Orthodox Calendar November 28 Confessor Saint Arsenius of Prislop Venerable Father Arsenius was born on September 29, 1910, in the village of Vața de Sus in Hunedoara County, receiving at baptism the name Zian-Vălean. In the home of his parents, Iosif-Petru and Creștina Boca, simple and hardworking people, he grew up in the fear of…
Orthodox Calendar, November 27 Greatmartyr James the Persian The Holy Great Martyr James the Persian (the Sawn-Asunder) was born in the fourth century into a pious Christian family, both wealthy and illustrious. His wife was also a Christian, and the couple raised their children in piety, inspiring in them a love for prayer and the…
Orthodox Calendar, November 26 Saint Alypius the Stylite He was born in the city of Adrianopolis in Paphlagonia. His mother, a Christian, was widowed early, and she sent her son to be educated by Bishop Theodore. She distributed her substance to the poor, then began to live an ascetic life near the church as a…
Orthodox Calendar, November 25 Holy Great Martyr Catherine She was the daughter of Constus, the governor of Alexandrian Egypt during the reign of the emperor Maximian (305-313). Living in the capital, the center of Hellenistic knowledge, and possessed of a rare beauty and intellect, Catherine received an excellent education, studying the works of the greatest…
Orthodox Calendar, November 24 Hieromartyr Clement, Pope of Rome He was born at Rome into a rich and illustrious family. Separated from his parents from childhood by force of circumstances, Clement was raised by strangers. Living in Rome, the youth received a fine education, he was surrounded by luxury, and had access to the imperial…
Orthodox Calendar, November 23 Saint Anthony the Hesychast He was born in the sub-Carpathian Mountains of Vilcea county in Romania, and he loved Christ from his early childhood. He knew many ascetics who lived as hesychasts, and they had a profound effect upon his life. He received the monastic tonsure at the Iezerul Skete, where…
Orthodox Calendar, November 22 Apostle Philemon and Archippus, St. Onesimus, disciple of St. Paul and Martyr Apphia, wife of Philemon The Holy Apostles of the Seventy Philemon and his wife Apphia lived in the city of Colossa in Phrygia. After they were baptized by the holy Apostle Paul, they converted their house into a house…
Orthodox Calendar, November 21 The Entry of the Most Holy Mother of God into the Temple According to Holy Tradition, the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple took place in the following manner. The parents of the Virgin Mary, Saints Joachim and Anna, praying for an end to their childlessness, vowed that…
Orthodox Calendar, November 20 The three Old Testament readings at Great Vespers refer to the Temple. The first lesson (Exodus 40:1-5, 9-10, 16, 34-35) refers to the arrangement of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation (a portable sanctuary which was carried by the Israelites in their wanderings). The second lesson (III Kings/I Kings…
Orthodox Calendar, November 19 Holy Prophet Obadiah (Abdia) He was the fourth of the Twelve Minor Prophets, and he lived during the ninth century B.C. He was from the village of Betharam, near Sichem, and he served as steward of the impious Israelite King Ahab. In those days the whole of Israel had turned away…
Orthodox Calendar, November 18 Saint Nectarius the Protopsaltis He was born on the blessed soil of Romania, in the city of Huși, in 1804, receiving at Holy Baptism the name Nicolae. His parents, Vasile and Joița Crețu, had eight children: two sons, who embraced the monastic life at Neamț Monastery, and six daughters, three of…
