Lives of the Saints

Holy Martyrs and Confessors Gurias, Samonas, and Habibus, of Edessa

Holy Martyrs and Confessors Gurias, Samonas, and Habibus, of Edessa

The Holy Martyrs and Confessors Gurias, Samonas and Habibus suffered during the persecution against Christians under the emperors Diocletian (284-305) and Maximian (305-311). The two friends Gurias and Samonas, preachers of the Word of God, were arrested in the city of Edessa. The saints refused to…

Martyrs Elpidius, Marcellus, and Eustochius, who suffered under Julian the Apostate

The Holy Martyrs Elpidius, Marcellus and Eustochius suffered under the emperor Julian the Apostate (361-363). Saint Elpidius was a senator. They tried him before the imperial judge on charges of being a Christian. The martyrs endured many terrible torments, and they died after being thrown into a…

Martyr Dēmḗtrios of Thrace

Saint Dēmḗtrios was a Slav from the village of Davoudio (Dabuda) in Thrace, which was near the town of Amapasos. He was arrested in the time of Emperor Maximian and the Archon Publius, about the year 298 (some sources say 307). After suffering many tortures for Christ, he was finally beheaded.

Venerable Paisios Velichkovsky

Venerable Paisios Velichkovsky

Saint Paisios (Paϊsios) Velichkovsky was born in Poltava in Little Russia on December 21, 1722, and was the eleventh of twelve children. His father John was a priest, who named him Peter at his Baptism, in honor of Saint Peter the Metropolitan of Moscow, on whose Feast he was born. After the…

Kupyatitsa Icon of the Mother of God

The Kupyátitsa (or Kupyátich) Icon of the Mother of God appeared in the year 1180 near the village of Kupyátitsa near the former Pinsk district of the Minsk region. Igoumen Hilarion Denisovich of the Kupyátitsa Monastery wrote a book "A Description of the Miracles of the Kupyátitsa Icon of the…

Saint Philip of Rabanga

Saint Philip of Rabanga was the founder of the Savior-Transfiguration monastery, near Kadnikov to the northeast of Vologda. He spent the beginning of his monastic life in the monastery of Saint Dionysius of Glushitsa (June 1), and was one of his closest disciples. Upon the death of his teacher and…

“Fragrant Flower” Icon of the Mother of God

This Icon is in the Protection Cathedral at Voronezh. The Theotokos is shown holding her Divine Child on her left arm, with a blossoming branch in her right hand. The Fragrant Flower Icon resembles the Unfading Flower Icon (April 3). In the older Unfading Flower Icons, the Child is held on the…