elected as bishop, and on October 21, 1826 his consecration took place at Kiev's Holy Wisdom cathedral.

With paternal love, the Saint concerned himself with young foster-children, raising them in a spirit of devotion to the Church of Christ. He paid particular attention to the needy, widows, and orphans. He often visited those in prison and provided them the consolation of Divine Services in the prison churches. He was also concerned about the spiritual nourishment of the brethren of the Mikhailov Monastery. By his edifying discourses and personal example, he inspired the monks with the spirit of true asceticism. Saint Meletios said: "Humility is a protective sword, by which we pass over earth and Hades, to reach Heaven."

In April 1828 Saint Meletios was transferred to the cathedral in Perm.

Strict with himself, the Saint was also strict with others. To prepare candidates for accepting of the dignity of the priesthood, Saint Meletios himself wrote the so‑called "Ordinand's Catechism". In August 1831 Vladika was transferred to the See of Irkutsk, and elevated to the rank of Archbishop.

Vladika Meletios devoted much attention to the enlightenment of the lesser nations of Russia with the light of the Gospel. He founded churches in the north of Kamchatka, in the northeast parts of the Irkutsk Diocese and along the Aldan River, on the tract from Yakutsk to Okhotsk. He often reviewed his wide-spread Diocese, going to the shores of the Okhotsk and Arctic Seas, to the boundaries of North America, where Father John Veniaminov, the reknowned Apostle of Siberia (later known as Saint Innocent), the Apostle to America was.² Journeying through Siberia and along the shores of the Pacific Ocean, Saint Meletios frequently interacted with the native peoples who professed Lamaism. Gently, he urged them to abandon their errors, and explained the Gospel truths to these pagan peoples: the Tungus, the Buryats, the Kamchadali, and also the inhabitants of the Kurile and Aleutian Islands.

Because of his tireless labors, Vladika's health began to deteriorate, and they transferred him to the Slobodsk-Ukraine See (later the See of Khar'kov and Akhtyrsk) in 1835.

Saint Meletios showed great interest in the institutions of spiritual learning, concerning himself with the life and education of the clergy.

The Archbishop raised questions about reopening the monasteries and spiritual schools which Empress Catherine II had closed. He also devoted much labor to the struggle with the schismatics.

On July 2, 1839 Saint Meletios led the service in the city of Akhtyrsk for the tenth anniversary of the appearance of the wonderworking Akhtyrsk Icon of the Mother of God.

The Saint's blessed repose occurred on the night of February 29, 1840. After receiving Holy Communion, he made the Sign of the Cross, and then he turned to everyone to say, "Forgive me." With those words, he departed to the Lord.

On March 4, 1840 Saint Meletios was buried by Bishop Iliodore of Kursk, in a crypt beneath the Church of the Cross at the Protection Monastery.

Immediately after his death, believers had great faith in the powerful intercession of Saint Meletios with God, and they received healing in sicknesses, comfort in sorrows, and deliverance from difficult circumstances. Believers in Khar'kov placed their trust in Saint Meletios during the terrible days of World War II. With miraculous advice, the Saint foretold the impending deliverance of the city from the enemy.

In 1948, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexei, the coffin with the relics of Saint Meletios was transferred to the cathedral of the Annunciation.

On February 21, 1978, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church "approved and blessed a Church Service and an Akathist to Saint Meletios, Archbishop of Khar'kov and Akhtyrsk," for use in all churches of the Moscow Patriarchate. The Service and Akathist to the holy Archpastor was composed by Archbishop Νikόdēmos of Khar'kov (later Metropolitan of Leningrad).

The shrine containing the Saint's relics, from which believers receive grace-filled help, the healing of ailments of the soul and body is located in the left (northern) aisle of the cathedral.

Saint Meletios is commemorated on February 12 (his Name Day) and on February 29 (the day of his repose).³

¹ A Spiritual Academy ranks higher than a seminary.
² Saint Innocent is commemorated on March 31 (the day of his repose), and on September 23 (the day of his glorification in 1977.
³ February 28 in non-Leap Years.

The Venerable Mary (called Marinus) and her father Eugene, lived at the beginning of the VI century in Bithynia (Bithynίa – in the northwestern region of Asia Minor). When Maria's mother died, her father decided to enter a monastery, but Maria also wished to betroth herself to Christ . But Mary could not bear to be separated from her father, and so she donned male clothing. Together they entered a monastery, not far from Alexandria, where she was tonsured with the name Marinus.

"Brother" Marinus excelled in the virtues, and was distinguished by humility and obedience. When, a few years later, Saint Mary's father reposed, she intensified her ascetical labors and received from the Lord the gift of healing those possessed by unclean spirits.

One day the "monk" Marinus, along with some other brethren, was sent out on monastery business, and on the way they had to spend the night at an inn. The innkeeper's daughter, who had sinned with a soldier, and became pregnant, believed that Mary was a man, and burned with desire for the young "monk." The daughter humiliated herself when Mary repulsed her, and the wanton woman sought revenge. Therefore, she accused the "monk" of seducing her, naming "him" as the father of her child. Then she became possessed by a demon. The innkeeper complained to the Igoumen of the monastery, who expelled the "brother" who had sinned. Mary did not deny the false accusation, but went out to live near the monastery wall. When a boy was born to the sinful daughter, the innkeeper brought him to the "monk" Marinus, leaving his grandson with her and departed. The Saint took the infant and raised him as her own.

After three years, the brethren begged the Igoumen to accept the "monk" Marinus into the monastery again. Very reluctantly the Igoumen gave in to their requests, assigning to "Brother Marinus" the most onerous obediences, which the nun fulfilled with the utmost zeal, continuing to bring up her supposed son.

Three years later, the Saint peacefully departed to the Lord in her cell. The brethren who came saw the deceased "monk" and the boy weeping over "him." When they began to prepare her body for burial, her secret was revealed. The Igoumen tearfully begged forgiveness from the deceased, and the innkeeper followed his example. The Saint's body was reverently buried in the monastery. The daughter of the innkeeper came to the Saint's tomb and openly confessed her sin, after which she was immediately healed of her demonic possession. Later, the boy who was brought up by the nun, became a monk.

The Saint's relics were transferred to Constantinople, and from there they were taken to Venice in 1113.

Saint Anthony, Patriarch of Constantinople, was a native of Asia, but lived in Constantinople from his youth. He was born around 829 of rich and pious parents. After the death of his mother, he entered a monastery at the age of twelve, where following the example of the igumen, he spent his nights in prayer and led a strict monastic life.

With the passage of time, and against his will, he was ordained to the holy priesthood. Later, at the insistence of the Patriarch, he was made an igumen. Serving in this rank, he tonsured his own father into monasticism. Saint Anthony was distinguished by his mercy, by his love and concern for the destitute, and he provided generous help to them.

Elevated to the Patriarchal throne at Constantinople in 893, Saint Anthony intensified his care for the destitute, and especially for their spiritual condition. With the assistance of the emperor Leo the Wise, Patriarch Anthony did much good for the Church, and encouraged piety in the people. He also built a monastery over the relics of Saint Kallia (February 12). Despite being stooped over with age, he went around all the churches, fulfilling the command of the Savior to be the servant of all the brethren.

In the year 895, advanced in age, Saint Anthony went peacefully to the Lord.

The holy New Martyr Kristo was an Albanian who worked in a vegetable garden. At the age of forty, he decided to go to Constantinople to seek better business opportunities.

One day he was negotiating with a Turk who wished to purchase his entire stock of apples, but they were unable to agree on a price. The Turk became angry and accused Kristo of expressing a desire to become a Moslem. Kristo was brought before the authorities, and false witnesses were found to testify that he had indeed stated his intention to convert.

Kristo declared that he never said that he wished to become a Moslem. His testimony was discounted, however, because he was a Christian, and Moslem witnesses had contradicted him.

The saint was beaten and tortured the next day, but remained steadfast in his confession of Christ. Kaisarios Dapontes, a well known monk and author, visited Saint Kristo and got him freed from the place where he was chained. He brought food for him, but he refused to eat. “Why should I eat?” he asked. “I do not expect to live, so I may as well die hungering and thirsting for Christ.”

Since he refused to abandon the Orthodox Faith, Saint Kristo was sentenced to be beheaded. Before they led him away, Kristo gave Dapontes a metal file and told him to sell it and use the money to have memorial services offered for him.

On February 12, 1748 Saint Kristo the Gardener was beheaded, thereby receiving an imperishable crown of glory from Christ.

During the reign of Emperor Theophilos (829-842) the Byzantine Empire was in turmoil because of the heresy of iconoclasm. In accordance with the Emperor’s orders, thousands of soldiers scoured the Empire, searching in every corner, city, and village for any hidden icons.

A pious widow living near the city of Nicaea had concealed an Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos in her home. Before long, the soldiers found it, and one of them stabbed it with his spear. By God’s grace this terrible deed was overshadowed by a miracle: blood began to flow from the wounded face of the Mother of God. The frightened soldiers ran away after witnessing this.

The widow spent the entire night keeping vigil and praying before the Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. In the morning, by God’s will, she took the Icon to the sea and cast it upon the water. The holy Icon stood upright on the waves and began to drift westward.

Time passed, and one evening (circa 1004), the monks of Ivḗron Monastery on Mount Athos noticed a pillar of light, shining upon the sea like the sun. This miraculous sign lasted for several days, while the Fathers of the Holy Mountain gathered together and marveled. Finally they went down to the edge of the sea, where they beheld the pillar of light standing over the Icon of the Theotokos. When they approached, however, the Icon moved farther out to sea.

At that time a Georgian monk named Gabriel was living at the Ivḗron (Georgian) Monastery. The Theotokos appeared to the Athonite Fathers and told them that only Father Gabriel was worthy to retrieve the holy Icon from the sea. She also appeared to Father Gabriel and told him, “Go into the sea, and walk upon the waves with faith, and everyone shall witness my love and mercy for your Monastery.”

The monks found Father Gabriel and led him down to the sea, chanting hymns, and censing with holy incense. Father Gabriel walked upon the water as if it were dry land, and taking the Icon in his hands, he carried it back to shore. This miracle occurred on Bright Tuesday.

While the monks were celebrating a Service of thanksgiving, a cold, sweet spring miraculously gushed forth from the ground where the Icon was standing. Afterward, they took it into the church and placed in the sanctuary with great reverence.

The next morning one of the monks went to light the lamps in church and discovered that the Icon was no longer where they had put it; now it was on the wall near the entry gate. The monks took it down and returned it to the sanctuary, but the next day the Icon was found once again at the Monastery gate. This miracle recurred several times, until the All-Holy Virgin appeared to Father Gabriel, saying, “Inform the brethren that from now on they must not carry me away. For what I desire is not to be protected by you; but instead I shall protect you, both in this life, and in the age to come. As long as my Icon remains in the Monastery, the grace and mercy of my Son shall never be lacking!”

Filled with great joy, the monks built a small church near the Monastery gate in honor of the Mother of God, and placed the wonderworking Icon inside. This holy Icon came to be known as the “Ivḗron Mother of God” or Πορταΐτισσα in Greek.¹ Through the intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, many miracles have taken place and continue to take place throughout the world.

¹ Πορταΐτισσα = The Gate-Keeper.

Saint Prochorus the Georgian, a descendant of the noble Shavteli family, was born at the end of the 10th century and grew up in a monastery. When he reached manhood he was ordained a hieromonk and labored for one year at the Lavra of Saint Savva in Jerusalem. Then, with the blessing of his spiritual father Ekvtime Grdzeli, he began the reconstruction of the Holy Cross Georgian Monastery near Jerusalem.

According to tradition, at this spot Abraham’s nephew Lot planted three trees—a cypress, a pine, and a cedar. Eventually these three trees miraculously grew into one large tree. When the Temple of Solomon was being built, this tree was cut down but left unused. It is said that the Cross on which Christ our Savior was crucified was constructed from the wood of this tree.

In the 4th century, the land on which the miraculous tree had grown was presented to Holy King Mirian, the first Christian king of Georgia. Then in the 5th century, during the reign of Holy King Vakhtang Gorgasali, the Holy Cross Monastery was founded on that land. The monastery was destroyed several times between the 7th and 9th centuries.

Finally, in the 11th century, King Bagrat Kuropalates offered much of his wealth to Fr. Prochorus for the restoration of the monastery. Saint Prochorus beautified the monastery, then gathered eighty monks and established the typicon (the monastic rule) for the community in accordance with that of the Saint Savva Lavra.

When Saint Prochorus had labored long and lived to an advanced age, he chose his disciple Giorgi to be the monastery’s next abbot.

Then he departed for the wilderness with two of his disciples, and after some time the righteous monk yielded up his spirit to God.

Beyond this, little is known about the life of Saint Prochorus. According to Georgian researchers and scholars, he was probably born sometime between 985 and 990. He spent the years 1010 to 1015 in Jerusalem, and labored at the Lavra of Saint Savva until 1025. He reposed in the year 1066, between the ages of 76 and 81.

Saint Nikoloz Dvali the Martyr was born at the end of the 13th century to a God-fearing couple who directed his path toward the spiritual life.

At the age of twelve Nikoloz traveled to the Klarjeti Wilderness and was tonsured a monk. From there he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and remained in the holy city, settling at the Holy Cross Monastery. Burning with desire for the apostolic life, Monk Nikoloz was determined to die a martyr’s death.

In Jerusalem a group of godless men arrested and tormented Saint Nikoloz for publicly confessing the Christian Faith, but a group of Christians succeeded in rescuing him from prison. Then, in accordance with his abbot’s counsel, Saint Nikoloz relocated to a Georgian monastery on Cyprus. There the pious monk beseeched the Lord to make him worthy of the crown of martyrdom. One day, while he was praying before the icon of Saint John the Baptist, he heard a voice saying, “Nikoloz! Arise and go to Jerusalem. There you will find a Georgian monk who will teach you the way of righteousness and encourage you on the path of martyrdom. He has been appointed to guide you.”

Accordingly, Saint Nikoloz returned to Jerusalem, met the monk whom God had appointed, and informed him of what had been revealed. The Most Holy Theotokos and Saint John the Baptist appeared to Saint Nikoloz’s spiritual father, who had been praying intensely for guidance, and told him that it was the Lord’s will for Nikoloz to journey to Damascus.

While in Damascus, the holy father entered a mosque and openly confessed Christ to be the Savior, reproving those present for their folly. The angry Muslims seized Saint Nikoloz, beat him, and cast him into prison. After a great struggle, the metropolitan and local Christians succeeded in recovering him from captivity, but he immediately returned to the Muslims and began again to denounce their ungodly ways. Again they beat him mercilessly, lashed him five hundred times, and cast him in prison for a second time. But the holy martyr’s wounds were healed through the miraculous intercession of Saint John the Baptist, and after two months he was released from prison.

By chance the emir of the city caught a glimpse of Saint Nikoloz as he was preparing to return to Jerusalem. The emir recognized him and sent him to Dengiz, the emir of emirs. Dengiz flattered him and offered to convert him to Islam, but Saint Nikoloz bravely defended his faith in Christ. In response, Dengiz ordered his execution.

At the hour appointed by Dengiz, the blessed martyr turned to the east, joyfully bowed his neck to the sword, and prayed, “Glory to Thee, O Christ God, Who hast accounted me worthy to die for Thy name’s sake.” The sword pierced his neck, but the severed head glorified God seven times, crying out, “Glory to Thee, O Christ our God!”

The Persians burned the saint’s body, and for three days a pillar of light shone at the place where it lay.

When Saint Nikoloz’s spiritual father heard about his martyrdom, he prayed to God to reveal to him whether Nikoloz would be numbered among the saints. Then one day while he was reading, he saw a vision of a host of saints standing atop a mountain, illumined and surrounded by a cloud of incense. Among them the Great-martyr George shone especially brightly, and he called Saint Nikoloz, saying, “Nikoloz! Come and see the monk, your spiritual father. He has shed many tears for you.”

Nikoloz greeted his spiritual father, saying, “Behold me and the place where I am, and from this day cease your sorrowing for me.”

Saint Nikoloz Dvali was tortured to death on Tuesday, October 19, in the year 1314. The Georgian Church continues to commemorate him on that date.

Venerable Bassian of Úglich was a disciple of the Saint Paisios of Uglich (+ June 6, 1504). He was born in the village of Rozhalov, located in the Kesovsk volost of the city of Bezhetsky Verkh,¹ and he was descended from the family of the Shestikhinsky Princes (their ancestor is the right-believing Prince Theodore of Smolensk (+ September 19, 1299). Venerable Bassian entered the Protection Monastery when he was 33 years old, and soon he was tonsured by Saint Paisios.

He went through his obediences without murmuring and lived in great abstinence. In 1482, Saint Bassian discovered the Protection Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos on the banks of the Volga. After spending 20 years in the monastery of SaintPaisios, Bassian asked his blessing to live a life of silence. His instructor blessed him, saying, "Go, child desired by Christ, with His easy yoke (Matthew 11:30), and please the Lord. Soon you will form your own monastery and gather a monastic flock for the glory of the Most Holy Trinity."

In the year 1492 Saint Bassian left the Monastery and, after spending some time at the Saint Nicholas-Uleim Monastery,² he went to a remote place 30 versts south of Uglich and began a solitary life of ascetical contests. But soon people found his secluded dwelling, and began coming to him for advice and guidance. In 1492 the Saint built a wooden church dedicated to the Most Holy Trinity, and soon those who wished to receive the monastic tonsure gathered there.

The Saint did not sever his contact with his instructor until his death, at which time he was with other disciples. After he had lived for 17 years at Holy Trinity Monastery, Saint Bassian reposed on February 12, 1509. Three years later, a certain Gerasimos was freed from an unclean spirit at the Saint's grave, and a man named Valerian was healed of his paralysis.

In 1548, during the construction of a stone church to replace the ancient wooden one, the Saint's incorrupt relics were found,over which a stone vault was built. The Monastery was restored in 1764, and Holy Trinity church became a parish church.The church has not survived to this day, and the Saint's burial place has been lost. The memory of "Venerable Vassian, theSuperior of Ryabov Hermitage" is noted in the "Description of the Russian Saints" (end of the XVII–XVIII centuries). Local veneration was tacitly approved by the inclusion of his name in the Synaxis of Rostov-Yaroslavl Saints (May 23).

¹ Bezhetsky Verkh is located 20 versts from the town of Bezhetsk, Tver region. in the territory between the Mota River and the tributaries of the Volga, became part of the Moscow state, together with Novgorod.

² The Pritection-Saint Nicholas Monastery, in which Saint Vassian was tonsured, is located three versts from the city of Uglich, on the left bank of the Volga.

³ The Saint Nicholas-Uleima Monastery is located 10 versts from Uglich at the confluence of the Uleyma and Vorzhekhoti rivers. The Saint's ascetical life was spent on the territory of the present day Yaroslavl Region (Yaroslavl Diocese).

The holy martyr Luka of Jerusalem lived in the 13th century. He was born to an honorable, pious Georgian family by the name of Mukhaisdze. After the repose of Luka’s father, his mother left her children and went to labor at a monastery in Jerusalem.

When Luka reached the age of twenty, he traveled to Jerusalem to visit his mother and venerate the holy places. After spending some time there he decided to remain and be tonsured a monk. He was later ordained a deacon and became fluent in Arabic. Soon the brothers of the monastery recognized his wisdom and asked him to guide them as abbot. For three years Luka directed the monastery in an exemplary manner.

But the devil was envious of the holy father and provoked a certain Shekh-Khidar, an influential Persian at the court of Sultan Penducht [probably Sultan Zakhir-Rukedin-Baibars-Bundukdar of Egypt (1260-1277)] to take up arms against Saint Luka. Sultan Penducht then transferred possession of the Holy Cross Monastery to Shekh-Khidar, who “treated the Georgian monks in a beastly manner and finally ousted them from the monastery altogether.” Fulfilling his God-given duty, the blessed Luka insisted on personally confronting Shekh-Khidar in defense of his brotherhood.

Luka’s Christian brothers and sisters warned him, saying, “Shekh-Khidar is threatening you…. Flee and hide from him!” But Luka paid no heed to their admonitions, certain that it was more fitting to die for Christ than to live for the world. As he had insisted, he himself approached Shekh-Khidar and asked for the release of the imprisoned fathers.

Luka told him that he was prepared to accept any demands. The wicked Persian leader demanded nothing from Luka except that he convert to Islam, promising to make him emir if he consented. When he refused, the furious Shekh-Khidar ordered Saint Luka’s beheading.

After the terrible deed had been performed, Saint Luka’s severed head turned toward the east and gave thanks to God with an expression of pure peace. Soon after, his precious body was set on fire at the command of the bewildered Shekh-Khidar. This occurred in 1277.

The Hieromartyr Blaise (Blasius), Bishop of Sebaste, was known for his righteous and devout life. Unanimously chosen by the people, he was consecrated Bishop of Sebaste. This occurred during the reign of the Roman emperors Diocletian (284-305) and Licinius (307-324), fierce persecutors of Christians. Saint Blaise encouraged his flock, visited the imprisoned, and gave support to the martyrs.

Many hid themselves from the persecutors by going off to desolate and solitary places. Saint Blaise also hid himself away on Mount Argeos, where he lived in a cave. Wild beasts came up to him and meekly waited until the saint finished his prayer and blessed them. The saint also healed sick animals by laying his hands upon them.

The refuge of the saint was discovered by servants of the governor Agrilaus, who had come to capture wild beasts to loose on the Christian martyrs. The servants reported to their master that Christians were hiding on the mountain, and he gave orders to arrest them. But those sent out found there only the Bishop of Sebaste. Glorifying God Who had summoned him to this exploit, Saint Blaise followed the soldiers.

Along the way the saint healed the sick and worked other miracles. Thus, a destitute widow complained to him of her misfortune. A wolf had carried off a small pig, her only possession. The bishop smiled and said to her, “Do not weep, your pig will be returned to you…” To the astonishment of everyone, the wolf came running back and returned his prey unharmed.

Agrilaus, greeting the bishop with words of deceit, called him a companion of the gods. The saint answered the greeting, but he called the gods devils. Then they beat him and led him off to prison.

On the next day, they subjected the saint to tortures again. When they led him back to the prison, seven women followed behind and gathered up the drops of blood. They arrested them and tried to compel them to worship the idols. The women pretended to consent to this and said that first they needed to wash the idols in the waters of a lake. They took the idols and threw them in a very deep part of the lake, and after this the Christians were fiercely tortured. The saints stoically endured the torments, strengthened by the grace of God, their bodies were transformed and became white as snow. One of the women had two young sons, who implored their mother to help them attain the Kingdom of Heaven, and she entrusted them to the care of Saint Blaise. The seven holy women were beheaded.

Saint Blaise was again brought before Agrilaus, and again he unflinchingly confessed his faith in Christ. The governor ordered that the martyr be thrown into a lake. The saint, going down to the water, signed himself with the Sign of the Cross, and he walked on it as though on dry land.

Addressing the pagans standing about on shore, he challenged them to come to him while calling on the help of their gods. Sixty-eight men of the governor’s retinue entered the water, and immediately drowned. The saint, however, heeding the angel who had appeared to him, returned to shore.

Agrilaus was in a rage over losing his finest servants, and he gave orders to behead Saint Blaise, and the two sons of the woman martyr entrusted to him. Before his death, the martyr prayed for the whole world, and especially for those honoring his memory. This occurred in about the year 316.

The relics of the Hieromartyr Blaise were brought to the West during the time of the Crusades, and portions of the relics are preserved in many of the lands of Europe [and his memory traditionally honored there on February 3].

We pray to Saint Blaise for the health of domestic animals, and for protection from wild beasts.

Saint Demetrios (Dēmḗtrios) of Priluki, Wonderworker, was born into a rich merchant’s family in Pereyaslavl-Zalessk. From his youth the saint was uncommonly handsome. Receiving monastic tonsure at one of the Pereyaslavl monasteries, the saint later founded the Saint Nicholas cenobitic monastery on the Saints Boris and Gleb Hill at the shore of Lake Plescheevo near the city, and became its igumen.

In 1334 Saint Demetrios first met with Saint Sergius of Radonezh, who had come to Pereyaslavl to see Metropolitan Athanasius. From that time, he frequently conversed with Saint Sergius and became close with him. The fame of the Pereyaslavl igumen was so widespread that he became godfather to the children of Great Prince Demetrios Ioannovich. Under the influence of the Radonezh wonderworker, Saint Demetrios decided to withdraw to a remote place, and went north with his disciple Pachomius.

In the Vologda forests, at the River Velika, near the Avnezh settlement, they built a church of the Resurrection of Christ and they prepared to lay the foundations for a monastery. The local inhabitants were fearful that if a monastery were built there, their village would become monastery property. They demanded that the monks leave their territory, and wishing to be a burden to no one, they moved farther away.

Not far from Vologda, at the bend of a river in an isolated spot, Saint Demetrios decided to form the first of the cenobitic monasteries of the Russian North. The people of Vologda and the surrounding gladly consented to help the saint. The owners of the land intended for the monastery, Elias and Isidore, even trampled down a grain field, so that a temple might be built immediately. In 1371 the wooden Savior cathedral was built, and brethren began to gather.

Many disciples of the monk came there from Pereyaslavl. Saint Demetrios combined prayer and strict asceticism with kindliness. He fed the poor and hungry, he took in strangers, he conversed with those in need of consolation, and he gave counsel. He loved to pray in solitude. His Lenten food consisted of prosphora with warm water. Even on feastdays, he would not partake of the wine and fish permitted by the Rule. Both winter and summer he wore an old sheepskin coat, and even in his old age he went with the brethren on common tasks. The saint accepted contributions to the monastery cautiously, so that the welfare of the monastery would not be detrimental to those living nearby.

The Lord granted His servant the gift of clairvoyance, and he attained a high degree of spiritual perfection. Saint Demetrios died at an advanced age on February 11, 1392. The brethren approaching found him as though asleep, and his cell was filled with a wondrous fragrance.

Miracles from the relics of Saint Demetrios began in the year 1409, and during the fifteenth century his veneration spread throughout all Rus. And no later than the year 1440, the Priluki monk Macarius recorded his Life (Great Reading Menaion, February 11) based on the narratives of Saint Demetrios’s disciple Igumen Pachomius.

Holy Prince Vsevolod of Pskov, in Baptism Gabriel, a grandson of Vladimir Monomakh, was born at Novgorod, where in the years 1088-1093 and 1095-1117 his father ruled as prince. His father was the holy prince Saint Mstislav-Theodore the Great (April 15). In the year 1117, when Great Prince Vladimir Monomakh gave Mstislav Kievan Belgorod as his “udel” (land-holding), practically making him co-ruler, young Vsevolod remained as his father’s vicar in the Novgorod principality.

Holy Prince Vsevolod did much good for Novgorod. Together with the Archbishop of Novgorod, Saint Niphon (April 8), he raised up many churches, among which were the cathedral of the Great Martyr George at the Yuriev monastery, and the church of Saint John the Forerunner at Opokakh, built in honor of the “angel” (i.e. patron saint) of his first-born son John, who had died in infancy (+ 1128).

In his Ustav (Law code) the prince granted a special charter of lands and privileges to the cathedral of Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) and other churches. During a terrible famine, he exhausted his entire treasury to save people from perishing. Prince Vsevolod was a valiant warrior, he marched victoriously against the Yam and Chud peoples, but he never took up the sword for lucre or power.

In 1132, upon the death of holy Great Prince Mstislav, Vsevolod’s uncle Prince Yaropolk of Kiev fulfilled the last wishes of his brother and transferred Vsevolod to Pereyaslavl, then regarded as the eldest city after Kiev itself. But the younger sons of Monomakh, Yuri Dolgoruky and Andrew Dobry, were apprehensive lest Yaropolk make Vsevolod his successor at Kiev, and so they marched out against their nephew. Hoping to avoid internecine strife, Saint Vsevolod returned to Novgorod, but was received there with disaffection. The Novgorodians felt that the prince had been “raised” by them and should not have left them earlier. “Vsevolod went to Rus, to Pereslavl,” noted the Novgorod chronicler, “and kissed the cross against the Novgorodians, saying, ‘I will kill you.’”

Striving to restore good relations with Novgorod, the prince undertook a victorious campaign against the Chud people in 1133, and he annexed Yuriev to the Novgorod domain. But a harsh winter campaign in 1135-1136 against Suzdal was unsuccessful. The stubborn people of Novgorod would not heed their chastisement by God, and they could not forgive the prince for their defeat. The assembly decided to summon a prince from the hostile Monomakh line of the Olgovichi, and they condemned Saint Vsevolod to banishment. “You suffered exile at the hands of your own people,” we sing in the troparion to the saint. For a month and a half they held the prince and his family under guard at the archbishop’s palace. When Prince Svyatoslav Olgovich arrived on July 15, 1136, Vsevolod was released from his captivity.

Vsevolod went again to Kiev, and his uncle Yaropolk gave him the Vyshgorod district near Kiev, the place where Saint Olga (July 11) had lived in the tenth century during the rule of her son Svyatoslav, “preferring the cities of Kiev and Pskov.” Saint Olga came to the defense of her descendant in 1137 when the people of Pskov, recalling the campaigns of the Novgorod-Pskov army led by the prince, invited him to the Pskov principality, the native region of Saint Olga. He was the first Pskov prince, chosen by the will of the Pskov people.

Among the glorious works of Saint Vsevolod-Gabriel at Pskov was the construction of the first stone church dedicated to the Life-Creating Trinity, replacing a wooden church from the time of Saint Olga. On the icons of the saint, he is often depicted holding the church of the Holy Trinity.

Saint Vsevolod ruled as prince at Pskov for only a year. He died on February 11, 1138 at the age of forty-six. All of Pskov gathered at the funeral of the beloved prince, and the chanting of the choir could scarcely be heard over the people’s wailing.

The people of Novgorod sent an archpriest from the Sophia cathedral to take his holy relics back to Novgorod. The prince, however, did not want his body to rest in Novgorod. He would not allow Pskov to be deprived of his relics by the people of Novgorod, who had driven him out, and the coffin would not move from the spot. The Novgorod people wept bitterly and repented in their misfortune. Then they asked to be given just a small piece of his relics “for the protection of their city.” Through their prayers a fingernail fell from the saint’s hand. The Pskov people put Saint Vsevolod into the temple of the holy Great Martyr Demetrius. Beside the grave they placed the military armaments of the prince, a shield and sword, in the shape of a cross, with the Latin inscription, “I will yield my honor to no one.”

On November 27, 1192, the relics of holy Prince Vsevolod were uncovered and transferred into the Trinity cathedral, in which a chapel was consecrated in his honor.

The deep spiritual bond of the city of Saint Olga with the holy Prince Vsevolod was never broken. He always remained a Pskov wonderworker. At the siege of Pskov by Stephen Bathory in 1581, when the walls of the fortress were already breached and the Poles were ready to rush into the city, they brought the holy relics of Prince Vsevolod from the Trinity cathedral to the place of battle, and the enemy withdrew.

On April 22, 1834, on the first day of Pascha, the saint’s holy relics were solemnly transferred to a new shrine in the main church of the cathedral.

At the appearance of the wonderworking Pskov-Protection Icon (October 1), holy Prince Vsevolod-Gabriel stood among the heavenly defenders of Pskov.

Holy Empress Theodora was the wife of the Byzantine emperor Theophilus the Iconoclast (829-842), but she did not share in the heresy of her husband and secretly venerated the holy icons. After the death of her husband, Saint Theodora governed the realm because her son Michael was a minor.

She convened a Council, at which the Iconoclasts were anathematized, and the veneration of icons was reinstated. Saint Theodora established the annual celebration of this event, the Triumph of Orthodoxy, on the first Sunday of the Great Fast. Saint Theodora did much for Holy Church and fostered a firm devotion to Orthodoxy in her son Michael.

When Michael came of age, she was retired from governing and spent eight years in the monastery of Saint Euphrosynē, where she devoted herself to ascetic struggles, and reading books that nourished her soul.

A copy of the Gospels, copied in her own hand, is known to exist. She died peacefully around the year 867.

In 1460, her relics were given by the Turks to the people of Kerkyra (Corfu).

The Holy Martyr George the New was born into an illustrious Bulgarian family, living in the capital city of Bulgaria, Sredets (now the city of Sofia). Saint George’s childless parents, John and Mary, in their declining years entreated the Lord to send them a child. Their prayer was answered, and they baptized the infant with the name of the holy Great Martyr George (April 23).

Young George received a fine upbringing, he attentively studied the Holy Scriptures, and he was pious and chaste. His parents died when George was twenty-five. At that time Bulgaria found itself under the rule of the Turks, who forcibly converted Christians to Islam.

Once, several Moslems tried to convert George. They put a fez on the saint’s head. This is a red circular hat which Moslems wear to enter their house of prayer. But George threw the fez on the ground. The Turks brought the martyr to their governor with beatings and abuse.

The governor was impressed with Saint George’s appearance and bearing, and he urged him to accept Islam, promising honors and wealth from Sultan Selim (1512-1520). The saint boldly and steadfastly confessed his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and reproached the errors of Islam. The governor in a rage gave orders to beat Saint George with rods, but the saint persevered in his confession of faith in Christ.

The governor ordered the tortures to be increased. The passion-bearer bore all his sufferings, calling on the Lord Jesus Christ for help. Then they led the martyr through the city to the beat of a drum and shouts: “Do not insult Mohammed nor abase the Moslem faith”.

Finally, a large fire was lit in the city, to burn Saint George. Weakened by his wounds, the saint fell to the ground. They threw him into the fire still alive, and they threw corpses of dogs on top of him so that Christians would not be able to find the relics of the martyr.

Suddenly, a heavy rain fell and extinguished the fire. With the onset of darkness, the place where the body of the martyr was thrown was illumined with a bright light. They gave permission to a certain Christian priest to take the venerable relics of the martyr for burial. Informed about the occurrence, Metropolitan Jeremiah and his clergy went to the place of execution. In the ashes of the fire they located the body of the holy Martyr George and carried it to the church of Saint George the Great Martyr in the city of Sredets.

On May 26, 1515 the holy relics of Saint George were removed from the grave, placed in a coffin, and then brought into the church, where they have remained ever since. The Church honors Saint George twice during the year: on February 11, the day of his martyrdom, and on May 26, the uncovering of his holy relics.

Saint Gobnata was born in Co.Clare at the end of the fifth, or the beginning of the sixth century. Later she fled to the Aran Islands to escape from some enemy. An angel appeared to her one day and told her to leave that place and to keep walking until she found nine white deer. She saw three white deer at Clondrohid, Co. Cork, and decided to follow them. Then at Ballymakeera, she saw six white deer. Finally, at Ballyvourney she came upon nine white deer grazing in a wood. There she was given land for a women’s monastery by her spiritual Father Saint Abban of Kilabban, Co. Laois (March 16), and he installed her as abbess. Excavations in 1951 proved that indeed there had been an early Christian settlement on the site.

Saint Gobnata was renowned for her gift of healing, and there is a story of how she kept the plague from Ballyvourney. She is also famous for her skill as a bee-keeper.

One day, Saint Gobnata was watching from a hill overlooking a valley as an invading chieftain and his army came through, destroying crops and driving off cattle. She sent the bees to attack them, and they were thrown into such confusion that they left without their plunder.

The holy virgin Saint Gobnata fell asleep in the Lord on February 11. The exact year of her death is not known, but it probably occurred in the sixth century. Although she is regarded as the patron saint of Ballyvourney, she is venerated throughout southern Ireland. There are churches dedicated to her in Waterford and Kerry, for example, and she is also revered in Scotland.