Saint Emilian the Confessor and Bishop of Cizyκus

Saint Emilian, Bishop of Cyzikus, lived during the reign of the Iconoclast emperor Leo the Armenian (813-820). He was summoned together with other bishops to the court of the emperor, who insistently urged the bishops to refrain from the veneration of holy icons. St Emilian was the first to tell the emperor firmly that the […]

Saint Triantafyllos the Martyr

In the years of the mid-seventeenth century(1665-1680) a boy was born in Zagora, a village near the city of Volos, in northern Greece, named Triantafyllos (pronounced ‘tree-an-ta-fee-los’, means:”rose”). During these times, the Greeks suffered greatly under the domination of the Muslim Ottoman Turks. There were many times during which the Ottomans would provoke the Christians […]

Saint Nikanor the Wonderworker of Mount Kallistratos

The Righteous Nikanor was born in 1491 in Thessaloniki of wealthy parents, John and Maria, who had great difficulty having children. Their faith however, displayed by their prayers and good deeds, helped them after years bear a son named Nicholas (the baptismal name of the Saint). His parents from the beginning tried raise him according […]

Saint Nonna, the Mother of Saint Gregory the Theologian

Saint Nonna, the mother of Saint Gregory the Theologian (i.e. Gregory of Nazianzus, + 25 January 389), was the daughter of Christians named Philotatos and Gorgonia. Saint Nonna was also an aunt of Saint Amphilochios, Bishop of Iconium (Comm. 23 November). Her parents raised her in Christian piety. Saint Nonna entered into marriage with Gregory […]

The Seven Holy Maccabee Martyrs (August 1)

The seven holy Maccabee martyrs Abim, Antonius, Gurias, Eleazar, Eusebonus, Alimus and Marcellus, their mother Solomonia and their teacher Eleazar suffered in the year 166 before Christ under the impious Syrian king Antiochus IV Epiphanes. This foolish ruler loved pagan and Hellenistic customs, and held Jewish customs in contempt. He did everything possible to turn […]

Saint Joseph of Arimathea (July 31)

Saint Joseph of Arimathea was accounted worthy to bury the immaculate body of our True God, Jesus Christ and, after the Lord’s glorious ascension into heaven, preached the Holy Gospel in many diverse lands. Of St. Joseph’s early years little is known except that he was the son of wealthy and noble parents of the […]

The Procession of the Holy Cross (August 1st)

  On August 1st  the Church celebrates the feast of the Procession of the Venerable Wood of the Holy Cross of the Lord. In the Greek Horologion of 1897 the derivation of this Feast is explained: “Because of the illnesses that occur in August, it was customary, in former times, to carry the Venerable Wood […]

Saint Irene Chrysovalantou

St. Irene Chrysovalantou flourished after the death of the greedy Emperor Theophilos the first. After Theophilos’s death his spouse, the most reverend and God-loving Theodora, took the throne. The Empress Theodora supported the Orthodox faith and re-established the veneration of the holy icons, as was the tradition of the Orthodox Church. The Empress Theodora was […]

Saint Panteleimon, the Great Martyr

He was born in the city of Nicomedia into the family of the illustrious pagan Eustorgios, and he was named Pantoleon. His mother St. Eubula (March 30) was a Christian. She wanted to raise her son in the Christian Faith, but she died when the future martyr was just a young child. His father sent […]