Saint of the Day
862 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 months ago - ★★★★★ - 133 ratingsSubscribe to hear the story of one of the venerable Saints commemorated each day in the Orthodox Church.
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Episodes
Martyrs Menodora, Metrodora, and Nymphodora at Nicomedia
September 10, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 668 KBThey were three sisters, raised in the Christian faith in Bithynia. Together they withdrew from the world and lived together in virginity on a lonely mountain, devoting themselves to prayer, fasting and labor. Though they wished only to live unknown to the world, their wonderworking gifts were discovered, and many people began to come to them for healing of ailments. In this way word of them reached the governor Fronton, who had them arrested and brought before him. Struck by their beauty (wh...
New Martyr Athanasius of Thessalonika (1774)
September 08, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 616 KBHe was born to a distinguished and pious Christian family in Thessalonika. After acquiring an unusually good education he spent a few years in Constantinople, then returned to his native city. He spoke both Turkish and Arabic well, and often conversed with Muslims. Once, while speaking with an emir, Athanasius pronounced the Muslim confession of faith to illustrate a point. The emir, seeing an opportunity, immediately reported Athanasius to the Islamic judge, claiming that he had converted to...
St Maxim (Sandovich), martyr of Lemkos, Czechoslovakia (1914)
September 06, 2023 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBSt Maxim was born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1888. At this time all Orthodox Churches had been captured and subjected to the "Unia," by which, though keeping the Orthodox liturgical rites, they were united to the Roman Catholic Church. Many of the Carpatho-Russian people were ignorant of the change and what it meant; others were unhappy with it but, in their subject condition, saw no alternative. Maxim's farmer parents, at great personal sacrifice, obtained an education for him that en...
Holy and Glorious Prophet Zacharias, Father of St John the Baptist
September 05, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 831 KBMuch of his story is told in the first chapter of Luke's Gospel. The Synaxarion continues: 'After the birth of Christ, Zacharias plainly declared the virginity of Mary and showed her truly to be the Mother of God; for he appointed her a place in that part of the Temple reserved for the virgins and so brought upon himself the hatred of the priests and levites. 'When John was six months old, Zacharias hid him and his mother in a cave beyond the Jordan because King Herod, hearing of the birt...
Hieromartyr Babylas, bishop of Antioch, and those with him (251)
September 04, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 909 KBHe was archbishop of Antioch at the time of the wicked Emperor Numerian. Once the Emperor came to Antioch and attempted to enter a church where Babylas was serving. Coming to the door, the Archbishop forbade the Emperor, as a pagan and a shedder of innocent blood, to enter the house where the True God was worshipped. Retreating in humiliation, the Emperor determined to take his revenge. Shortly after he had Babylas imprisoned along with several Christian children. Babylas was made to watch th...
Our Holy Father Joannicius, Archbishop and first Patriarch of Serbia (1354)
September 03, 2023 05:01 - 48 seconds - 389 KB"Born in Prizrem, he served as first secretary to King Dušan. He became Archbishop in 1339, and in 1346 was raised to the rank of Patriarch. He was a zealous pastor, and brought order to the Serbian Church, being 'a great upholder of the Church's laws'. He entered into rest on September 3rd, 1349, and his relics are preserved at Pec´." (Prologue)
Martyr Mamas of Caesarea in Cappadocia (275), and his parents, Martyrs Theodotus and Rufina
September 02, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 854 KBHe began his life in the cruelest of circumstances: both of his parents were imprisoned for their faith in Christ. First his father, Theodotus, died in prison, then his mother, Rufina, died shortly after his birth, so the infant was left alone in prison beside the bodies of his parents. But an angel appeared to the widow Ammia, telling her to go to the prison and rescue the child. Ammia obtained the city governor's permission to bury the parents and bring the child home. He was called Mamas b...
Our Holy Father Symeon Stylites (459)
September 01, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 886 KBBorn in Syria, he was a shepherd, but at the age of eighteen he left home and became a monk, practicing the strictest asceticism. At times he fasted for forty days. After a few years at a monastery he took up an ascetical discipline unique at that time: mounting a pillar, he stood on it night and day in prayer. Though he sought only seclusion and prayer, his holiness became famous, and thousands would make pilgrimage to receive a word from him or to touch his garments. Countless nomadic Arabs...
Sts Alexander (340), John (595), and Paul the New (784), patriarchs of Constantinople
August 30, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 1.05 MBSt Alexander took part in the First Ecumenical Council as delegate of Patriarch Metrophanes, who was too frail to attend; and succeeded Metrophanes on the Patriarchal throne. By his prayer to God that the Church might be spared the schemings of Arius, Arius was struck dead. St John is, by one account, St John the Faster (Sept. 2), who reposed in 595; by another, St John Scholasticus (Feb. 21), who reposed in 577. St Paul was Patriarch for five years, then renounced the Patriarchal throne ...
Our Holy Mother Theodora of Salonica (879)
August 29, 2023 05:01 - 59 seconds - 474 KB"A wealthy and devout woman, she lived on the island of Aegina, but, when the Arabs over-ran the island, she moved to Salonica. There, she gave her only daughter to a monastery, where she received the monastic name Theopista. Her husband Theodorinus died very soon, and then Theodora became a nun. She was a great ascetic. She often heard angelic singing, and would say to her sisters: 'Don't you hear how wonderfully the angels are singing in heavenly light?' She entered into rest in 879, and a ...
St Moses of Ethiopia (400)
August 28, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 871 KBHe is also called Moses the Black. He was a slave, but was cast out by his master due to his evil life. He then became the leader of a murderous band of robbers in Egypt. He came to repentance and took up monastic life in the desert under St Isidore of Sketis. For many years he struggled tirelessly, through prayer, fasting and vigils, with lustful and violent thoughts; he was finally freed of them through the prayers of St Isidore. He was revered by all the brethren for his ascetical life, hi...
Our Holy Father Poemen (Pimen) the Great (450)
August 27, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 918 KB"He was an Egyptian by birth and a great Egyptian ascetic. As a boy, he visited various spiritual teachers and gathered proven experience as a bee gathers honey from flowers. Pimen once begged the elder Paul to take him to St Païsius. Seeing him, Païsius said: 'This child will save many; the hand of God is on him.' In time, Pimen became a monk and drew two of his brothers to monasticism. Their mother once came to see her sons, but Pimen would not allow her in, asking through the door: 'Which ...
Martyrs Adrian and Natalia and 23 companions of Nicomedia (4th c.)
August 26, 2023 05:01 - 2 minutes - 1.07 MB"Husband and wife, they were both of noble and wealthy families in Nicomedia. Adrian was the governor of the Praetorium and a pagan, and Natalia was a secret Christian. They were both young, and had lived in wedlock for thirteen months in all before their martyrdom. When the wicked Emperor Maximian visited Nicomedia, he ordered that the Christians be seized and put to torture. There were twenty-three Christians hidden in a cave near the city. Someone handed them over to the authorities and th...
Holy Apostle Titus of the Seventy
August 25, 2023 05:01 - 47 seconds - 384 KBHe was a Greek from the island of Crete. Born and raised as a pagan, he came to faith in Christ through the ministry of the Apostle Paul, and labored with the Apostle in preaching the Gospel. St Paul in his epistles calls St Titus both "son" and "brother." He was ordained Bishop of Crete by St Paul, who wrote to him the Epistle that bears his name. He reposed in peace at the age of ninety-four.
New Hieromartyr Kosmas of Aitolia, Equal-to-the-Apostles (1779)
August 24, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 683 KBThis recent Equal to the Apostles was born in Mega Dendron (Great Tree) in Aetolia. He became a monk on Mt Athos, where he lived and prayed for many years. But he was troubled by the ignorance of the Gospel that had fallen on many of the Orthodox people, living under the oppression of the Ottoman Turks. He went to Constantinople, where he studied the rhetorical arts and received the blessing of Patriarch Seraphim II to preach the Gospel. He travelled throughout Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and A...
Hieromartyr Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons (202)
August 23, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 549 KBHe was born in Asia Minor around the year 120, and was a disciple of Saint Polycarp, who was in turn a disciple of St John the Evangelist. He succeeded the martyred St Pothinus as Bishop of Lyons in Gaul (now France). He produced many writings contesting not only against paganism but against Gnostic heresies that were then troubling the Church. When Victor, Bishop of Rome, planned to excommunicate the Christians of Asia Minor for celebrating Pascha on a different date than the Church of Rome,...
Holy Martyr Eulalia of Barcelona (303)
August 22, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 582 KBShe was born of Christian parents in Barcelona, and dedicated herself to a life of holiness, taking Christ as her bridegroom. When the persecutor Dacian came to Barcelona, Eulalia secretly left her parents' house by night and came before Dacian, denouncing him in front of many witnesses as a murderer of the innocent, and publicly confessing her faith in Christ. The wicked Dacian had her stripped and beaten, then tied to a tree in the form of a cross, and ordered that her flesh be burned with ...
Holy Martyrs Bassa and her sons Theognis, Agapios, and Pistis (4th c.)
August 21, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 546 KB"Bassa was the wife of a pagan priest, but she was secretly a Christian and brought her sons up in a Christian spirit. Her husband hated her for her faith, and handed her over to the judge for torture, together with her sons. After harsh torture, her sons were beheaded (it is thought, in Edessa in Macedonia). Bassa was filled with joy to see her sons thus gloriously finish their martyr's course for Christ, and herself went with yet greater desire from torture to torture. When she was thrown i...
Holy Prophet Samuel (11th c. BC)
August 20, 2023 05:01 - 41 seconds - 330 KBHe was the last of the Judges of Israel, and was appointed by God to anoint the first two kings of Israel, Saul and David. Read the Old Testament book 1 Samuel for his story. Many believe that he is the author of the books of Judges, Ruth and the first 24 chapters of I Samuel.
Martyr Andrew Strateletes and 2,593 soldiers with him in Cilicia (~289)
August 19, 2023 05:01 - 2 minutes - 1.15 MB"He was an officer, a tribune, in the Roman army in the time of the Emperor Maximian. A Syrian by birth, he served in his native land. When the Persians attacked the imperial Roman army, this Andrew was entrusted with the command in the battle against the enemy — whence his title: commander, strateletes. A secret Christian, although as yet unbaptised, Andrew commended himself to the living God, and, taking only the cream of the army, went to war. Before the battle, he told his soldiers that, ...
Martyrs Florus and Laurus of Illyria (2nd c.)
August 18, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 850 KB"Brothers in both the flesh and the spirit, they were both zealous Christians, and stonemasons by craft. They lived in Illyria. Some pagan prince set them to build a pagan temple. It happened during the course of their work that a fragment of stone splintered off and flew into the eye of the pagan priest's son, who was watching the building work with curiosity. Seeing his son blinded and bleeding, the priest shouted at Florus and Laurus and tried to thrash them. Then the holy brothers told hi...
Martyr Myron of Cyzicus (250)
August 17, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 912 KBHe was a priest in Achaia. In the time of the Emperor Decius, when Antipater was governor of Achaia, the persecutors entered the church on the Feast of the Nativity, dragged Myron away from the service and put him to torture. He endured many horrible tortures, but would not worship the idols. Finally he was thrown to wild beasts. When Antipater saw the beasts greeting Myron affectionately, the persecutor seized a sword and slew himself. The Saint was then sent to Cyzicus, where he was beheade...
Translation of the Image Not-Made-By-Hands of our Lord Jesus Christ from Edessa to Constantinople
August 16, 2023 05:01 - 2 minutes - 999 KBThe Third "Feast of the Savior" in August While the Lord was preaching in Palestine, his fame reached a king Avgar of Edessa, who suffered from leprosy. Avgar sent a messenger named Ananias to ask whether the Lord could heal his illness. The king also charged Ananias, if he was unable to bring back Jesus Himself, to bring back a likeness of Him. When Ananias found Jesus, the Lord told him that he could not come to Edessa since the time of His passion was at hand. But he took a cloth and washe...
The Dormition of Our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary
August 15, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 931 KBOn the Cross, the Lord charged the Apostle John to care for His holy Mother. The Apostle settled her in a house in Jerusalem, where she lived for the rest of her days on earth, praying and offering counsel and encouragement to the Apostles. In her old age, the Archangel Gabriel appeared to her and told her that in three days' time she would enter into her rest. Giving thanks to God, she hastened to the Mount of Olives where she prayed continually, preparing herself to meet the Lord. Meanwhile...
Holy Prophet Micah (8th c. BC)
August 14, 2023 05:01 - 57 seconds - 458 KBRead his prophecies (which include the prophecy that Christ would be born in Bethlehem, Micah 5:2) in the Old Testament book that bears his name. He was a contemporary of the prophets Isaiah, Amos and Hosea, and is ranked sixth among the "minor" prophets. It was he who prophesied that the Christ would be born in Bethlehem. (This is a different Micah from the one mentioned in 1 Chronicles 22:8, who lived earlier). Micah was buried in his home village of Morasth in the land of Judah; his holy r...
Holy Martyr Hippolytus of Rome and 18 Martyrs with him (258)
August 13, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 742 KBHe was the pagan jailkeeper who guarded St Laurence (see August 10); seeing his prisoner's holiness and the wonders wrought by him, Hippolytus was convinced of the truth of the Faith and became a Christian. When St Laurence baptized him, he was granted a vision of heaven and said 'I see innocent souls in great joy.' He took Laurence into his own home, and his entire household were baptized, nineteen in all. When St Laurence was martyred, Hippolytus retrieved his body by night and buried it....
Martyrs Anicetas and Photius of Nicomedia (305)
August 12, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 743 KBThese holy martyrs suffered victoriously in the year 305 (Prologue) or 288 (Great Horologion), during the reign of Diocletian, who visited Nicomedia to stir up a persecution of Christians there. Anicetas, one of the city governors, presented himself before the Emperor, boldly confessed his Christian faith, and denounced the worship of the idols. Anicetas was subjected to a series of cruelties: his tongue was cut out, but he miraculously continued to speak; he was thrown to a lion, but it refu...
The Holy Martyr Susanna the Virgin, and those with her (295-296)
August 11, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 577 KBShe was the daughter of Gavinius, a Christian priest in Rome, and the niece of Pope Gaius. The Emperor Diocletian's adopted son Maximian wished to marry Susanna, but she had no desire to marry any one, least of all a pagan. The patricians Claudia and Maxima were sent to Susanna by the Emperor to present Maximian's suit; but instead she turned both of them, and all their households, to the Faith. The enraged Emperor had Claudia, Maxima and their families executed, then had Susanna herself behe...
Holy Martyrs Archdeacon Laurence, Pope Sixtus, and others with them (258)
August 10, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 828 KB"This Saint, who was born in Spain, was the Archdeacon of the Church of Rome, caring for the sacred vessels of the Church and distributing money to the needy. About the year 257, a harsh persecution was raised up against the Christians by Valerian. Pope Sixtus, who was from Athens, was commanded to worship the idols, and refused; before his martyrdom by beheading, he committed to Laurence all the sacred vessels of the Church. When Laurence was arrested and brought before the Prefect, he was q...
Apostle Matthias (1st c.)
August 09, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 725 KBHe was numbered among the Seventy. Then, when Judas who betrayed Christ had taken his own life, the disciples (120 men and women) convened to choose one who would take his place among the Twelve. They nominated two, Joseph (called Barsabas or Justus) and Matthias, then cast lots. The lot fell to Matthais, who henceforth was numbered among the Twelve (See Acts ch. 1). Accounts of his Apostolate after this vary. According to some, he preached the Gospel in Ethiopia and met his martyrdom there. ...
St Gregory of Sinai (Mt Athos) (1346)
August 08, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 1.49 MBOne of the great ascetics, hesychasts and spiritual teachers of the Church, he did much to restore the knowledge and practice of Orthodox hesychasm. He became a monk at Mt Sinai. He traveled to Mt Athos to learn more of Orthodox spiritual prayer and contemplation, but found that these were almost lost even on the Holy Mountain. The only true, holy hesychast he found there was St Maximos of Kapsokalyvia (Maximos the hut-burner, January 13). Maximos lived a life of reclusion in crude shelters; ...
Martyr Dometius of Persia (363) and two disciples
August 07, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 1.31 MB"Born a pagan in Persia in the time of the Emperor Constantine, he came to know the Christian faith as a young man, forsook his paganism and received baptism. He was so enchanted with the true Faith that he left all worldly things and became a monk in a monastery near the town of Nisibis. He lived among the brethren for some time, then withdrew into silence, going to Archimandrite Urbel, of whom it is said that, for sixty years, he never ate anything cooked. Urbel made him a deacon, but, when...
The Holy Transfiguration of Our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ
August 06, 2023 05:01 - 53 seconds - 424 KBRead the account of Christ's holy Transfiguration (Metamorphosis in Greek) in Matthew ch. 17, Mark ch. 9, and Luke ch. 9. Appearing clothed in Light on Mt Tabor, the Savior fulfilled his promise to His disciples that "there are some standing here who shall not taste death, till they see the Son of man coming in His Kingdom" (Mt 16:28). Christ's Transfiguration is the image of the future state of the righteous, of which He spoke when He said "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun" (M...
Righteous Nonna (374), Mother of St Gregory the Theologian
August 05, 2023 05:01 - 47 seconds - 382 KBIn her own lifetime she was a wonderworker through her holy prayers. She brought her husband back from idolatry to Christian faith; he later became bishop of Nazianzus. Her son Gregory's profound and devout writings bespeak the Christian upbringing she gave him. By her prayers she once saved St Gregory from perishing in a storm. She was a deaconess, and reposed in peace in 374.
Holy Seven Youths (the “Seven Sleepers”) of Ephesus (250 & 5th c.)
August 04, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 592 KBDuring a persecution of Christians under the Emperor Decius, these seven Christian youths hid themselves in a cave outside Ephesus. When they were discovered, their persecutors sealed them in the cave to die; but God instead sent them a miraculous, life-preserving sleep. There they rested for about two hundred years. In the time of the Emperor Theodosius the Younger (408-450), a heresy that denied the bodily Resurrection of the dead began to trouble the people. The Emperor prayed God to revea...
Holy Myrrh-bearer Salome
August 03, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 674 KBShe was the mother of the Apostles James and John, the wife of Zebedee, and the daughter of Joseph the Betrothed, who was a widower when he became betrothed to the Mother of God. She was a disciple of the Lord and one of the Myrrh-bearing women who first brought tidings of the Resurrection to the world.
Hieromartyr Stephen, Pope of Rome (257), and those with him
August 02, 2023 05:01 - 57 seconds - 457 KBAs Bishop of Rome from 254 to 257, he battled the Novatian heresy. By his prayers he once healed Lucilla, the daughter of the Roman tribune Nemesius; for this both father and daughter were baptized into Christ. Saint Stephen and twelve of his priests were beheaded during a celebration of the Liturgy, during the reign of Valerian.
St Nicholas, enlightener of Japan (1912)
August 01, 2023 05:01 - 2 minutes - 2.49 MBBorn in Russia in 1836, he became one of the great Orthodox missionaries of modern times. As a boy, he resolved to become a missionary in the far East. With the counsel and blessing of Bishop Innocent of Siberia and Alaska, he went to Japan in 1861 and joined a small Russian mission there. Though the mission's official purpose was to minister to the Russian consular community, the consul-general who invited Hieromonk Nikolai hoped to bring the light of the Orthodox Faith to the Japanese peopl...
Righteous Eudocimus of Cappadocia (9th c.)
July 31, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 1.2 MB"Saint Eudocimus was from Cappadocia, the son of pious and most illustrious parents, patricians in rank. He especially cultivated chastity and mercy, the one by never meeting the gaze of a woman, the other by cheerfully providing the needs of the poor. When he was made military commander of Cappadocia, he continued in his righteous ways, showing mercy and uprightness in all his dealings. Having so lived in piety, quietly and without ostentation, he was called from this life at the age of thir...
Venerable Angelina, Princess of Albania
July 30, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 785 KBShe was the daughter of Scanderbeg, Albania's national hero. She married Stefan, Prince of Serbia, a kinsman of Scanderbeg who sought refuge in his court. Stefan, a gentle, God-fearing man, had been blinded by the Turkish Sultan. Princess Angelina, loving him despite his loss of his vision and his worldly kingdom, married him with her father's blessing. Together they had two sons, George and John. When their sons were grown, Albania was ravaged by an invasion of the Turks. Stefan, with Angeli...
Holy Martyr Seraphima (2nd c.)
July 29, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 1.01 MBShe was a maiden from Antioch who lived (perhaps as a slave) in the house of Sabina, wife of a Senator. When Seraphima brought the senator's wife to faith in Christ, the governor summoned Seraphima before him. When she held firm in her faith, he cast her into prison and send several young men to her cell by night to defile her. When they arrived, she was praying to God, and an angel of the Lord appeared before them, clothed in light and bearing a sword; and the young men fell down unconscious...
St Irene, Abbess of the Convent of Chrysovalantou (912)
July 28, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 1.47 MB"Saint Irene, who was from Cappadocia, flourished in the ninth century. Because of her great beauty and virtue, she was brought to Constantinople as a prospective bride for the young Emperor Michael (8422-867); however, as St Joannicius the Great foretold, it was God's will that she assume the monastic habit instead. She shone forth in great ascetical labors, and suffered many attacks from the demons; while yet a novice, she attained to the practice of St Arsenius the Great, of praying the wh...
Holy Great-martyr and Healer Panteleimon (305)
July 27, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 594 KBHe was born in Nicomedia; his father was a pagan, his mother a Christian. Through her he was taught the Christian Faith and baptized by St Hermolaus (July 26). He became a physician, and practiced his art with compassion and generosity, healing many more through his prayers as by his medicines. His parents had named him Pantoleon ("in all things a lion"), but because of his great compassion he was re-named Panteleimon ("all- merciful"). He once healed a man of blindness by calling on Christ, ...
Holy Righteous Martyr Paraskeve (140)
July 26, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 1.13 MBShe was born near Rome to pious parents. Since she was born on a Friday, she was named Paraskeve (Friday in Greek; literally "preparation" or "preparedness" because Friday was the Biblical Day of Preparation for the Sabbath). From early childhood she studied the scriptures, consecrated herself to a monastic life, and brought many to faith in Christ by her example and teaching. During the reign of Antoninus she was arrested because she was a Christian. When ordered to worship the idols, she an...
St Olympias the Deaconess (408)
July 25, 2023 05:01 - 2 minutes - 2.07 MBShe was born to a noble family in Constantinople: her father Anysius Secundus was a senator. She was betrothed to a nobleman who died before they could be wed; resisting all advice to take another husband, Olympias devoted herself entirely to God, giving her large inheritance to the Church and to the poor. She served as a deaconess, first under the Patriarch Nektarios, then under St John Chrysostom. When St John was sent into exile, he advised her to remain in Constantinople, and to continue ...
Martyr Christina of Tyre (200)
July 24, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 1.39 MBShe was from Tyre in Syria, the daughter of a pagan named Urban. She is a miraculous example of one brought to faith in Christ without any human intervention. When she was about eleven years old, her father, seeing her great beauty and wanting to protect her from men until she was grown, made her live alone on the top floor of a fine house, with slaves, all worldly comforts, and gold and silver idols. Passing the time by looking out the window, Christina came by her meditations on the beauty ...
Hieromartyr Apollinarius, bishop of Ravenna (75)
July 23, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 752 KBHe was a disciple of St Peter, born in Antioch. St Peter took him to Rome (he was bishop of Antioch before being bishop of Rome, so Antioch is as much the 'see of Peter' as is Rome) and made him Bishop of Ravenna. In Ravenna, he healed the wife of the military governor of a grave illness, after which the governor and his household confessed Christ and were baptized. Apollinarius was able to form a house church in the governor's home, from which he labored for the Gospel for twelve years. Even...
Holy Myrrh-bearer and Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene
July 22, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 705 KBShe was from the town of Magdala on the Sea of Galilee, for which reason she is called "Magdalene." The Lord Jesus cast out seven demons from her, after which she became His faithful disciple, following Him even to the Cross when most of His disciples had fled. With the other holy Myrrh-bearers, she prepared the spices to anoint His body and carried them to His tomb. There she was one of the first witnesses to the Resurrection, and the first to proclaim it. Various traditions hold that, aft...
Marcella, Virgin-Martyr of Chios (ca. 1500)
July 21, 2023 05:01 - 1 minute - 522 KBHer mother died when she was very young, and she was brought up by her father. As she grew older, she grew in virtue and beauty. Her father conceived an illicit desire for her and made improper advances toward her, which troubled her so greatly that she fled her village and hid in the mountains. Her father pursued her, even wounding her with arrows in his effort to possess her. Finally she took refuge in a cloven rock. When her father found that he could not drag her from her refuge, he vicio...
Martyrs Maria (Skobtsova), Dimitri (Klepenin) and those with them (1944-1945)
July 20, 2023 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.4 MBMother Maria was born in Latvia in 1891. Like many of the pre-Revolutionary Russian intelligenstia, she was an atheist and a political radical in her youth, but gradually came to accept the truths of the Faith. After the Revolution, she became part of the large Russian emigre population of Paris. There she was tonsured as a nun by Metropolitan Evlogy, and devoted herself to a life of service to the poor. With a small community of fellow-believers, she established 'houses of hospitality' for t...