Feasts and Saints

Venerable Joseph the Hymnographer, George of Maleon and Zosimas (Lazarus Saturday; Commemoration of the departed)

Orthodox Calendar, April 4 Saint Joseph the Hymnographer  The sweet-voiced nightingale of the Church was born in Sicily in 816 into a pious Christian family. His parents, Plotinos and Agatha, moved to the Peloponnesos to save themselves from barbarian invasions. When he was fifteen, Saint Joseph went to Thessalonica and entered the monastery of Latomos. He…

Apr 4, 2026basilica.ro

Venerable Nicetas the Confessor and Illyricus

Orthodox Calendar, April 3 Venerable Nicetas the Confessor and Illyricus Saint Nicetas the Confessor was born in Bithynian Caesarea (northwest Asia Minor) of a pious family. His mother died eight days after his birth, and his father Philaretos became a monk. The child remained in the care of his grandmother, who raised him in a…

Apr 3, 2026basilica.ro

Ven. Titus the Wonderworker; Martyrs Amphianus & Edesius

Orthodox Calendar, April 2 Saint Titus the Wonderworker He displayed zeal for the monastic life from his youth. He pursued asceticism in the ninth century at the Studion monastery near Constantinople. By his deeds of fasting, purity of life and mild disposition, Saint Titus gained the love of the brethren, and at their request he…

Apr 2, 2026basilica.ro

St Mary of Egypt; Martyr Gerontius; Venerable Makarios, Igoumen of Pelēketḗ; Venerable Barsanuphius of Optina

Orthodox Calendar, April 1 St Mary of Egypt Saint Zosimas was a monk at a certain Palestinian monastery on the outskirts of Caesarea. Having dwelt at the monastery since his childhood, he lived there in asceticism until he reached the age of fifty-three. Then he was disturbed by the thought that he had attained perfection,…

Apr 1, 2026basilica.ro

St. Hypatius the Wonderworker and Bishop of Gangra. Martyr Benjamin the Deacon

Orthodox Calendar, March 31 St. Hypatius the Wonderworker and Bishop of Gangra Hieromartyr Hypatius, Bishop of Gangra, was bishop of the city of Gangra in Paphlagonia (Asia Minor). In the year 325 he participated in the First Ecumenical Council at Nicea, at which the heresy of Arius was anathematized. When Saint Hypatius was returning in…

Mar 31, 2026basilica.ro

Venerable John Climacus; St. Euboula, the Mother of St. Panteleimon

Orthodox Calendar, March 30 Venerable John Climacus Saint John of the Ladder is honored by Holy Church as a great ascetic and author of the renowned spiritual book called “The Ladder”, from which he is also called “of the Ladder” (Climacus). There is almost no information about Saint John’s origins. One tradition suggests that he…

Mar 30, 2026basilica.ro

Hieromartyrs Mark the Bishop of Arethusa, Cyril the Deacon; Martyrs Ionas and Varahisios; Saint Diadochos of Photiki; 5th Sunday of Great Lent (St Mary of Egypt)

Orthodox calendar, March 29 Hieromartyr Mark, Bishop of Arethusa Hieromartyr Mark, Bishop of Arethusa, suffered for his faith in Christ under the emperor Julian the Apostate (361-363). By order of the emperor Constantine (May 21), Saint Mark had once destroyed a pagan temple and built a Christian church. When Julian came to the throne, he…

Mar 29, 2026basilica.ro

Venerable Hilarion the New, the Abbot of Pelekete and Stephen the Wonderworker, the Abbot of Trigli (Memorial Saturday)

Orthodox Calendar, March 28 Venerable Hilarion Saint Hilarion the New, Igumen of Pelekete Monastery, from his youth devoted himself to the service of God and spent many years as a hermit. Because of his holy and blameless life he was ordained to the holy priesthood, and later he was made igumen of the Pelekete monastery…

Mar 28, 2026Sorin Ioniţe

Martyr Matrona of Thessalonica; Martyrs Philetus and Lidia, his wife, with their 4 children (Matins with the Akathist Hymn to the Mother of God)

Orthodox Calendar, March 27 Martyr Matrona of Thessalonica The Holy Martyr Matrona of Thessalonica suffered in the third or fourth century. She was a slave of the Jewish woman Pautila (or Pantilla), wife of one of the military commanders of Thessalonica. Pautila constantly mocked her slave for her faith in Christ, and tried to convert…

Mar 27, 2026basilica.ro

Leavetaking of the Annunciation; Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel; Martyr Montanus the Presbyter, and his wife Maxima; 26 Martyrs from the Gothic Church

Orthodox Calendar, March 26 Synaxis of the Holy Archangel Gabriel On the Leavetaking of the Feast of the Annunciation, the Church commemorates the Archangel Gabriel, who announced the great mystery of the Incarnation of Christ to the Virgin Mary. There is no period of Afterfeast due to Great Lent. The Archangel Gabriel was chosen by…

Mar 26, 2026basilica.ro

(†) The Annunciation (Fish permitted)

The Feast of the Annunciation is one of the earliest Christian feasts, and was already being celebrated in the fourth century. There is a painting of the Annunciation in the catacomb of Priscilla in Rome dating from the second century. The Council of Toledo in 656 mentions the Feast, and the Council in Trullo in…

Mar 25, 2026basilica.ro