Orthodox Calendar, January 1 The Circumcision of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ On the eighth day after His Nativity, our Lord Jesus Christ was circumcised in accordance with the Old Testament Law. All male infants underwent circumcision as a sign of God’s Covenant with the holy Forefather Abraham and his descendants [Genesis 17:10-14, Leviticus…
Orthodox Calendar – December 31 Martyr Hermes St. Monk Hermes served with humility and deep devotion to Christ in the church of the city of Bononia. Here there was a holy place and many worshippers among the native Dacian-Romans, living like him with great Christian piety and obeying and following the commandments of the true…
Orthodox Calendar – December 30 Virginmartyr Anysia at Thessalonica The Holy Virgin Martyr Anysia lived in the city of Thessalonica during the reign of the the co-Emperor Maximian (286-305). Upon the death of her parents, who had raised her in Christian piety, Saint Anysia sold everything she owned, distributing her riches to the poor, and…
Orthodox Calendar December 29 14,000 Holy Infants They were killed by King Herod in Bethlehem. When the time came for the Incarnation of the Son of God and His Birth of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, Magi in the East beheld a new star in the heavens, foretelling the Nativity of the King of the…
Orthodox Calendar, December 28 The Holy 20,000 Martyrs of Nicomedia At the beginning of the fourth century the emperor Maximian (284-305) gave orders to destroy Christian churches, to burn service books, and to deprive all Christians of rights and privileges of citizenship. At this time the bishop of the city of Nicomedia was Saint Cyril,…
Orthodox Calendar, December 27 Saint Stephen, Protomartyr and Archdeacon He was the eldest of the seven deacons, appointed by the Apostles themselves, and therefore he is called “archdeacon.” He was the first Christian martyr, and he suffered for Christ when he was about thirty. In the words of Asterias, he was “the starting point of…
Orthodox Calendar, December 26 Synaxis of the Most Holy Mother of God On the second day of the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Church has established the celebration of the Synaxis of the Most Holy Mother of God. The name of today’s festival signifies the gathering of the faithful in…
Orthodox Calendar December 25 Our Lord’s Nativity was nine months after He took flesh from the Holy Spirit, at the Annunciation, when God sent Archangel Gabriel to announce Virgin Mary: “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, was born of the Most…
Orthodox Calendar December 24 Holy Martyr Eugenia was a Roman by birth. She lived at Alexandria, where her father Philip was sent by the emperor Commodus (180-192) to be Prefect of Egypt. Eugenia received a fine upbringing and was noted for her beauty and good disposition. Many illustrious youths sought her hand, but she did…
Orthodox Calendar December 23 Saint Antonina of Tismana Saint Antonina of Tismana was born on March 7, 1923, in the village of Runcu, Vâlcea County, into a family of devout Christians, Ispas and Maria. She had two brothers and one sister. At Holy Baptism she received the name Ilinca. From early childhood, she sought the…
Orthodox Calendar December 22 Saint Peter Mogila In 1632 Wladyslaw IV, the successor to King Sigismund of Poland, gave permission for the Orthodox to elect their own metropolitan of Kiev. Peter Mogila (1597–1646), the head of the Orthodox theological school that had been founded in 1615 at the Kievan Caves Monastery, was chosen. The saint…
