Orthodox Calendar, November 6 St. Paul the Confessor, Archbishop of Constantinople Saint Paul the Confessor, Archbishop of Constantinople, was chosen to the patriarchal throne after the death of Patriarch Alexander (†340), when the Arian heresy had again flared up. Many of the Arians were present at the Council which selected the new Archbishop of Constantinople.…
Orthodox Calendar, November 4 Saint Joannicius the Great He was born in Bithynia in the year 752 in the village of Marikat. His parents were destitute and could not provide him even the basics of an education. From childhood he had to tend the family cattle, their sole wealth. Love for God and prayer completely…
Orthodox Calendar, November 3 Martyrs Akepsimas the Bishop, Joseph the Presbyter and Aethalas the Deacon of Persia They were leaders of the Christian Church in the Persian city of Naesson. His flock devotedly loved their hierarch for his ascetic life and tireless pastoral work. The emperor Sapor ordered his men to seek out and kill…
Orthodox Calendar, November 1 The Holy Wonderworkers and Unmercenary Physicians Cosmas and Damian The Holy Wonderworkers and Unmercenary Physicians Cosmas and Damian and their mother Saint Theodota were natives of Asia Minor (some sources say Mesopotamia). Their pagan father died while they were still quite small children. Their mother raised them in Christian piety. Through…
Orthodox Calendar, October 31 Apostles Stachys, Amplias, Urban, Narcissus, Apelles, and Aristobulus of the Seventy Saint Stachys, one of the Seventy Apostles, was made Bishop of Byzantium by Saint Andrew (November 30). He built a church at Argyropolis, and many people gathered there to hear him preach. He was a good shepherd to his flock,…
Orthodox Calendar October 30 Hieromartyr Zenobius and his sister Zenobia The Hieromartyr Zenobius, Bishop of Aegea, and his sister Zenobia suffered a martyr’s death in the year 285 in Cilicia. From childhood, they were raised in the holy Christian Faith by their parents, and they led pious and chaste lives. In their mature years, shunning…
Martyr Anastasia the Roman She lost her parents in infancy, and was then taken to be reared by the abbess of a women’s monastery, named Sophia. She raised Anastasia in fervent faith, in the fear of God and obedience. The persecution against Christians by the emperor Decius (249-251) began at that time. The city administrator,…
Orthodox Calendar October 28 Saint Hyacinth, Metropolitan of Wallachia He was born at the end of the 13th century. He attended the high schools of the time, completing his theological education in Constantinople, where he defended the Orthodox teaching of hesychasm together with Saint Gregory Palamas. Given his worthiness, he was elected metropolitan of Vicina…
Orthodox Calendar October 27 Saint Demetrius the New He was born early in the thirteenth century to a peasant family in the village of Basarabov, then part of Bulgaria. Even in childhood, he gave himself to fasting and prayer. Once, walking across a field, he accidentally stepped on a bird’s nest in the grass, killing…
Orthodox Calendar October 26 Holy and Glorious Demetrius the Myrrh-gusher of Thessalonica The Great Martyr Demetrius the Myrrh-gusher of Thessalonica was the son of a Roman proconsul in Thessalonica. Three centuries had elapsed and Roman paganism, spiritually shattered and defeated by the multitude of martyrs and confessors of the Savior, intensified its persecutions. The parents…
1. The Martyrs Marcian and Martyrius, Notaries of Constantinople served in a Constantinople cathedral. Marcian was a reader and Martyrius a subdeacon. They both performed in the capacity of notaries, i.e. secretaries, for Patriarch Paul the Confessor (November 6). Arian heretics expelled and secretly executed the righteous Patriarch Paul. His throne was given to the…
