Orthodox Calendar April 21 Hieromartyr Januarius Bishop of Benevento Hieromartyr Januarius Bishop of Benevento, and the deacons Proculus, Sossius and Faustus, Desiderius the Reader, Eutychius and Acution suffered martyrdom for Christ about the year 305 during the persecution ordered by the emperor Diocletian (284-305). They arrested Saint Januarius and led him to trial before Menignus,…
Orthodox Calendar April 20 St Theotimus, Bishop of Tomis Saint Theotimus the Scythian was Bishop of Tomis in Scythia. He was a native of Dacia Pontica, and was part Roman. He is believed to have been the teacher of Saint John Cassian (February 29) and Saint Germanus, because he was once living in the same…
Orthodox Calendar, April 19 Saint John of the Ancient Caves He is called so because he lived during the eighth century in the Lavra of Saint Chariton (September 28). This was called the “Old,” or ancient cave, since it was one the oldest of the Palestinian monasteries. The Lavra was situated not far from Bethlehem,…
Orthodox Calendar, April 18 Venerable John the Disciple of the Venerable Gregory of Decapolis Saint John was born at the end of the eighth century. At a young age he became a disciple of Saint Gregory of Decapolis (November 20) and accepted monastic tonsure from him at a monastery in Thessalonica. Under the guidance of…
Orthodox Calendar, April 17 The Life-Giving Spring of the Most Holy Theotokos There once was a beautiful church in Constantinople dedicated to the Mother of God, which had been built in the fifth century by the holy Emperor Leo the Great (January 20) in the Seven Towers district. Before becoming emperor, Leo was walking in…
Orthodox Calendar, April 16 Holy Martyrs Agape, Irene, and Chionia They were sisters who lived at the end of the third century to the beginning of the fourth century, near the Italian city of Aquilea. They were left orphaned at an early age. The young women led a pious Christian life and they turned down…
Orthodox Calendar April 15 Apostles Aristarchus, Pudens and Trophimus of the Seventy Saint Aristarchus was one of the Seventy Apostles, whom the Lord Jesus Christ sent to proclaim the good news of the Gospel (Luke. 10:1-24). Saint Aristarchus, a co-worker of the holy Apostle Paul, became bishop of the Syrian city of Apamea. His name is…
Orthodox Calendar April 14 Saint Pachomius of Gledin He was born in 1674, in Gledin village, Bistriţa-Năsăud region. Having been brought up by parents obedient to God, he became a true follower of Christ and because the Orthodox faith was persecuted in Transylvania he left his parents’ house and went to Moldavia, to Neamţ Monastery,…
Orthodox Calendar April 13 The Holy Martyr Sava of Buzău This holy father of ours suffered for Christ in the year 372, during the persecution of Athanaric, at the hands of the official Atharid, being put to death by drowning in the Buzău River. On this day, the twelfth of the month, we commemorate the…
Orthodox Calendar, April 20 Holy Pascha: The Resurrection of Our Lord Enjoy ye all the feast of faith; receive ye all the riches of loving-kindness. (Sermon of Saint John Chrysostom, read at Paschal Matins) The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the center of the Christian faith. Saint Paul says that if Christ…
Orthodox Calendar, April 11 Great and Holy Saturday On Great and Holy Saturday the Church contemplates the mystery of the Lord’s descent into Hades, the place of the dead. Death, our ultimate enemy, is defeated from within. “He (Christ) gave Himself as a ransom to death in which we were held captive, sold under sin.…
