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{"131": {"name": {"nominative": "Saint Alexis, Metropolitan of Moscow and Wonderworker of All Russia (\u2020 1378)", "short": "Saint Alexis"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>Saint Alexei, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia the Wonderworker, (in the world Elevtherii), was born in the year 1292 (or by another source 1304) at Moscow into the family of the boyar-noble Theodore (Feodor) Byakont, a descendant of the Chernigov princely line.</p><p>The Lord early on revealed to the future saint his lofty destiny. At twelve years of age Elevtherii ha set a snare for the netting of birds, and imperceptibly he dozed off and suddenly he heard quite distinctly a voice: \u201cAlexei! Why toilest thou in vain? Thou art to be a netter of people.\u201dFrom this day on the lad tended towards seclusion, he frequently visited church, and at age fifteen he decided to become a monk. In 1320 he entered the Moscow Theophany monastery, where he spent more than twelve years at strict monastic efforts. As guides for him and his companions there were the reknown ascetics of the monastery, the startsi-elders Gerontii and Stefan, brother of the Monk Sergei of Radonezh. Metropolitan Theognist then bade the future saint to leave the monastery and manage the juridical affairs of the Church. The saint fulfilled this office for 12 years as vicar of the metropolitan. Towards the end of 1350 Vladyka Theognist had Alexei ordained as bishop of Vladimir; upon the death of the metropolitan he became his successor in the year 1354. During this period the Russian Church was torn amidst great rifts and quarrels, in part because of the pretensions of the metropolitan of Lithuania and Volynia, Roman. In 1356, in order to put an end to the troubles and disturbances, the saint set off to Constantinople to the \u0152cumenical Patriarch. Patriarch Kallistos gave Saint Alexei the right to both be called and to consider himself Archbishop of Kiev and Great Russia with the title, \u201cAll-Venerable Metropolitan and Exarch.\u201d On the return journey during the time of a storm at sea the ship was in danger of shipwreck. Saint Alexei prayed and gave a vow to build a temple to the saint of that day, when the ship should come to shore. The storm subsided, and the ship arrived on 16 August. Moscow delightedly came out to meet the saint.</p><p>In spite of problems on every side, Saint Alexei concerned himself everywhere over his flock: he sent forth bishops, he established life-in-common monasteries (on the model of the Trinity Lavra, founded by the Monk Sergei), and he brought order to relations with the khans of the Horde. The saint himself occasioned more than once to journey to the Golden Horde. In 1357 the khan demanded of the greatprince, that the saint should come to him and heal the blindness of Taidul, his spouse. \u201cThe request and the matter is beyond my powers,\u2014said Saint Alexei,\u2014but I do believe in Him That gaveth the blind man to see, and that He shalt not disdain my prayers of faith.\u201d And actually, through his prayer, and being sprinkled with holy water, the wife of the khan was healed.</p><p>When Greatprince Ioann died, his young son Dimitrii (the future Donskoy), still in age a minor, was taken under the saint\u2019s guardianship. The holy vladyka had much toil in reconciling and appeasing princes obstinate against accepting the authority of Moscow. Nor did the metropolitan neglect the work of organising new monasteries. In 1361 he founded the Saviour Image Not-Wrought-by-Hand monastery at the Yauza in Moscow (the disciple of the Monk Sergei\u2014Andronikov by name\u2014was the first hegumen of the monastery), from the vow he had given back on his return journey from Constantinople, when the ship had suffered w\u0153. There was also the Chudov monastery\u2014in the Moscow Kremlin; likewise, ancient monasteries were restored: the Annunciation monastery at Nizhni-Novgorod, and the Konstantino-Eleninsk [Constantine and Helen] at Vladimir. And in 1361 there was built a women\u2019s life-in-common monastery after his name (the Alekseev).</p><p>Saint Alexei reached the advanced age of 78, having spent 24 years upon the metropolitan cathedra-seat. He reposed on 12 February 1378 and was buried in accord with his last-wishes at the Chudov monastery. His relics were uncovered in a miraculous manner 50 years later, after which there began the veneration of the memory of the great Saint-Hierarch and Man of Prayer for the Russian Land. </p>"}, "rank": 4, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>Hastening to thy precious shrine, O holy hierarch Alexis, divinely wise wonder-worker, assembling with love, we celebrate with splendor the memory of thee who art equally enthroned with the apostles, the all-good physician, the right pleasing servant; and we rejoice with songs and hymns, glorifying Christ Who hath given thee such grace to heal and bestowed upon thy city so great a bulwark.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "0"}, "TROPARION/2": {"text": "</p><p>Celebrating the memory of the all-blessed and holy hierarch Alexis, the careful preserver of the dogmas of the apostles, the shepherd and teacher of the Church of Russia, let us glorify with right fitting hymnody Christ our God Who hath given us His favored one as an abundant well-spring pouring forth healings, the boast and confirmation of the city of Moscow.", "Type": "2", "Tone": "4"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>O all ye people, hymning with faith the new wonder-worker Alexis, the godly and all-honorable hierarch of Christ, let us bless him with love, as a great pastor, an all-wise minister and teacher of the land of Russia. And hastening today to his memorial, let us joyfully give utterance to a hymn to the God-bearer: As thou hast boldness before God, deliver us from multifarious evil circumstances, that we may cry to thee: Rejoice, O confirmation of our city!</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "0"}}}}, "133": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Alexius the Hermit of the Near Kiev Caves (13th C)", "short": "Venerable Alexius"}}, "134": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Alexis the Man of God (\u2020 411)", "short": "Venerable Alexis"}, "rank": 1}, "136": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Alypy, the Iconographer of the Kiev Caves, near caves (\u2020 c. 1114)", "short": "Venerable Alypy"}}, "137": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Alypios the Stylite of Adrianopolis (\u2020 640)", "short": "Venerable Alypios"}, "rank": 1}, "142": {"name": {"nominative": "Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (\u2020 397)", "short": "Saint Ambrose"}, "rank": 1}, "143": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Prophet Malachi (400 BC)", "short": "Prophet"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Holy Prophet Malachi lived 400 years before the Birth of Christ, during the time of the return of the Jews from the Babylonian Captivity. Malachi was the last of the Old Testament prophets, wherefore the holy fathers call him \u201cthe sealing-shut of the prophets.\u201d Manifesting himself an image of spiritual goodness and piety, he astounded the nation and was called Malachiei, <i>i.e.</i> an angel or messenger. In the Canon of Scriptural Books is included also his prophetic book, in which he upbraids the Jews, foretelling the coming of Jesus Christ and His Forerunner, and also the Last Judgement (Mal. 3: 1-5; 4:1-6).</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "", "Type": "1", "Tone": "1"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>Enriched by the gift of prophecy, O prophet, * thou didst manifestly proclaim salvation to the world and the advent of Christ, ** by Whose radiance the world hath been illumined.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}}}}, "144": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Gordius at C\u00e6sarea in Cappadocia (4<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Martyr Gordius"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Martyr Gordias was born at the end of the III Century in the city of C\u00e6sarea Cappadocia into a Christian family. Coming of age, he entered military service, and having displayed valour and military skill, he was made a centurion. During the time of persecution of Christians at the beginning of the IV Century, he left the world and settled in the wilderness, so as to prepare himself for the good deed of confessing the Name of Christ the Saviour. In the year 320 Gordias openly came forward before the prefect of the city in defense of Christians. They arrested him and after terrible torments they beheaded him.</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>In his suffering, O Lord, * Thy martyr Gordius received an imperishable crown from Thee our God; * for, possessed of Thy might, * he set at nought the tormentors and crushed the feeble audacity of the demons. ** By his supplications save Thou our souls.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>The drops of thy sweat have watered the whole earth, O all-glorious Gordius, * and thou hast gladdened the whole world with thy precious blood. * By thy supplications, O divinely wise one, save all who hymn and bless thee with faith, ** crying out a worthy hymn to thee, O most lauded one, as a great athlete.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "0"}}}}, "146": {"name": {"nominative": "Synaxis of the 70 Apostles: James, the Brother of the Lord, Cleopas, Crispus, Fortunatus, Achaicus, Symeon called Niger, and others", "short": "Apostles"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Sobor (Assemblage) of the Seventy Disciples (\u201cApostles\u201d) was established by the Orthodox Church so as to indicate the equal honour of each of the Seventy, and to avert dissonance in their veneration. [Translator Note: Russian idiomatic useage refers both to the \u201c12\u201d and to the \u201c70\u201d as \u201cApostle\u201d; whereas English idiomatic useage refers to the \u201c12\u201d as \u201cApostle\u201d and to the \u201c70\u201d as \u201cDisciple.\u201d] They were chosen by the Lord Jesus Christ, in order to evangelise the Gospel to all the world. </p><p>Besides the celebration of the Sobor (Assemblage) of the Holy Disciples, the Church celebrates the memory of each of them during the course of the year: the Disciple James, Brother of the Lord (23 October); Mark the Evangelist (25 April); Luke the Evangelist (18 October); Cleopas, brother of Joseph the Betrothed, and Simeon his son (27 April); Barnabas (11 June); Josiah, or Joseph, named Barsaba or Justus (30 October); Thaddeus (21 August); Ananias (1 October); Stephen, Archdeacon (27 December); Philip from the 7 Deacons (11 October); Prochoros from the 7 Deacons (28 July); Nikanor from the 7 Deacons (28 July and 28 December); Timon from the 7 Deacons (28 July and 30December); Parmenas from the 7 Deacons (28 June); Timothy (22 January); Titus (25August); Philemon (22 November and 19 February); Onysimos (15 February); Epaphrasos and Archippos (22 November and 19 February); Silas, Sylvanus, Criscentus or Criscus (30 July); Crispus and Epenetos (30 July); Andronikos (17 May and 30 July); Stakhias, Amplias, Urban, Narcissos, Apellias (31 October); Aristoboulos (31 October and 16 March); Herodion or Rodion (8 April and 10 November); Ahab, Rufus, Asinkritos, Phlegontos (8 April); Hermas (5 November and 31 May); Patrobus (5November); Hermias (8 April); Linus, Caius, Philologos (5 November); Lucius (10September); Jason (28 April); Sosipater (28 April and 10 November); Olympos or Olympanus (10November); Tercias (30 October and 10 November); Herastos, Quartus (10November); Evodus (7 September); Onysiphoros (7 September and 8 December); Clement (25 November); Sosthenes (8 December); Apollos (10 September and 8December); Tykhikos, Epaphrodites (8 December); Carpus (26 May); Codratus (21September); Mark who is John, Zeno (27 September); Aristarchus (15 April and 27September); Pudas, Trophymos (15 April); Mark nephew of Barnabas, Artemis (30October); Aquila (14 July); Fortunatus, Ach\u00e6cus (4 January).</p><p>With the Descent of the Holy Spirit the disciples preached in various lands. Some accompanied the Apostles from the 12, like the holy Evangelists Mark and Luke, or the companion of the holy Apostle Paul\u2014Timothy, or the disciple of the holy Evangelist John the Theologian\u2014Prochoros, and others. Many of them were thrown into prison for Christ, and many received the crown of a martyr\u2019s death.</p><p>To the 70 Disciples are enumerated yet two\u2014the holy Disciple Cephas, to whom the Lord appeared after the Resurrection (1 Cor. 15: 5-6), and Simeon, by nickname Niger (Acts 13:1), wherefore they also were glorified by apostolic preaching. </p><p>The Church in particular venerates and praises the 70 Disciples in that they taught to honour the Trinity One-in-Essence and Un-Divided.</p><p>In the IX Century the Orthodox Church received from Joseph the Melodist the Kanon for the Day of the Sobor (Assemblage) of the 70 Disciples of Christ.</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>O holy apostles * entreat the merciful God ** that He grant to our souls remission of transgressions.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "3"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>In hymns, O ye faithful, * let us in godly manner praise the choir of the seventy disciples of Christ; * for, through them have we all learned to honor the indivisible Trinity. ** And they remain beacons of the divine Faith.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "2"}}}}, "148": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Theoctistus, Abbot at Cucomo in Sicily (\u2020 800)", "short": "Venerable Theoctistus"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Monk Theoktistos founded a monastery in the city of Kucuma on the island of Sicily, where he became hegumen. At his monastery lived Greek monks, having fled persecution by the iconoclasts. The monk died in the year 800.</p>"}, "rank": 1}, "149": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Prophet Amos (8<sup>th</sup> C BC)", "short": "Holy Prophet"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Holy Prophet Amos, third of the 12 Lesser Prophets, lived during the VIIICentury before the Birth of Christ. At this time the Hebrew nation was divided into two kingdoms: the Judean and the Israelite. The Judean king Hosiah ruled in Jerusalem, but the 10 separated Israelite tribes were ruled by Jeroboam II, an idol-worshipper. At Bethel he set up an idol in the form of a golden calf, which they worshipped, having rejected the True God of the Israelites.</p><p>The Prophet Amos was a Judean, native to the city of Thekui. Simple and untaught, but strongly fervent of faith and zealous for the glory of the True God\u2014the shepherd was chosen by the Lord for prophetic service and sent to the Israelite kingdom for the purpose of denouncing the impiety of King Jeroboam, and the Israelites for falling away from God. The prophet predicted for them a great misfortune, which would befall the Israelite kingdom, and the pagan nations surrounding it, for their impiety. Because of his denunciations, the Prophet Amos repeatedly suffered beatings and torture. But he again returned to Bethel, and threatening inevitable misfortunes, he continued to call the Israelites to repentance. The pagan-priest Amasiah of the idolatrous temple in particular hated the prophet. The prophet predicted for him and all his household a speedy destruction and for this he was subjected to a beating. The son of Amasiah, Hosiah, struck the saint on the head with a club and seriously wounded him. The Prophet Amos, still alive, reached his native village and there he died in about the year 787 before the Birth of Christ. </p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "", "Type": "1", "Tone": "2"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>Having cleansed thy radiant heart by the Spirit, * O glorious Prophet Amos, * and received the gift of prophecy from on high, * thou didst cry aloud throughout the land: ** Behold our God! There is none other like unto Him!</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}}}}, "150": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyrs Zosimas the Hermit and Athanasius the Superintendent of Prisoners, Anchorites in Cilicia (3<sup>rd</sup>-4<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Martyrs Zosimas and Athanasius"}, "services": {"0": {}, "1": {"LITURGY/0": {"text": ""}}, "2": {"LITURGY/0": {"text": ""}}}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The MonkMartyr Zosimas came from Cilicia and was an inhabitant of the wilderness. During a time of persecution against christians under the emperor Diocletian (284-305) Saint Zosimas was seized and subjected to fierce torture for the faith, but by the power of God he was preserved unharmed. Having beheld such a miracle of God, the prison head by the name of Athanasias believed in Christ and was baptised. The Monk Zosima together with Athanasias was released and went off into the wilderness where, pursuing asceticism, they lived in a crevice in a mountain until their death.</p>"}}, "152": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Amphilochius, Macarius, Tarasius, and Theosius of Glushitsa", "short": "Venerables"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "", "text": "The Venerable Amphilocius already a monk came to the Glushetsk monastery to assist its rector the Venerable Dionysius (June 1). And he became the most reliable helper for Dionysius during the building of the monastery, strictly supervising and observing the monastery Typikon (Ustav) for twenty years. His meekness and humility was immeasurable; he cared only for the soul, which is why he wore the most modest clothing. After the death of his guide he became the hegumen of the monastery and died in peace in 1452. His relics are in a hidden place in the temple named for him. The Venerable Macarius succeeded him. He was born in Rostov, and spent twelve years in ascetic efforts in the Glushetsk Monastery and died in 1478. His relics are in a hidden place in the Glushetsk Monastery. The Venerable Tarasius was the hegumen of one of the monasteries built by Bishop Stephen (see April 26) and was one of his fervent co-workers in the propagation and the establishment of the Orthodox faith among the Zirians. Having entered into voluntary obedience to the Venerable Dionysius, he practiced asceticism in the Glushetsk Monastery for ten years, leading a most severe and strict life in fasting and vigils, destroying his body. Tears of affection constantly moistened his cheeks, testifying to his deep humility and afflicted heart, so that all marveled at his patience and looked upon him as on one of the ancient great ascetics. Reaching deep old age, he died in 1440. His relics are in a hidden place in the Glushetsk St. Dionysius Monastery (see the Vologda Diocese). The Venerable Theodosius was a disciple of the Venerable Dionysius. His relics repose in the same Glushetsk Monastery, near the relics of the Venerable Tarasius."}}, "155": {"name": {"nominative": "Hieromartyr Theopemptus, Bishop of Nicomedia, and Martyr Theonas the Sorcerer (\u2020 303)", "short": "Hieromartyr Theopemptus"}, "rank": 1, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p></p><p>The Holy Martyrs Theopemptos and Theon suffered in Nicomedia in the year 303. Saint Theopemptos was bishop in Nicomedia during the time of Diocletian. Speaking out against idol-worship, he defended the faith in Christ. Summoned to the emperor, he refused to carry out his demand to worship an idol of Apollo. They threw Saint Theopemptos into a red-hot furnace, but by the power of God he remained alive. The emperor came by night with a detachment of soldiers to the furnace and there actually saw the saint alive and praying to God. Ascribing the miracle accomplished to be a work of magic, Diocletian gave orders to wear down Saint Theopemptos by hunger and thirst during the course of 22 days, but here also by the will of God the martyr was preserved.</p><p>The emperor then summoned the famous sorcerer Theon, brought in to overcome the magical power which, as they supposed, was possessed by the holy bishop Theopemptos. Theon prepared a poison for Saint Theopemptos\u2014put into a little cake, and offered it to him to eat. The poison did no harm at all to Saint Theopemptos. A second time, Theon tried out the effect of a still stronger poison on the martyr; but seeing, that Saint Theopemptos remained unharmed, he himself came to believe in Christ. They threw him into prison together with the holy bishop, who taught and baptised him, giving him the name Synesios (which means \u201cfulfillment of understanding\u201d).</p><p>In the morning Diocletian summoned Saint Theopemptos and again contended with him to recant from Christ; but, seeing the unbending rigour of the holy man, he subjected him to many grievous tortures, after which the saint was beheaded. The holy martyr Theon, having refused to offer sacrifice to idols, was buried alive in a deep ditch. This occurred at Nicomedia in the year 303.</p>"}}, "156": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Syncleticea of Alexandria", "short": "Nun Syncleticea"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "The Nun Syncleticea was a native of Alexandria, the daughter of rich parents, pretty, and from her early years she thought only about things pleasing to God. Loving the purity of virginity, she declined to enter into marriage, and spent all her time in fasting and prayer. After the death of her parents she distributed her inheritance to the poor, and having accepted monasticism together with her blind sister, she withdrew into one of the crypts belonging to her kin. News about her ascetic deeds quickly spread throughout the vicinity, and many pious women and girls came to her to live under her guidance. During the course of her ascetic life the saint zealously instructed her sisters by word and by deed. In her 80<sup>th</sup> year of life she was struck by an intense and grievous illness. The nun bore the outcome of her ordeal with true christian endurance. The saint died in about the year 350, at age 83."}}, "158": {"name": {"nominative": "The Nun Apollinaria (\u2020 c. 470)", "short": "Apollinaria"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "The Nun Apollinaria was a daughter of Anthemias, a former governor of the Greek empire during the minority of Theodosius the Younger (408-450). Having declined marriage, she requested of her pious parents permission to venerate at the holy places of the East. Having arrived in Alexandria from Jerusalem, she secretly away from her servants changed into the garb of a nun and hid in one of the marshy places, where she practised asceticism for several years in strict fasting and prayers. By a revelation from above, she was guided into a skete monastery to Saint Makarios of Egypt, and took for herself the monastic name Dorotheos. The Monk Makarios accepted her into the ranks of his brethren, and she there quickly distinguished herself by her ascetic life. The parents of Apollinaria had also another daughter, who was beset by demons. They sent her to the skete to the Monk Makarios, who took the sick girl to the monastic Dorotheos (Blessed Apollinaria), through whose prayers the maiden received healing. In returning homewards the maiden was again beset by a violent demon, which gave her the appearance of a pregnant woman. This produced great anger in her parents, who dispatched soldiers to the skete, and they demanded to see the perpetrator of their daughter\u2019s outrage.</p><p>Saint Apollinaria took on herself the blame and went with the envoys to the home of her parents. There she revealed her secret to her parents, healed her sister, and returned to the skete, where in a short while she died peacefully in the year 470. Only after the death of the monastic Dorotheos was it revealed that this was a woman. The body of the saint was buried in a cave in the monastery church of Saint Makarios of Egypt."}}, "159": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Phosterius the Hermit (6<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Venerable Phosterius"}, "services": {"0": {}, "1": {"LITURGY/0": {"text": ""}}, "2": {"LITURGY/0": {"text": ""}}}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Monk Phosterios the Wanderer pursued asceticism on an high mountain. By his powerful working of miracles and saintly life, he restored many from heresy.</p>"}}, "160": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Menas of Sinai (6<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Venerable Menas"}, "services": {"0": {}, "1": {"LITURGY/0": {"text": ""}}, "2": {"LITURGY/0": {"text": ""}}}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Monk Menas pursued asceticism for 50 years in a Sinai monastery, and died peacefully in the second half of the VI Century.</p>"}}, "161": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Gregory of Acritas (\u2020 c. 820)", "short": "Venerable Gregory"}, "services": {"0": {}, "1": {"LITURGY/0": {"text": ""}}, "2": {"LITURGY/0": {"text": ""}}}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Monk Gregory of Acritas was born on the island of Crete in the year 760. He received an upbringing by pious parents. This was a time when the iconoclast heretics persecuted the orthodox. The youth Gregory, wanting to preserve his Orthodox faith, went to Seleukos and lived there leading a life of piety.</p><p>At age 20 the Monk Gregory set off to Jerusalem and dwelt there for 12 years, enduring fierce persecution from the Arabs. From there Saint Gregory journeyed to Rome, where he took monastic vows. He became spiritually acquainted there with Saint Michael, bishop of Synadia (Comm. 23 May), who took him along and settled in a monastery on the Cape of Acritas (Sea of Marmora). The saint accomplished great ascetic deeds and died in about the year 820. </p>"}}, "163": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Theophany: the Baptism of Our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ", "short": "Holy Theophany"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>Theophany * Bogoyavlenie denotes the feast whereby through the Baptism of the Lord the Most Holy Trinity has been revealed to the world (Mt. 3: 13-17; Mk. 1: 9-11; Lk. 3: 21-22). God the Father spoke from Heaven about the Son, the Son was baptised by the holy ForeRunner of the Lord John, and the Holy Spirit descended upon the Son in the form of a Dove. From ancient times this feast was called the Day of Illumination and the Feast of Lights, since that God is Light and has appeared to illumine \u201cthose sitting in darkness and the shadow of death\u201d (Mt. 4: 16) and to save through grace the fallen race of mankind.</p><p>In the ancient Church it was the custom to baptise catechumens at the vespers of Theophany, such that Baptism also is revealed as a spiritual illumination of mankind.</p><p>The origin of the feast of Theophany came about in Apostolic times. Mention is made concerning it in the Apostolic Decretals. From the II Century there is preserved the testimony of Saint Clement of Alexandria concerning the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord and performing the night vigil before this feast.</p><p>In the III Century on the feast of Theophany there is known the dialogue concerning Divine-services between the holy martyr Hyppolitus and Saint Gregory the WonderWorker. In the following centuries\u2014from the IV to IX Century\u2014all the great fathers of the Church\u2014Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostomos, Ambrose of Milan, John Damascene, had their own comments about the feast of Theophany. The monks Joseph the Studite, Theophanes and Byzantios composed much liturgical music for this feastday, which even now is sung for Divine-services. The Monk John Damascene said, that the Lord was baptised not because He Himself had need for cleansing, but so that \u201cby water to bury human sin,\u201d to fulfill the law, to reveal the mystery of the Holy Trinity, and finally, to sanctify \u201cwatery nature\u201d and to proffer it to us in the form and example of Baptism.</p><p>On the feastday of the Baptism of Christ, Holy Church asserts our faith in the mystery\u2014most sublime and incomprehensible to human intellect\u2014of the Three Persons of the One God. It teaches us to confess and glorify as equally-honoured the Holy Trinity One-Essence and Undivided. It exposes and collapses the fallacies of the ancient pseudo-teachings, which attempted with reason and by human terms to explain the Creator of the world. The Church shews the necessity of Baptism for believers in Christ, and it inspires for us a sense of deep gratitude for the Illumination and Purification of our sinful nature. The Church teaches that our salvation and cleansing from sin is possible only by the power of the grace of the Holy Spirit, wherefore it is necessary to preserve worthily these gifts of the grace of holy Baptism\u2014keeping clean this priceless garb, about which the feast of the Baptism tells us: \u201cAs many as have been baptised into Christ, have put on Christ\u201d (Gal. 3:27). [Translator Note: literally rendered from Greek \u201cTheophany\u201d means \u201cManifestation of God,\u201d whereas \u201cEpiphany\u201d connotes \u201cManifest upon\u201d; \u201cTheophany\u201d is the more accurate rendering of Slavonic \u201cBogoyavlenie.\u201d]</p>"}, "rank": 8, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>When Thou, O Lord, wast baptized in the Jordan, * the worship of the Trinity was made manifest; * for, the voice of the Father bare witness unto Thee, * calling Thee His beloved Son; * and the Spirit in the form of a dove * confirmed the certainty of His word. * O Christ our God, Who hast appeared and enlightened the worlds, ** glory be to Thee!</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "1"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>Thou hast appeared today to the whole world, * and Thy light, O Lord, hath been signed upon us * who hymn Thee with understanding. * Thou hast come, Thou hast appeared, * the Light unapproachable.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}}}}, "165": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Martyr Anastasius the Persian (628)", "short": "Venerable Martyr Anastasius"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Venerable Martyr Anastasias the Persian was the son of a Persian sorcerer named Babo. As a pagan, he had the name Magundates and served in the armies of the Persian emperor Chosr\u0153s II, who in a victorious war against the Greeks in 614 ravaged the city of Jerusalem and carried away to Persia the Life-Creating Cross of the Lord. Great miracles occurred from the Cross of the Lord, and the Persians were astonished. The heart of young Magundates blazed up with the desire to learn in detail more about this sacred object. Asking everyone about the Holy Cross, the youth learned, that upon it the Lord Himself endured crucifixion for the salvation of mankind. He became acquainted with the truths of the Christian faith in the city of Chalcedon, where for a certain while the army of Chosr\u0153s was situated. He was baptised with the name Anastasias, and then accepted monasticism and dwelt for seven years in monastic works and efforts in one of the Jerusalem monasteries.</p><p>Reading about the acts of the holy martyrs, Saint Anastasias was inspired with the desire to imitate them. A mysterious dream in particular urged him to do this, which he had on Great Saturday, the day before the feast of the Resurrection of Christ. Having fallen asleep after his daily tasks, he beheld a radiant man, giving him a golden chalice filled with wine, with the words \"take hold and drink.\" Drinking from the chalice given him, he sensed an inexplicable delight. Saint Anastasias then perceived that this vision was a portent of his own martyr\"s end. He went secretly from the monastery to Palestinian C\u00e6sarea. There they arrested him for being a Christian and brought him to trial. The governor tried every which way to sway Saint Anastasias into a renunciation of Christ, threatening him with tortures and death and promising him honours and earthly blessings. But the saint remained unyielding. Then they subjected him to torture: they beat at him with canes, they lacerated his knees, they hung him up by the hands and tied a heavy stone to his feet, they exhausted him with confinement, and then wore him down with heavy work in the stone-quarry with other prisoners.</p><p>Finally, the governor summoned Saint Anastasias and demanded he say only the words: \"I am not a Christian,\" promising him freedom. The holy martyr answered: \"Let me be with this. Neither before thee, nor before others wilt I renounce my Lord, neither openly nor secretly even in sleep, and no one nowhere and in no way can compel me to do this while in my right mind.\" Then by order of the emperor Chosr\u0153s, they strangled the holy Martyr Anastasias (\u2020 628). After the death of Chosr\u0153s, the relics of the Venerable Martyr Anastasias were transferred to Palestine, to the Anastasias monastery. </p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>In his suffering, O Lord, * Thy martyr Anastasius received an imperishable crown from Thee our God; * for, possessed of Thy might, * he set at nought the tormentors and crushed the feeble audacity of the demons. ** By his supplications save Thou our souls.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}}}}, "166": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Martyr Anastasius the Deacon of the Kiev Caves, near caves (12th C)", "short": "Venerable Martyr Anastasius"}, "services": {"0": {}, "1": {"LITURGY/0": {"text": ""}}, "2": {"LITURGY/0": {"text": ""}}}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "</p><p>The Venerable Martyr Anastasius, Deacon of Kiev Caves, pursued asceticism in the Nearer Caves. The priestmonk Athanasius the Sooty calls him brother of the Monk Tito the Presbyter (\u2020 not before 1190; Comm. 27 February). In the manuscripts of the saints he is called a deacon. In the Service to the Sobor (Assemblage) of the Fathers of the NearerCaves, it says about the MonkMartyr Anastasii, that he possessed such steadfastness in God, that he received everything he asked for. His memory is celebrated also on 28 September and on the 2<sup>nd</sup> Sunday of Great Lent."}}, "167": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Anastasius, disciple of Venerable Maximus the Confessor (\u2020 662)", "short": "Martyr Anastasius"}, "services": {"0": {}, "1": {"LITURGY/0": {"text": ""}}, "2": {"LITURGY/0": {"text": ""}}}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Holy Martyr Anastasias was a student of the Monk Maximos the Confessor, and together with him suffered persecution under the Monothelites. He penned the Vita of his teacher. He died in the year 662.</p>"}}, "169": {"name": {"nominative": "Monk George Chozebite, Abbot (7<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Monk George"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Monk George Khozebites was born on the island of Crete. At the death of his parents he set off to Palestine to venerate at the holy places. Here he entered into the Khuzebite monastic community, situated between the River Jordan and Jerusalem, and he later became head of this monastery. The Monk George presented the monks example in fasting, vigil and physical efforts. Having lived upon the earth as though incorporeal, he died peacefully (VII).</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "", "Type": "1", "Tone": "1"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>Thou hast been shown to be an all-radiant beacon * illumining with divine rays the faithful who cry out to thee: * Pray for us to Christ the Master, * Who appeared in the streams of the Jordan ** and hath enlightened mortals.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}}}}, "170": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Domnica of Constantinople (\u2020 c. 474)", "short": "Venerable Domnica"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Nun Domnica came from Carthage to Constantinople during the time of the holy Emperor Theodosius the Great. Here she accepted Baptism from Patriarch Nektarios and entered a women\u2019s monastery. By means of strict and prolonged ascetic effort she attained to high spiritual perfection. The saint healed the sick, demonstrated power over the natural elements, and predicted the future. By her miracles the saint moved inhabitants of the capital towards concerns about life eternal and the soul. Adorned by virtues, the saint expired from life a spotless virgin in her old age (\u2020 474).</p>"}, "rank": 1}, "171": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Gregory of the Kiev Caves, the Wonderworker", "short": "Venerable Gregory"}}, "174": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyrs Julian and his wife, Basilissa, and with them Marcianilla, her son Celsus, Anthony, Anastasius, and 7 children and 20 Soldiers at Antinoe in Egypt (\u2020 313)", "short": "Martyr Julian and comp."}}, "175": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Elias the Hermit of Egypt (5<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Venerable Elias"}}, "176": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Abo the Perfumer, of Baghdad and Tbilisi, Georgia (\u2020 790)", "short": "Martyr Abo"}}, "177": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Prince Andrew of Bogoliubovo (\u2020 1174)", "short": "Venerable Prince"}}, "178": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Polyeuctus of Melitene in Armenia (\u2020 259)", "short": "Martyr Polyeuctus"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>Saint Polyeuktos was the first martyr in the Armenian city of Meletina. He was a soldier under the emperor Decius (249-251) and he later suffered for Christ under the emperor Valerian (253-259). The saint was friend also of Nearchos, a fellow-soldier and firm Christian, but Polyeutos himself, while yet leading a virtuous life, remained a pagan. </p><p>When the persecution against Christians started up, Nearchos said to Polyeuktos: \u201cFriend, we shalt soon be separated from thee, for they wilt take me to torture, and thou alas, wilt renounce friendship with me.\u201d Polyeuktos answered him, that in a dream he had seen Christ, Who took from him his garb and clothed him in another and bright attire. \u201cFrom that moment,\u2014said he,\u2014I am prepared to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.\u201d </p><p>Having become ardent in spirit, Saint Polyeuktos went out onto the city square, tore up the imperial edict hanging there about the duty to worship idols, and then he smashed idols from out of the hands of pagan priests carrying them.</p><p>His father-in-law, the governor Felox, to whom had been entrusted the carrying out of the imperial edict, was horrified at the deed of Saint Polyeuktos and declared, that for this he had to die. \u201cGo, make farewell with thine wife and children,\u201d\u2014said Felox. The wife came and with tears began to beseech her husband to renounce Christ, and his fatherin-law Felox also wept. But Saint Polyeuktos remained steadfast in his resolve to suffer for Christ. With joy he bent his head beneath the sword of the executioner and was baptised in his own blood (\u2020 259). Soon, when the Church of Christ in the time of Equalto-the-Apostles Constantine had triumphed throughout all the Roman empire, at Meletina there was erected a church in the name of the holy Martyr Polyeuktos. Many a miracle was worked through the prayerful intercession of Saint Polyeuktos. In this very church prayed fervently for the granting of a son the parents of the holy Monk Euthymios the Great (Comm. 20 January). The birth of this great luminary of Orthodoxy in the year 376 thus occurred through the help of the holy Martyr Polyeuktos. His memory was also venerated by Saint Akakios, Bishop of Meletina, a participant of the Third \u0152cumenical Council and a great proponent of the Ecumenical Truth. As in the East, so also in the West, the holy Martyr Polyeuktosis venerated as a patron saint of vows and treaty agreements.</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>In his suffering, O Lord, * Thy martyr Polyeuctus received an imperishable crown from Thee our God; * for, possessed of Thy might, * he set at nought the tormentors and crushed the feeble audacity of the demons. ** By his supplications save Thou our souls.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>When the Savior bowed His head in the Jordan, the head of the serpent was crushed; and the decapitated head of Polyeuctus hath put the deceiver to shame.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}}}}, "180": {"name": {"nominative": "Hieromartyr Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia (\u2020 1570)", "short": "Hieromartyr"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>Saint Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow, in the world Feodor (Theodore), was descended from the illustrious boyar-noble lineage of the Kolychevi, occupying a prominent place in the Boyar duma at the court of the Moscow sovereigns. He was born in the year 1507. His father, Stepan Ivanovich, \u201ca man enlightened and filled with military spirit,\u201d attentively prepared his son for government service. Pious Varvara (Barbara), the mother of Feodor, who ended her days in monasticism with the name Varsonophia, implanted in the soul of her son a sincere faith and deep piety. Young Feodor Kolychev applied himself diligently to the Holy Scripture and to the books of the holy fathers, upon which the old Russian enlightenment rested, then transpiring within the Church and in the spirit of the Church. The Moscow Greatprince, Vasilii III Ioannovich, the father of Ivanthe Terrible, brought young Feodor into the court, but he was not however attracted to court life. Conscious of its vanity and sinfulness, Feodor all the more deeply immersed himself in the reading of books and visiting the churches of God. Life in Moscow repelled the young ascetic. The sincere devotion to him of the young prince Ivan, presaging a great future for him in government service, could not hold in check within the earthly city his searching out of the Heavenly City.</p><p>On Sunday, 5 June 1537, in church for Divine Liturgy, Feodor felt intensely in his soul the words of the Saviour: \u201cNo one is able to serve two masters\u201d (Mt. 6: 24), which determined his ultimate destiny. Praying fervently to the Moscow wonderworkers, and without bidding farewell to kinsfolk, he secretly in the attire of a common person left Moscow, and for a certain while he hid himself away from the world in the village of Khizna, near Lake Onega, earning his livelihood as a shepherd. His thirst for ascetic deeds led him to the reknown Solovetsk monastery on the White Sea. There he fulfilled quite toilsome obediences: he chopped firewood, dug the ground, and worked in the mill. After a year and an half of testing, the hegumen Aleksei, at the wish of Feodor tonsured him, giving him the monastic name Philip and entrusting him in obedience to the starets-elder Jona Shamina, who conversed with the Monk Alexander Svirsk (\u2020 1533, Comm. 30August). Under the guidance of the experienced elders the Monk Philip grew spiritually, and strengthened in fasting and prayer. Hegumen Aleksei sent him in obedience to work at the monastery black-smith forge, where Saint Philip combined the activity of unceasing prayer amidst his working with an heavy hammer. At the beginning of the service in church he always appeared first and was the last to leave. He toiled also in the bakery, where the humble ascetic was comforted with an heavenly Sign. In the monastery afterwards they displayed the \u201cBakery\u201d image of the Mother of God, through which the heavenly Mediatrix bestowed Her blessing upon the humble baker-monk Philip. With the blessing of the hegumen, Saint Philip spent a certain while in wilderness solitude, attending to himself and to God. </p><p>In 1546 at Novgorod the Great, archbishop Theodosii consecrated Philip as hegumen of the Solovetsk monastery. The new-made hegumen strove with all his might to exalt the spiritual significance of the monastery and its founders\u2014the Monk Savvatii and Zosima of Solovetsk (Comm. 27 September, 17 April). He searched out the Hodegetria image of the Mother of God brought to the island by the original first head of Solovetsk, the Monk Savvatii; he located the stone cross which once stood before the cell of the monk. Found also was the Psalter, belonging to the Monk Zosima (\u2020 1478), the first hegumen of Solovetsk, and his robe, in which from that time hegumens would vest during service on the days of memory of the wonderworker. The monastery was revived spiritually. For regulating life at the monastery, a new ustav (monastic rule) was adopted. Saint Philip built on Solovetsk majestic temples\u2014a refectory church of the Uspenie (Dormition) of the Mother of God, consecrated in the year 1557, and a church of the Transfiguration (Preobrazhenie) of the Lord. The hegumen himself worked as a simple labourer, helping to lay the walls of the Transfiguration church. Beneathe the north portico he dug himself a grave, alongside that of his guide, the starets Jona. Spiritual life in these years blossomed at the monastery: asceticising amidst the brethren amongst the students of Hegumen Philip were the Monks John and Longin of Yarengsk (Comm. 3 July) and Vassian and Jona of Pertominsk (Comm. 12 July).</p><p>For his efforts of secret prayer Saint Philip often withdrew for quiet to a desolate wilderness spot, two versts from the monastery, which received afterwards the name the Philippov wilderness.</p><p>But the Lord was preparing the saint for other service and other work. At Moscow Ivan the Terrible remembered fondly about the Solovetsk hermit from the time of his childhood years. The tsar hoped to find in Saint Philip a true companion, confessor and counsellor, who through his exalted monastic life would have nothing in common with the sedition of the boyar-nobles. The holiness of the metropolitan, in the opinion of Ivan the Terrible, ought to be of a certain spiritual meekness to quell the treachery and malice, nesting itself within the Boyar soul. The choice of such an arch-hierarch for the Russian Church seemed to him the best possible. </p><p>The saint for a long time refused to take upon himself the great burden of primate of the Russian Church. He did not sense any spiritual affinity with Ivan. He attempted to urge the tsar to abolish the Oprichniki [the tsar internal terror shock troops]. Ivan the Terrible attempted to argue its civil necessity. Finally, the dread tsar and the holy metropolitan came to an agreement, that Saint Philip would not meddle in the affairs of the Oprichniki and the running of the government, he would not resign as metropolitan in case, if the tsar be not able to fulfill his wishes, and that he would be a support and counsellor of the tsar, just as former metropolitans were supports for the Moscow sovereigns. On 25 July 1566 occurred the consecration of Saint Philip to the cathedraseat of the Moscow sainted-hierarchs, whose number he was soon to join.</p><p>Ivan the Terrible, one of the greatest and most contradictory figures in Russian history, lived an intensely busy life, he was a talented writer and bibliophile [<i>i.e.</i> lover of books], he involved himself in the compilation of the Chronicles (and himself suddenly sundered the thread of the Moscow chronicle-writing), he delved into the intricacies of the monastic ustav (rule), and more than once thought about monasticism and abdicating the throne. Every aspect of governmental service, all the abrupt measures undertaken by him for a setting to root restructuring of civil and social life, Ivan the Terrible tried to rationalise as a manifestation of Divine Providence, as the acting of God within history. His beloved spiritual her\u0153s were Saint Michael of Chernigov (Comm. 20 September) and Saint Theodore (Feodor) the Black (Comm. 19 September), military men active with a complex contradictory destiny, moving on towards their sacred ends through whatever the hindrances rising up afront them, and fulfilling their duties to the Rodina (Native-land) and Holy Church. The more the darkness thickened around Ivan the Terrible, the more resolutely he demanded of his soul cleansing and redemption. Journeying on pilgrimage to the Kirillo-Belozersk monastery, he declared his wish to the hegumen and the gathered elders to be made a monk. The haughty autocrat fell on his knees to the hegumen, and that one blessed his intent. All his life from that time, wrote Ivan the Terrible, \u201cit seems to me, an accursed sinner, that halfways I am already black-robed.\u201d The Oprichnina was itself conceived of by Ivan the Terrible in the form of a monastic brotherhood: serving God with weapon and military deeds, the Oprichniki were required to dress in monastic garb and go to church service, long and tiring, lasting from 4 to 10 o\u2032clock in the morning. Upon \u201cbrethren,\u201d not appearing at 4 o\u2032clock in the morning, the tsar imposed a penance. Ivan himself with his sons sought fervently to pray and sing in the church choir. From church they went on to refectory (meal), and while the Oprichniki ate, the tsar stood alongside them. The remaining food the Oprichniki gathered from the table and distributed to the poor at the doorway of their refectory (dining hall). Ivan the Terrible, with tears of repentance and wanting to be an esteemer of the holy ascetics\u2014the teachers of repentance, he wanted to wash and burn away his own sins and those of his companions, cherishing the assurance, that even the terrible cruel actions would rebound for him to the welfare of Russia and the triumph of Orthodoxy. The most clearly spiritual action and monastic sobriety of Ivan the Terrible is revealed in his \u201cSynodikon\u201d: shortly before his death by his orders there were compiled full lists of the people murdered by him and his Oprichniki, which were then distributed throughout all the Russian monasteries. All his sins against the nation Ivan took upon himself and besought the holy monks to pray to God for the forgiveness of his tormented soul. </p><p>The self-styled monasticism of Ivan the Terrible, a dark most grievous oppression over Russia, tormented Saint Philip, who considered it impossible to mix together the earthly and the heavenly, serving the cross and serving the sword. Even moreso was it, that Saint Philip saw, how much unrepentant malice and envy was concealed beneath the black hoods of the Oprichniki. There were among them outright murderers, hardened in lawless bloodletting, and profiteers in it for the rewards, rooted in sin and transgression. By the sufferance of God history often is worked with the hands of the impious, and Ivan the Terrible as it were wanted to whiten before God his black brotherhood,\u2014the blood, spilled in the name of its thugs and fanatics, cried out to heaven. </p><p>Saint Philip decided to oppose Ivan the Terrible. This was connected with a new wave of executions in the years 1567-1568. In the Autumn of 1567, just as the tsar was setting out on a campaign against Livonia, he learned about a boyar conspiracy. The plotters intended to seize the tsar and deliver him over to the Polish king, who already was on the move with an army towards Russian territory. Ivan the Terrible dealt severely with the conspirators and again he shed much blood. It was bitter for Saint Philip, and the conscience of the saint at length compelled him boldly to enter into defense of the executed. The final rift occurred in the Spring of 1568. On the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross, 2 March 1568, when the tsar with his Oprichniki entered the Uspenie (Dormition) cathedral, as was their custom in monastic garb, Saint Philip refused to bless him, and began openly to denounce the lawless acts committed by the Oprichniki: \u201cMetropolitan Philip did instruct the sovereign of the enmity in Moscow concerning the Oprichnina.\u201dThe accusations of the Vladyka shattered the harmony of the church service. Ivan the Terrible in a rage said: \u201cThou wouldst oppose us? We shall see thine firmness! Ihave been too soft on you,\u201d\u2014retorted the tsar, according to eye-witnesses. </p><p>The tsar began to show ever greater cruelty in persecuting all those that opposed him. Executions followed one after the other. The fate of the saintly confessor was sealed. But Ivan the Terrible wanted to observe a canonical semblance of propriety. The Boyar duma obediently carried out the decision to have a trial over the Primate of the RussianChurch. A cathedral trial-court was set up over Metropolitan Philip in the presence of a thinned-out Boyar duma. False witnesses were found: and to the deep sorrow of the saint, these were monks of the Solovetsk monastery beloved by him, his former students and novices. They accused Saint Philip of a multitude of transgressions, even including sorcery. \u201cI am come upon the earth, just like all my ancestors,\u2014humbly answered the saint,\u2014prepared to suffer for truth.\u201d Having refuted all the accusations, the holy sufferer attempted to halt the trial by declaring voluntarily to resign the metropolitan dignity. But his abdication was not accepted. New abuse awaited the martyr. Even after bringing forth a sentence of life imprisonment, they compelled Saint Philip to serve Liturgy in the Uspensk cathedral. This was on 8 November 1568. In the midst of the service the Oprichniki burst into the temple, they publicly read the council sentence of condemnation, and then abused the saint, tearing from him the hierarchical vestments, they dressed him in rags, dragged him out of the church and drove him off on a simple peasant\u2019s sledge to the Theophany monastery. For a long while they oppressed the martyr in the cellars of the Moscow monasteries, the feet of the elder they shoved into stocks, they held him in chains, and put an heavy chain upon his neck. Finally, they drove him off to the Tver Otroch monastery. And there a year afterwards, on 23 December 1569, the saint accepted a martyr\u2019s death at the hands of Maliuta Skuratov. Only three days before this the holy elder foresaw the finish of his earthly efforts and communed the Holy Mysteries. His relics were committed to earth initially there at the monastery, beyond the church altar. Later on they were transferred to the Solovetsk monastery (11 August 1591) and from there\u2014to Moscow (3 July 1652).</p><p>The memory of Saint Philip was celebrated by the Russian Church from the year 1591, on the day of his martyr\u2019s end\u201423 December. From 1660 the celebration was transferred to 9 January.</p>"}, "rank": 4, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "", "Type": "1", "Tone": "0"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "", "Type": "1", "Tone": "3"}}}}, "181": {"name": {"nominative": "Saint Andrew, Archbishop of Crete (\u2020 712-726)", "short": "Saint Andrew"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>Saint Andrew, Archbishop of Crete, was born in the city of Damascus into a pious Christian family. Up until seven years of age the boy was mute and did not talk. However, after communing the Holy Mysteries of Christ he found the gift of speech and began to speak. And from that time the lad began earnestly to study Holy Scripture and the discipline of theology.</p><p>At fourteen years of age he went off to Jerusalem and there he accepted monastic tonsure at the monastery of Saint Sava the Sanctified. Saint Andrew led a strict and chaste life, he was meek and abstinent, such that all were amazed at his virtue and reasoning of mind. As a man of talent and known for his virtuous life, over the passage of time he came to be numbered amongst the Jerusalem clergy and was appointed a secretary for the Patriarchate\u2014a writing clerk. In the year 680 the locum tenens of the Jerusalem Patriarchate, Theodore, included Archdeacon Andrew amongst the representatives of the Holy City sent to the Sixth \u0152cumenical Council, and here the saint contended against heretical teachings, relying upon his profound knowledge of Orthodox doctrine. Shortly after the Council he was summoned back to Constantinople from Jerusalem and he was appointed archdeacon at the church of Saint Sophia, the Wisdom of God. During the reign of the emperor Justinian II (685-695), Saint Andrew was ordained bishop of the city of Gortineia on the island of Crete. In his new position he shone forth as a true luminary of the Church, a great hierarch\u2014a theologian, teacher and hymnographer.</p><p>Saint Andrew wrote many a Divine-service song. He was the originator of a new liturgical form\u2014the canon. Of the canons composed by him the best known is the Great Penitential Canon, including within its 9 odes and the 250 troparia recited during the Great Lent. In the First Week of Lent, at the service of Compline it is read in portions (thus called \u201cmethymony\u201d [translator\u2019s note: from the usage in the service of Compline of \u201cGod is with us\u201d, in Slavonic the \u201c\u0441\u033e\u043d\u0430\u043c\u0438 \u0431\u0433\u0483\u044a/s\u2032nami Bog\u201d, or in Greek \u201c\u03bc\u03b5\u03b8\u201d \u1f21\u03bc\u1ff6\u03bd \u1f41 \u0398\u03b5\u03cc\u03c2 /meth\u2032 hemon ho Theos\u201d, from which derives \u201cmethymony\u201d], and again on Thursday of the Fifth Week at the All-night Vigil during Matins.</p><p>Saint Andrew of Crete gained renown with his many praises of the All-Pure Virgin Mary. To him are likewise ascribed: the Canon for the feast of the Nativity of Christ, three odes for the Compline-service of Palm Sunday and also in the first four days of Holy Passion Week, as well as verses for the feast of the Meeting of the Lord, and many another church-songs. His hymnographic tradition was continued by the churchly great melodists of following ages: Saints John of Damascus, Cosma of Maium, Joseph the Melodist, Theophan the Written-upon. There have also been preserved edifying Sermons of Saint Andrew for certain of the Church feasts.</p><p>Church historians are not of the same opinion as to the date of death of the saint. One suggests the year 712, while others\u2014the year 726. He died on the island of Mytilene, while returning to Crete from Constantinople, where he had been on churchly business. His relics were transferred to Constantinople. In the year 1350 the pious Russian pilgrim Stefan Novgorodets saw the relics at the Constantinople monastery named for Saint Andrew of Crete.</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "The truth of things revealed thee to thy flock as a rule of faith, a model of meekness and a teacher of abstinence wherefore thou hast attained the heights through humility and riches through poverty. O hierarch Andrew our father, entreat Christ God that our souls be saved.", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "Manifestly trumpeting forth hymns of divine sweetness, thou wast shown to be a most radiant beacon for the world, shining with the light of the Trinity, O venerable Andrew. Wherefore, we all cry out to thee: Cease thou never to pray for us all.", "Type": "1", "Tone": "2"}}}}, "182": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Eustratius the Wonderworker (\u2020 9<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Venerable Eustratius"}}, "184": {"name": {"nominative": "Saint Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa (\u2020 395)", "short": "Saint Gregory"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>Saint Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, was a younger brother of Saint Basil the Great (Comm. 1 January). His birth and time of upbringing coincided with the very heights of the Arian disputes. Having received an excellent education, he was at one time a teacher of rhetorical eloquence. In the year 372 he was ordained by Saint Basil the Great as bishop of the city of Nyssa in Cappadocia.</p><p>Saint Gregory was an ardent advocate for Orthodoxy, and together with his brother Saint Basil the great he fought against the Arian heresy. He suffered persecution by the Arians, by whom he was falsely accused in the year 376 of improper useage of church property, and thereby deprived of his cathedra-seat and sent off to Ancyra. In the following year Saint Gregory was again in absentia deposed by a church-council of Arian bishops, but he continued to encourage his flock in Orthodoxy, wandering about from place to place. After the death of the emperor Valens (378), Saint Gregory was restored to his cathedra-seat and joyously received by his flock. In the year 379 his brother Saint Basil the Great died. Only with difficulty did Saint Gregory survive the loss of his brother and guide. He crafted a funeral oration to him and completed compilation of Saint Basil\u2019s study of the Six Days of Creation, the so-called \u201cHex\u00e6meron.\u201d This same year Saint Gregory participated in the Council of Antioch, against heretics that disdained to honour the immaculate virginity of the Mother of God, and others at the opposite extreme that worshipped the Mother of God as Herself being God. He was chosen by the Council for an examination of churches in Arabia and Palestine to assert the Orthodox teaching about the Most Holy Mother of God. On his return journey Saint Gregory visited Jerusalem and the Holy Places.</p><p>In the year 381 Saint Gregory was one of the chief figures of the Second \u0152cumenical Council, convened at Constantinople against the heresy of Macedonias, who incorrectly taught concerning the Holy Spirit. At this Council, on the initiative of Saint Gregory, was completed the Nic\u00e6an Symbol of Faith (i.e. the Creed).</p><p>Together with the other bishops Saint Gregory affirmed Saint Gregory the Theologian in the dignity of Archpastor of Constantinople. </p><p>In the year 383 Saint Gregory of Nyssa was a participant in a Council at Constantinople, where he spoke a sermon about the Divinity of the Son and the Holy Spirit. In the year 386 he was again at Constantinople, and to him was entrusted to speak the funeral oration in memory of the empress Placilla. And again in 394 Saint Gregory was present in Constantinople at a Local Council, convened for resolving church matters in Arabia.</p><p>Saint Gregory of Nyssa was a fiery defender of Orthodox dogmas and a zealous teacher to his flock, a kind and compassionate father to his spiritual children, and their intercessor before the courts. He was distinguished by his magnanimity, patience and love for peace.</p><p>Having reached old age, Saint Gregory of Nyssa died peacefully, soon after the Constantinople Council. Together with his great contemporaries\u2014Saints Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian, Saint Gregory of Nyssa had a significant influence on the Church life of his time. His sister, Saint Macrina, wrote to him: \u201cThou art reknown both in the cities, and gatherings of people, and throughout entire districts; Churches do send off and summon thee for help.\u201d Saint Gregory has come down in history as one of the most obvious and active Christian thinkers of the IV Century. Endowed with a profound philosophical talent, he perceived philosophy but as a means for a deeper penetration into the authentic meaning of Divine revelation.</p><p>Saint Gregory left behind him many works of dogmatic character, as well as sermons and discourses.</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>O God of our fathers, * deal with us ever according to Thy meekness. * Deprive us not of Thy mercy, * but through their supplications ** direct our life in peace.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>Keeping watch with the eye of thy soul, O holy hierarch, * thou didst show thyself to be a vigilant pastor for the world, * and with the staff of thy wisdom and thy fervent intercession * thou didst drive away all the heretics like wolves, * preserving the flock unharmed, ** O most wise Gregory.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "1"}}}}, "186": {"name": {"nominative": "Saint Dometian, Bishop of Melitene (\u2020 601)", "short": "Saint Dometian"}, "rank": 1}, "187": {"name": {"nominative": "Saint Marcian the Presbyter of Constantinople (5<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Saint Marcian"}, "rank": 1}, "189": {"name": {"nominative": "Finding of the relics of Saint Andrew, Prince of Smolensk at Pereslavl (1539)", "short": "Finding of"}}, "190": {"name": {"nominative": "Blessed Theosebia the Deaconess, Sister of Saint Gregory of Nyssa (\u2020 385)", "short": "Blessed Theosebia"}}, "194": {"name": {"nominative": "Saint Andronicus, Apostle of the Seventy, and Saint Junia (1<sup>st</sup> C)", "short": "Saint Andronicus"}, "rank": 1}, "195": {"name": {"nominative": "Saint Theodosius of Antioch (\u2020 c. 412)", "short": "Saint Theodosius"}}, "1301": {"name": {"nominative": "Saint Methodius, Patriarch of Constantinople (\u2020 846)", "short": "Saint Methodius"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>Saint Methodios, Patriarch of Constantinople, was born in Sicily into a rich family. Having a vocation to God, he went while still in his youth off to a monastery on the island of Chios and renovated it with his means. During the reign of the iconoclast Leo the Armenian (813-820), Saint Methodios held the high position of \u201capokrisiaros\u201d (\u201cadvocate for Church matters\u201d) under the holy Patriarch Nicephoros (Comm. 2 June). He was dispatched by the patriarch to Rome on a mission to the papacy and he remained there. During this period Leo the Armenian removed Nicephoros from the patriarchal throne and put on it the iconoclast Theodotos of Melissinea, given the nickname \u201cKassiter\u201d (\u201cTinman\u201d) (815-822). After the death of Leo the Armenian, Saint Methodios returned, and in the dignity of presbyter he struggled incessantly against the Iconoclast heresy. The emperor Michael the Stammerer (820-829) at first was noted for his benevolence and he set free many imprisoned by his predecessor for their veneration of icons, but after a while he renewed the persecution against Orthodoxy. Saint Methodios was locked up in prison in Akrita. After the death of Michael the Stammerer, the ruler was Theophilos (829-842), who also was an iconoclast. More refined a man than his father, he set free Saint Methodios, who likewise was a man of learning, superbly skilled in matters not only ecclesial, but also civil. Having received his freedom, Saint Methodios renewed the struggle with the heretics, and for a while the emperor tolerated this.</p><p>But after defeat in a war with the Arabs, Theophilos vented his anger against Saint Methodios, saying, that God had punished him because he had let come close to him an \u201cicon-worshipper\u201d (such was what the iconoclasts called those who venerate holy icons). Saint Methodios objected, saying that the Lord was angry with him for the insults upon His holy icons. They gave the saint over to tortures, and struck him much about the face, from which his jaw was broken. On his face remained ugly scars. Saint Methodios was sent off to the island of Antigonos and he was locked up there with two robbers in a deep cave. In this dark prison where the light of day penetrated not, Saint Methodios languished for 7 years until the death of the emperor Theophilos.</p><p>During this time, the holy Icon-Confessors Theodore and Theophanes the LetteredUpon (Comm. 27 December), likewise banished to prison, sent Saint Methodios greetings in verse, and the prisoner likewise answered with greetings in verse. </p><p>After the death of Theophilos, his son Michael III (842-867) began to rule, but not being of mature age, the Byzantine empire was actually ruled by his mother, the empress Blessed Theodora, a venerator of icons.</p><p>The empress tired to extirpate the Iconoclast heresy, and gave orders to free the confessors imprisoned for icon veneration. The heretic Annios occupying the patriarchal throne was banished, and Saint Methodios chosen in his place. At Constantinople was convened a Local Council with Saint Methodios presiding (842). The Council restored icon veneration and established an annual celebration of the triumph of Orthodoxy. The \u201cRite of Orthodoxy\u201d compiled by Saint Methodios is done on the First Sunday of the Great Lent.</p><p>Attempting to undermine the authority of Saint Methodios, and also the love and esteem of his flock for him, the heretics slandered him as having transgressed chastity. The slandering was exposed as such, and the enemies of the saint put to shame. The final years of the saint passed peacefully, he toiled much, wisely guided the Church and his flock, renovated temples ruined by the heretics, gathered up the relics of saints scattered about by the heretics, and transferred the relics of Patriarch Nicephoros from the place of his imprisonment back to Constantinople. Saint Methodios died in the year 846. He was spiritually close to the Monk Ioannikos (Comm. 4 November), who had foretold him his becoming patriarch and also the time of his end. Besides the \u201cRite of Orthodoxy,\u201d the holy hierarch also compiled a rule for those converted to the faith, three rites of marriage and several pastoral sermons and church songs.</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>The truth of things revealed thee to thy flock as a rule of faith, * a model of meekness and a teacher of abstinence * wherefore thou hast attained the heights through humility * and riches through poverty. ** O hierarch Methodius our father, entreat Christ God that our souls be saved.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>Thou didst struggle on earth like an incorporeal being, O Methodius, * and hast inherited the heavens, * as one who explained the veneration of icons to the ends of the earth; * for subjected all the more to labors and pangs, ** thou didst not cease boldly to denounce those who cast aside the icons of Christ.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "2"}}}}, "1303": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Methodius the Abbot of Pashnoshsk (\u2020 1392)", "short": "Venerable Methodius"}}, "1310": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Doulas of Cilicia (\u2020 c. 313)", "short": "Martyr Doulas"}}, "1311": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Martyrs Vitus, Modestus and Crescentia at Lucania (\u2020 c.303)", "short": "Holy Martyrs"}}, "1313": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Doulas the Passion-bearer", "short": "Venerable Doulas"}}, "1314": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Jerome (Hieronymus) of Stridonium (\u2020 c. 420)", "short": "Venerable Jerome"}}, "1316": {"name": {"nominative": "Blessed Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (\u2020 430)", "short": "Blessed Augustine"}}, "1319": {"name": {"nominative": "Blessed Lawrence, the Fool-for-Christ, at Kaluga (\u2020 1515)", "short": "Blessed Lawrence"}}, "1320": {"name": {"nominative": "St. Ephraim the Bulgarian, Patriarch of Serbia (after 1399)", "short": "St. Ephraim"}}, "1321": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Laurence of the Kiev Caves, Bishop of Turov (\u2020 1194)", "short": "Venerable Laurence"}, "services": {"0": {}, "1": {"LITURGY/0": {"text": ""}}, "2": {"LITURGY/0": {"text": ""}}}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Monk Lavrentii (Laurence), Hermit of Kiev Caves and Bishop of Turov, in the Nearer Caves\u2014at first asceticised as an hermit at the monastery of the Great Martyr Demetrios, built by Greatprince Izyaslav at Kiev near the Kiev Caves monastery. Later he transferred to the Kiev Caves monastery, and was glorified by a gift of healing. From the Kiev Caves monastery he was elevated in 1182 to the cathedra-seat of Turov (Turov is a city in the Minsk region) and was successor to Saint Kirill (Cyril) of Turov. He died in 1194, and was buried in the Nearer Caves. His memory is celebrated also on 28 September and on the 2<sup>nd</sup> Sunday of Great Lent.</p>"}}, "1322": {"name": {"nominative": "Saint Tikhon, Bishop of Amathus (\u2020 425)", "short": "Saint Tikhon"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>Saint Tykhon, Bishop of Amaphuntum, was born in the city Amaphuntum on the island of Cyprus. His parents raised their son in Christian piety, and taught him the reading of Sacred books. There is an account extant, that the gift of wonderworking appeared in Saint Tykhon at a still quite youthful age.</p><p>His father was the owner of a bread bakery and he sent his son to distribute bread. The holy lad gave bread free to the needy. Learning about this, his father became angry, but the son answered, that he had read in the holy books, that \u201cin giving to God one receiveth back an hundredfold.\u201d \u201cI too,\u2014said the youth,\u2014gave to God the bread which was taken\u201d and he persuaded his father to go to where the grain was stored. With astonishment the father saw that the granary which formerly was empty, was now filled to overflowing with wheat. From that time the father did not hinder his son from distributing bread to the needy.</p><p>A certain gardener brought from the vineyard the dried prunings of vines. Saint Tykhon gathered them, planted them in his garden and besought the Lord, that these branches might take root and yield salubrious fruit for the health of people. The Lord did so through the faith of the holy youth. The branches took root, and their fruit had a particular and very pleasant taste and was used during the lifetime of the saint and after his death for the wine in making the mystery of the Holy Eucharist.</p><p>They accepted the pious youth into the church clergy, made him a reader, and afterwards the bishop of Amaphuntum Memnon ordained him to the dignity of deacon. After the death of Bishop Memnon, Saint Tykhon by universal agreement was chosen as bishop of Amaphuntum. The ordination was headed by Saint Epiphanios, Bishop of Cyprus (\u2020 403, Comm. 12 May).</p><p>Saint Tykhon laboured zealously for the eradication of the remnants of paganism on Cyprus\u2014he destroyed an idolatrous temple and spread the Christian faith. The sainted-bishop was generous, his doors were open to all, and with love he listened to and fulfilled the request of each person who came to him. Fearing neither threats nor tortures, he firmly and fearlessly confessed his faith before pagans.</p><p>In the service to Saint Tykhon it is pointed out, that he foresaw the time of his death, which occurred in the year 425.</p><p>The name of Saint Tykhon of Amaphuntum was accorded great honour in Russia. In honour of the saint, temples were constructed at Moscow, at Nizhni Novgorod, at Kazan and other cities. But the saint was particularly venerated in Voronezh diocese, where there were three archpastors in succession sharing the name with the Saint-bishop of Amaphuntum: Saint Tikhon I (Sokolov) (\u2020 1783, Comm. 13 August), Tikhon II (Yakubovsky, until 1785) and Tikhon III (Malinin, until 1788).</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>A desert dweller, an angel in the flesh, * and a wonderworker wast thou shown to be, * O our God-bearing father Tychon, * for having acquired heavenly gifts through fasting, vigilance, and prayer, * thou dost heal the infirm, * and the souls of those who have recourse to thee with faith. * Glory to Him Who hath given thee strength! * Glory to Him Who hath crowned thee! ** Glory to Him Who worketh healings for all through thee!</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "1"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>Persevering in the struggle of the love of God, O holy one, * from on high thou didst receive the power of the Comforter * to cast down the idols of falsehood, * to save men, to cast out demons and to heal sickness. ** Wherefore, we honor thee as a friend of God, O blessed Tychon.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "3"}}}}, "1324": {"name": {"nominative": "Hieromartyr Tigrius the Presbyter and Martyr Eutropius the Reader (\u2020 404)", "short": "Hieromartyr Tigrius"}}, "1326": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Lazarus (\u2020 1391) and Athanasius (14<sup>th</sup> C) of Murom", "short": "Venerable Lazarus"}}, "1327": {"name": {"nominative": "Right-believing Prince Lazar, the Great Martyr of Serbia (\u2020 1389)", "short": "Right-believing Prince"}}, "1331": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Martyrs Manuel, Sabel and Ismael of Persia (\u2020 362)", "short": "Holy Martyrs"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Holy Martyrs Manuel, Sabel and Ismael, brothers by birth, were descended from an illustrious Persian lineage. Their father was a pagan, but their mother was a Christian, who baptised the children and raised them with firm faith in Christ the Saviour. Having grown into adults, the brothers entered military service. Speaking on behalf of the Persian emperor Alamundar, they were his emissaries in the concluding of a peace treaty with the emperor Julian the Apostate (361-363). Julian received them with due honour and showed them his favour. But when the brothers refused to take part in a pagan sacrificial offering, Julian became angry, and annulling the treaty, he locked up the peace emissaries of a foreign country in prison, like common criminals. At the interrogation he told them, that if they scorned the gods worshipped by him, it would be impossible to reach any peace or accord between the two sides. The holy brothers answered that they were sent as emissaries of their emperor on matters of state, and not arguments about gods. Seeing the firmness of faith of the holy brothers, the emperor gave orders to subject them to fierce tortures. They suspended the holy martyrs, having nailed their hands and feet to wood, at their heads they thrust nails, and under their finger-nails and t\u0153-nails they wedged sharp needles. During this time of torment the saints, as though not feeling the tortures, glorified God and prayed. Finally, they beheaded they holy martyrs. Julian ordered their bodies to be burned. But suddenly there occurred an earthquake, and the ground opened up and took the bodies of the holy martyrs into its bosom. After two days, following upon the fervent prayers of Christians, the earth returned the bodies of the holy brothers, from which issued forth a fragrance. Many pagans, having witnessed the miracle, came to believe in Christ and were baptised. Christian reverently buried the bodies of the holy Martyrs Manuel, Sabel and Ismael. This occurred in the year 362. And since that time the relics of the holy passion-bearers have been glorified with wonderworking.</p><p>Having learned about the murder of his emissaries, and that the law-transgressor Julian was marching against him with a numerous army, the Persian emperor Alamundar gathered up his army and started off towards the border of his domain. In a large battle the Persians vanquished the Greeks. Julian the Apostate was killed by the holy Great Martyr Mercurius (Mercury, Comm. 24 November).</p><p>Thirty years later the pious emperor Theodosius the Great (\u2020 397) built at Constantinople a church in honour of the holy martyrs, and Saint Germanos, Patriarch of Constantinople (Comm. 12 May), then still a priestmonk, wrote a canon in memory and in praise of the holy brothers.</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>In their sufferings, O Lord, * Thy martyrs received imperishable crowns from Thee our God; * for, possessed of Thy might, * they set at nought the tormentors and crushed the feeble audacity of the demons. ** By their supplications save Thou our souls.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>Wounded by the faith of Christ, O most blessed ones, * and having faithfully drained the cup thereof, * ye cast the worship and audacity of the Persians down to the ground, * making supplications in behalf of us all, ** O ye who are equal in number to the Trinity.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "2"}}}}, "1333": {"name": {"nominative": "Saint Leo the Great, Pope of Rome (\u2020 461)", "short": "Saint Leo"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>Saint Leo I the Great, Pope of Rome (440-461), received an exceedingly fine and diverse education, which opened for him the possibility of an excellent worldly career. But his yearning was in the spiritual life, and so he chose the different path of becoming an archdeacon under holy Pope Sixtus III (432-440)\u2014after whose death Saint Leo in turn was chosen as Pope of the Roman Church, in September 440. These were difficult times for the Church, when heretics besieged the bulwarks of Orthodoxy with their tempting false-teachings. Saint Leo combined within himself a pastoral solicitude and goodness, together with an unshakable firmness in questions of the confession of the faith. He was in particular one of the basic defenders of Orthodoxy against the heresies of Eutykhios and Dioskoros\u2014who taught that there was only one nature in the Lord Jesus Christ, and he was a defender also against the heresy of Nestorius. He exerted all his influence to put an end to the unrest by the heretics in the Church, and by his missives to the holy Constantinople emperors Theodosius II (408-450) and Marcian (450-457) he actively promoted the convening of the Fourth \u0152cumenical Council, at Chalcedon in 451, for condemning the heresy of the Monophysites. At this \u0152cumenical Council at Chalcedon, at which 630 bishops were present, there was proclaimed a missive of Saint Leo to the then already deceased Saint Flavian, Patriarch of Constantinople (447-449). Saint Flavian had suffered for Orthodoxy under the Ephesus \u201cRobber Council\u201d in the year 449. In the letter of Saint Leo was posited the Orthodox teaching about the two natures [the Divine and the human] in the Lord Jesus Christ. And with this teaching all the bishops present at the Council were in agreement. The heretics Eutykhios and Dioskoros were excommunicated from the Church.</p><p>Saint Leo was likewise a defender of his fatherland against the incursions of barbarians. In the year 452, by the persuasive power of his word, he stopped a pillaging of Italy by the dreadsome leader of the Huns, Attila. And again in the year 455, when the leader of the Vandals [a Germanic tribe], Henzerich, turned towards Rome, he boldly persuaded him not to pillage the city, burn buildings, nor spill blood. He knew about his death beforehand and he prepared himself by ardent prayer and good deeds, for the passing over from this world into eternity.</p><p>He died in the year 461 and was buried at Rome, in the Vatican cathedral. His literary and theological legacy is comprised of 96 sermons and 143 letters\u2014of which the best known is his missive to Saint Flavian.</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>O instructor of Orthodoxy, teacher of piety and purity, * beacon for the whole world, divinely inspired adornment of hierarchs. * O most wise Leo by thy doctrines thou hast illumined all. ** O harp of the Spirit, entreat Christ God that our souls be saved.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "0"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>Seated upon the throne of the priesthood, * O glorious one, and having shut the mouths of the n\u0153tic lions, * with the divinely inspired dogmas of the worshipful Trinity * thou didst shed upon thy flock the light of the knowledge of God. ** Wherefore, thou hast been glorified as a divine initiate of the mysteries of the grace of God.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "3"}}}}, "1335": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Martyrs Leontius, Hypatius, and Theodulus in Syria (70-79)", "short": "Holy Martyrs"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The holy Martyrs Leontius, Ipatius and Theodolus were Roman soldiers. The holy Martyr Leontius, a Greek by origin, during the reign of Vespasian (70-79) served as a military-chief in the imperial army in the Ph\u0153nician city of Tripoli. The Christian Leontius was distinguished for his bravery and good sense, and the people of Tripoli held him in deep regard for his virtue.</p><p>The emperor appointed the Roman senator Adrian as governor of the Ph\u0153nician district, with full powers to hunt out Christians, and in case of their refusal to offer sacrifice to the Roman gods, to give them over to torture and death. And on his way to Ph\u0153nicia Adrian received a report, that Saint Leontius had turned many away from worshipping the pagan gods. The governor sent the tribune Ipatius with a detachment of soldiers to Tripoli, so as to find and arrest the Christian Leontius. Along the way the tribune Ipatius fell seriously ill, and being near death, he saw in a dream an Angel, which said: \u201cIf thou wishest to be healed, invoke thrice with thine soldiers: \u201cGod of Leontius, help me.\u201d Opening his eyes Ipatius beheld the Angel and said: \u201cI was sent to arrest Leontius, how is it that I should appeal to his God?\u201d At this moment the Angel became invisible. Ipatius told about his dream to the soldiers, among whose number was also his friend Theodolus, and all of them together thrice called on the help of the God, Whose Name it was that Saint Leontius confessed. Ipatius was immediately healed to the great joy of his soldiers, but only Theodolus sat aside, pondering the miracle. His soul was filled with love for God, and he told Ipatius to proceed twice as quickly to the city in search of Saint Leontius.</p><p>Upon their arrival in the city, a stranger met them and invited them to his house, where he lavishly hosted the travellers. Learning that their hospitable host was Saint Leontius, they fell on their knees and asked him to enlighten them with faith in the True God. They were baptised here, and when Saint Leontius pronounced over them the prayer calling on the Name of the Most Holy Trinity, a luminous cloud overshadowed the newly-baptised and shed a graced rain. The remaining soldiers in search of their commander arrived in Tripoli, where also had arrived the governor Adrian. Learning about what had happened, he gave orders to bring him Saints Leontius, Ipatius and Theodolus, and having threatened them with torture and death, he demanded that they renounce Christ and offer sacrifice to the Roman gods. All the martyrs firmly confessed their faith in Christ. Saint Ipatius was put under a column and struck at with iron claws, and Saint Theodolus was mercilessly beaten with rods. Seeing the steadfastness of the saints, they beheaded these two. And after torture, they sent Saint Leontius off to prison. In the morning he came before the governor. Adrian tried to entice the holy martyr with honours and rewards, and accomplishing nothing, he gave him over to new tortures: the holy martyr was suspended head downwards from a pillar with an heavy stone about his neck, but nothing was able to make him renounce Christ. The governor gave orders to beat at the sufferer with rods until such time as he died. They then threw the body of the holy Martyr Leontius out beyond the city, but Christians reverently gave it burial near Tripoli. The death of the holy martyrs occurred in about the years 70-79.</p><p>The accusation against Saint Leontios, and his sufferings and death are recorded on tin tablets prepared by the court scribe (commentarisius). These tablets were placed at the grave of the holy martyr.</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>In his suffering, O Lord, * Thy martyr Leontius received an imperishable crown from Thee our God; * for, possessed of Thy might, * he set at nought the tormentors and crushed the feeble audacity of the demons. ** By his supplications save Thou our souls.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "1"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>Thou didst confound the wicked plots of the tyrants, * didst denounce the ungodly religion of the Greeks, * and didst shine forth the knowledge of God upon all men * in thy doctrines of piety, O divinely wise martyr. ** Wherefore, with love we honor thy memory, O all-wise Leontius.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "3"}}}}, "1337": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Leontius, Canonarch of the Kiev Caves (14<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Venerable Leontius"}}, "1343": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Leonid of Ust-nedumsk (\u2020 1654)", "short": "Venerable Leonid"}}, "1346": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Apostle Jude, the Brother of the Lord (\u2020 c. 80)", "short": "Apostle Jude"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Holy Apostle Jude, among the rank of the 12 disciples of Christ, is descended from the lineage of King David and Solomon, and was the son of Righteous Joseph the Affianced from his first wife.</p><p>The Holy Apostle John the Theologian writes in his Gospel: \u201cFor none of his brethren believe on Him\u201d (Jn. 7, 5). Saint Theophilact, Archbishop of Bulgaria, explains these words thus: at the beginning of the worldly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ\u2014the sons of Joseph, among whose number was Jude, did not believe in His Divine essence. The tradition relates that when Righteous Joseph the Affianced, having returned from Egypt, began to divide among his sons the worldly things belonging to him, he wanted to alot part also to Christ the Saviour, born miraculously and incorruptibly from the All-Pure Virgin Mary. The brothers were opposed to this and only the eldest of them, James, accepted Christ Jesus in a joint ownership of his allotment, and for this he was termed Brother of the Lord. Later on Jude believed in Christ the Saviour as the awaited Messiah, and with all his heart he turned to Him and was chosen by Him into the number of the closest 12 disciples. But mindful of his sin, the Apostle Jude considered himself unworthy to be termed a brother with God and in his own soborno-catholic Epistle he calls himself merely the brother of James.</p><p>The Holy Apostle Jude also had other names: the Evangelist Matthew terms him \u201cLevi, nicknamed Thaddeus\u201d (Mt. 10, 3). The Holy Evangelist Mark also calls him Thaddeus (Mk. 3, 18), and in the Acts of the Holy Apostles he is mentioned under the name Barsaba (Acts 15, 22). This was customary at that time. </p><p>After the Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Apostle Jude set off preaching the Gospel. He propagated the faith in Christ at first in Judea, Galilee, Samaria and Idumeia, and later\u2014in the lands of Arabia, Syria and Mesopotamia, and finally he went to the city of Edessa. Here he finished that which was not completed by his predecessor, the disciple from the 70\u2014Thaddeus. There is preserved an account, that the Holy Apostle Jude went preaching to Persia and from there wrote in the Greek language his soborno-catholic Epistle, in the brief wording of which consisted much profound truth. It contained dogmatic teaching about the Holy Trinity, about the Incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ, about the separation of Angels good and bad, and about the Dread Last-Judgement. In its moral content the Apostle urges believers to guard themselves against fleshly impurity, to be diligent in their obligations in prayer, faith and love, to convert the lost to the way of salvation, and to guard themselves from the teachings of heretics. The Apostle Jude taught that faith alone in Christ is not sufficient, good works also are necessary, the evidence to Christian teaching.</p><p>The Holy Apostle Jude died a martyr about the year 80 in Armenia in the city of Arata, where he was crucified on a cross and pierced by arrows.</p>"}, "rank": 4, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>Knowing thee to be the kinsman of the Christ * and a steadfast martyr, O Jude, * with sanctity we praise thee * who trampled falsehood underfoot and preserved the Faith. * Wherefore, celebrating thy most holy memory today, ** through thy supplications we receive remission of sins.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "1"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>As one who conversed with Paul, * with him thou didst announce the proclamation of divine grace, * O blessed apostle Jude, * who hast uttered divine mysteries. ** Wherefore, we cry out to thee: Cease thou never to pray for us all.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "2"}, "KONTAKION/2": {"text": "<p>Thou wast shown, for thine adamantine mind, to be the chosen disciple * and a steadfast pillar of the Church of Christ, * and thou didst preach the word of Christ to the nations, * telling them to believe in the one Godhead; * and, glorified by Him, thou hast received the gift of healings, ** to cure the infirmities of those who have recourse unto thee, O most lauded apostle Jude.</p>", "Type": "2", "Tone": "2"}}}}, "1347": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Zosimus the Soldier at Antioch, in Pisidia (\u2020 c. 100)", "short": "Martyr Zosimus"}}, "1349": {"name": {"nominative": "St. John the Solitary of Jerusalem (6<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "St. John"}}, "1352": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Martyrs Aristocles the Presbyter, Demetrian, and Athanasius the Reader (\u2020 c. 306)", "short": "Holy Martyrs"}}, "1353": {"name": {"nominative": "Hieromartyr Methodius the Bishop of Patara (\u2020 312)", "short": "Hieromartyr Methodius"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Hieromartyr Methodios, Bishop of Patara (Lycian region in Asia Minor), was distinguished for his genuine monastic humility. Calmly and with mildness he instructed his flock, but together with this he firmly defended the purity of Orthodoxy and he energetically contended against heresies, especially the widespread heresy of the Origenists. He left behind him a rich literary legacy: works in defense of Christianity against paganism, explications of Orthodox dogmas against the heresy of Origen, moral discourses, and explanations of Holy Scripture.</p><p>Saint Methodios was arrested by the pagans, steadfastly confessed before them his faith in Christ, and in the year 312 he was sentenced to death by beheading. </p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>Thy blood mystically crieth out from the earth, like that of Abel, * O divinely wise and holy hierarch Methodius, * who manifestly preached that God became man. * Wherefore, thou hast put the deception of Origen to shame * and hast passed over to the heavenly bridal chamber. ** Entreat Christ God, that He save our souls.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "1"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>Thou wast a priest of the mysteries of the Holy Trinity, * a proclaimer of the commandments of God which pass all understanding, * and the confirmation of the Orthodox, * O Methodius; * thou didst denounce the thoughts of the heretics for the sake of Orthodoxy, * shown by thy blood to be a hieromartyr. ** Standing before Christ with the angels, entreat Him that we be saved.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}}}}, "1355": {"name": {"nominative": "St. Leucius the Bishop of Brindisi (5<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "St. Leucius"}}, "1358": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Prince Gleb of Vladimir, named George in holy Baptism (\u2020 1175)", "short": "Holy Prince"}}, "1366": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Julian of Tarsus, in Cilicia (\u2020 c. 300)", "short": "Martyr Julian"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Holy Martyr Julian of Tarsus was born in the Asia Minor province of Cilicia. He was the son of a pagan senator, but his mother confessed Christianity. After the death of her husband the mother of Saint Julian resettled to Tarsis, where the son was baptised and raised in Christian piety. When Julian reached age 18, a persecution against Christians started under the emperor Diocletian (284-305). Among others arrested was also Saint Julian. They brought him before the governor Marcian for trial, where for a long time they urged him to renounce Christ. Neither tortures nor threats, nor promises of gifts and honours could convince the pious youth to offer pagan sacrifice and a denial of Christ. The holy confessor remained steadfast in his firm faith. For a whole year they led the martyr through the cities of Cilicia, in each of them subjecting him to interrogation and tortures, after which they threw him in prison. The mother of Saint Julian followed after her son and prayed, that the Lord would strengthen him yet more in faith and act. In the city of Aegea under the pretext of urging her son to offer sacrifice to idols, she besought the governor to permit her to visit the prison. She spent three days in prison with Saint Julian, beseeching him to be strong to the end.</p><p>Saint Julian was again brought to stand before the governor. Thinking, that the mother had persuaded her son to submit to the imperial decree, the governor began to praise her prudence. But suddenly the saint boldly confessed himself a Christian. And the holy Martyr Julian all the more fearlessly and boldly denounced the pagan polytheism. The governor then gave orders to cut off the feet of the mother of Saint Julian, since she had accompanied her son from Tarsis. They tied the Martyr Julian into a sack, filled with sand and poisonous vipers, and threw it into the sea. The body of the sufferer was carried by the waves to the shores of Alexandria, and with reverence was buried by a certain pious Alexandrian Christian. The martyr\u2019s death occurred in about the year 305. Afterwards the relics of the holy martyr were transferred to Antioch. Saint John Chrysostom honoured the memory of the holy Martyr Julian with a sermon of laudation.</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>In his suffering, O Lord, * Thy martyr Julian received an imperishable crown from Thee our God; * for, possessed of Thy might, * he set at nought the tormentors and crushed the feeble audacity of the demons. ** By his supplications save Thou our souls.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>As is meet, let us all praise Julian today, * the invincible warrior of piety, * the true counselor and soldier of the Truth, * and let us cry aloud unto him: * Entreat Christ God in behalf of us all!</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "2"}}}}, "1368": {"name": {"nominative": "Monks Julius the presbyter and Julian the Deacon (5<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Monks Julius"}}, "1369": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Martyr Archil II, King of Georgia (\u2020 744)", "short": "Holy Martyr"}}, "1375": {"name": {"nominative": "Hieromartyr Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata (\u2020 380)", "short": "Hieromartyr Eusebius"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Priestmartyr Eusebios, Bishop of Samosata, stood firmly for the Orthodox confession of faith confirmed at the Ist \u0152cumenical Council at Nic\u00e6a in the year 325. For this he underwent persecution by the Arians, being repeatedly deprived of his cathedra and banished into exile. The emperor Constantius (337-361), patron of the Arians, having learned that Saint Eusebios kept a conciliar decree about the election to the Antioch cathedra of the Orthodox Archbishop Meletios, sent him a command to give up the decree. The saint boldly refused to do as ordered. The enraged emperor sent a message, that if he did not give up the decree, then his right hand would be cut off. Saint Eusebios stretched out both hands to the emissary with the words: \u201cCut them off, but the Decree of the Council, which doth denounce the wickedness and iniquity of the Arians, I will not give up.\u201d The emperor Constantius marveled at the audacity of the bishop, but did him no harm.</p><p>After Constantius, there reigned Justin the Apostate (361-363). Even more difficult times ensued\u2014there began an open persecution against Christians. Saint Eusebios, having concealed his dignity, went about in the garb of a soldier across the whole of Syria, Ph\u0153nicia and Palestine, urging Christians to the Orthodox faith. He established priests and deacons in desolated churches, he put hands upon bishops renouncing the Arian heresy. After Julian the Apostate perished, there ruled the pious emperor Jovian (363-364), during which time the persecutions stopped. Having returned from exile, Archbishop Meletios upon the advice of Saint Eusebios convened a Local Council at Antioch in the year 379. In it participated 27 bishops, and it re-affirmed the Orthodox teaching of faith accepted at the Ist \u0152cumenical Council. The Arians, fearing the steadfast defenders of Orthodoxy\u2014Saint-hierarchs Meletios, Eusebios and Pelagios, who had great influence with the emperor, put their signatures under the conciliar definition. After the death of the emperor Jovian began the rule of the Arian Vanlentus (364-378). The Orthodox were again subjected to persecution. Saint Meletios was banished to Armenia, Saint Pelagios\u2014to Arabia, and Saint Eusebios was condemned to exile in Thrace. Having received the imperial decree, Saint Eusebios left Samosata by night so as to prevent tumult among the people that esteemed him. Having learned about the departure of the bishop, believers followed after him and with tears entreated him to return. The saint refused to fulfill the entreaty of those who had come, saying that it was necessary to obey the existing authorities. The saint urged his flock to hold firm to Orthodoxy, blessed them and set off to the place of exile. The Arian Eunomios was put upon the Samosata cathedra, but the people did not accept the heretic. The Orthodox would not go to the church and avoided meeting with him. The heretic Arian perceived, that it was impossible to entice the independent flock to him.</p><p>The emperor Gracian (375-383) came upon the throne, and there were brought back from exile all the Orthodox hierarchs banished under the Arians. Saint Eusebios also returned to Samosata and continued with the task of building up the church. Together with Saint Meletios he supplied Orthodox hierarchs and clergy to Arian places. In about the year 380, he arrived in the Arian city of Dolikhina to establish there the Orthodox bishop Marinos. An Arian woman flung a roof tile which struck the head of the sainted-bishop. In dying, he on the example of the Saviour asked her for wine and requested those around not to do her any harm. The body of Saint Eusebios was taken to Samosata and with lamantation he was buried by his flock. In place of the saint was raised up his nephew, Blessed Antiokhos, and the Samosata Church continued to steadfastly confess the Orthodox faith, firmly spread through the efforts of the holy Priestmartyr Eusebios.</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>Having lived piously in the rank of hierarch * and traversed the path of martyrdom, * thou didst extinguish the burnt offerings of the idolaters, * O holy hierarch Eusebius. * * But as thou hast boldness before Christ God, entreat Him, that our souls be saved.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}}}}, "1376": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Martyrs Zeno and Zenas of Philadelphia (\u2020 304)", "short": "Holy Martyrs"}}, "1377": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Martyrs Galacteon and Juliania", "short": "Holy Martyrs"}}, "1380": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Agrippina of Rome (\u2020 c. 255)", "short": "Martyr Agrippina"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Holy Martyress Agrippina, was by birth a Roman. She did not wish to enter into marriage, and totally dedicated her life to God. During the time of persecution against Christians under the emperor Valerian (253-259) the saint went before the court and bravely confessed her faith in Christ, for which she was given over to torture. They beat the holy virgin with sticks so much, that her bones broke. Afterwards they put Saint Agrippina in chains, but an Angel freed her from her bonds. The holy confessor died from the tortures she endured. The Christians Vassa, Paula and Agathonica secretly took the body of the holy martyress and transported it to Cilicia, where at her grave were worked many miracles. In about the XI Century the relics of the holy Martyress Agrippina were transferred to Constantinople.</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>Thy ewe-lamb Agrippina crieth out to Thee with a loud voice, O Jesus: * \"I love Thee, O my Bridegroom, * and, seeking Thee, I pass through many struggles: * I am crucified and buried with Thee in Thy baptism, * and suffer for Thy sake, that I may reign with Thee; * I die for Thee that I might live with Thee. * As an unblemished sacrifice accept me, * who sacrifice myself with love for Thee ** By her supplications save Thou our souls, in that Thou art merciful.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>The radiant day of thy splendid struggles hath dawned, * whereon the divine Church, honoring them, doth call all together to cry out to thee with gladness: ** Rejoice, O virgin and martyr, most blessed Agrippina.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}}}}, "1381": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Martyrs Eustochius, Gaius, Probius, Lollius and Urban of Ancyra (4<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Holy Martyrs"}}, "1384": {"name": {"nominative": "Icon of the Mother of God \u201cZaonikievskaya\u201d", "short": "Icon of"}}, "1387": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyrs Pharnacius, Orentius, Eros, Firmus, Firminus, Cyriacus, and Longinus (3<sup>rd</sup>-4<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Martyrs Pharnacius"}}, "1390": {"name": {"nominative": "Righteous Youths James and John of Meniugi (17<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Righteous Youths"}}, "1395": {"name": {"nominative": "Appearance of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God (1383)", "short": "Tikhvin Icon"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God, according to tradition, is one of the icons written by the holy Disciple and Evangelist Luke. In the V Century it was transferred from Jerusalem to Constantinople, where the Blachern\u00e6 church was built for it. In the year 1383, 70 years before the taking of Constantinople by the Turks, the icon disappeared from the church, and re-appeared amidst a radiant light over the waters of Lake Ladoga. Miraculously taken from place to place, it then remained near the city of Tikhvin. At the place of the appearance of the icon was built a wooden church in honour of the Uspenie-Dormition of the Mother of God. Through the zeal of GreatPrince Vasilii Ivanovich (1505-1533), in place of the wooden church was built a stone church. In 1560 by order of tsar Ivan the Terrible a men\u2019s monastery was established nearby the church, and enclosed by a stone wall. During the years 1613-1614 the Swedish army, having seized Novgorod, more than once tried to destroy the monastery, but by the intercession of the Mother of God the monastery was saved. Thus, one time, in sight of the nearby Swedish army, the monks decided to flee from the monastery taking with them the wonderworking icon, but they were not able to remove it from its place. This miracle halted the dispirited, and they remained at the monastery, hoping on the intercession of the Mother of God. The insignificant number of defenders of the monastery successfully repulsed the numerically greater enemy. The invading Swedes them encountered a numerous Russian army, coming from Moscow, like some heavenly host, and they turned to flight. Imperial emissaries arrived at the monastery after the miraculous victory over the Swedes. Taking along a copy of the wonderworking icon, they set off to the village of Stolbovo, 50 versts from Tikhvin, where on 10 February 1617 peace was concluded with the Swedes. The primary pledge of peace from the Russian side was on the transferred copy of the wonderworking icon. Afterwards this copy was taken to Moscow and placed in the Uspensk cathedral, and then at the request of the people of Novgorod, involved then in war with the Swedes, it was sent off to Novgorod and placed in the Sophia cathedral. The All-Russian feast of the Tikhvinsk Icon of the Mother of God, glorified by innumerable miracles, was established by the Church in memory of its miraculous appearance and the vanquishing of enemies through the intercession of the Mother of God. </p>"}, "rank": 4, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>Today thy most precious icon hath shone forth upon us in the air like the all-radiant sun, O Mistress, illumining the world with rays of mercy; and great Russia, reverently receiving it from on high as a gift of God, glorifieth thee as the Mistress of all, O Mother of God, and joyously magnifieth Christ our God Who was born of thee. Him do thou entreat, O Lady, Queen and Theotokos, that He preserve all the cities and lands where Christians live, unharmed by all the assaults of the enemy, and save those who with, faith worship before the all-honored image of Him and thee, O Virgin who knewest not wedlock.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>O ye people, let us make haste to the Virgin Theotokos and Queen, giving thanks to Christ our God; and gazing with compunction at her miraculous icon, let us fall down and cry out to her: O Mary our Mistress, visiting this land in the miraculous appearance of thy precious icon, save our faithful Emperor and all Christians in peace and prosperity, showing us to be inheritors of the life of heaven. For to thee do we cry with faith: Rejoice, O Virgin, salvation of the world!</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "0"}}}}, "1396": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable David of Thessalonica (6<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Venerable David"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Monk David of Soluneia (Thessalonika) pursued asceticism at the monastery of the holy Martyrs Theodore and Mercurios. Afterwards, having settled near the city of Soluneia, he built himself an hut under an almond tree and lived in it for 70 years, being in constant prayer, keeping strict fast, and enduring heat and cold. The Monk David received from God the gift of wonderworking, and he healed many from sickness. The holy ascetic gave spiritual counsel to all who came to him. Having attained to passionlessness, he was like an angel in the flesh, and without harm he was able to take into his hands the hot coals for the incensing. The monk died in about the year 540. </p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>In thee, O father, that which was created according to the image of God was manifestly saved. * For accepting thy cross thou didst follow after Christ, * and praying thou didst learn to disdain the flesh, * for thou didst transcend it to take care of thine immortal soul. ** Wherefore, with the angels doth thy soul rejoice, O venerable David.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "0"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>An ever-blossoming garden, bearing the fruits of the virtues, * thou didst appear in the tree of a grove, like a right melodious bird; * and receiving the Lord, the tree of life, in thy heart all the more, * and cultivating it like a garden, O divinely wise one, * thou hast thereby nurtured us with grace. ** Pray thou ever in our behalf, O most blessed David.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "1"}}}}, "1398": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Macarius of Alexandria (\u2020 394-395)", "short": "Venerable Macarius"}, "services": {"0": {}, "1": {"LITURGY/0": {"text": ""}}, "2": {"LITURGY/0": {"text": ""}}}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Monk Makarios of Alexandria was a contemporary and friend of the Monk Makarios of Egypt (Comm. 19 January). He was born in the year 295, and until the age of 40 he was occupied in trade; afterwards, he accepted holy Baptism and withdrew into the wilderness. After several years of ascetic life he was elevated to the dignity of presbyter and made head of a monastery\u2014called \u201cthe Cells\u201d\u2014in the Egyptian wilderness between the city of Nitra and the Skete, at which monk-hermits pursued asceticism in silence, each separately in his own cell.</p><p>Saint Makarios of Alexandria, like Makarios of Egypt, was a great ascetic and monastic head, and he accomplished many miracles. Learning about some particular ascetic feat of this or that monk, he attempted to imitate him in that ascetic deed. Thus, having heard that a certain monk used only one pound of bread in a day, he started to eat only so much and even less. Wishing to shorten his sleep, he stayed for 20 whole days under the open sky, enduring heat by day and cold by night. One time Saint Makarios picked a bunch of grapes. He very much wanted to eat them, but he conquered this desire in himself and gave the grapes to a still weaker monk. That one, wanting to preserve his abstinence, gave the grapes to another, and that one\u2014to a third and so forth. At the very end the bunch of grapes returned to the Monk Makarios. The ascetic was astonished at the abstention of his disciples and gave thanks to God. One time a proud thought came over the saint\u2014to go to Rome to heal the sick. Struggling with the temptation, the saint filled up a sack of sand, loaded it on himself and went for a long walk into the wilderness, and until he exhausted his body the proud thought did not leave him.</p><p>By his ascetic life, fasting, and renunciation of things earthly, the Monk Makarios acquired the gifts of wonderworking and of seeing the inner thoughts of people, and he was granted many miraculous visions. Thus, it was granted the monk to see how one of the ascetics of the holy monastery\u2014the Monk Mark\u2014was communicated the Holy Mysteries from the hands of Angels, and how careless brethren received during the time of partaking in place of the Body of Christ burning coals from those of the nether regions. Saint Makarios was glorified by many miracles of healing the sick and casting out devils. Saint Makarios of Alexandria died in about 394-395 at age 100. He wrote \u201cDiscourse about the Origin of the Soul\u201d included in the text of the sequenced Psalter. </p>"}}, "1399": {"name": {"nominative": "Icons of the Mother of God of Lidda (1<sup>st</sup> C), Niamets (1399), and the Seven Lakes (17<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Icons of"}}, "1401": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Macarius the Great, of Egypt (\u2020 c. 390-391)", "short": "Venerable Macarius"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Monk Makarios the Great of Egypt was born in the village of Ptinapor in Lower Egypt. At the wish of his parents he entered into marriage, but was soon a widower. Having buried his wife, Makarios told himself: \u201cTake heed, Makarios, and have care for thy soul, wherefore it becometh thee to forsake earthly life.\u201d The Lord rewarded the saint with a long life, but from that time the mindfulness of death was constantly with him, impelling him to ascetic deeds of prayer and penitence. He began to visit the church of God more frequently and to be more deeply absorbed in Holy scripture, but he did not depart from his aged parents\u2014thus fulfilling the commandment about the honouring of parents. Until his parents end the Monk Makarios (\u201cMakarios\u201d\u2014from the Greek means \u201cblessed\u201d) used his remaining substance to help his parents and he began to pray fervently, that the Lord might shew him a preceptor on the way to salvation. The Lord sent him such a guide in the person of an experienced monk-elder, living in the wilderness not far from the village. The elder took to the youth with love, guided him in the spiritual science of watchfulness, fasting and prayer, and taught him the handicraft of weaving baskets. Having built a separate cell not far from his own, the elder settled his student in it.</p><p>The local bishop arrived one day at Ptinapor and, knowing about the virtuous life of the monk, made him into the clergy against his will. But Blessed Makarios was overwhelmed by this disturbance of his silence, and therefore went secretly to another place. The enemy of salvation began a tenacious struggle with the ascetic, trying to terrify him, shaking his cell and suggesting sinful thoughts. Blessed Makarios shook off the attacks of the devil, defending himself with prayer and the sign of the cross. Evil people made up a slander against the saint, accusing him in the seduction of a maiden from a nearby village. They dragged him out of his cell, and jeered at him. The Monk Makarios endured the temptation with great humility. The money that he got for his baskets he sent off without a murmur for the welfare of the maiden. The innocence of Blessed Makarios was revealed when the maiden, being worried for many days, was not able to give birth. She then confessed in her sufferings that she had slandered the hermit, and she pointed out the real author of the sin. When her parents found out the truth, they were astonished and intended to go to the monk with remorse. But the Monk Makarios, shunning the vexation of people, fled that place by night and settled on a Nitrian mountain in the Pharan wilderness. Thus human wickedness contributed to the prospering of the righteous. Having dwelt in the wilderness for three years, he went to Saint Anthony the Great, the father of Egyptian monasticism, about whom he had heard that he was still alive in the world, and he longed with a desire to see him. The Monk Abba Anthony received him with love, and Makarios became his devoted student and follower. The Monk Makarios lived with him for a long time and then, on the advice of the saintly abba, he went off to the Skete wilderness-monastery (in the northwest part of Egypt). He so shone forth there by his ascetic deeds that he came to be called \u201ca young-elder,\u201d insofar as having scarcely reached thirty years of age, he distinguished himself as an experienced and mature monk.</p><p>The Monk Makarios survived many demonic attacks against him: once he was carrying palm branches from the wilderness for weaving baskets, and a devil met him on the way and wanted to strike him with a sickle, but he was not able to do this and said: \u201cMakarios, I suffer from thee great anguish because I am not able to vanquish thee; thine armour, by which thou art defended from me, is this\u2014thy humility.\u201d When the saint reached age 40, he was ordained to the dignity of priest and made the head (abba) of the monks living at the Skete wilderness. During these years the Monk Makarios often visited with Anthony the Great, receiving guidance from him in spiritual conversations. Blessed Makarios was deemed worthy to be present at the death of the holy abba and he received his staff in succession, together with which he received twice the spiritual power of Anthony the Great\u2014in the same way, as did once the prophet Elisha receive from the prophet Elias twice the grace with the mantle coming down from heaven.</p><p>The Monk Makarios accomplished many healings: people thronged to him from various places for help and for advice, asking his holy prayers. All this unsettled the quietude of the saint. He therefore dug out under his cell a deep cave and betook himself there for prayer and Divine meditation. The Monk Makarios attained to such daring in walking before God, that through his prayer the Lord resuscitated the dead. In spite of such lofty attainment of God-likeness, he continued to preserve his unusual humility. One time the holy abba caught a thief, putting his things on a donkey standing nearby the cell. Not giving the appearance that he was the owner of these things, the monk began quietly to help tie up the load. Having removed himself from the world, the monk told himself: \u201cWe bring nothing at all into this world; clearly, it is not possible to take anything out from hence. Bless the Lord in all things!.\u201d</p><p>One time the Monk Makarios was walking along the way and, seeing a skull lying upon the ground, he asked it: \u201cWho art thou?\u201d The skull answered: \u201cI was a chief-priest of the pagans. When thou, Abba, dost pray for those situated in hell, we do receive some mitigation.\u201d The monk asked: \u201cWhat are these torments?\u201d \u201cWe are sitting in a great fire,\u2014answered the skull,\u2014and we do not see one another. When thou prayest, we begin to see each other somewhat, and this affords us some comfort.\u201d Having heard such words, the monk began weeping and asked: \u201cAre there yet more fiercesome torments?\u201d The skull answered: \u201cDown below us are located those, which did know the Name of God, but spurned Him and kept not His commandments. They endure yet more grievous torments.\u201d</p><p>Once during prayer Blessed Makarios heard a voice: \u201cMakarios, thou hast reached such attainment as have two women living in the city.\u201d The humble ascetic, taking up his staff, went to the city, found the house where the women lived, and knocked. The women received him with joy, and the monk said: \u201cBecause of you I have come from a far wilderness, and I want to know about your good deeds; tell about them, keeping nothing secret.\u201d The women answered with surprise: \u201cWe live with our own husbands, and we have not such virtues.\u201d But the saint continued to insist, and the women then told him: \u201cWe entered into marriage with two brothers by birth. After all this time of life in common we have told each other not one evil thing nor insulting word, and never do we quarrel between ourselves. We asked our husbands to release us into a women\u2019s monastery, but they were not agreeable, and we gave a vow not to utter one worldly word until death.\u201d The holy ascetic glorified God and said: \u201cIn truth the Lord does not seek virgins nor married women, and neither monks nor worldly persons, but doth value the free intent of the person within the arbitrariness of his free will to offer thanks to the Holy Spirit, which acts and which rules the life of each person, yearning to be saved.\u201d</p><p>During the years of the reign of the emperor Valens\u2014an Arian heretic (364-378), the Monk Makarios the Great together with the Monk Makarios of Alexandria was subjected to persecution by the adherents of the Arian bishop Luke. They seized both elders and, imprisoning them on a ship, transported them onto a wild island where there lived pagans. By the prayers of the saints there, the daughter of a pagan priest received healing, at which the pagan priest and all the inhabitants of the island accepted holy Baptism. Learning about what had happened, the Arian bishop became ashamed and permitted the elders to return to their own monasteries.</p><p>The meekness and humility of the monk transformed human souls. \u201cAn harmful word,\u2014said Abba Makarios,\u2014and it makes good things bad, but a good word makes bad things good.\u201d On the questioning of the monks, how to pray properly, the monk answered: \u201cFor prayer it does not require many words, it is needful only to say: \u201cLord, as Thou desirest and as Thou knowest, have mercy on me.\u201d If an enemy should fall upon thee, it is needful but to utter: \u201cLord, have mercy!\u201d The Lord knoweth that which is useful for us, and doth grant us mercy.\u201d When the brethren asked: \u201cIn what manner ought a monk to comport himself?,\u201d the monk answered: \u201cForgive me, I am a poor monk, but I beheld monks being saved in the remote wilderness. I asked them, how might I make myself a monk. They answered: \u201cIf a man doth not withdraw himself from everything which is situated in the world, it is not possible to be a monk.\u201d At this point I answered: \u201cI am weak and not able to be such as ye.\u201d The monks therewith answered: \u201cIf thou art not able to be such as we, then sit in thy cell and dwell in contrition about thy sins.\u201d\u201d</p><p>The Monk Makarios gave advice to a certain monk: \u201cFlee from people and thou shalt be saved.\u201d That one asked: \u201cWhat does it mean to flee from people?\u201d The monk answered: \u201cSit in thy cell and dwell in contrition about thy sins.\u201d The Monk Makarios said also: \u201cIf thou wishest to be saved, be as one who is dead, who is not given over to anger when insulted, and not puffed up when praised.\u201d And further: \u201cIf for thyself, slander\u2014is like praise, poverty\u2014like riches, deficiency\u2014like abundance, thou shalt not perish. Since it is not possible, that in piety believers and ascetic seekers should fall into unclean passions and demonic seductions.\u201d</p><p>The prayer of the Monk Makarios saved many in perilous circumstances of life, and preserved them from harm and temptation. His benevolence was so great, that they said about him: \u201cJust as God covereth the world, so also doth Abba Makarios cover offenses which he, having seen, is as though he had not seen, and having heard, as though he had not heard.\u201d</p><p>The monk lived until age 97. Shortly before his end there appeared to him the Monks Anthony and Pakhomios, bringing the joyful message about his transition into a blessed Heavenly monastery. Having given admonition to his disciples and having given them blessing, the Monk Makarios asked forgiveness from all and bid farewell with the words: \u201cInto Thy hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.\u201d</p><p>Holy abba Makarios spent sixty years in the wilderness, being dead to the world. The monk spent most of the time in conversation with God, being often in a state of spiritual rapture. But he never ceased to weep, to repent and to work. The abba rendered his rich ascetic experience into profound theological works. Fifty discourses and seven ascetic tracts form the precious legacy of spiritual wisdom of the Monk Makarios the Great.</p><p>His idea, that the highest blessedness and purpose of man\u2014the unity of the soul with God\u2014is a primary principle in the works of the Monk Makarios. Recounting the means by which to attain to mystical union, the monk relies upon the experience of both the great teachers of Egyptian monasticism and upon his own experience. The way to God and the experience of the holy ascetics of Communality with God is revealed to each believer\u2019s heart. Therefore Holy Church also includes within the general use of vespers and matins the ascetic prayers of the Monk Makarios the Great.</p><p>Earthly life, according to the teachings of the Monk Makarios, possesses with all its works only a relative significance: to prepare the soul, to make it capable for the perception of the Heavenly Kingdom, to establish in the soul an affinity with the Heavenly fatherland. \u201cThe soul\u2014for those truly believing in Christ\u2014it is necessary to transpose and to transform from out of the present degraded condition into another condition, a good condition: and from out of the present perishing nature into another, Divine nature, and to be remade anew\u2014by means of the power of the Holy Spirit.\u201d To attain this is possible, if \u201cwe truly believe and we truly love God and have penetrated into all His holy commands.\u201d If the soul, betrothed to Christ on holy Baptism, does not itself co-operate in its gifts of the grace of the Holy Spirit, then it is subjected to \u201can excommunication from life,\u201d as is shewn by a lack of attaining blessedness and incapacity to union with Christ. In the teaching of the Monk Makarios, the question about the unity of Divine Love and Divine Truth is experientially decided. The inner action of the Christian determines the extent of the perception by him of this unity. Each of us acquires salvation through grace and the Divine gift of the Holy Spirit, but to attain a perfect measure of virtue\u2014which is necessary for the soul\u2019s assimilation of this Divine gift, is possible only \u201cby faith and by love with the strengthening of free will.\u201d Thus, \u201cas much by grace, as much also by truth\u201d does the Christian inherit eternal life. Salvation is a Divine-human action: we attain complete spiritual success \u201cnot by Divine power and grace alone, but also by the accomplishing of the proper labours\u201d; from the other side\u2014it is not alone within \u201cthe measure of freedom and purity\u201d that we arrive at the proper solicitude, it is not without \u201cthe co-operation of the hand of God above.\u201d The participation of man determines the actual condition of his soul, thus self-determining him to good or evil. \u201cIf a soul still in the world does not possess in itself the sanctity of the Spirit for great faith and for prayer, and does not strive for the oneness of Divine communion, then it is unfit for the heavenly kingdom.\u201d</p><p>The miracles and visions of Blessed Makarios are recorded in a book by the Presbyter Ruphinos, and his Life was compiled by the Monk Serapion, bishop of Tmuntis (Lower Egypt), one of the reknown workers of the Church in the IV Century.</p>"}, "rank": 2, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>A desert dweller, an angel in the flesh, * and a wonderworker wast thou shown to be, * O our God-bearing father Macarius, * for having acquired heavenly gifts through fasting, vigilance, and prayer, * thou dost heal the infirm, * and the souls of those who have recourse to thee with faith. * Glory to Him Who hath given thee strength! * Glory to Him Who hath crowned thee! ** Glory to Him Who worketh healings for all through thee!</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "1"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>The Lord truly set thee in the house of abstinence * like a star which wandereth not, * guiding the ends of the earth with light, * O venerable Macarius, ** father of fathers.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}, "KONTAKION/2": {"text": "<p>Having in life reached the end of a blessed life * with the choirs of the martyrs, * thou dwellest in the land of the meek, * as is meet, O God-bearing Macarius; * and having populated the desert as it were a city, * thou hast received from God the grace of miracles. ** Wherefore, we honor thee.</p>", "Type": "2", "Tone": "1"}}}}, "1402": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Macarius of Zhabyn and Belyov, the Wonderworker (\u2020 1623)", "short": "Venerable Macarius"}}, "1403": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Macarius, Abbot Zheltovodsk and Unzha (\u2020 1444)", "short": "Venerable Macarius"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Monk Makarii of Zheltovodsk and Unzhensk was born in the year 1349 at Nizhni-Novgorod into a pious family. At twelve years of age he secretly left his parents and accepted monastic tonsure at the Nizhegorodsk Kiev Caves monastery under Saint Dionysii (afterwards Archbishop of Suzdal\u2032; \u2020 1385, Comm. 26 June). With all the intensity of his youthful soul he gave himself over to the work of salvation: extremely strict fasting and exact fulfilling of the monastic rule distinguished him amongst the brethren.</p><p>The parents of the Monk Makarii only learned three years later where he had taken himself off to. His father went to him and tearfully besought his son merely that he would come forth and show himself. The Monk Makarii conversed with his father through a wall and said, that he would see him in the future life. \u201cExtend me at least thine hand,\u201d\u2014implored the father. The son fulfilled this small request and the father, having kissed the extended hand of his son, returned home. Burdened by fame, the humble Makarii set out to the shores of the River Volga and here he pursued asceticism near the waters of Lake Zhelta. Here by firm determination and patience he overcame the abuse of the enemy of salvation. Lovers of solitude gathered to the Monk Makarii, and in 1435 he organised for them a monastery in the Name of the Most Holy Trinity. Here also he began to preach Christianity to the surrounding Cheremis and Chuvash peoples, and he baptised both Mahometans and pagans in the lake, which received its name from the saint. When the Kazan Tatars destroyed the monastery in 1439, they took captive the Monk Makarii. Out of respect for his piety and charitable love, the khan released the saint from captivity and set free together with him nearly 400 Christians. But in return they accepted the word of the Monk Makarii not to settle by Lake Zhelta. The Monk Makarii reverently buried those killed at his monastery, and he set out 200 versts to the Galich border. During the time of this resettlement all those on the way were fed in miraculous manner through the prayers of the monk. Having arrived at the city of Unzha, the Monk Makarii 15 versts from the city set up a cross and built a cell on the shores of Lake Unzha. And here he founded a new monastery. During the fifth year of his life at Lake Unzha the Monk Makarii took sick and reposed at age 95. </p><p>While yet alive, the Monk Makarii was granted a graced gift: he healed a blind and demon-afflicted girl. After the death of the monk, many received healing from his relics. The monks erected over his grave a temple and established a life-in-common rule at the monastery. In 1522 Tatars fell upon Unzha and wanted to tear apart the silver reliquary in the Makariev monastery, but they fell blind, and in a panic they took to flight. Many of them drowned in the Unzha. In 1532, through the prayers of the Monk Makarii, the city of Soligalich was saved from the Tatars, and in gratitude the inhabitants built a chapel in the cathedral church in honour of the saint. More than 50 people received healing from grievous infirmities through the prayers of the Monk Makarii,\u2014this was certified to by a commission, dispatched by Patriarch Philaret in 1619.</p>"}, "rank": 3}, "1404": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Macarius, Abbot of Kaliazin, wonderworker (\u2020 1483)", "short": "Venerable Macarius"}, "rank": 3}, "1405": {"name": {"nominative": "Translation of the Relics (1688) of Hieromartyr Macarius, Archimandrite of Kanev, Abbot of Pinsk (\u2020 1678)", "short": "Translation of"}}, "1406": {"name": {"nominative": "Hieromartyr Macarius, Metropolitan of Kiev (\u2020 1497)", "short": "Hieromartyr Macarius"}}, "1411": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Macarius the Deacon of the Kiev Caves (13th-14<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Venerable Macarius"}}, "1412": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Macarius the Abbot of Pisma (14<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Venerable Macarius"}}, "1419": {"name": {"nominative": "Synaxis of the Twelve Glorious and All-Praised Apostles: Peter and Andrew, James and John, Phillip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James the son of Alpheus, Jude [Thaddeus], Simon Zealotes, and Matthias", "short": "Synaxis"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>Sobor (Assemblage) of the Glorious and All-Praiseworthy 12 Apostles of Christ appears an ancient feast. Holy Church,\u2014honouring each of the 12 Apostles at a separate time of the year, from ancient times established a general commemoration of them on the day following after the commemoration of the Glorious and First-Ranked among the Apostles Peter and Paul (\u2020 c. 67). An account about each of the Apostles is on the day of his individual commemoration: the Apostle Peter (\u2020 c. 67; Comm. 29 June); the Apostle Andrew the First-Called (\u2020 62, Comm. 30 November); the Apostle James son of Zebedee (\u2020 44, Comm. 30 April); the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian (\u2020 early II Century, Comm. 26 September); Apostle Philip (Comm. 14 November); Apostle Bartholomew (Comm. 11 June); Apostle Thomas (Comm. 6 October); Apostle and Evangelist Matthew (\u2020 60, Comm. 16 November); Apostle James Alph\u00e6us (Comm. 9October); Apostle Jude, brother of the Lord (\u2020 c. 80, Comm. 19 June); Apostle Simon Zelotes (Comm. 10 May); Apostle Matthias (\u2020 c. 63, Comm. 9 August).</p><p>The holy nobleborn emperor Constantine the Great (306-337) built at Tsar\u2032grad a temple in the name of the holy Twelve Apostles. Directions for the celebrating of this feast are encountered from the IV Century.</p>"}, "rank": 3, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>O first enthroned among the apostles * and teachers of the whole world; * entreat the Master of all, * that He grant peace to the world ** and great mercy to our souls.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>Christ the Rock doth radiantly glorify the rock of Faith, * the most excellent of His disciples, * as He doth Paul and the assembly of the twelve today; * and, faithfully celebrating their memory, ** we glorify Him Who glorified them.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "2"}}}}, "1426": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Symeon the Stylite", "short": "Symeon", "shortF": "for St. Symeon"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": ""}, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "", "Type": "1", "Tone": "1"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "", "Type": "1", "Tone": "2"}}}}, "1428": {"name": {"nominative": "40 Virgin-Martyrs and Martyr\nDeacon Ammun, their instructor", "short": "Virgin-Martyrs"}}, "1429": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Callista and her half-brothers Evodus and Hermogenes", "short": "Holy Martyrs"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "\u00a9 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "The Holy Martyrs Callista and her brothers Evodos and Hermogenes, Christians of Nicomedia, were brought to trial before the pagan governor for confessing their faith in Christ. Having refused to offer sacrifice to idols, they were cut down by the sword (+ 309)."}}, "1430": {"name": {"nominative": "Finding of the relics of the Venerable Maxim of Moscow, Fool-for-Christ (c. 1547)", "short": "Finding"}}, "1434": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Mamas of C\u00e6sarea in Cappadocia (3<sup>rd</sup> C) and his parents Theodotus and Rufina", "short": "Martyr Mamas"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Holy Martyr Mamant was born in Paphlagonia of pious and illustrious parents, the Christians Theodotos and Ruphina. For their open confession of their faith, the parents of the saint were arrested by the pagans and locked up in prison in C\u00e6sarea Cappadocia. Knowing his own bodily weaknesses, Theodotos prayed, that the Lord would take him before being martyred. The Lord heard his prayer and he died in prison. Saint Ruphina died also after him, having given birth to a premature son, whom she prayerfully entrusted to God, beseeching that He be the Protector and Defender of the orphaned infant. God hearkened to the death-bed prayer of Saint Ruphina: a rich Christian widow named Ammea reverently buried the bodies of Saints Theodotos and Ruphina, and she took the boy into her own home and surrounded him with motherly care. Saint Mamant grew up in the Christian faith. His foster mother concerned herself with the developing of his natural abilities and early on she sent him off to study his grammar. The boy learned easily and willingly. He was not of an age of mature judgement but distinguished himself by maturity of mind and of heart. By means of prudent conversations and personal example young Mamant converted many of his own peers to Christianity. There was a denunciation about this to the governor, named Democritus, and the youth was arrested and brought to trial. In deference to his illustrious parentage Democritus decided not to subject him to torture, but instead sent him off to the emperor Aurelian (270-275). The emperor tried at first kindly, but then with threats to turn Saint Mamant back to the pagan faith, but all in vain: the saint bravely confessed himself a Christian and pointed out the madness of the pagans in their worship of mindless idols. Infuriated, the emperor subjected the youth to cruel tortures. They eventually wanted to drown the saint, but an Angel of the Lord saved Saint Mamant and bid him live on an high mountain in the wilderness, located not far from C\u00e6sarea. Bowing to the will of God, the saint built there a small church and began to lead a life of strict temperance, in exploits of fasting and prayer.</p><p>Soon he received a remarkable power over the forces of nature: wild beasts inhabiting the surrounding wilderness gathered at his abode and listened to the reading of the Holy Gospel. Saint Mamant nourished himself on the milk of wild goats and deer.</p><p>The saint did not ignore the needs of his neighbours: preparing cheese from this milk, he gave it away freely to the poor. Soon the fame of Saint Mamant\u2019s life spread throughout all of C\u00e6sarea. The governor in concern sent a detachment of soldiers to arrest him. Coming across Saint Mamant on the mountain, the soldiers did not recognise him, and mistook him for a simple shepherd. The saint then invited them to his dwelling, gave them a drink of milk and then told them his name, knowing that a suffering death for Christ awaited him. In surrendering himself over into the hands of the torturers, Saint Mamant was brought to trial under a deputy governor named Alexander, who subjected him to intensive and prolonged tortures. But they did not break the Christian will of the saint. He was strengthened by the words addressed to him from above: \u201cBe strong and take courage, Mamant.\u201d When they gave Saint Mamant over for devouring by wild beasts, these creatures would not touch him. Finally, one of the pagan-priests struck at him with a trident-spear. Mortally wounded, Saint Mamant went out beyond the city limits. There, in a small stone cave, he offered up his spirit to God, Who in the hearing of all summoned the holy Martyr Mamant into the habitation on high (\u2020 275). He was buried by believers at the place of his death.</p><p>Christians soon began to receive from him blessings of help in their afflictions and sorrows. Saint Basil the Great speaks thus about the holy Martyr Mamant in a sermon to the people: \u201cCommemorate ye the holy martyr: those, who saw him in a vision, who from amongst the living here have him as an helper, those whom in calling on his name he hath helped in some matter, those whom he hath guided out of a prodigal life, those whom he hath healed of infirmity, those whose children already dead he hath restored to life, those whose life he hath prolonged\u2014all of ye, gathered as one, praise ye the martyr.\u201d</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>In his suffering, O Lord, * Thy martyr Mamas received an imperishable crown from Thee our God; * for, possessed of Thy might, * he set at nought the tormentors and crushed the feeble audacity of the demons. ** By his supplications save Thou our souls.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>With the staff given thee by God, O holy one, * thou didst shepherd thy people in life-bearing pastures; * and thou didst crush the invisible and untamed wild beasts * beneath the feet of those who hymn thee. ** For all who find themselves amid misfortunes have thee as their fervent intercessor, O Mamas.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "3"}}}}, "1436": {"name": {"nominative": "Blessed Maximus of Totma, the Fool-for-Christ (\u2020 1650)", "short": "Blessed Maximus"}, "services": {"0": {}, "1": {"LITURGY/0": {"text": ""}}, "2": {"LITURGY/0": {"text": ""}}}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>Blessed Maximus, Priest of Totma, was for a certain time priest in the city of Tot\u2032ma in Vologda diocese. Over the course of forty years he made the harsh exploit of fool-for-Christ, constantly in fasting and in prayer. Blessed Maxim died in extreme old age on 16 January 1650 and was buried at the Resurrection church, in which he served. The local veneration of the saint began in 1715, in connection with numerous miracles occurring at his grave.</p>"}}, "1439": {"name": {"nominative": "Hieromartyr Anthimus, Bishop of Nicomedia, and those with him: Theophilus the Deacon, Dorotheus, Mardonius, Migdonius, Peter, Indis, Gorgonius, Xeno, Domna the Virgin and Euthimius (\u2020 302)", "short": "Hieromartyr Anthimus"}, "rank": 1}, "1440": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Basilissa of Nicomedia (\u2020 309)", "short": "Martyr Basilissa"}}, "1442": {"name": {"nominative": "St. Ph\u0153be the Deaconess at Cenchre\u00e6 (1<sup>st</sup> C)", "short": "St. Ph\u0153be"}}, "1443": {"name": {"nominative": "Saint Joannicius, Archbishop of Serbia (\u2020 1349)", "short": "Saint Joannicius"}}, "1446": {"name": {"nominative": "Hieromartyr Babylas, Bishop of Antioch and those with him: the youths Urban, Prilidianus, and Eppolonius, and their mother Christodula (\u2020 251)", "short": "Hieromartyr Babylas"}, "rank": 1}, "1449": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Hermione the Daughter of St Philip the Deacon (\u2020 c. 117)", "short": "Martyr Hermione"}}, "1450": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Babylas of Nicomedia and 84 youths with him", "short": "Martyr Babylas"}}, "1451": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyrs Theodore, Mianus, Julian, and Chion", "short": "Martyrs Theodore"}}, "1453": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Prophet Zechariah and Righteous Elizabeth, parents of St John the Baptist (1<sup>st</sup> C)", "short": "Holy Prophet"}, "rank": 2}, "1456": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyrs Thiphael and his sister Thebaia (1<sup>st</sup>-2<sup>nd</sup> C)", "short": "Martyrs Thiphael"}}, "1458": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyrs Urban, Theodore, Medimnus and with them 77 Men at Nicomedia (\u2020 370)", "short": "Martyrs Urban"}}, "1459": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Apostle and Evangelist Mark (\u2020 63)", "short": "Holy Apostle"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Holy Disciple and Evangelist Mark, named also John-Mark (Acts 12: 12), was a Disciple from among the Seventy, and was also a nephew of the Disciple Barnabas (Comm. 11 June). He was born at Jerusalem. The house of his mother Mary adjoined the Garden of Gethsemane. As Church Tradition relates, on the night of the Sufferings of Christ on the Cross he followed after Him, wrapped in a linen winding-cloth, and he fled from the soldiers catching hold of him (Mk. 14: 51-52). After the Ascension of the Lord, the house of his mother Saint Mary became a place of prayerful gatherings of Christians and a lodging for certain of the Apostles (Acts 12: 12).</p><p>Saint Mark was a very close companion of the Apostles Peter and Paul (Comm. 29June) and of the Disciple Barnabas. Saint Mark was at Seleucia together with Paul and Barnabas, and from there he set off to the island of Cyprus, and he crossed over the whole of it from East to West. In the city of Paphos Saint Mark was an eye-witness, of how the Apostle Paul had struck blind the sorcerer Elymas (Acts 13: 6-12).</p><p>After working with the Apostle Paul, Saint Mark returned to Jerusalem, and then with the Apostle Peter he arrived in Rome, from whence at the latter\u2019s bidding he set out for Egypt, where he became founder of the Church.</p><p>During the time of the second evangelic journey of the Apostle Paul, Saint Mark met up with him at Antioch. From there he set out preaching with the Disciple Barnabas to Cyprus, and then he went off again to Egypt, where together with the Apostle Peter he founded many churches, and then also at Babylon. From this city the Apostle Peter directed an Epistle to the Christians of Asia Minor, in which he points to Saint Mark as his spiritual son (1 Pet. 5: 13).</p><p>When the Apostle Paul came in chains to Rome, the Disciple Mark was at Ephesus, where the cathedra-seat was occupied by Saint Timothy (Comm. 4 January). The Disciple Mark arrived together with him in Rome. There also he wrote his holy Gospel (c.62-63).</p><p>From Rome Saint Mark again set off to Egypt. At Alexandria he made the beginnings of a Christian school, from which later on emerged such famous fathers and teachers of the Church, as Clement of Alexandria, Saint Dionysios (5 October), Saint Gregory Thaumatourgos (\u201cWonderworker,\u201d Comm. 5 November), and others. Zealous with the arranging of Church Divine-services, the holy Disciple Mark compiled the order of Liturgy for the Alexandrian Christians.</p><p>Later on in preaching the Gospel, Saint Mark also visited the inner regions of Africa, and he was in Libya at Nektopolis.</p><p>During the time of these journeys, Saint Mark received inspiration of the Holy Spirit to go again to Alexandria and confront the pagans. There he visited at the home of the dignitary Ananias, for whom he healed a crippled hand. The dignitary happily took him in, hearkened with faith to his narratives, and received Baptism. And following the example of Ananias, many of the inhabitants of that part of the city where he lived were baptised after him. This roused the enmity of the pagans, and they gathered to kill Saint Mark. Having learned of this, the holy Disciple Mark made Ananias bishop, and the three Christians: Malchos, Sabinos and Kerdinos\u2014presbyters.</p><p>The pagans pounced upon Saint Mark when he was making Divine-services. They beat him, dragged him through the streets and threw him in prison. There Saint Mark was granted a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who strengthened him before his sufferings. On the following day the angry crowd again dragged the holy disciple through the streets towards the court-room, but along the way Saint Mark died with the words: \u201cInto Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.\u201d</p><p>The pagans wanted to burn the body of the holy disciple. But when they lit up the bon-fire, everything grew dim, thunder crashed and an earthquake occurred. The pagans fled in terror, and Christians took up the body of the holy disciple and buried it in a stone crypt. This was on 4 April in the year 63. The Church celebrates his memory on 25 April.</p><p>In the year 310, a church was built over the relics of the holy Disciple Mark. In the year 820, when the Mahometan Arabs had established their rule in Egypt and those of this different faith oppressed the Christian Church, the relics of Saint Mark were transferred to Venice and placed in the church of his name. </p><p>In the ancient iconographic tradition, which adopted symbols for the holy Evangelists borrowed from the vision of Saint John the Theologian (Rev. 4: 7), the holy Evangelist Mark is depicted by a lion\u2014symbolising the might and royal dignity of Christ (Rev. 5: 5). Saint Mark wrote his Gospel for Christians from among the gentile-pagans, since he emphasises predominantly the words and deeds of the Saviour, in which particularly is manifest His Divine Almightiness. The many particularities of his account can be explained by his proximity to the holy Apostle Peter. All the ancient writers testify, that the Gospel of Mark represents a concise writing-down of the preaching and narratives of the first-ranked Apostle Peter. One of the central theological themes in the Gospel of Saint Mark is the theme of the power of God, doing the humanly impossible, wherein the Lord makes possible that which of man is impossible. By the efficacy of Christ (Mk.16:20) and the Holy Spirit (Mk. 13: 11), His disciples are to go forth into the world and preach the Gospel to all creatures (Mk. 13: 10, 16: 15).</p>"}, "rank": 4, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>O holy apostle and evangelist Mark * entreat the merciful God ** that He grant to our souls remission of transgressions.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "3"}, "TROPARION/2": {"text": "</p><p>Thou wast an apostle of Christ who learned from the pre-eminent Peter, * and didst shine like the sun upon the lands of the Alexandrians, being their adornment. * Through thee was Egypt freed from deception, O blessed one, * who as the Church\u201ds pillar of fire dost illumine all with thy teaching of the Gospel. * Wherefore, honoring thy memory, we keep splendid festival, O divinely eloquent Mark. * Entreat God Who was announced by thee, ** that He grant our souls remission of offenses.", "Type": "2", "Tone": "3"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>Receiving from on high the grace of the Spirit, * thou didst destroy the snares of the orators, O apostle, * and, hunting all the nations, * thou didst lead them to thy Master, * O most glorious Mark, ** preaching the divine Gospel.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "2"}}}}, "1462": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyrs Eudoxius, Zeno, Macarius and 1104 soldiers with them (311-312)", "short": "Martyrs Eudoxius"}, "rank": 1}, "1463": {"name": {"nominative": "St. Archippus of Herapolis (4<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "St. Archippus"}}, "1464": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Cyriacus, Faustus the Presbyter, Abibas the Deacon, and 11 others at Alexandria (\u2020 c. 250)", "short": "Martyr Cyriacus"}}, "1467": {"name": {"nominative": "St. David of Hermopolis in Egypt (6<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "St. David"}}, "1468": {"name": {"nominative": "Icon of the Mother of God of Kiev-Bratsk (1654)", "short": "Icon"}}, "1470": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Sozon of Cilicia (\u2020 304)", "short": "Martyr Sozon"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Martyr Sozontes, a native of Likaonea, was a shepherd. He read the Holy Scriptures attentively, and he loved to share his knowledge about the One God with the shepherds who gathered together with him. He brought many to the faith in Christ and to Baptism. By night-time once, when he sat under an oak tree, he had a vision foretelling his deed of martyrdom for Christ. He set off to the city of Cilician Pompeiopolis, where a festal pagan celebration was being prepared for a golden idol, standing in a pagan temple. Unseen by anyone, saint Sozontes went into the pagan temple and broke off the hand of the idol, and having smashed it he gave the gold to the poor. The missing hands of the idol caused an uproar and commotion in the city: many were under suspicion, given over to interrogation and torture. Not wanting to be the cause ofd suffering for other people, Saint Sozontes went to the emperor Maximian (284-305) and declared, that it was he that broke the hand from the idol. \u201cI did this,\u2014he said,\u2014so that ye might see the lack of power of your god, which offered me no resistance. It is not a god, but rather a deaf and dumb idol. I wanted to smash it all into pieces, so that people would no longer worship its wrought hands.\u201d The emperor in a fitful rage commanded that Saint Sozontes be tortured mercilessly. They hung him up and struck at him with iron claws, and then they put on his legs iron shackles with nails inside and took him through the city. After this they again suspended him and beat him with iron rods until his bones broke. In these terrible torments Saint Sozontes gave up his spirit to God (\u2020 c. 304). By decree of the emperor, slaves set a strong fire so as to burn the body of the martyr, but suddenly lightning flashed, it thundered loudly and a strong rain poured down over the flames of the fire. Christians took the body of the martyr by night and gave it over to burial. By his grave and at the place where he had the vision, there occurred healing of many of the sick. A church later was built in memory of the sufferings of the holy martyr.</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>In his suffering, O Lord, * Thy martyr Sozon received an imperishable crown from Thee our God; * for, possessed of Thy might, * he set at nought the tormentors and crushed the feeble audacity of the demons. ** By his supplications save Thou our souls.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>Assembling today, with a loud voice let us praise Sozon, * the true and divinely wise martyr, * the skilled athlete of piety, * the initiate of the mysteries of grace, * the most generous bestower of healings: ** for he entreateth Christ God in behalf of us all.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "2"}}}}, "1474": {"name": {"nominative": "Apostles of the 70: Euodius and Onisiphorus (\u2020 66)", "short": "Apostles of"}}, "1476": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Eupsychius", "short": "Martyr Eupsychius"}}, "1477": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Luke", "short": "Venerable Luke"}}, "1479": {"name": {"nominative": "Nativity of Our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary", "short": "Theotokos"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Nativity of Our Most Holy Lady Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary: The Most Holy Virgin Mary was born at a time, when people had reached such limits of decay of moral values, that it seemed altogether impossible to restore them. The best minds of this era were aware and often said openly, that God mustneeds come down into the world, so as to restore faith and not tolerate the ruination of the race of mankind.</p><p>The Son of God chose for the salvation of mankind to take on human nature, and the All-Pure Virgin Mary,\u2014alone worthy to contain in Herself and to incarnate the Source of purity and holiness,\u2014He chose as His Mother.</p><p>The Birth of Our Most Holy Lady Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary is celebrated by the Church as a day of universal joy. Within the context of the Old and the New Testaments, on this radiant day was born the Most Blessed Virgin Mary,\u2014having been forechosen through the ages by Divine Providence to bring about the Mystery of the Incarnation of the Word of God, and She is revealed as the Mother of the Saviour of the World, Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Most Holy Virgin Mary was born in the small city of Galilee, Nazareth. Her parents were Righteous Joakim from the tribe of the King and Prophet David, and Anna from the tribe of the First-Priest Aaron. The couple was without child, since Saint Anna was barren. Having reached old age, Joakim and Anna did not lose hope on the mercy of God. They had strong faith that for God everything is possible, and that He would be able to solve the barrenness of Anna\u2014even in her old age, as He had once solved the barrenness of Sarah, spouse of the Patriarch Abraham. Saints Joakim and Anna made a vow to dedicate the child which the Lord might bestow on them, into the service of God in the Temple. Childlessness was considered among the Hebrew nation as a Divine punishment for sin, and therefore the righteous Saints Joakim and Anna had to endure abuse from their own countrymen. On one of the feastdays at the Temple in Jerusalem the elderly Joakim brought his sacrifice in offering to God, but the High Priest would not accept it,\u2014considering him to be unworthy since he was childless. Saint Joakim in deep grief went into the wilderness and there he prayed with tears to the Lord for the granting of a child. Saint Anna, having learned about what had happened at the Jerusalem Temple, wept bitterly; never once did she complain against the Lord, but rather she prayed, asking God\u2019s mercy on her family. The Lord fulfilled her petitions when the pious spouses had attained to extreme old age and prepared themselves by virtuous life for a sublime calling\u2014to be the parents of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, the future Mother of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Archangel Gabriel brought Joakim and Anna the joyous message: their prayers were heard by God, and of them would be born a Most Blessed Daughter Mary, through Whom would come the Salvation of all the World. The Most Holy Virgin Mary of Herself in purity and virtue surpassed not only all mankind but also the Angels;\u2014She was manifest as the Living Temple of God, such that the Church sings in its festal verses of song: \u201cthe Heavenly Gate, bringing Christ into the world for the salvation of our souls\u201d (2<sup>nd</sup> Stikhera on \u201cLord, I have cried,\u201d Tone 6).</p><p>The Birth of the Mother of God marks the change of the times, wherein the great and comforting promises of God begin to be fulfilled about the salvation of the human race from slavery to the devil. This event has brought nigh to earth the grace of the Kingdom of God,\u2014a Kingdom of Truth, piety, virtue and life immortal. Our Mother First-born of All Creation is revealed to all of us by grace as a merciful Intercessor and Mother, to Whom we steadfastly recourse with filial devotion.</p>"}, "rank": 7, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>Thy nativity, O Virgin Theotokos, * hath proclaimed joy to all the world; * for from thee hath shone forth Christ our God, * the Sun of righteousness, * Who having annulled the curse, * hath given His blessing, ** and having abolished death, hath granted us life everlasting.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>In thy holy nativity, O all-pure one, * Joachim and Anna are freed from the reproach of childlessness, * and Adam and Eve from mortal corruption. * And, delivered from sin, thy people celebrate it, crying out to thee: ** A barren woman giveth birth to the Theotokos, the nourisher of our Life!</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}}}}, "1480": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Marcian of Cyprus (\u2020 388)", "short": "Venerable Marcian"}}, "1481": {"name": {"nominative": "Icons of the Mother of God: \u201cKursk-Root\u201d, \u201cPochaev\u201d, \u201cKholm\u201d, and \u201cSophia - the Wisdom of God\u201d", "short": "Icons of"}}, "1484": {"name": {"nominative": "Hieromartyr Marcian, Bishop of Syracuse (2<sup>nd</sup> C)", "short": "Hieromartyr Marcian"}}, "1485": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Maron, Hermit of Syria (4<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Venerable Maron"}}, "1489": {"name": {"nominative": "Blessed Martin of Turov (\u2020 after 1146)", "short": "Blessed Martin"}}, "1492": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Severian of Sebaste (\u2020 320)", "short": "Martyr Severian"}, "rank": 1}, "1493": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Theophanes the Confessor and Faster of Mt. Diabenos (\u2020 c. 300)", "short": "Venerable Theophanes"}}, "1494": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Martyrius of Zelents (\u2020 1603)", "short": "Venerable Martyrius"}}, "1495": {"name": {"nominative": "Commemoration of the 3<sup>rd</sup> \u0152cumenical Council (431)", "short": "Commemoration of"}}, "1497": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Virgins Menodora, Metrodora and Nymphodora at Nicomedia (\u2020 c. 310)", "short": "Holy Virgins"}, "rank": 1}, "1500": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew (\u2020 60)", "short": "Apostle Matthew"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "", "text": "<p> The Holy Apostle Matthew, also named Levi, was born in Nazareth, and up to his calling was a publican and in Capernaum had his duty house, <i>i.e.</i> a special place for collecting duties, probably, from the courts coming by sea to Capernaum. As Jesus Christ was passing, He saw Matthew, sitting at the duty office. Jesus said to him: \"Follow Me. And he arose and followed\" Him (Mt. 9:9). After he was called by the Lord to the rank of the 12 apostles, he preached the Gospel in Palestine, Syria, Media, Persia, India and Ethiopia, announcing peace, life and salvation\", and \"to the pagans falling into fiery temptation\". He died, according to tradition, by fire in about the year 60. He wrote his Gospel for the Palestinian Christians in which he mainly announces the incarnation of the Son of God, about His origin in the flesh from David and Abraham and consequently more than the others pointed out the fulfillment of the ancient prophecies about Jesus Christ. </p>"}, "rank": 4, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>O holy apostle and evangelist Matthew, * entreat the merciful God, ** that He grant unto our souls remission of transgressions.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "3"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>Casting off the yoke of thy publican\u201ds office, * thou didst shoulder the yoke of righteousness * and wast shown to be a most excellent merchant, * bringing in the wisdom from on high as riches. * Wherefore, thou didst preach the Word of truth * and hast uplifted the souls of the despondent ** describing the hour of judgment.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}}}}, "1501": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Apostles of the Seventy: Apelles, Lucius, and Clement (1<sup>st</sup> C)", "short": "Holy Apostles"}}, "1503": {"name": {"nominative": "Apostle Matthias (\u2020 c. 63)", "short": "Apostle Matthias"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Holy Apostle Matthias was born at Bethlehem, and was a descendent of the Tribe of Judah. From his early childhood he studied the Law of God in accord with the Books of Scripture under the guidance of Saint Simeon the God-Receiver. When the Lord Jesus Christ revealed Himself to the world, Saint Matthias believed in Him as the Messiah, followed constantly after Him and was numbered amongst the Seventy Disciples, whom the Lord \u201cdid send by twos before His face\u201d (Lk. 10: 1). After the Ascension of the Saviour, Saint Matthias was chosen by lot to replace amongst the 12 Apostles the fallen-away Judas Iscariot (Acts 1: 15-26). After the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Matthias preached the Gospel at Jerusalem and in Judea together with the other Apostles (Acts 6: 2, 8: 14). From Jerusalem he went with the Apostles Peter and Andrew to Syrian Antioch, and was in the Cappadocian city of Tianum and Sinope. Here the Apostle Matthias was locked into prison, from which he was miraculously freed by the Apostle Andrew the First-Called. The Apostle Matthias journeyed after this to Amasia, a city on the shore of the sea. During a 3 year journey of the Apostle Andrew, Saint Matthias was with him at Edessa and Sebasteia. According to Church tradition, he was preaching at Pontine \u00c6thiopia (presently Western Gruzia * Georgia) and Macedonia. He was frequently subjected to deadly peril, but the Lord preserved him alive to further preach the Gospel. One time pagans forced the apostle to drink a poison potion. The apostle drank it and not only did he himself remain unharmed, but he also healed other prisoners which had been blinded by the potion. When Saint Matthias left the prison, the pagans searched for him in vain\u2014since he had become invisible to them. Another time, when the pagans had become enraged intending to kill the apostle, the earth opened up and engulfed them. The Apostle Matthias returned to Judea and did not cease with the enlightening of his countrymen with the light of Christ\u2019s teachings. He worked great miracles in the Name of the Lord Jesus and he converted a great many to faith in Christ. The Jewish High-Priest Ananias hated Christ and earlier had commanded the Apostle James, Brother of the Lord, to be flung down from the heights of the Temple, and now he ordered that the Apostle Matthias be arrested and brought for judgement before the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem. The impious Ananias uttered a speech in which he blasphemously slandered the Lord. By way of answer, the Apostle Matthias pointed out in the prophesies of the New Testament, that Jesus Christ\u2014is the True God, the Messiah promised Israel by God, the Son of God, Consubstantial and Co-Eternal with God the Father. After these words the Apostle Matthias was sentenced to death by the Sanhedrin and stoned. When Saint Matthias was already dead, the Jews, to hide their malefaction, cut off his head as being an enemy of C\u00e6sar. (According to several historians, the Apostle Matthias was crucified on a cross, and indicate that he instead died at Colchis). The Apostle Matthias received the martyr\u2019s crown of death for Christ in about the year 63.</p>"}, "rank": 4, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>O holy Apostle Matthias, * entreat the merciful God, ** that He grant to our souls remission of transgressions.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "3"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>Thy luminous sound which hath gone forth like the sun into all the earth * doth enlighten the Church of the nations with grace, ** O wondrous Apostle Matthias.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}}}}, "1504": {"name": {"nominative": "Saints Peter and Paul, bishops at Nic\u00e6a (9<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Saints Peter"}}, "1506": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Theodora of Alexandria (\u2020 c. 480)", "short": "Venerable Theodora"}, "rank": 1}, "1507": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Martyrs Demetrius, his wife Euanthea, and their son Demetrian (1<sup>st</sup> C)", "short": "Holy Martyrs"}}, "1509": {"name": {"nominative": "St. Euphrosynus the Cook of Alexandria (9<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "St. Euphrosynus"}}, "1510": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Hierarch Meletius, Archbishop of Kharkov (\u2020 1840)", "short": "Holy Hierarch Meletius"}}, "1512": {"name": {"nominative": "Hieromartyr Autonomus the Bishop in Italy (\u2020 313) [his service is sung on the 11th]", "short": "Hieromartyr Autonomus"}, "rank": 1}, "1513": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Bassian of Tikhsnen, Vologda (\u2020 1624)", "short": "Venerable Bassian"}}, "1515": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Julian of Galatia and 40 others (4<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Martyr Julian"}}, "1516": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Theodore of Alexandria", "short": "Martyr Theodore"}}, "1517": {"name": {"nominative": "Hieromartyr Coronatus, Bishop of Nicomedia (3<sup>rd</sup> C)", "short": "Hieromartyr Coronatus"}}, "1518": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Athansius of Serpukhov and his disciple Athanasius", "short": "Venerable Athansius"}}, "1520": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Mercurius, the Faster of the Kievan Far Caves, Bishop of Smolensk (14<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Venerable Mercurius"}}, "1521": {"name": {"nominative": "Commemoration of the Founding of the Church of the Resurrection (Holy Sepulchre) at Jerusalem (335)", "short": "Holy Sepulchre"}, "rank": 3}, "1523": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyrs Chariton and Stratorus", "short": "Martyrs"}}, "1524": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyrs Gordian, Macrobius, Elias, Zoticus, Lucian and Valerian (4<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Martyrs Gordian"}}, "1525": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Methodius, Archbishop of Moravia, Enlightener of the Slavs (\u2020 885)", "short": "Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles"}, "rank": 4}, "1526": {"name": {"nominative": "Great Martyr Ketevan, Queen of Georgia (\u2020 1624)", "short": "Great Martyr Ketevan"}}, "1529": {"name": {"nominative": "The Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross", "short": "Exaltation"}}, "1531": {"name": {"nominative": "Icon of the Mother of God of Lesna (1683)", "short": "Icon of"}}, "1533": {"name": {"nominative": "Finding of the relics of Martyr Menas Callicelados (\"the beautiful-sounding\") of Alexandria (\u2020 867-889)", "short": "Finding"}}, "1534": {"name": {"nominative": "St. Philotheus the Presbyter in Asia Minor (10<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "St. Philotheus"}}, "1535": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Joseph the Abbot of Alaverdi in Georgia (\u2020 570)", "short": "Venerable Joseph"}}, "1536": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Porphyrius the Actor (\u2020 361)", "short": "Martyr Porphyrius"}}, "1537": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Martyrs Maximus, Asklepiodote, and Theodotus (\u2020 c. 310)", "short": "Holy Martyrs"}}, "1543": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyrs Victor and Sosthenes at Chalcedon (\u2020 c. 304)", "short": "Martyrs Victor"}}, "1545": {"name": {"nominative": "Finding of Relics of Saint Mitrophan, Bishop of Voronezh (1832)", "short": "Finding"}, "rank": 1}, "1547": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Dorotheus the Hermit of Egypt (4<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Venerable Dorotheus"}}, "1548": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Liudmila, Princess of the Czechs (\u2020 927)", "short": "Martyr Liudmila"}}, "1549": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyrs Isaac and Joseph of Georgia (\u2020 808)", "short": "Martyrs Isaac"}}, "1550": {"name": {"nominative": "Transfer of the relics of the Martyred Prince Michael of Chernigov and his councilor Theodore (1578)", "short": "Transfer of"}}, "1553": {"name": {"nominative": "Saint Michael, First Metropolitan of Kiev (\u2020 992)", "short": "Saint Michael"}, "rank": 4}, "1554": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Michael the Fool-for Christ, of the Klops Monastery in Novgorod (\u2020 c. 1453-1456)", "short": "Venerable Michael"}, "rank": 2, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "The Monk Michael of Klopsk was descended of boyar (noble) lineage, and he was a kinsman of GreatPrince Dimitrii Donskoi (1363-1389). He took upon himself the exploit of Fool-for-Christ: he left Moscow and in rags he arrived at the Klopsk monastery, near Novgorod. No one knew, how he got into the locked cell of the priest-monk Makarii, who then was making a censing at the 9<sup>th</sup> Ode of the Canon and was going round the cell censing. But there sat a man in monastic garb and beneath a candle he wrote copying from the Acts of the holy Apostles. After the finish of matins the hegumen with brethren came and started to ask the stranger: who is he and of what name? But he answered only by a repeating of the questions and did not reveal his origin. In church the saint sang in the choir and read the Epistle, and at meals he read the Saint-Lives. All who listened were moved by the beauty and spirituality of his reading. On the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, the Klopsk monastery was visited by prince Konstantin Dimitrievich (son of GreatPrince Dimitrii Donskoi). After Communion he together with the princess was at the refectory, during the time of which the unknown stranger read from the Book of Job. Hearing the reading, the prince approached the reader and, having looked him over, he bowed down to him, calling him by name his kinsman Mikhail Maksimovich. The fool remarked: \u201cThe One Only Creator knoweth of me, who I be,\u201d but confirmed that his name was Michael. The Monk Michael soon set example for the brethren in all the monastic efforts. He lived at the Klopsk monastery for 44 years, exhausting his body in work, vigils and various deprivations, and he received from the Lord the gift of perspicacity. He denounced the vices of people, not fearing the powerful of this world. He predicted the birth on 22 January 1440 of GreatPrince Ivan III (1462-1505), and the taking of Novgorod by him. He denounced prince Dimitrii Shemyaka for blinding his brother the GreatPrince Vasilii the Dark (1425-1462).</p><p>On a sandy spot the Monk Michael summoned forth a spring of water, having written upon the earth: \u201cI shalt take up the cup of salvation (Ps. 115 [116]: 13), let shew forth on this spot the well-spring.\u201d And during a time of famine, the supplies of bread at the monastery granary did not diminish, though they distributed grain abundantly to the hungry.</p><p>Having directed beforehand the place of his burial, the monk died on 11 January (\u2020 c. 1453-1456)."}}, "1555": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Michael of Maleinus (\u2020 962)", "short": "Venerable Michael"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Monk Michael Maleinos was born about the year 894 in the Charsian region (Cappadocia) and at Baptism he received the name Manuel. He was of the same lineage with the Byzantine emperor Leo VI the Wise (886-911). At age 18 Manuel went off to Bithynia, to the Kimineia monastery under the guidance of the elder, John Heladites, who vowed him into monasticism with the name Michael. Fulfilling a very difficult obedience in spite of his illustrious lineage, he demonstrated an example of great humility.</p><p>After the passage of a certain while he was vouchsafed the grace of the priesthood. Constantly studying the Holy Scripture, the Monk Michael showed how the priesthood ought to be properly conjoined with monasticism,\u2014he attained to an high degree of dispassion and acquired the gift of perspicacity. He was very compassionate and kindly towards people, he could not let remain without help and consolation those who were in need and in sorrow, and by his ardent prayer he accomplished many miracles.</p><p>After much monastic effort under the guidance of the elder John, the Monk Michael besought of him blessing for a solitary life in a cave, Five days of the week he spent at prayerful concentration and only on Saturday and Sunday did he come to the monastery for participation in Divine-services and communion of the Holy Mysteries. </p><p>By his example of sublime spiritual life the holy hermit attracted many seeking after salvation. In a desolate place called Dry Lake, the Monk Michael founded a monastery for the brethren gathering to him, and gave it a strict ustav (monastic-rule). When the monastery was secure, the Monk Michael went to a still more remote place and built there a new monastery. By the efforts of the holy abba, all the Kumineia mountain was covered over by monastic communities, where constantly prayers were raised up for all the world to the Throne of the Most-High.</p><p>About the year 953 amongst the brethren entered the youth Abraham, flourishing under the guidance of Saint Michael, who gave him the name Athanasias. Later on the Monk Athanasias (Comm. 5 July) himself founded the reknown Athos Laura, the first life-in-common monastery on the Holy Mountain. In the building of the Laura great help was rendered to the Monk Athanasias by the nephew of the Monk Michael\u2014the later Byzantine emperor Nicephoros Phokas (963-969), who in visiting his uncle met also Athanasias. After fifty years of incessant monastic effort the monk Michael Maleinos peacefully expired to the Lord in the year 962.</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>Thou didst lighten the heaviness of the flesh by thy works * and didst give speedy wings to thy soul by enlightenment, O Michael; * and thou hast shown thyself to be a dwelling-place for the Trinity, ** beholding Whom, O blessed one, pray thou unceasingly for us all.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "2"}}}}, "1556": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Martyrs Peleus and Nilus, Bishops of Egypt, Presbyter Zeno, Patermuthius, Elias and another 156 Martyrs (\u2020 c. 310)", "short": "Holy Martyrs"}}, "1557": {"name": {"nominative": "Hieromartyrs Hypatius, Bishop of Ephesus, and Priest Andrew (\u2020 c. 735)", "short": "Hieromartyrs Hypatius"}}, "1558": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Martyr Michael \u201cthe Black-Robed\u201d of St Sava\u2019s Monastery (\u2020 9<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Venerable Martyr"}}, "1559": {"name": {"nominative": "St. Eumenius, Bishop of Gortyna (7<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "St. Eumenius"}, "rank": 1}, "1560": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Ariadne of Phrygia (2<sup>nd</sup> C)", "short": "Martyr Ariadne"}}, "1561": {"name": {"nominative": "Great Martyr Prince Bidzini (Cholokashvili), and the martyred princes Shalva, and Elizbar of Xana, Georgia (\u2020 1660)", "short": "Great Martyr Prince"}}, "1562": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Right-believing Prince Michael of Tver (\u2020 1318)", "short": "Prince Michael"}}, "1564": {"name": {"nominative": "Prophet Micah (9<sup>th</sup> C BC)", "short": "Prophet Micah"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "The Holy Prophet Micah was a companion of the holy prophet Elias. He prophesied the ruin of King Ahab in a war with the Assyrians, for which he was put into prison. Set free after the downfall of Ahab (3 Kings 22: 8-22), the holy prophet Micah died a martyr in the IX Century BC."}}, "1565": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Micah of Radonezh (\u2020 1385)", "short": "Venerable Micah"}}, "1568": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Prophet and God-seer Moses (\u2020 1531 BC)", "short": "Holy Prophet"}, "rank": 1}, "1569": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Moses the Black of Scete (\u2020 c. 400)", "short": "Venerable Moses"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "The Monk Moses Murin the Black lived during the IV Century in Egypt. He was an Ethiopian, and he was black of skin and therefore called \u201cMurin\u201d (meaning \u201clike an Ethiopian\u201d). In his youth he was the slave of an important man, but after he committed a murder, his master banished him, and he joined in with a band of robbers. Because of his mean streak and great physical strength they chose him as their leader. Moses with his band of brigands did many an evil deed\u2014both murders and robberies, so much so that people were afraid even at the mere mention of his name. Moses the brigand spent several years leading suchlike a sinful life, but through the great mercy of God he repented, leaving his band of robbers and going off to one of the wilderness monasteries. And here for a long time he wept, beseeching that they admit him amidst the number of the brethren. The monks were not convinced of the sincerity of his repentance; but the former robber was not to be driven away nor silenced, in demanding that they should accept him. In the monastery the Monk Moses was completely obedient to the hegumen and the brethren, and he poured forth many a tear, bewailing his sinful life. After a certain while the Monk Moses withdrew to a solitary cell, where he spent the time in prayer and the strictest of fasting in a very austere lifestyle. One time 4 of the robbers of his former band descended upon the cell of the Monk Moses and he, not having lost his great physical strength, he tied them all up and taking them over his shoulder, he brought them to the monastery, where he asked of the elders what to do with them. The elders ordered that they be set free. The robbers, learning that they had chanced upon their former ringleader, and that he had dealt kindly with them,\u2014they themselves followed his example: they repented and became monks. And later, when the rest of the band of robbers heard about the repentance of the Monk Moses, then they too gave up their brigandage and became fervent monks.</p><p>The Monk Moses did not quickly become free from the passions. He went often to the monastery hegumen, Abba Isidor, seeking advice on how to be delivered from the passions of profligacy. Being experienced in the spiritual struggle, the elder taught him never to overeat of food, to be partly hungry whilst observing the strictest moderation. But the passions would not cease for the Monk Moses in his dreams. Then Abba Isidor taught him the all-night vigil. The monk stood the whole night at prayer, not being on bended knees so as not to drop off to sleep. From his prolonged struggles the Monk Moses fell into despondency, and when there arose thoughts about leaving his solitary cell, Abba Isidor instead strengthened the resolve of his student. In a vision he showed him many a demon in the west, prepared for battle, and in the East a still greater quantity of holy Angels, likewise readied for fighting. Abba Isidor explained to the Monk Moses, that the power of the Angels would prevail over the power of the demons, and in the long struggle with the passions it was necessary for him to become completely cleansed of his former sins.</p><p>The Monk Moses undertook a new effort. Making the rounds by night of the wilderness cells, he carried water from the well to each brother. He did this especially for the elders, who lived far off from the well and who were not easily able to carry their own water. One time, kneeling over the well, the Monk Moses felt a powerful blow upon his back and he fell down at the well like one dead, laying there in that position until dawn. Thus did the devils take revenge upon the monk for his victory over them. In the morning the brethren carried him to his cell, and he lay there a whole year crippled up. Having recovered, the monk with firm resolve confessed to the hegumen, that he would continue to asceticise. But the Lord Himself put limits to this struggle of many years: Abba Isidor blessed his student and said to him, that the profligate passions had already gone from him. The elder commanded him to commune the Holy Mysteries and in peace to go to his own cell. And from that time the Monk Moses received from the Lord the power over demons.</p><p>Accounts about his exploits spread amongst the monks and even beyond the bounds of the wilderness. The governor of the land wanted to see the saint. Having learned about this, the Monk Moses decided to hide away from any visitors and he departed his own cell. Along the way he met up with servants of the governor, who asked him, how to get to the cell of the wilderness-dweller Moses. The monk answered them: \u201cGo on no further to this false and unworthy monk.\u201d The servants returned to the monastery, where the governor was waiting, and they conveyed to him the words of the elder they had chanced upon. The brethren, hearing a description of the elder\u2019s appearance, all as one acknowledged that they had come upon the Monk Moses himself.</p><p>Having spent many a year at monastic exploits, the Monk Moses was ordained deacon. The bishop attired him in white vesture and said: \u201cAbba Moses is now entirely white.\u201d The saint answered: \u201cVladyka, what makes it purely white\u2014the outer or the inner?\u201d Through humility the saint reckoned himself unworthy to accept the dignity of deacon. One time the bishop decided to test him and he bid the clergy to drive him out of the altar, whilst reviling him for being an unworthy black-Ethiopian. With full humility the monk accepted the abuse. Having put him to the test, the bishop then ordained the monk to be presbyter. And in this dignity the Monk Moses asceticised for 15 years and gathered round himself 75 disciples.</p><p>When the monk reached age 75, he forewarned his monks, that soon brigands would descend upon the skete and murder all that were there. The saint blessed his monks to leave in good time, so as to avoid the violent death, His disciples began to beseech the monk to leave together with them, but he replied: \u201cI many a year already have awaited the time, when upon me there should be fulfilled the words which my Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, did speak: \u201cAll, who take up the sword, shalt perish by the sword\u201d (Mt. 26: 52). After this seven of the brethren remained with the monk, and one of these hid not far off during the coming of the robbers, The robbers killed the Monk Moses and the six monks that remained with him. Their death occurred in about the year 400."}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "A desert-dweller, an angel in the flesh * and a wonderworker wast thou shown to be, * O our God-bearing father Moses. * For, having acquired heavenly gifts through fasting, vigilance and prayer, * thou dost heal the infirm * and the souls of those who have recourse to thee with faith. * Glory to Him Who gaveth thee ( strength! * Glory to Him Who crowned thee! ** Glory to Him Who worketh healings for all through thee!", "Type": "1", "Tone": "1"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "Having beaten the Moors and spat in the faces of the demons, * thou didst shine forth n\u0153tically like the radiant sun, ** directing our lives by the light of thy life and thy teaching.", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}}}}, "1570": {"name": {"nominative": "Saint Moses, Archbishop of Novgorod (\u2020 1362)", "short": "Saint Moses"}, "services": {"0": {}, "1": {"LITURGY/0": {"text": ""}}, "2": {"LITURGY/0": {"text": ""}}}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>Saint Moses (Moisei), Archbishop of Novgorod (1325-1330, 1352-1359), in the world Mitrophan, was born at Novgorod. In his youth he secretly left his parental home and entered the Tver Christ-Child monastery, where he took monastic vows. His parents found him, and at their insistence he transferred to the Kolmov monastery near Novgorod. At this monastery he was ordained to the dignity of priestmonk, and later at Yur\u2032ev monastery he was elevated to archimandrite. After the death of the Archbishop David, Saint Peter (\u2020 1326, Comm. 21 December) consecrated him in 1325 to the dignity of Archbishop of Novgorod. But Saint Moses did not guide the Novgorod flock for long. The quarrels and contentious factions, the conflagrations and other misfortunes weighed heavily on his soul, which sought for monastic solitude. In 1330 the saint withdrew to the Kolmov monastery for tranquillity. But here also he did not long remain. Having searched out a desolate spot at Derevyanitsa, he built there a stone church of the Resurrection of Christ. At this place the monk spent more than twenty years at monastic deeds. Having yielded to the requests of the Novgorod people to be their spiritual head, he returned anew to his flock. The ancient chronicler describes Saint Moses thus: \u201cHe shepherded his flock like a good pastor; he defended the downtrodden, and protected destitute widows; having gathered a company of copyists, on his account many a book was written, and he confirmed many things in piety by his guidances.\u201d </p><p>In the year 1354 the Constantinople Patriarch Philotheos (1354-1355, 1362-1376) in token of deep respect for Saint Moses gave permission for him to make use of an ancient prerogative of Novgorod hierarchs\u2014to wear the Polystaurion garb (\u201cKrestchataya Riza,\u201d meaning \u201cof many crosses\u201d), which also he sent him. He likewise permitted Saint Moses to deal directly without intermediaries with the Constantinople Patriarch. Archbishop Moses continued for seven years the second time around as hierarch, a period marked by the building of many churches in Novgorod and its surroundings. In 1352 a stone church in honour of the Dormition (Uspenie) of the Most Holy Mother of God was built by the saint at Volotova; in 1355 a monastery was built in a locality named Skovorodka, with a stone church in honour of the holy Archistrategos of God Michael; in 1357 also churches were built at three monasteries: at Radogovitsa near the Volotovsk Dormition church, and at the Spirit (Dukhov) monastery and at a women\u2019s monastery\u2014churches in the name of Saint John the Theologian (the first and third of these monasteries were founded by Saint Moses). </p><p>In 1359, feeling weak and sick, the saint withdrew into the Skovorodsk monastery founded by him in the name of the holy Archistrategos of God Michael. Saint Moses asceticised here until his death on 25 January 1362. He was buried at the cathedral church. </p><p>The archbishop of Novgorod Sergei, in 1484, having come to this cathedra from Moscow, gave orders to a priest to open up the grave of Saint Moses. \u201cI dare not, Vladyka, to be so bold as to open up the relics of the sainted hierarch. It is thy task as hierarch to open the grave of an hierarch,\u201d\u2014answered the priest. \u201cLook what is on this corpse!\u201d\u2014said the infuriated archbishop, but he was soon punished. Having gone insane, he was not able to govern the cathedra and did not become well, until he took the schema at the Khutynsk monastery (\u2020 1504 at Trinity Sergeev monastery).</p><p>The establishing of a feastday to Saint Moses on 19 April is connected with a proper opening of his undecayed relics in 1686.</p>"}}, "1571": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Moses the Wonderworker of the Kiev Caves, far caves (13th-14<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Venerable Moses"}}, "1576": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Moses the Hungarian, of the Kiev Caves, near caves (\u2020 c. 1043)", "short": "Venerable Moses"}}, "1581": {"name": {"nominative": "Saint Jonah the Presbyter (9<sup>th</sup> C), father of St Theophan the Canonarch and Theodore", "short": "Saint Jonah"}, "rank": 1}, "1582": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Phocas the Gardener of Sinope (\u2020 320)", "short": "Martyr Phocas"}}, "1583": {"name": {"nominative": "Righteous Peter the Tax-Collector (6<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Righteous Peter"}}, "1584": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Jonah the Abbot of Yash Lake (\u2020 c. 1590)", "short": "Venerable Jonah"}}, "1588": {"name": {"nominative": "Monastic Women Xanthippe and Polyxene (\u2020 109)", "short": "Monastic Women"}}, "1590": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Martyrs Andrew, John, Peter and Antoninus (9<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Holy Martyrs"}}, "1592": {"name": {"nominative": "Icon of the Mother of God \u201cSlovenskaya\u201d (1635)", "short": "Icon of the Theotokos"}}, "1594": {"name": {"nominative": "Protomartyr and Equal-to-the-Apostles Thekla (1<sup>st</sup> C)", "short": "Protomartyr"}}, "1595": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Nicander, Hermit of Pskov (\u2020 1581)", "short": "Venerable Nicander"}}, "1598": {"name": {"nominative": "Saint Stephen, King of Serbia, and his sone King Vladislav", "short": "Saint Stephen"}}, "1600": {"name": {"nominative": "Icon of the Mother of God \u201cMirozhskaya\u201d", "short": "Icon"}}, "1605": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Martyr Paphnutius and his 546 Martyred Companions in Egypt (3<sup>rd</sup> C)", "short": "Venerable Martyr"}}, "1606": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Paphnutius and his Daughter Euphrosyne (5<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Venerable Paphnutius"}}, "1611": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Callistratus and 49 Martyrs in his company (\u2020 304)", "short": "Martyr Callistratus"}, "rank": 1}, "1615": {"name": {"nominative": "Apostles of the 70: Mark, Aristarchus, and Zeno (1<sup>st</sup> C)", "short": "Apostles of"}}, "1616": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Epicharis of Rome (3<sup>rd</sup> C)", "short": "Martyr Epicharis"}}, "1619": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Chariton the Confessor, Abbot of Palestine (\u2020 c. 350)", "short": "Venerable Chariton"}, "rank": 4}, "1621": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Nicephorus of Antioch in Syria (\u2020 c. 257)", "short": "Martyr Nicephorus"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Holy Martyr Nicephorus lived in the city of Syrian Antioch. In this city lived also the presbyter Sapricios, with whom Nicephorus was very friendly, such that they were considered like kindred brothers. Through the onset of a disagreement they quarreled, and their former love changed into enmity and hate. After a certain while Nicephorus came to his senses, repented of his sin and more than once through mutual friends asked forgiveness of Sapricios, who did not wish to forgive him. Nicephorus then went himself to his former friend and fervently asked forgiveness, but Sapricios was adamant. At this time the emperors Valerian (253-259) and Gallius (260-268) started up persecutions against christians, and one of the first taken before the judgement court was presbyter Sapricios. He firmly confessed himself a Christian, underwent tortures for his faith and was condemned to death by beheading with a sword. When they took him to execution, Nicephorus tearfully entreated his forgiveness, calling on him as an holy martyr who would soon stand before the Lord and receive of Him a crown.</p><p>But presbyter Sapricios remained hardened of heart and even before death he refused to forgive his brother-christian. Because of this the Lord withheld His blessing from Sapricios, having formerly strengthened him during the time of enduring torture; but now, having nearly reached the blessed end of his ordeal, he suddenly became afraid of death and consented to offer sacrifice to idols. In vain did Saint Nicephorus tearfully urge on Sapricios, that he not destroy himself by apostasy, since already he was standing at the threshold of the Heavenly Kingdom. Saint Nicephorus then said to the executioner: \u201cI am a Christian and I believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom Sapricios hath recanted. Execute me in place of Sapricios.\u201d The executioners reported about this to the governor. He issued an edict: to free Sapricios, and in place of him to behead Nicephorus with a sword. Thus did Saint Nicephorus receive his martyr\u2019s crown.</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>In his suffering, O Lord, * Thy martyr Nicephorus received an imperishable crown from Thee our God; * for, possessed of Thy might, * he set at nought the tormentors and crushed the feeble audacity of the demons. ** By his supplications save Thou our souls.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>Bound by the bond of love, O Nicephorus, thou didst manifestly destroy the malice of hatred, and wast beheaded by the sword, as a divine martyr of the incarnate Savior. Him do thou entreat, in behalf of us who hymn thy glorious memory.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "1"}, "KONTAKION/2": {"text": "<p>Soaring aloft in the love of the Lord, O glorious one, * and taking His glorious Cross upon thy shoulder, * thou didst put to shame the wiles of the devil, * didst suffer even unto death, * and hast been shown to be a bearer of the trophy of truth, ** a warrior and initiate of the mysteries of the grace of God.</p>", "Type": "2", "Tone": "3"}}}}, "1623": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyrs Alexander, Altheos, Zosimas, Mark the Shepherd, Nikon, Neonos, Helioldoros, Stephen, another Mark and 24 others in Pisidia and Phrygia (4<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Martyrs Alexander"}}, "1625": {"name": {"nominative": "Translation of the relics of St Nicephorus the Patriarch of Constantinople (846)", "short": "Translation"}, "rank": 1, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>In the year 846 the holy relics of Patriarch Nicephoros were opened, undecayed and fragrant. They transferred them from Prokonnis to Constantinople and placed them for one day in the church of Saint Sophia, and then they transferred them to the church of the Holy Apostles. The hands of the saint are preserved in the Khilendaria monastery on Mount Athos.</p><p>The memory of Saint Nicephoros is celebrated also on 2 June.</p>"}}, "1626": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Kyriakos the Hermit of Palestine (\u2020 556)", "short": "Venerable Kyriakos"}}, "1627": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Nicodim, Abbot of Kozheyezersk (\u2020 1640)", "short": "Venerable Nicodim"}}, "1628": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Theophanes the Merciful of Gaza", "short": "Venerable Theophanes"}}, "1632": {"name": {"nominative": "Hieromartyr Gregory, Bishop and Enlightener of Great Armenia (\u2020 c. 335)", "short": "Hieromartyr Gregory"}}, "1634": {"name": {"nominative": "Blessed Nicholas Konchanov the Fool-for-Christ of Novgorod (\u2020 1392)", "short": "Blessed Nicholas"}}, "1635": {"name": {"nominative": "Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia (\u2020 c. 345)", "short": "Saint Nicholas"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>Sainted Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia, and Wonderworker is famed as a great saint pleasing unto God. He was born in the city of Patara in the Lycian region (on the south coast of the Asia Minor peninsula), and was the only son of pious parents Theophanes and Nonna, who had given a vow to dedicate him to God. As the fruition of longtime prayer of his childless parents, the infant Nicholas from the very day of his birth revealed to people the light of his future glory as a wonderworker. His mother, Nonna, after giving birth was immediately healed from illness. The newborn infant while still in the baptismal font stood on his feet three times, without support from anyone, indicating by this to honour the Most Holy Trinity. Saint Nicholas from his infancy began a life of fasting, and on Wednesdays and Fridays he accepted milk from his mother only but once, after the evening prayers of his parents.</p><p>From the time of his childhood Nicholas thrived on the study of Divine Scripture; by day he would not leave church, and by night he prayed and read books \u2013 fashioning in himself a worthy dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit. His uncle, Bishop Nicholas of Patara, rejoiced at the spiritual success and deep piety of his kinsman. He ordained him a reader, and then elevated Nicholas to the dignity of presbyter, making him his assistant and entrusting him to speak instructing the flock. In serving the Lord the youth was fervent of spirit, and in his proficiency with questions of faith he was like an elder / starets, which aroused the wonder and deep respect of believers. Constantly at work and vivacious, being in unceasing prayer, presbyter Nicholas displayed great kind-heartedness towards the flock, and towards those afflicted coming to him for help, and he distributed all his inheritance to the poor. Having learned about the bitter need and poverty of a certain formerly rich inhabitant of his city, Saint Nicholas saved him from great sin. Having three grown daughters, the despairing father considered to give them over to profligacy so as to save them from hunger. The saint, grieving lest the man perish a sinner, by night secretly brought him through the window three sacks with gold and by this saved the family from falling into spiritual destruction. In bestowing charity, Saint Nicholas always strove to do this secretly and conceal his good deeds.</p><p>In setting off on pilgrimage to the holy places at Jerusalem, the bishop of Patara entrusted the guidance of the flock to Saint Nicholas, who fulfilled this obedience carefully and with love. When the bishop returned, he in turn asked blessing for a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Along the way the saint predicted the onset of a storm threatening the ship with inundation, since he saw the devil itself having got on ship. At the entreaty of the despairing pilgrims, he calmed by his prayers the waves of the sea. Through his prayer also was restored to health a certain sailor of the ship, who had fallen from the mast and was mortally injured.</p><p>Having reached the ancient city of Jerusalem and having come to Golgotha, Saint Nicholas offered up thanksgiving to the Saviour of the race of mankind and he made the rounds of all the holy places, doing poklons and making prayers. By night on Mount Sion the closed doors of the church opened by themselves in front of the arriving great pilgrim. Going round the holy places connected with the earthly service of the Son of God, Saint Nicholas decided to withdraw into the wilderness, but he was stopped by a Divine voice, urging him to return to his native country. Having returned to Lycia and yearning for a life of quietude, the saint entered into the brotherhood of a monastery, named Holy Sion. But the Lord again announced another pathway, awaiting him: \"Nicholas, this is not the field, on which thou ought to await Mine harvest, but rather turn round and go into the world, and there My Name shalt be glorified in thee\". In the vision the Lord gave him a Gospel of exquisite workmanship, and the Most Holy Mother of God \u2013 an omophor.</p><p>And actually, upon the death of archbishop John, he was chosen bishop of Lycian Myra \u2013 after one of the bishops of the Council gave a decisive reply on the question of choice of a new archbishop \u2013 the choice of God as directed him in a vision \u2013 Saint Nicholas. Summoned to the flock of the Church in the dignity of archbishop, Sainted Nicholas remained a great ascetic, appearing to his flock as an image of gentleness, kindness and love towards people. This was particularly precious for the Lycian Church during the time of persecution of Christians under the emperor Diocletian (284-305). Bishop Nicholas, locked up in prison together with other Christians, sustained them and exhorted them to bravely endure the fetters, punishment and torture. He himself the lord preserved unharmed. Upon the accession to rule of the holy equal-to-the-apostles Constantine, Saint Nicholas was restored to his flock, which joyfully received back their guide and intercessor.</p><p>Despite his great gentleness of spirit and purity of heart, Saint Nicholas was a zealous and ardent warrior of the Church of Christ. Fighting evil spirits, the saint made the rounds of the pagan temples and shrines in the city of Myra and its surroundings, shattering the idols and turning the temples to dust.</p><p>In the year 325 Saint Nicholas was a participant in the First \u0152cumenical Council. This Council proclaimed the Nicean Symbol of faith, and he stood up with the likes of saints Sylvester the pope of Rome, Alexander of Alexandria, Spyridon of Trimiphuntum and others of the 318 fathers of the Council against the heretic Arius.</p><p>Saint Nicholas, in the heat of denunciation and fired up with zeal for the Lord, even gave the false-teacher a good drubbing on the ears, for which he was deprived of his bishop's omophor and put under guard. But several of the holy fathers shared a vision revealing that the Lord Himself and the Mother of God had made the saint to be bishop, bestowing upon him the Gospel and omophorion. The fathers of the Council, having concurred, that the audacity of the saint was pleasing to god, gave glory to the Lord and restored His holy saint to the dignity of bishop.</p><p>Having returned to his own diocese, the saint brought it peace and blessings, sowing the word of Truth, nipping in the bud defective and spurious claims of wisdom, uprooting heresy and healing the fallen and those led astray through ignorance. He was indeed a light in the world and the salt of the earth, wherein his life did shine and his word was mixed with the salt of wisdom.</p><p>Even during his life the saint worked many miracles. Of them the one accorded the greatest fame was the deliverance from death by the saint of three men, unjustly condemned by a greedy city-commander. The saint boldly went up to the executioner and took hold of his sword, already suspended over the heads of the condemned. The city-commander, denounced by Saint Nicholas in wrong-doing, repented himself and begged for forgiveness. During this time there were present three military officers, dispatched by the emperor Constantine to Phrygia. They did not suspect that they soon likewise would be compelled to seek the intercession of Saint Nicholas: it so happened that they had been vilely slandered before the emperor and were come under a sentence of death. Appearing in sleep to the holy equal-to-the-apostles Constantine, Saint Nicholas called on him to dismiss the wrongful death-sentence of the military officers who, now in prison, prayerfully called out for help to the saint. He worked many other miracles, and asceticised many long years at his labour. Through the prayers of the saint, the city of Myra was rescued from a terrible famine. Having appeared in sleep to a certain Italian merchant and having left him as a pledge of payment three gold money-pieces, which the merchant found in his hand upon wakening in the morning, he requested him to sail to Myra and furnish grain there. More than once did the saint save those drowning in the sea, and provide release from captivity and imprisonment.</p><p>Having reached old age, Saint Nicholas expired peacefully to the Lord (\u2020 345-351). His venerable relics were preserved undecayed in the local cathedral church and flowed with curative myrh, from which many received healing. In the year 1087 his relics were transferred to the Italian city of Bari, where they rest even now (see <a href=\"com=163501\"a>May 9<sup>th</sup></a>).</p><p>The name of the great saint of God, the hierarch and wonderworker Nicholas, a speedy helper and suppliant for all hastening to him, is famed in all the ends of the earth, in many lands and among many peoples. In Russia there are a multitude of cathedrals, monasteries and churches consecrated in his name. There is not, probably, a single city without a temple in honour of St. Nicholas.</p><p>In the name of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker \u2013 the first Russian Christian prince Askol\u2032d (\u2020 882) was baptised in 866 by Patriarch Photios. Over the grave of Askol\u2032d, the holy equal-to-the-apostles Ol\u2032ga (see <a href=\"comm=2634\" a>July 11<sup>th</sup></a>) erected the first temple of Saint Nicholas in the Russian Church at Kiev. Primary cathedrals were dedicated to Saint Nicholas at Izborsk, Ostrov, Mozhaisk, and Zaraisk. At Novgorod the Great one of the main churches of the city \u2013 the Nikolo-Dvorischensk church, later became a cathedral. Famed and venerable churches and monasteries in honour of St. Nicholas are in Kiev, Smolensk, Pskov, Toropetsa, Galich, Archangelsk, Great Ustiug, Tobol\u2032sk. Moscow was famed by several tens of churches consecrated to the saint, and three monasteries in honour of St. Nicholas were situated in the Moscow diocese: the Greek St. Nicholas monastery (Old\u2014Staryj) \u2013 in the Chinese-quarter, the Nikolo-Perervinsk and the Nikolo-Ugreshsk. One of the chief towers of the Kremlin was named after St. Nicholas. Part of all the churches devoted to the saint were those established at market-squares by Russian merchants, sea-farers and land-goers, venerating the wonderworker Nicholas as a protector of all those journeying on dry land and sea. They sometimes received the name among the people of \"Nicholas soaked\". Many village churches in Russia were dedicated to the wonderworker Nicholas, reverently venerated by peasants as a merciful intercessor before the Lord for all the people in their work. And in the Russian land Saint Nicholas did not leave off with his intercession. Ancient Kiev preserves the memory about the miraculous rescue of a drowning infant by the saint. The great wonderworker, hearing the grief-filled prayers of the parents in the loss of their only child, by night snatched up the infant from the waters, revived him and placed him in the choir-loft of Saint Sophia church in front of his wonderworking image. And here in the morning the infant was found safe by his thrilled parents, praising with a multitude of the people Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker.</p><p>Many wonderworking icons of Saint Nicholas appeared in Russia and came also from other lands. There is the ancient Byzantine embordered image of the saint (XII), brought to Moscow from Novgorod, and the large icon written in the thirteenth century by a Novgorod master. Two depictions of the wonderworker are especially distributed in the Russian Church: Sainted Nicholas of Zaraisk \u2013 in full-length, with blessing right hand and with Gospel (this image was brought to Ryazan in 1225 by the Byzantine princess Eupraxia, future spouse of Ryazanian prince Theodore, and perishing in 1237 with her husband and infant-son during the incursion of Batu); and Sainted Nicholas of Mozhaisk \u2013 also in full stature, with a sword in his right hand and a city in his left \u2013 in memory of the miraculous rescue, through the prayers of the saint, of the city of Mozhaisk from an invasion of enemies. It is impossible to list all the graced icons of Saint Nicholas. Every Russian city and every church was blessed by suchlike icons through the prayers of the saint.</p>"}, "rank": 5, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>The truth of things revealed thee to thy flock as a rule of faith, * a model of meekness and a teacher of abstinence * wherefore thou hast attained the heights through humility * and riches through poverty. ** O hierarch Nicholas our father, entreat Christ God that our souls be saved.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>In Myra thou wast shown to be a performer of the sacred mysteries, O holy one, * for, fulfilling the Gospel of Christ, * thou didst lay down thy life for thy peo\u00adple, O venerable one,/ and didst save the innocent from death. ** Wherefore, thou hast been sanctified as a great initiate of the grace of God.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "3", "Podoben": "1"}}}}, "1636": {"name": {"nominative": "Blessed Nicholas Salos of Pskov the Fool-For-Christ (\u2020 1576)", "short": "Blessed Nicholas"}}, "1638": {"name": {"nominative": "Protection of Our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary", "short": "Protection"}}, "1639": {"name": {"nominative": "Apostle of the 70: Ananias (1<sup>st</sup> C)", "short": "Apostle of"}, "rank": 1}, "1640": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Nicholas, Archbishop and Enlightener of Japan (\u2020 1912)", "short": "Hierarch"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Nikolai, Archbishop, Apostle to Japan,\u2014in the world Ivan Dimitrievich Kasatkin, was born on 1 August 1836 in the village of Berezovsk, Bel\u2019sk district, Smolensk diocese, where his father served as deacon. At the age of five he lost his mother. Having completed the Bel\u2019sk religious school, and afterwards the Smolensk religious seminary, in 1857 Ivan Kasatkin entered the Saint-Peterburg spiritual academy. On 24 June 1860, in the academy temple of the Twelve Apostles, bishop Nektarii gave him monastic vows with the chosen name Nikolai. On the day of memory of the first-ranked Apostles Peter and Paul, 29 June, the monk Nikolai was ordained deacon, and on 30 June\u2014the altar-feastday of the academy temple\u2014to the dignity of priestmonk. Afterwards through his wish Father Nikolai was assigned to Japan, as head of the consular church in the city of Khakodate.</p><p>The preaching of the Gospel in Japan at first seemed completely impossible. In Father Nikolai\u2019s own words: \u201cthe Japanese of that time looked upon foreigners as beasts, and on Christianity as a villainous church, to which it was possible only for total knaves and charlatans to belong.\u201d Eight years passed in this way, in studying the country, the people, their language and manners and customs, amidst which he would have to preach. Up until 1868 the flock of Father Nikolai still numbered about twelve Japanese. At the end of 1869 priestmonk Nikolai made a report to the Synod in Peterburg about the result of his work. This resolution was adopted: \u201cto form for the preaching of the Word of God among the pagan Japanese a special Russian Spiritual Mission.\u201d Father Nikolai was elevated to the dignity of archimandrite and assigned as head of this Mission. Having returned to Japan, he transferred the Khakodate flock to priestmonk Anatolii, and himself shifted the centre of the Mission to Tokyo. In 1871 there began in the country a persecution of christians; many were subjected to being chased about (among this number was the first Japanese Orthodox person, the afterwards reknown missionary priest Paul Savabe). Only in the year 1873 did the persecution abate somewhat, and it became possible to freely preach Christianity.</p><p>In this year archimandrite Nikolai set about the construction in Tokyo of a church and school for fifty men, and later also a religious school, which in 1878 was transformed into a seminary.</p><p>In 1874 there arrived at Tokyo His Grace Paul, Bishop of Kamchatka, to ordain to the priestly dignity candidates from the local population recommended by archimandrite Nikolai. During this time at the Mission in Tokyo there operated four schools\u2014catechetical, seminary, women\u2019s, church readers. And in Khakodate there were two schools: boys and girls. In the second half of 1877 the Mission began regularly to publish the journal \u201cChurch Messenger.\u201d By the year 1878 there already numbered in Japan 4115 Christians, and there existed a number of christian communities. Divine-services and teaching in the native language, the publication of books of religio-moral content\u2014these were the means which permitted the Mission to attain in a short while such reknown results. </p><p>Archimandrite Nikolai was ordained bishop on 30 March 1880 in the Trinity Cathedral of Alexander Nevsky Lavra. Returning to Japan, he began with still greater fervour to continue his apostolic work: he completed construction on the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Tokyo, he set about the translation of the Divine-service books, and he composed into the Japanese language a special Orthodox theological dictionary.</p><p>Great hardship befell the lot of the saint and his flock at the time of the Russo-Japanese War. For his ascetic labour during these difficult years he was deemed worthy of elevation to the dignity of archbishop.</p><p>In the year 1911 half a century had passed from the time, when the young priestmonk Nikolai had first tread on Japanese soil. But by this time in 266 communities of the Japanese Orthodox Church there were 33017 Christians, 1 archbishop, 1 bishop, 35 priests, 6 deacons, 14 teachers of singing, and 116 preacher-catechists.</p><p>In his 76<sup>th</sup> year on 3 February 1912, the Enlightener of Japan Archbishop Nikolai expired peacefully to the Lord. The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church passed resolution on 10 April 1970 concerning the glorification of the Saint-Bishop into the ranks of the \u201cRavnoApostoli\u201d \u201cEqual-to-the-Apostles,\u201d since in Japan the saint was long honoured as a great righteous one and prayerful intercessor before the Lord.</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>O thou who didst share in the ways of the apostles and didst sit upon their throne, 0 faithful and divinely wise servant of Christ, chosen harp of the divine Spirit, vessel overflowing with the love of Christ, enlightener of the land of Japan, O holy hierarch Nicholas, equal of the apostles, pray thou to the life-bestowing Trinity in behalf of all thy flock and for the whole world.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>As God Thou hast rewarded the steadfast and divinely eloquent preacher of Thy Gospel, O Lord; for Thou hast preferred his labors and pangs to all the sacrifices and wholeburnt offerings of the law. Through his supplications preserve us from evil.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "2"}}}}, "1643": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Nikon the Abbot of the Kiev Caves (\u2020 1088)", "short": "Venerable Nikon"}}, "1644": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Nikon, Abbot of Radonezh, and disciple of Venerable Sergius (\u2020 1426)", "short": "Venerable Nikon"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "", "text": "<p> Born in Yuriev Povolzhsky, in his youth he, \"having scorned earthly beauty and glory as being nothing\", came to the Venerable Sergius, but he reassigned him to his disciple the Venerable Athanasius Vysotsky (to Serpukhov, the eminent). When the Venerable Nikon under the direction of this great ascetic achieved the rank of priest, the Venerable Sergius accepted him in the monastery in 1375. The Venerable Sergius loved the Venerable Nikon so much because of his habits and his life that he lived with him in the same cell and finally shortly before his death assigned him to be the Hegumen. Because of his love for solitude the Venerable Nikon for a time gave up being Hegumen in the monastery and departed from it for the exercise of ascetical efforts of silence. In 1422 he was granted the privilege to open the uncorrupt relics of his director (see July 5). \"Pointing out the paradigm of your good deeds to all, having the grace of God Who loves mankind deeply within you\", \"serving the Lord with purity of conscience\", he lived \"on earth as an angel\" and died in peace on Nov. 17 in 1427 or 1428. The Council of 1547 numbered him among the saints. In 1548 a church was built over his grave, and in 1623 in place of this church the new St. Sergius Laura was built, existing to the present time. In the northwest corner of church, along the northern wall, there is a monument (gravestone) over the relics of the Venerable Nikon, which are found in the ground or in a hidden place. </p>"}, "rank": 3, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>Having been a good zealot of obedience, O ever-memorable and venerable Nikon, in praise of thy father you erected a church to the Holy Trinity. Therefore we thy children lovingly cry out to thee: Glory to Him who has given thee strength. Glory to Him who has crowned thee. Glory to Him who through thee works healings for all.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "1"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>Having cleaved to thy spiritual superior in all things, O Father Nikon, and being instructed by him, thou didst enslave thyself to Christ. Thou wast a superior of monks and co-dweller with the venerable ones. With them beseech Christ God incessantly for us all.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}}}}, "1645": {"name": {"nominative": "Commemoration of the Apparition of the Pillar with the Robe of the Lord under it at the Cathedral in Mishkheta, Georgia", "short": "Commemoration of"}}, "1646": {"name": {"nominative": "Icons of the Mother of God: \u201cProtection of Pskov\u201d, \u201cKukuzelissa\u201d, and \u201cKasperovskaya\u201d", "short": "Icons of"}}, "1651": {"name": {"nominative": "Hieromartyr Cyprian and Virginmartyr Justina of Nicomedia (\u2020 304)", "short": "Hieromartyrs"}}, "1652": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Nilus the Abbot of Sora (\u2020 1508)", "short": "Venerable Nilus"}}, "1653": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Nilus of Stolobnoye Lake (\u2020 1554)", "short": "Venerable Nilus"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "The Monk Nil of Stolobensk reposed on 7 December 1554 (the account about his life is located under this day).</p><p>Many years afterwards, on the Island of Lake Seliger, where the holy ascetic had asceticised, there came the priest-monk German and immediately after him the hill-dweller and wanderer Boris. They settled together on the island and built a church in honour of the Theophany, with a chapel in the name of Saint Vasilii (Basil) the Moscow Wonderworker. At this site where the Monk Nil had asceticised there in time grew up a monastery, named after him. An icon of the Monk Nil was written by the monks of the Orshin monastery, and numerous miracles of healings of the sick began to occur at the gravesite of the saint. Later at the monastery lived Saint Nektarii, Archbishop of Sibirsk and Tobol\u2019sk, and he decided to build a stone church to replace the former wooden one. During the time of the laying of the foundations, the earth crumbled away and revealed the incorrupt relics of the Monk Nil. The Uncovering of the Relics occurred on 27 May 1667, and simultaneously with this was established a feastday to the monk in honour of the event."}, "rank": 3}, "1654": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Cassian the Greek of Uglich (\u2020 1504)", "short": "Venerable Cassian"}}, "1655": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyrs David and Constantine, Princes of Aragvet, Georgia (\u2020 740)", "short": "Martyrs David"}}, "1657": {"name": {"nominative": "Hieromartyr Dionysius the Areopagite, Bishop of Athens (\u2020 96)", "short": "Hieromartyr Dionysius"}, "rank": 2}, "1659": {"name": {"nominative": "St. Oleg, Prince of Briansk (\u2020 c. 1285)", "short": "St. Oleg"}}, "1660": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable John the Chozebite, Bishop of C\u00e6sarea in Palestine (6<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Venerable John"}}, "1661": {"name": {"nominative": "Blessed Hesychius Chorebite, of Mt. Athos", "short": "Blessed Hesychius"}}, "1664": {"name": {"nominative": "Hieromartyr Hierotheos, Bishop of Athens (1<sup>st</sup> C)", "short": "Hieromartyr Hierotheos"}, "rank": 1}, "1667": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Ammon and Venerable Paul the Simple, of Egypt", "short": "Venerable Ammon"}}, "1668": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Paul the Simple (4<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Venerable Paul"}}, "1673": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Charitina of Amisus (\u2020 304)", "short": "Martyr Charitina"}, "rank": 1}, "1674": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Damian the Presbyter and Healer (\u2020 1071), Jeremiah (\u2020 c. 1070) and Matthew (\u2020 c. 1083) the Clairvoyants of the Kiev Caves", "short": "Venerable Damian"}}, "1676": {"name": {"nominative": "Hieromartyr Dionysios, Bishop of Alexandria (264-265)", "short": "Hieromartyr Dionysios"}}, "1678": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Mamelta of Persia (\u2020 c. 344)", "short": "Martyr Mamelta"}}, "1679": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Gregory of Chandzoe in Georgia (\u2020 861)", "short": "Venerable Gregory"}}, "1685": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Paul of Obnora, Vologda (\u2020 1429)", "short": "Venerable Paul"}, "rank": 2, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Monk Paul of Komel\u2019sk, a famed student of the Monk Sergei of Radonezh, was born at Moscow in the year 1317. From his youthful years he distinguished himself by his piety and kindliness towards the poor and suffering. His rich parents prepared him for a secular life, but at twenty-two years of age he secretly left his parental home and received tonsure at the Nativity monastery on the Volga (in Yaroslavsk diocese).</p><p>From there Paul transferred to the Holy Trinity monastery to the Monk Sergei of Radonezh, spending several years with him as a cell-obedient, in everything obeying the wise guidance of the holy starets (elder). With the blessing of the Monk Sergei, he settled a way off from the monastery in a separate cell, where he spent fifteen years as an hermit. Having asked the blessing of the Monk Sergei to go off into the wilderness for a quiet and solitary life, the Monk Paul wandered about for a long while, seeking for himself the place of solitude. He went much about the wilderness, he spent time with the Monk Avraamii of Chukhlomsk (Comm. 20 July) and finally, he remained in the Komel\u2019sk forest. At the Gryazovitsa River, in the hollow of an old linden tree, the monk made himself a small cell and dwelt there for three years in complete silence, \u201cnot giving his body rest, for which to receive future rest.\u201d Then he moved on to the River Nurma, where he built himself an hut and dug out a well. He spent his days in vigil and prayer. Five days out of the week he went without food, and only on Saturday and Sunday did he partake of some bread and water. The news spread widely about the hermit, and there begin coming to him those wishing spiritual guidance of him. Despite his love for the solitary life, the Monk Paul never refused anyone in spiritual consolation and guidance. He was visited here also by the Monk Sergei of Nuromsk, who likewise had sought solitude with the blessing of their teacher the Monk Sergei of Radonezh, and who likewise passed his ascetic life in these locales.</p><p>With the blessing of the Monk Sergei and the agreement of Metropolitan Photii, the Monk Paul in 1414 built the Holy Trinity Church, around which grew up a monastery, receiving the name of Pavlo-Obnorsk. Having written for the brethren a strict ustav (monastic rule), the Monk Paul entrusted the guidance of the new monastery to his disciple Aleksei, while he himself continued as before to live in a solitary cell on an hill, meanwhile remaining a responsive and good counsellor for anyone needing his healing help. The Monk Paul died at 112 years of age. His final words were: \u201cBrethren, have love one for another and keep to the rule of the monastic community.\u201d </p><p>The Life of the saint was written in about the year 1546, and his glorification occurred in 1547. </p>"}}, "1687": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Polychronios the Presbyter (4<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Martyr Polychronios"}}, "1688": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyrs Julian the Presbyter and C\u00e6sarius the Deacon, at Terracina (1<sup>st</sup> C)", "short": "Martyrs Julian"}}, "1692": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Dositheus, Abbot of Verkhneostrovsk and Pskov (\u2020 1482)", "short": "Venerable Dositheus"}}, "1695": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Paul the Obedient of the Kiev Caves (13th-14<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Venerable Paul"}}, "1696": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Andronicus and his wife Athanasia, of Egypt (5<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Venerable Andronicus"}, "rank": 1}, "1697": {"name": {"nominative": "Righteous Forefather Abraham and his nephew Lot (2000 B.C.)", "short": "Righteous Forefather"}}, "1699": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Publia the Confessor, Deaconess of Antioch (4<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Martyr Publia"}}, "1700": {"name": {"nominative": "Icon of the Mother of God \u201cof Korsun\u201d", "short": "Icon of"}}, "1702": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyrs Eulampius and Eulampia, at Nicomedia, and 200 martyrs with them (\u2020 303-311)", "short": "Martyrs Eulampius"}, "rank": 1}, "1704": {"name": {"nominative": "Blessed Andrew of Totemsk, the Fool-for-Christ (\u2020 1673)", "short": "Blessed Andrew"}}, "1705": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Theotecnus", "short": "Martyr Theotecnus"}}, "1706": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Bassian of Constantinople", "short": "Venerable Bassian"}}, "1707": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Paisius the Great (5<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Venerable Paisius"}}, "1710": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Paisius of the Kiev Caves (14<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Venerable Paisius"}}, "1715": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyrs Probos, Tarachos and Andronicus, at Tarsus in Cilicia (\u2020 304)", "short": "Martyrs"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "", "text": "<p>St. Tarachus, a Roman citizen and warrior, was born in Claudiopolis, Isauria. St. Probus, a Thracian, from Perga, Pamphylia, and St. Andronicus was the son of a famous citizen of Ephesus. For confessing Christ all severely suffered first in the city of Tarsus (in Cilicia), then in Mopsuestia and finally in the city of Anazarbus. They were all beheaded after undergoing terrible tortures in the year 304.</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>The heavenly powers were amazed at the struggles of the Holy Martyrs, for even in their mortal bodies, they fell upon the bodiless enemy by the power of the Cross, invisibly defeating them. Therefore they are praying to the Lord that He may have mercy on our souls.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "5", "Translator": "Aleksandr Andreev"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>Soldiers and Martyrs of Christ, Probus, Tarachus, and Andronicus, Revealed to us the glory of the Trinity: For you cleansed all from the errors of atheism, Fighting valiantly for the faith, O honorable sufferers.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "2", "Translator": "Aleksandr Andreev"}}}}, "1716": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Cosmas the Hymnographer, Bishop of Majuma (\u2020 c. 787)", "short": "Venerable Cosmas"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"0": {}, "1": {"LITURGY/0": {"text": ""}}, "2": {"LITURGY/0": {"text": ""}}}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "", "text": "<p>He was the closest friend and co-worker of the Venerable John of Damascus. For his piety he was installed as the Bishop of Maium, and worked very hard in this position for his flock and died in peace at the end of the Eighth Century (after 776). Glorifying the hierarch as \"nourisher of wisdom, \"nurse of purity\", \"enlightener of the faithful\" and \"renowned theologian\", the Holy Church witnesses that Bishop Cosmas was \"meek and humble of mind, calm and blameless in speech, kind and guileless, chaste and righteous, most simple and wholesome\". Brought up \"in piety and faith\" and \"with the mind and soul adorned in wisdom\", Bishop Cosmas adorned the Church \"with systematic and didactic hymns\", satisfying \"reason\", and \"which clearly open to all\" \"the truly strange and most wonderful mysteries of Christ\". </p>"}}, "1720": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Domnica", "short": "Martyr Domnica"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "", "text": "Martyr Domnica suffered for Christ in the city of Anazarbus during the reign of Diocletian. After severe tortures for Christ, she was thrown in prison, where she died in 286."}}, "1721": {"name": {"nominative": "St Martin the Merciful, Bishop of Tours", "short": "St Martin"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "", "text": "Born a Roman, he first served in the military service. Later he accepted monasticism and after seven years of good ascetical efforts, according to the revelation of God, he was installed as Bishop of Tours in France. Having become glorified for his unusual generosity, great miracles and ability to prophesy, he died in about the year 400."}}, "1722": {"name": {"nominative": "Translation from Malta to Gatchina of a part of the Life-Creating Cross of the Lord, together with the Philermia Icon of the Mother of God, and the right hand of Saint John the Baptist (1799)", "short": "Translation from"}, "rank": 4, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "", "text": "Celebrating St. John the Baptizer of the Lord in memory of the transfer from Malta to the city of Gatchina of a cross from part of the wood of the life- creating cross of the Lord, the wonderworking icon of the Mother of God (Philermia) written by the Holy Evangelist Luke, and the right hand from the relics of St. John the Baptist. The Maltese knights protected these holy relics since the time of the Crusades and brought them to Gatchina as a gift to the Emperor Paul 1 in 1799. In the same year all these relics were transferred to St. Petersburg, to a church of the Winter Palace. Since 1852 annually on October 11 these relics are brought to the church of the Gatchina Palace, from where on October 12 they in a cross procession are transferred to the Gatchina cathedral, where they remain for 10 days for veneration and prayer services by all the people. A special service was written for this feast, but since 1800 it was only marked on calendars and was not celebrated anywhere. In 1852, when the St. Paul\u2019s Cathedral was constructed in Gatchina, the celebration of the feast was restored which was also performed annually in the Gatchina Palace church and in the St. Paul\u2019s Cathedral."}}, "1725": {"name": {"nominative": "Hieromartyr Pancratios, Bishop of Taoromina in Sicily (1<sup>st</sup> C)", "short": "Hieromartyr Pancratios"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Hieromartyr Pankratios, Bishop of Tauromeneia, was born at a time, when our Lord Jesus Christ yet lived upon the earth.</p><p>The parents of Pankratios were natives of Antioch. Hearing about the good-news of Jesus Christ, the father of Pankratios took his young son with him and set off to Jerusalem, in order to see for himself personally the great Teacher. The miracles astonished him, and when he heard the Divine teaching, he then believed in Christ as the Son of God. He became close with the disciples of the Lord, especially with the holy Apostle Peter. And it was during this period that young Pankratios got to know the holy Apostle Peter.</p><p>After the Ascension of the Saviour one of the Apostles came to Antioch and baptised the parents of Pankratios together with all their household. When the parents of Pankratios died, he left behind his inherited possessions and went to a Pontine mountain and began to live in a cave, passing his days in prayer and deep spiritual contemplation. The holy Apostle Peter, one time passing through these parts, made a visit to Pankratios at Pontus, and took him along to Antioch, and then to Cilicia, where the holy Apostle Paul then was. And there the holy Apostles Peter and Paul ordained Saint Pankratios as bishop of the Cilician city of Tauromeneia.</p><p>Saint Pankratios toiled zealously for the Christian enlightenment of the people. Over the course of a single month he built a church, where he celebrated Divine-services. The number of believers quickly grew, and soon almost all the people of Tauromeneia and the surrounding cities accepted the Christian faith.</p><p>Saint Pankratios governed his flock peacefully for many years. But one time pagans connived against the saint, and seizing an appropriate moment, they fell upon him and stoned him. Thus did Saint Pankratios end his life as a martyr (I). The relics of the saint rest in the church named for him, at Rome.</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>As thou didst share in the ways of the apostles * and didst occupy their throne, * thou didst find thine activity to be a passage to divine vision, * O divinely inspired one. * Wherefore, ordering the word of truth, * thou didst suffer for the Faith even to the shedding of thy blood. ** O hieromartyr Pancratius, entreat Christ God, that our souls be saved.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>Thou wast shown to be a brilliant star for the people of Taormina, O Pancratius, * and wast shown also to be a sufferer for Christ. ** Standing now before Him pray thou for them that honor thee, O blessed one.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}}}}, "1727": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon (\u2020 305)", "short": "Great Martyr"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon was born in the city of Nikomedia into the family of the illustrious pagan Eustorgias, and he was named Pantoleon. His mother Ebbula was a christian. She wanted to raise her son in the Christian faith, but she died when the future greatmartyr was still a young lad. His father sent Pantoleon to a fine pagan school, at the completion of which the youth began to study the medical art at Nikomedia under the reknown physician Euphrosynos, and he came to the attention of the emperor Maximian (284-305), who wished to see him at court. </p><p>During this time there dwelt secretly at Nikomedia the Priest-Martyr presbyters Hermolaos, Hermippos and Hermocrates\u2014survivors in the Nikomedia Church after the burning of 20,000 Christians in the year 303. Saint Hermolaos saw Pantoleon time and again, when he came to their hideout. One time the presbyter summoned the youth to the hideout and spoke about the Christian faith. After this Pantoleon visited every day with the priestmartyr Hermolaos.</p><p>One time the youth saw upon a street a dead child, bitten by a viper, which was still alongside. Pantoleon began to pray to the Lord Jesus Christ for the resuscitation of the dead child and for the death of the venomous reptile. He firmly resolved, that if his prayer were fulfilled, he would become a follower of Christ and accept Baptism. The child revived, and the viper shattered into pieces before the eyes of Pantoleon. </p><p>After this miracle Pantoleon was baptised by Saint Hermolaos with the name Panteleimon (meaning \u201call-merciful\u201d). Conversing with Eustorgias, Saint Panteleimon prepared him for the acceptance of Christianity, and when the father beheld, how his son healed a blind man by invoking the Name of Jesus Christ, he then believed in Christ and was baptised together with the blind man restored to sight.</p><p>After the death of his father, Saint Panteleimon dedicated his life to the suffering, the sick, the misfortunate and the needy. He treated without charge all those who turned to him, healing them in the Name of Jesus Christ. He visited those held captive in prison\u2014being usually christians, who filled all the prisons, and he healed them of their wounds. In a short while accounts about the charitable physician spread throughout all the city. And forsaking the other doctors, the inhabitants began to turn only to Saint Panteleimon.</p><p>The envious doctors made a denunciation to the emperor, that Saint Panteleimon was healing Christian prisoners. Maximian urged the saint to disprove the denunciation and offer sacrifice to idols, but Saint Panteleimon confessed himself a Christian and right in front of the eyes of the emperor he healed a paralytic in the Name of Jesus Christ. The ferocious Maximian executed the healed man who was glorifying Jesus Christ, and gave Saint Panteleimon over to fierce torture.</p><p>The Lord appeared to the saint and strengthened him before his sufferings. They suspended the Great Martyr Panteleimon from a tree and tore at him with iron hooks, burned him with fire and then stretched him on the rack, threw him in boiling oil, and cast him into the sea with a stone about his neck. Throughout all these tortures the greatmartyr remained unhurt and with conviction he denounced the emperor. </p><p>During this time there was brought before the court of the pagans the Presbyters Hermolaos, Hermippos and Hermocrates. All three firmly confessed their faith in the Saviour and were beheaded (the account about them is located under 26 July). </p><p>By order of the emperor they threw the Great Martyr Panteleimon to wild beasts for devouring at the circus. But the beasts lay at his feet and shoved at each other in trying to be touched by his hand. The spectators gathered together and began to shout: \u201cGreat God of the Christians!\u201d The enraged Maximian ordered the soldiers to stab with the sword anyone who glorified the Name of Christ, and to cut off the head of the Great Martyr Panteleimon. </p><p>They led the saint to the place of execution and tied him to an olive tree. When the greatmartyr prayed, one of the soldiers struck him with a sword, but the sword became soft like wax, and inflicted no wound. The saint ended the prayer, and a Voice was heard, calling the passion-bearer by name and summoning him to the Heavenly Kingdom. Hearing the Voice from Heaven, the soldiers fell down on their knees before the holy martyr and begged forgiveness. The executioners refused to continue with the execution, but the Great Martyr Panteleimon bid them to fulfill the command of the emperor, saying that otherwise they would have no share with him in the future life. The soldiers tearfully took their leave of the saint with a kiss.</p><p>When the saint was beheaded, the olive tree\u2014to which the saint was tied, at the moment of his death was covered with fruit. Many that were present at the execution believed in Christ. The body of the saint\u2014thrown into a bonfire\u2014remained in the fire unharmed and was buried by christians (\u2020 305). The Great Martyr Panteleimon\u2019s servants Lawrence, Bassos and Probios saw his execution and heard the Voice from Heaven. They recorded the account about the life, the sufferings and death of the holy greatmartyr.</p><p>The holy relics of the Great Martyr Panteleimon were distributed in parts throughout all the Christian world: his venerable head is now located at the Russian Athonite monastery of the Great Martyr Panteleimon.</p><p>The veneration of the holy martyr in the Russian Orthodox Church was already known in the XII Century. Prince Izyaslav\u2014in Baptism Panteleimon\u2014son of Saint Mstislav the Great, had an image of Saint Panteleimon on his helmet. Through the intercession of the saint he remained alive during a battle in the year 1151. On the day of memory of the Great Martyr Panteleimon, Russian forces won two naval victories over the Swedes (in 1714 near Hanhauze and in 1720 near Grenham).</p><p>The Great Martyr Panteleimon is venerated in the Orthodox Church as a mighty saint, the protector of soldiers. This aspect of his veneration is derived from his first name Pantoleon, which means \u201ca lion in everything.\u201d His second name, Panteleimon\u2014given him at Baptism, which means \u201call-merciful,\u201d reveals it self in the veneration of the greatmartyr as healer. The connection between these two patronages of the saint is readily apparent in that soldiers, receiving wounds more frequently than others, are more in need of a physician-healer. Wherefore Christians in waging spiritual warfare also have recourse to this saint with a petition to heal the wounds of the soul.</p><p>The name of the holy Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon is invoked in the Sacrament of Anointing the Sick, at the Blessing of Water and in the Prayer for the Sick.</p><p>The day of commemoration of the holy Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon at the Russian monastery on Athos is its temple-feast. The forefeast starts 8 days before the feast, on which days after vespers are sung moliebens with kanons in 8 tones, whereby each day has its own particular canon. The second day of the feast is the monastery feastday. On this day of the feast after vespers is made a collective panikhida in memory of the founders and benefactours of the monastery, and there is blessed and distributed koliva (kutia\u2014wheat or rice boiled with honey). The verses of the 9<sup>th</sup> Ode of the Kanon of the Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon from the manuscript of the Athonite service are reprinted in the \u201cJournal of the Moscow Patriarchate\u201d (1975, No.3, pp. 45-47).</p>"}, "rank": 2, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>O holy passion-bearer and healer Panteleimon, * entreat the merciful God, ** that He grant to our souls remission of transgressions.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "3"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>Emulating the Merciful One, * and receiving from Him the grace of healing, * O passion-bearer and martyr of Christ God, * by thy supplications heal thou our spiritual infirmities, * ever driving away the temptations of the f\u0153 ** from them that faithfully cry out: Save us, O Lord!</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "5"}}}}, "1729": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyrs Carpos, Papilus, Agathodoros and Agathonica, at Pergamun (\u2020 251)", "short": "Martyrs Carpos"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "", "text": "<p>The Holy Martyrs Carpus and Papylus (also those with them: Agathadorus and Agathonica) suffered for Christ in the city of Pergamon, during the persecution under Emperor Decius, about 251. St. Carpus was the bishop of Thyatira, and St. Papylus was his deacon. After being tortured in Thyatira, Sts. Carpus and Papylus were sent, tied to horses, to the city of Sardis. St. Agathadorus voluntarily was sent with them. Here \"the dedicated one\" Agathadorus, courageously endured \"wounds and cuts\", and died during severe torture. Sts. Carpus and Papylus were again returned to Pergamon and there, after a miraculous deliverance from a fiery furnace, were beheaded by the sword. St. Agathonica, the sister of St. Papylus, also was beheaded. In the service for this day, we hymn the Holy Martyrs Carpus and Papylus, and we also commemorate Sts. Agathadorus and Agathonica.</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>Thy martyrs, O Lord, in their suffering received crowns of incorruption from Thee, our God; for having Thy might they deposed the tormentors and destroyed the powerless audacity of the d\u00e6mons. Through their prayers do Thou save our souls.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4", "Translator": "Aleksandr Andreev"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>As a valuable treasury of the Master And a fountain pouring out streams of healings You gave your relics to those on the earth. Thus they are removing the infirmities of various passions Ceaselessly granting grace to our souls. Therefore, O Divine Martyrs, with one voice we celebrate your festival with love.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4", "Translator": "Aleksandr Andreev"}}}}, "1731": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Florentius of Thessaloniki", "short": "Martyr Florentius"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "", "text": "Born in Thessalonica, he was a disciple of the apostles, and for preaching Christ he was subjected to awful tortures and was burned to death."}}, "1733": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Nikita the Confessor of Paphlagonia (\u2020 c. 838)", "short": "Venerable Nikita"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "", "text": "Born in Paphlagonia, during the reign of Emperor Nicephorus, governor of Sicily, he, seeing the vanity of the world, accepted monasticism and was tonsured in Constantinople. During the reign of Emperor Leo the Armenian and Theophilus the venerable Nicetas suffered for venerating the holy icons. He died around the year 838."}}, "1734": {"name": {"nominative": "New Martyr Chrisa (Zlata) of Bulgaria", "short": "New Martyr"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "", "text": "Born in the village of Slatina, Bulgaria, for reasons of chastity and unwillingness to accept Islam the Turks chopped her up into small pieces in 1795."}}, "1737": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyrs Nazarius, Gervasius, Protasius and Celsius of Milan (1<sup>st</sup> C)", "short": "Martyrs Nazarius"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "", "text": "<p> The holy martyrs Nazarius, Gervase, Protase, and Celsius suffered during the reign of the Emperor Nero in the city of Milan. The martyrs Nazarius and Celsius, who worked hard for the enlightenment of the pagans in the faith in Christ, were subjected to various tortures, were fed to beasts, thrown into the sea and, at last, when both survived, were beheaded. The martyrs Gervase and Protase were twins. St. Gervase for confessing Christ was whipped to death by tin rods, and St. Protase was truncated by the sword. Their relics were discovered in 357 and are now in Milan.</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>Thy martyrs, O Lord, in their suffering received crowns of incorruption from Thee, our God; for having Thy might they deposed the tormentors and destroyed the powerless audacity of the d\u00e6mons. Through their prayers do Thou save our souls.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4", "Translator": "Aleksandr Andreev"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>Having appeared as bright lamps, O divine martyrs, you enlightened all creation with the light of your wonders, releasing from infirmities, ever driving away the deep night, continually pray to Christ the One God for us all. </p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "2", "Translator": "Aleksandr Andreev"}}}}, "1739": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Nicholas \u201cSviatosha\u201d, Prince of Chernigov (\u2020 1143)", "short": "Venerable Nicholas"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "", "text": "Son of the Chernigov prince David Sviatoslavich, at first he reigned as prince in Lutsk, and then in Chernigov. Being married and having children, he left family, princedom and all earthly pleasures and in 1107 accepted monasticism in the Kievan Monastery of the Caves. Here he practiced asceticism as a simple monk fulfilling all monastic obedience, and conducted a life, full of any deprivation. Vainly the brothers of the prince tried to make him regret leaving his former rich and magnificent life. Blessed Nicholas spent his time in labor and prayer, fasting and vigil, for more than thirty years. Tradition informs us, that he built a church in honor of the Most Holy Trinity above the monastery gates, and also a hospital with a Temple of Saint Nicholas (near the Laura Gates). Eating only monastic food, venerable Nicholas distributed to the poor and strangers all that he received from his brothers, princes and boyars. \u041d died in 1143. e Almost all Kievans were in the monastery to render their last duty to the blessed prince. Having been glorified with healing, his relics repose in the St. Anthony\u201ds Cave. Even after death the clothes of Ven. Nicholas was a source of healing. So, when Prince Isiaslav became gravely ill, they placed on him the hair shirt of Venerable Nicholas and the ill person immediately recovered. The name \"Sviatosha\" stuck to Venerable Nicholas as a nickname for Sviatoslav, which was given him at birth. The service to him is with the polyeleos."}}, "1740": {"name": {"nominative": "Hieromartyr Siluan, Presbyter of Gaza (4<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Hieromartyr Siluan"}}, "1743": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Euthymios the New, of Thessalonica and Monk of Mt Athos (\u2020 889)", "short": "Venerable Euthymios"}, "rank": 1}, "1745": {"name": {"nominative": "Hieromartyr Lucian, Presbyter of Antioch (\u2020 312)", "short": "Hieromartyr Lucian"}, "rank": 1}, "1746": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable John, Bishop of Suzdal (\u2020 1373)", "short": "Venerable John"}}, "1748": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyrs Sarbilos and Bebea of Edessa (2<sup>nd</sup> C)", "short": "Martyrs Sarbilos"}}, "1749": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Sabina, Bishop of Katana", "short": "Venerable Sabina"}}, "1750": {"name": {"nominative": "Icon of the Mother of God \u201cSporitelnitsa Khlebov\u201d", "short": "Icon of"}}, "1756": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Prophet Hosea (\u2020 820 BC)", "short": "Holy Prophet"}, "rank": 1}, "1760": {"name": {"nominative": "Transfer of the relics of the Righteous Lazarus of the Four-Days to Constantinople (898)", "short": "Transfer of"}}, "1764": {"name": {"nominative": "Apostles Nathaniel, Luke and Clement of the Seventy (1<sup>st</sup> C)", "short": "Apostles Nathaniel"}}, "1767": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Marinus the Elder at Anazarbus (4<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Martyr Marinus"}}, "1768": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Julian the Hermit, of Mesopotamia (4<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Venerable Julian"}}, "1773": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Uaros and with him 7 Hieromartyr Teachers (\u2020 c. 307)", "short": "Martyr Uaros"}, "rank": 1}, "1774": {"name": {"nominative": "Blessed Cleopatra and her son John (\u2020 327)", "short": "Blessed Cleopatra"}}, "1777": {"name": {"nominative": "Great Martyr Artemius of Antioch (\u2020 362)", "short": "Great Martyr Artemius"}, "rank": 2}, "1779": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Hierarchs Peter, Alexis, Jonah, Macarius, Philip, Job, Hermogenes, Tikhon, Peter, Philaret, Innocent and Macarius, Wonderworkers of Moscow", "short": "Holy Hierarchs"}, "rank": 3}, "1784": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Peter, Crown Prince of the Horde", "short": "Venerable Peter"}}, "1785": {"name": {"nominative": "Veneration of the precious Chains of the Holy and All-Glorious Apostle Peter", "short": "St Peter"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Veneration of the Venerable Shackles of the Holy and All-Praiseworthy Apostle Peter: On the orders of Herod Agrippa, in about the year 42 the Apostle Peter was thrown into prison for preaching about Christ the Saviour. In prison he was held secure by two iron chains. By night, on the eve of his trial, an Angel of the Lord removed these chains from the Apostle Peter and miraculously led him out from the prison (Acts12: 1-11). Christians who learned of the miracle took the chains and kept them as precious keepsakes. Those afflicted with illness and approaching them with faith received healing. The Chains of the holy Apostle Peter were kept at Jerusalem until the time of Patriarch Juvenalios, who presented them to Eudocia, spouse of the emperor Theodosius the Younger, and she in turn transferred them from Jerusalem to Constantinople in either the year 437 or 439. Eudocia sent one Chain to Rome to her daughter Eudoxia, who built a church in the name of the Apostle Peter and put within it the Chain. At Rome were also other Chains, in which the Apostle Peter found himself before his death under the emperor Nero.</p><p>On 16 January the Chains of the Apostle Peter are brought out for veneration by the people.</p>"}, "rank": 2, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>Without leaving Rome thou art come to us in the precious chains which thou didst bear, O first-enthroned of the apostles; and, bowing down before them with faith we pray: through thy supplications unto God grant us great mercy!</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>Christ the Rock most splendidly glorifieth the rock of faith, the first-enthroned of His disciples; for He summoneth all to celebrate the wonders of thy precious chains, O Peter, and granteth forgiveness of offenses.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "2"}, "KONTAKION/2": {"text": "<p>Let us praise the great Peter, the chief and first among the apostles, the divine disciple of the Truth, and with faith let us kiss his chains, receiving release from our transgressions.</p>", "Type": "2", "Tone": "2"}}}}, "1790": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable P\u0153men the Great (\u2020 c. 450)", "short": "Venerable P\u0153men"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Monk Pimen the Great was born in about the year 340 in Egypt. With his two brothers, Anubias and Paisias, he went into one of the Egyptian monasteries, and all three accepted monastic tonsure. The brothers were such strict ascetics, that when their mother came to the monastery to see her children, they did not come out to her from their cells. The mother stood there for a long time and wept. Then the Monk Pimen said to her through the closed door of the cell: \u201cIf thou bearest with the temporal parting from us now, then in the future life wilt thou see us, since we do hope upon God the Lover-of-Mankind!.\u201d The mother was humbled and returned home.</p><p>Fame about the deeds and virtues of the Monk Pimen spread throughout all the land. One time the governor of the district wanted to see him. The Monk Pimen, shunning fame, reasoned thus: \u201cIf dignitaries begin coming to me with respect, then also many of the people will start coming to me and disturb my quiet, and I shalt be deprived of the grace of humility, which I have found only with the help of God.\u201d And so he relayed a refusal to the messenger. For many of the monks, the Monk Pimen was a spiritual guide and instructor. And they wrote down his answers to serve to the edification of others besides themselves. A certain monk asked: \u201cOught one to veil over with silence the sin of a transgressing brother, if perchance one see him?\u201d The elder answered: \u201cIf we reproach the sins of brothers, then God will reproach our sins, and if thou seest a brother sinning, believe not thine eyes and know, that thine own sin is like a wood-beam, but the sin of thy brother is like a wood-splinter, and then thou wilt not come into distress and temptation.\u201d Another monk turned to the saint, saying: \u201cI have grievously sinned and I want to spend three years at repentance. Is such a length of time sufficient?\u201d The elder answered: \u201cThat is a long time.\u201d The monk continued to ask, how long a period of repentance did the saint reckon necessary for him\u2014a year or forty days? The elder answered: \u201cI think, that if a man repenteth from the depths of his heart and posits a firm intent to return no more to the sin, then God would accept also a three-day repentance.\u201d To the question, as to how to be rid of persistent evil thoughts, the saint answered: \u201cIf a man has on one side of him fire, and on the other side a vessel with water, then if he starts burning from the fire, he takes water from the vessel and extinguishes the fire. Like to this are the evil thoughts, suggested by the enemy of our salvation, which like a spark can enkindle sinful desires within man. It is necessary to put out these sparks with the water, which is prayer and the yearning of the soul for God.\u201d</p><p>The Monk Pimen was strict at fasting and did not partake of food for the space of a week or more. But others he advised to eat every day, only but without eating one\u2019s fill. For a certain monk, permitting himself to partake of food only on the seventh day but being angry with a brother, the saint said: \u201cThou wouldst learn to fast over six days, yet cannot abstain from anger for even a single day.\u201d To the question, which is better\u2014to speak or be silent, the elder said: \u201cWhoso doth speak on account of God, d\u0153th well, and whoso is silent on account of God\u2014that one doth act well.\u201d And moreover: \u201cIt may be, that a man seems to be silent, but if his heart doth judge others, then always is he speaking. But there are also those, who all the day long speak with their tongue, but within themself they do keep silence, since they judge no one.\u201d </p><p>The saint said: \u201cFor a man it is necessary to observe three primary rules: to fear God, to pray often and to do good for people.\u201d \u201cMalice in turn never wipes out malice. If someone d\u0153th thee bad, do them good, and thine good will conquer their bad.\u201d One time, when the monk with his students arrived at an Egyptian wilderness-monastery (since he had the habit to go about from place to place, so as to shun glory from men), it became known to him, that the elder living there was annoyed at his arrival and also was jealous of him. In order to overcome the malice of the hermit, the saint set off to him with his brethren, taking along with them food as a present. The elder refused to come out to them. Thereupon the Monk Pimen said: \u201cWe shall not depart from here, until we are granted to see and pay respect to the holy elder,\u201d\u2014and he remained standing in the bright heat at the door of the cell. Seeing such perseverance and lack of malice on the part of the Monk Pimen, the elder received him graciously and said: \u201cIt is right what I have heard about you, but I see in you the good deeds and an hundred times even moreso.\u201d Thus did the Monk Pimen know how to extinguish malice and provide good example to others. He possessed such great humility, that often with a sigh he said: \u201cI shalt be cast down to that place, whither was cast down Satan!\u201d</p><p>One time there came to the saint a monk from afar, to get his guidance. He began to speak about sublime matters difficult to grasp. The saint turned away from him and was silent. To the bewildered monk they explained, that the saint did not like to speak about lofty matters. Then the monk began to ask him about the struggle with passions of soul. The saint turned to him with a joyful face: \u201cHere now thou well hath spoken, and I mustneeds answer,\u201d\u2014and for a long while he provided instruction, as to how one ought to struggle with the passions and conquer them.</p><p>The Monk Pimen died at age 110, in about the year 450. Soon after his death he was acknowledged as a saint pleasing to God and received the title \u201cthe Great\u201d\u2014as a sign of his great humility, modesty, uprightness and self-denying service to God.</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>With the streams of thy tears thou didst irrigate the barren desert, * and with sighs from the depths of thy soul thou didst render thy labors fruitful an hundredfold, * and becamest a beacon for the whole world, resplendent with miracles. ** O P\u0153men our father, entreat Christ God, that our souls be saved.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "0"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>Today the holy memory of thy splendid struggles hath dawned, O father, * gladdening the souls of the pious, ** O divinely wise P\u0153men, our venerable father.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}}}}, "1792": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Pimen the much-suffering, of the Kiev Caves", "short": "Venerable Pimen"}}, "1800": {"name": {"nominative": "Saint Pitirim, Bishop of Perm (\u2020 1456)", "short": "Saint Pitirim"}}, "1801": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Hierarch Pitirim, Bishop of Tambov (\u2020 1698)", "short": "Holy Hierarch"}}, "1811": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Polycarp of Briansk (\u2020 1620-1621)", "short": "Venerable Polycarp"}}, "1843": {"name": {"short": "Venerable Procopius", "nominative": "Venerable Procopius, Confessor of Decapolis (\u2020 c. 750)", "cmd": "doy == 57"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Monk Prokopios Dekapolites lived during the VIII Century in the region of Dekapolis (<a href=\"bible=Mk#7:31\">Mk. 7: 31</a>), to the east of Lake Galilee. And there also he devoted himself to salvation, occupied with monastic deeds.</p><p>Saint Prokopios, together with his co-ascetic Saint Basil (Comm. 28 February) and others zealous for holy Orthodoxy, rose up against the Iconoclast heresy that had arisen in those times. By order of the emperor Leo the Isaurian (716-741), the Monk Prokopios was arrested, subjected to a fierce scourging and thrown into prison. Here he languished together with the Monk Basil until the very death of the oppressive emperor, after which the holy confessors were set free. The Monk Prokopios spent the rest of his life peacefully at monastic deeds, guiding many on the way of virtue and salvation. He died in old age, in about the year 750.</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>With the streams of thy tears thou didst irrigate the barren desert, * and with sighs from the depths of thy soul thou didst render thy labors fruitful an hundredfold. * Thou wast a beacon for the whole world, radiating miracles. ** O our father Procopius, entreat Christ God that our souls be saved.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "0"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>The Church, possessing thee today as a morning star, dispelleth all the darkness of heresy, * honoring thee, O all-glorious Procopius, ** initiate of the heavenly mysteries.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}}}}, "1846": {"name": {"nominative": "Righteous Prokopius of Usya (17<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Righteous Prokopius"}}, "1856": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Prochorus of the Kiev Caves (\u2020 1107)", "short": "Venerable Prochorus"}}, "1875": {"name": {"nominative": "Blessed Roman (Olegovich), Prince of Ryazan (\u2020 1270)", "short": "Blessed Roman"}}, "1878": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Romanos the Melodist - \u201cSweet Singer\u201d (5<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Venerable Romanos"}, "rank": 1}, "1880": {"name": {"nominative": "Right-Believing Prince Romanus of Uglich (\u2020 1285)", "short": "Right-Believing Prince Romanus"}}, "1888": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Rufus the Obedient of the Kiev Caves (14<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Venerable Rufus"}}, "1893": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Sabbas, Abbot of Vishersk (\u2020 1461)", "short": "Venerable Sabbas"}, "rank": 3}, "1895": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Savva of Pskov (\u2020 1495)", "short": "Venerable Savva"}}, "1898": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Sabbas the Sanctified (\u2020 532)", "short": "Venerable Sabbas"}, "rank": 5}, "1901": {"name": {"nominative": "Saint Sava I, Archbishop of Serbia (\u2020 1237)", "short": "Saint Sava"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>Saint Sava, first Archbishop of Serbia,\u2014in the world Rostislav (Rastko), was a son of the Serbian autocrat Stefan Nemani and Anna, daughter of the Greek emperor Romanos. From his early years he fervently attended church services and fostered an especial love for icons. At seventeen years of age, having met a Russian monk from Holy Mount Athos, Rostislav secretly left his father\u2019s house and set off to the Russian Panteleimonov monastery. (By Divine Providence in the year of the saint\u2019s birth\u20141169\u2014the ancient monastery of the great-martyr and healer Panteleimon was restored for eternal keeping to Russian monks.) Knowing that his son was on Athos, his father mobilised his retainers headed by a faithful v\u0153voda and wrote to the governor of the district which included Athos, that if his son were not returned to him, he would go to war against the Greeks. Having arrived at the monastery, the v\u0153voda * military-chief was ordered not to take his eyes off Rostislav. During the time of evening Divine-services, when the soldiers were fallen asleep under the influence of wine, Rostislav took monastic vows (the year 1186) and sent to his parents his worldly clothes, his hair and a letter. The monk Sava sought to persuade his powerful parents to accept monasticism. The monk\u2019s father (the commemoration of the Monk Stefan, in monasticism Simeon, Tsar of Serbia, is situated under 13 February) together with his son pursued asceticism at the Batopedeia monastery. On Athos they established the Serbian Khilendaria monastery, and this monastery received its name by imperial stauropegia * grant. At Khilendaria monastery, the monk Save was ordained to the deaconate and then presbyter. For his monastic deeds on Mount Athos, the monk was deemed worthy of the dignity of archimandrite at Soluneia * Thessalonika. At Niciea in the year 1219 on the feast of the Dormition * Uspenie of the Most Holy Mother of God, the \u0152cumenical Pattriarch Germanos ordained archimandrite Sava to the dignity of Archbishop of All Serbia. For this the monk petitioned the Greek emperor for permission that the Archbishop be consecrated by a Sobor of bishops in Serbia\u2014a very important consideration in this time of frequent wars between eastern and western powers. Having returned to the Holy Mountain from Nic\u00e6a, the saint made the rounds of all the monasteries for the last time; he made prostration in all the churches and, calling to mind the blessed lives of the wilderness fathers, he made his farewells with the ascetics in deep remorse, \u201cleaving from the Holy Mountain, as though from some Divine paradise.\u201d Dejected by his grievous separation from the Holy Mountain, the saint went along the path from Athos just barely moving. Only the words of the Most Holy Mother of God that had come to the saint in a dream\u2014\u201dhaving My Patronage to the King of all, My Son and God, about what dost thou still sorrow?\u201d\u2014these words roused him from despondency, changing sorrow into joy. In memory of this appearance, the saint commissioned at Soluneia large icons of the Saviour and of the Mother of God, and put them in the Church of the Philokalia. </p><p>In Serbia, the activity of the Hierarch in organising the work of his native Church was accompanied by numerous signs and miracles. During the time of Liturgy and the all-night vigil, when the saint came to cense over the grave of his father the monk Simeon, the holy relics exuded fragrant myrh.</p><p>Being in charge of negotiations with the Hungarian king Vladislav, who had declared war on Serbia, the glorious sainted bishop with heavenly signs not only brought about the desired peace for his country, he also brought the Hungarian monarch to Orthodoxy. Having secured a beginning for the historical existence of the autonomous Serbian Church, Saint Sava contributed also to the strengthening of the Serbian state. In order to insure the independence of the Serbian state, the holy archbishop Sava crowned his powerful brother Stefan as tsar. Upon the death of Stefan\u2014his eldest son Radislav having been crowned tsar, Saint Sava set off to the Holy Land \u201cwith tears to worship at the holy grave of Christ and fearsome Golgotha.\u201d Having returned to his native land, the saint gave his blessing and crowned Vladislav as tsar; to further strengthen the Serbian throne, he betrothed him with the daughter of the Bulgarian prince Asan. The holy hierarch made the rounds of all the Serbian land, he reformed monastic rules on the model of the athonites and palestinians, and he established and consecrated many churches, strengthening the Orthodox in their faith. Having finished his work in his native land, the saint appointed as his successor the priestmonk Arsenii, ordaining him bishop and giving his blessing to all. He then set off on a journey of no return, wanting \u201cto end his days as a wanderer in a foreign land.\u201d He passed through all of Palestine, through Syria and Persia, Babylon, Egypt and Anatolia, everywhere visiting the holy places, conversing with great ascetics, and gathering up the priestly remains of saints. The saint finished his wanderings at Trnovo in Bulgaria at the home of his kinsman Tsar Asan, where with spiritual joy he offered up his soul to the Lord (\u2020 1237). At the time of transfer of the holy relics of Saint Sava to Serbia in 1237 the healings were so numerous, that the Bulgarians began to complain about Asan, \u201cthat he had given up such a treasure.\u201d In the saint\u2019s own native country, his venerable relics were placed in the Church of Mileshevo, bestowing healing on all who approach with faith. The inhabitants of Trnovo continued to receive healing from the remnants of the grave of the saint, which pious Asan ordered to be gathered together and placed in a newly built sarcophagus.</p><p>The legacy of Saint Sava lives on in the orthodox Church traditions of the Slavic nations. With his legacy is linked the first introduction of the Jerusalem Ustav to Slavic Monastic Rules: the Serbian Khilendaria monastery on Athos lives by the Typikon of Saint Sava to the present time. The redactions of the book \u201cThe Rudder\u201d belonging to the Saint Bishop\u2014with the commentaries of Alexis Aristines, are the most widely disseminated in the Russian Church. In the year 1270 the first copy of \u201cThe Rudder\u201d of Saint Sava was sent from Bulgaria to the metropolitan of Kiev Kirill. From this was copied one of the most ancient of the Russian \u201cRudders\u201d\u2014the Ryazansk \u201cRudder\u201d of 1284. It in its turn was the source for a printed \u201cRudder\u201d\u2014published in the year 1653 and invariably since that time republished in the Russian Church. Such was the legacy of Saint Sava to the canonical treasury of Orthodoxy.</p>"}, "rank": 3}, "1904": {"name": {"nominative": "Finding of the Relics of Venerable Sabbas of Storozhi Hill near Zvenigorod (1652)", "short": "Finding"}}, "1907": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Sabbatius of Solovki (\u2020 1435)", "short": "Venerable Sabbatius"}}, "1914": {"name": {"nominative": "Hieromartyr Sadoc, Bishop of Persia, and the 128 Martyrs with him (\u2020 342-344)", "short": "Martyrs"}}, "1919": {"name": {"nominative": "St. Sampson the Hospitable of Constantinople (\u2020 c. 530)", "short": "St. Sampson"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Monk Sampson the Hospitable-to-Strangers was the son of rich and illustrious Roman parents. In his youth he received an excellent education, he studied the medical arts, and for free he doctored the sick. After the death of his parents Saint Sampson generously distributed alms and set free his slaves, preparing himself to go into the wilderness.</p><p>With this intent un mind he soon journeyed from Rome to the East. But the Lord directed him onto a different path, that of service to neighbour, and so Saint Sampson came to Constantinople. Settling into a small house, the saint began to take in the wandering homeless, the poor and the sick, and he attended to them zealously. The Lord blessed the efforts of Saint Sampson and endowed him with the power of wonderworking. He healed the sick not only through being a skilled physician, but also as a bearer of the grace of God. The news about Saint Sampson spread widely. The patriarch, having summoned him, ordained him as presbyter. </p><p>One time it was revealed to the grievously sick emperor Justinian (527-565), that he could receive healing only through Saint Sampson. In praying, the saint extended his hand in the direction of the sick emperor, who then received relief, and soon recovered altogether. In gratitude the emperor wanted to reward his healer with silver and gold, but the saint refused and instead asked Justinian to build a domicile for wanderers and the sick. The emperor readily fulfilled his request. </p><p>All the rest of his life Saint Sampson devoted to serving his neighbour. He survived into old age and after a short illness he with joy expired to the Lord (\u2020 c. 530). The saint was buried at the church of the holy Martyr Mokias. Many an healing was effected at the grave of Saint Sampson. His home for wanderers and the hospice remained open, and the saint did not cease to care for the suffering. He twice appeared to a neglectful worker of the hospice and upbraided him for his laziness. At the request of an admirer of Saint Sampson the vagrants-home was transformed into a church, and alongside it was built a new edifice for taking in the homeless. During the time of a powerful conflagration at Constantinople the flames did not touch the vagrants-home of Saint Sampson: through his prayers a strong rain poured down, which quenched the fire.</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>In thy patience, O venerable father, thou didst acquire thy reward, * having endured in prayer without ceasing, and loved the poor and provided for them. ** Beseech Christ God O merciful and blessed Sampson, that our souls be saved.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "0"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>Rejoicing with psalms and hymns, O divinely wise and venerable Sampson, * and hastening to thy divine shrine, as to that of an excellent physician and a right acceptable intercessor, ** we glorify Christ Who bestoweth upon thee such grace of healing.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "0"}}}}, "1921": {"name": {"nominative": "Prophet Samuel (11th C BC)", "short": "Prophet Samuel"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Prophet Samuel was the 15<sup>th</sup> and last of the Judges of Israel, living more than 1146 years before the Birth of Christ. He was descended from the Tribe of Levi, and was the son of Elkanah from Ramathaim-Zophima of Mount Ephraim. He was born, having been besought of the Lord through the prayers of his mother Anna (wherefore he received the name Samuel, which means \u201cbesought\u201d), and even before birth he was dedicated to God. When the boy reached age 3, his mother went with him to Shiloh and in accord with her vow gave him over to the tabernacle in care of the high-priest Eli, who at this time was a judge over the Israelite nation. The prophet grew in the fear of God, and already at 12 years of age he had the revelation, that God would punish all the house of the high-priest Eli, because he did not restrain the impiety of his sons. </p><p>The prophecy was fulfilled when the Philistines, having slain in battle 30,000 Israelites (among them were also the sons of the high-priest, Hophni and Phinees), gaining victory and capturing the Ark of the Covenant with God. Hearing of this, the high-priest Eli fell from his seat backwards at the gate, and breaking his back, he died. The wife of Phinees, upon hearing what had happened in this very hour, gave birth to a son (Ichabod) and died with the words: \u201cThe glory is gone out from Israel, for the Ark of God is taken away\u201d (1 Sam. [1 Kings] 4: 22).</p><p>Upon the death of Eli, Samuel became the judge of the nation of Israel. The Ark of God was returned by the Philistines on their own initiative, and after their returning to God, the Israelites returned to all the cities, which the Philistines had taken. Having gotten up in years, the Prophet Samuel made his sons\u2014Joel and Abiah\u2014judges over Israel, but they followed not in the integrity and righteous judgement of their father, since they were motivated by greed. Then the elders of Israel, wanting that the nation of God should be \u201clike other nations\u201d (1 Sam. [1 Kings] 8: 20), demanded of the Prophet Samuel that a king be established for them. The Prophet Samuel saw in this a deep downfall of the people, which until this time God Himself had governed, announcing His will through His chosen saints. Resigning the position of judge, the Prophet Samuel asked the people, whether they consent in his continued governance, but no one stepped forward for him. After denunciation of the first king, Saul, for his disobedience to God, the Prophet Samuel anointed as king Saint David, to whom he had offered asylum, saving him from the pursuit of king Saul. The Prophet Samuel died in extreme old age. His life is recorded in the Bible (1 Sam. [1 Kings]; Sirach 46: 13-20). In the year 406 A.D. the relics of the Prophet Samuel were transferred from Judea to Constantinople.</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>Celebrating the memory * of Thy prophet Samuel O Lord, ** through him do we entreat Thee, save Thou our souls.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "2"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>As a gift of great worth given to God before thy conception, * from thine infancy thou didst serve Him, O most blessed one; * and thou wast vouchsafed to declare beforehand the things of the future. ** Wherefore, we cry out to thee: Rejoice, O Samuel, prophet of God, thou great high priest!</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "0"}}}}, "1961": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Serapion of Kozhe Lake (\u2020 1611)", "short": "Venerable Serapion"}}, "1965": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Serapion of the Spaso-Eleazar Monastery", "short": "Venerable Serapion"}}, "1971": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Sergius of Nurom", "short": "Venerable Sergius"}}, "1974": {"name": {"nominative": "Uncovering of the relics of the Venerable Sergius of Radonezh (1422)", "short": "St Sergius"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The relics of the Monk Sergei (\u2020 1392, Commemorated September 25<sup>th</sup>) were uncovered on July 5<sup>th</sup>, 1422 during a time when the Monk Nikon (\u2020 1426, Commemorated November 17<sup>th</sup>) was hegumen. In the year 1408, when Moscow and its surroundings suffered invasion by the Tatar horde of Edigei, the Trinity monastery was devastated and burnt, and the monks headed by the hegumen Nikon hid themselves in the forests, saving the icons, sacred vessels, books and other holy things connected with the memory of the Monk Sergei. In a vision by night on the eve of the Tatar incursion the Monk Sergei informed his disciple and successor about the coming tribulations and foretold in consolation, that the vexation would not be prolonged but rather that the monastery, arising from the ashes, would flourish and grow even more. Metropolitan Philaret wrote about this in the \u201cLife of the Monk Sergei\u201d: \u201cIn semblance to this, that it suited Christ to suffer, and through the cross and death to enter into the glory of the Resurrection, so also doth it become everyone, that wouldst be blest by Christ in the length of days in glory, to be tested by one\u2019s own cross and death\u201d. Going through its own fiery cleansing, the monastery of the Life-Originating Trinity was resurrected in the length of days, and the Monk Sergei himself rose up, so that forevermore his holy relics should dwell within it.</p><p>Before the beginning of construction of the new temple in the Name of the Life-Originating Trinity upon the spot of the former wooden one (which was consecrated on September 25<sup>th</sup>, 1412), the Monk Sergei appeared to a certain pious layman and bid him inform the hegumen and the brethren: \u201cWhy do ye leave me such a while in the grave, covered over by ground and in the water, constraining my body?\u201d And herewith during the construction of the cathedral, when they dug the ditches for the foundations, the undecayed relics of the Monk Sergei were uncovered and brought up, and all were astonished, that not only the body, but also the clothing upon him was undecayed, although round about the grave there actually stood water. Amidst a large throng of the devout and the clergy, in the presence of the son of Dmitri of the Don\u2014the prince of Zvenigorod Yuri Dimitrievich (\u2020 1425), the holy relics were brought up from the ground and placed temporarily in the wooden Trinity church (at this spot is located now the church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit). With the consecration in 1426 of the stone Trinity cathedral the relics were transferred into it, where at present they remain.</p><p>All the threads of the spiritual life of the Russian Church converge towards the great Radonezh saint and wonderworker, and through all of Orthodox Rus\u2032 the graced life-creating currents extend outwards from the Trinity monastery founded by him.</p><p>Naming a church for the Holy Trinity within the Russian land began with holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Ol\u2032ga (\u2020 969, the account about her is under July 11<sup>th</sup>), who erected the first Trinity temple at Pskov. Afterwards there were erected similar churches in Great Novgorod and other cities.</p><p>The spiritual contribution of the Monk Sergei in the teaching of theology about the Holy Trinity is quite significant. The monk had profound insight into the secret mysteries of theology with the \u201cmental eyes\u201d of the ascetic\u2014in prayerful ascent to the Trihypostatic (that is, Three-Person) God, and in the spiritual experience of communion with God and God-likeness.</p><p>\u201cCo-heirs of the perfect light and contemplation of the Most Holy and All Sovereign Trinity,\u2014explained Saint Gregory the Theologian,\u2014are those which become perfectly co-united in the perfection of the Spirit\u201d. The Monk Sergei knew experientially the mystery of the Life-Originating Trinity, since in his life he became co-united with God, he became a communicant to the very life of the Divine Trinity, that is, he attained as much as is possible on earth to the measure of \u201ctheosis\u201d (\u201cdivinisation\u201d, \u201cobozhenie\u201d), becoming a \u201cpartaker of the Divine nature\u201d (<a href=\"bible=II_Pet#1:4\">2 Pet. 1: 4</a>). \u201cWhoso loveth Me,\u2014saith the Lord,\u2014that one wilt keep to My word; and My Father wilt love him, and We shalt come unto him and make abode with him\u201d (<a href=\"bible=Jn#14:23\">Jn. 14: 23</a>). Father Sergius, in everything observing the commands of Christ, belongs to the rank of holy saints in the souls of whom the Holy Trinity \u201chath made abode\u201d; he fashioned himself into \u201can abode of the Holy Trinity\u201d, and everyone with whom the Monk Sergei associated, he elevated and brought into communion unto the Holy Trinity.</p><p>The Radonezh ascetic, with his disciples and conversants, enriched the Russian and the \u0152cumenical Church with a new knowledge and vision of the Life-Originating Trinity, the Beginning and Source of life, manifesting Itself unto the world and to mankind in the \u201cSobornost\u2032\u201d (\u201cCommunality\u201d) of the Church, with brotherly unity and the sacrificial redemptive love of its pastors and children.</p><p>In the spiritually symbolic gathering together of Rus\u2032 in unity and love, the historical effort of the nation became a temple of the Life-Originating Trinity, erected by the Monk Sergei, \u201cso that by constant attention to It would be conquered the fright of the hateful discord of this world\u201d. </p><p>The worship of the Holy Trinity, in forms created and bequeathed by the holy Hegumen of Radonezh Sergei, became one of the most profound and original of features of Russian ecclesiality. With the Monk Sergei, in the Life-Originating Trinity there was posited not only the holy perfection of life eternal, but also an image-model for human life, a spiritual ideal towards which mankind ought to strive, since that in the Trinity as \u201cIndivisible\u201d (\u201cNerazdel\u2032nyi\u201d, Grk. \u201cAdiairetos\u201d) discord is condemned and \u201cSobornost\u2032\u201d (\u201cCommunality\u201d) is blest, and in the Trinity as \u201cInseparable\u201d (\u201cNeslyannyi\u201d, \u201cAkhoristos\u201d,\u2014per the Fourth \u0152cumenical Council at Chalcedon in year 451) c\u0153rcion is condemned and freedom blest. In the teaching of the Monk Sergei about the Most Holy Trinity the Russian nation sensed profoundly its own catholic and ecumenical vocation, and comprehending the universal significance of the feast day, the people embellished it with all the variety and richness of the ancient national custom and people\u2019s verse. All the spiritual experience and spiritual striving of the Russian Church was embodied in the liturgical creativity of the feast of the Holy Trinity, of trinitarian church rituals, icons of the Holy Trinity, and churches and monasteries of this nomen.</p><p>The theological insight of the Monk Sergei in transformation was rendered as the wonderworking icon of the Life-Originating Trinity written by the Monk Andrew (Andrei) of Radonezh, surnamed Rublev (\u2020 1430, Commemorated July 4<sup>th</sup>), a monk-iconographer, monasticised in the Trinity-Sergiev monastery, and written at the blessing of the Monk Nikon in praised memory to holy Father Sergei. (At the Stoglav Council of 1551 this icon was affirmed as proper model for all successive church iconographic depiction of the Most Holy Trinity). </p><p>\u201cThe hateful discord\u201d, quarrels and commotions of worldly life were surmounted by the monastic life-in-common, planted by the Monk Sergei throughout all Rus\u2032. People would not have divisions, quarrels and war, if human nature, created by the Trinity in the image of the Divine Triunity, were not distorted and impaired by Originial sin. Overcoming by his own co-crucifixion with the Saviour the sin of particularity and separation, repudiating the \u201cmy own\u201d and the \u201cmyself\u201d, and in accord with the teachings of Saint Basil the Great, the life-in-common monks restore the First-created unity and sanctity of human nature. The monastery of the monk Sergei became for the Russian Church the model for suchlike renewal and rebirth, in it were formed holy monks, bearing forth thereof features of the true path of Christ to remote regions. In all their works and actions the Monk Sergei and his disciples churchified life, giving the people a living example of its possibility. Not for renouncing the earth, but rather for transfiguring it, they proclaimed ascent and they themselves ascended unto the Heavenly.</p><p>The school of the Monk Sergei, through the monasteries founded by him, his disciples and the disciples of his disciples, embraces all the vastness of the Russian land and threads its way through all the remotest history of the Russian Church. One fourth a portion of all Russian monasteries, the strongholds of faith, piety and enlightenment, was founded by Abba Sergei or his disciples. The \u201cHegumen of the Russian land\u201d was what people called the founder of the Domicile of the Life-Originating Trinity. The Monks Nikon and Mikhei of Radonezh, Sylvester of Obnorsk, Stefan of Makhrisch and Abraham of Chukhlomsk, Athanasius of Serpukhov and Nikita of Borovsk, Theodore of Simonovsk and Pherapont of Mozhaisk, Andronik of Moscow and Sabbas of Storozhevsk, Dmitri of Prilutsk and Cyril of Belozersk\u2014they were all disciples and conversants of \u201cthe wondrous elder\u201d, Sergei. Saint-hierarchs Alexei and Kiprian\u2014Metropolitans of Moscow, Dionysii Archbishop of Suzdal\u2032, and Stephen Bishop of Perm, were associated with him in spiritual closeness. The Patriarchs of Constantinople Kallistos and Philotheos dispatched missives to him and sent their blessings. Through the Monks Nikita and Paphnutii of Borovsk threads a spiritual legacy to the Monk Joseph of Volotsk and others of his disciples, and through Kirill of Belozersk\u2014to Nil Sorsky, to German, Savvatii and Zosima of Solovetsk.</p><p>The Church venerates also disciples and co-ascetics of the Monk Sergei, whose memories are not specifically noted within the Menalogion (\u201cMesyatseslov\u201d) lists of saints under their separate day. We remember, that the first to arrive for the Monk Sergei at Makovets was the elder Basil the Gaunt (\u201cSukhoi\u201d), called such because of his incomparable fasting. Second was the Monk James (Yakuta), of simple peasant stock, who without a murmur spent long years at the monastery on errands of drudgery and difficult obedience. Among his other disciples, there came to the Monk Sergei his fellow countrymen from Radonezh the Deacon Onisim and son Elisei. When 12 monks had gathered and the constructed cells were fenced in by an high enclosure, the abba appointed Deacon Onisim the gate-keeper, since his cell was outermost from the entrance to the monastery. Under the protective shadow of the Holy Trinity monastery the Hegumen Mitrophan spent his final years,\u2014he it was who formerly had vowed the Monk Sergei into the angelic form and guided him in monastic efforts. The grave of dead and soon blest Starets Mitrophan became the first in the monastery cemetery. In the year 1357 there arrived at the monastery from Smolensk the Archimandrite Simon, who resigned his venerable position as head of one of the Smolensk monasteries, to become a simple obedient of the God-bearing Radonezh hegumen. In recompense for his great humility, the Lord granted him to share in the miraculous vision of the Monk Sergei about the future increase of his monastic flock. With the blessing of the abba, the Blessed elder Isaakii the Silent took upon himself the deed of prayerful silence; his silence was more instructive than any words for the monks and those outside. Only one time after a year of silence did the Monk Isaakii open his mouth\u2014to testify, how he had seen an Angel of God serve together at the altar of the Monk Sergei, in making the Divine Liturgy. An eyewitness of the grace of the Holy Spirit, co-effectualised for the Monk Sergei, was also the ecclesiarch Simon, who once saw, how an heavenly fire came down upon the Holy Mysteries and that the saint of God \u201cdid commune the fire unburningly\u201d. The Elder Epiphanii (\u2020 1420) was somewhat later, during the time of hegumen Nikon, a priest of the Sergiev flock. The Church names him Epiphanii the Wise for his deep learning and great spiritual talents. He is known as the compiler of the Life of the Monk Sergei and of his conversant Saint Stephen of Perm in eulogy to them; he wrote also the \u201cAccount of the Life and Repose of Great Prince Dimitrii Donskoi\u201d. The vita of the Monk Sergei, compiled by Epiphanii 26 years after the death of the monk, <i>i.e.</i> in 1418, was later reworked by the Monk-hagiographer Pakhomii the Serb, called the Logothete, who had come from Athos. </p><p>To the monk Sergei, as to an inexhaustible font of spiritual prayer and grace of the Lord, at all times came in veneration thousands of the people\u2014for edification and for prayers, for help and for healing. And each of those having recourse with faith to his wonderworking relics he heals and renews, fills with power and with faith, transforms and guides upwards with his light-bearing spirituality.</p><p>But it was not only spiritual gifts and graced healings bestown to all, approaching with faith the relics of the Monk Sergei; to him likewise was given by God the grace to defend against enemies of the Russian land. The monk by his prayers was with the army of Dimitrii Donskoi at the Battle of Kulikovo Pole (\u201cField\u201d),\u2014he even blessed to go to the military effort his own monks, Aleksandr Peresvet and Andrei Oslyab. He directed Ivan the Terrible the place for erection of the fortress of Sviyazhsk and helped in the victory over Kazan. During the time of the Polish incursion the Monk Sergei appeared in a dream to the Nizhni Novgorod citizen Kozma Minin, ordering him to gather funds and equip an army for the liberation of Moscow and the Russian realm. And when in 1612 after a molieben to the Holy Trinity the militia of Minin and Pozharsky moved on towards Moscow, a propitious breeze fluttered the Orthodox standards, \u201cas though from the grave of the Wonderworker Sergei himself\u201d. </p><p>To the period of the Time of Troubles and the Polish incursion belongs the heroic \u201cTrinity sitting-tight\u201d, when many a monk with the blessing of the hegumen Saint Dionysii repeated the military holy deed of the Sergiev disciples Peresvyet and Oslyab. For one and an half years\u2014from 23 September 1608 to 12 January 1610\u2014the Polish laid siege to the monastery of the Life-Originating Trinity, hoping to plunder and destroy this sacred bulwark of Orthodoxy. But by the intercession of the Most Holy Mother of God and through the prayers of the Monk Sergei, \u201cwith much disgrace\u201d they fled finally from the walls of the monastery, pursued by Divine wrath, and soon even their leader Lisovsky perished a cruel death on precisely the Monk Sergei\u2019s day of memory, 25 September 1617. In 1618 the son of the Polish king, Vladislav, came right up to the walls of the Holy Trinity monastery. But being powerless against the grace of the Lord guarding the monastery, he was compelled to conclude a peace-treaty with Russia at the monastery village of Deulino. After this a church was erected in the name of the Monk Sergei.</p><p>In the year 1619 the Jerusalem patriarch, Theophanes, visited the Lavra amidst his journey to Russia. He especially wanted to see those monks who in time of military danger made bold to put over their monastic garb the chain-mail coat and with weapon in hand to go up onto the walls of the holy monastery, warding off the enemy. The Monk Dionysii the hegumen (\u2020 1633, the account about him is under 12 May), in speaking about the defense, presented to the patriarch more than twenty monks.</p><p>The first of them was Athanasius (Oscherin), very up in years and with the yellowed greyness of an elder. The patriarch asked him: \u201cDidst thou go to war and lead soldiers?\u201d. The elder answered: \u201cYes, holy Vladyko, it was made necessary by bloody tears\u201d.\u2014\u201cWhat is most proper for a monk\u2014prayerful solitude or military exploits before the people?\u201d Blessed Athanasius, making poklon, answered: \u201cEvery thing and every deed has its own time. Here on my head is a Latin signature, from a weapon. There are six more memorials of lead in my body. Sitting in the cell at prayer, could I indeed have found suchlike inducements towards moaning and groaning? I did all this not at my own pleasure, but for the blessing of the service of God sent us\u201d. Touched by the wise answer of the humble monk, the patriarch blessed and hugged him. He blessed also the other soldier-monks and expressed his admiration to all the brethren of the Lavra of the Monk Sergei.</p><p>The deed of the monastery, during this grievous Time of Troubles for all the nation, was recorded by the steward Avraam (Palitsyn) in \u201cAn Account about the Happenings of the Time of Troubles\u201d, and also by the steward Simon Azar\u2032in in two hagiographic collections: \u201cBook about the Miracles of the Monk Sergei\u201d and the \u201cLife of the Monk Dionysii of Radonezh\u201d. In the year 1650 Simeon Shakhovsky compiled an akathist to the Monk Sergei, as \u201cvaliant v\u0153voda (military-leader)\u201d of the Russian land, in memory of the deliverance of the Trinity monastery from the enemy siege. Another akathist in existence to the Monk Sergei was compiled in the XVIII Century, and its author is considered to be the Moscow metropolitan, Platon (Levshin, \u2020 1812).</p><p>In the times following, the monastery continued to be an inextinguishable torch of spiritual life and church enlightenment. From its brethren one after the other were chosen for service many famed hierarchs of the Russian Church. In the year 1744, for its service to the country and the faith, the monastery was entitled a Lavra. In 1742 within its enclosure was established the religious seminary, and in the year 1814 the Moscow Spiritual Academy was transferred there. </p><p>And at present the Domicile of the Life-Originating Trinity serves as one of the primary centres of grace of the Russian Orthodox Church. Here at the promptings of the Holy Spirit are done the acts of the Local Councils of the Russian Church. At the monastery is a place of residence of His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus,\u2019 which carries upon it the special blessing of the Monk Sergei, in the established form, \u201cArchimandrite of the Holy Trinity Sergiev Lavra\u201d. </p><p>The fifth of July, the day of the Uncovering of the relics of holy Abba Sergei, hegumen of the Russian Land\u2014is a crowded and solemn church feastday at the monastery.</p>"}, "rank": 3}, "1978": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Serge of Shukhtov (\u2020 1609)", "short": "Venerable Serge"}}, "1988": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Schemamonk Siluan of the Kiev Caves (13th-14<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Holy Schemamonk"}}, "1990": {"name": {"nominative": "Hieromartyr Silvanus the Bishop of Gaza, and with him 40 Martyrs (\u2020 311)", "short": "Hieromartyr Silvanus"}}, "1997": {"name": {"nominative": "Apostle and Hieromartyr Simeon, Bishop of Jerusalem, a Kinsman of the Lord (\u2020 107)", "short": "Apostle"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Holy Disciple and Hieromartyr Simeon, Kinsman of the Lord, was the son of Cleopas, younger brother of Saint Joseph the Betrothed. In his adolescent years he beheld the miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ, believed in Him and became one of the 70 Disciples. Saint Simeon preached the teachings of Christ, exhorted the truths of holy faith and denounced idol-worship. After the killing of the holy Apostle James, the first bishop of Jerusalem (\u2020 63, Comm. 23 October)\u2014in his place the Christians chose the holy Disciple Simeon. During the reign of emperor Trajan (98-117) it was reported to the Roman governor Atticus that Saint Simeon was descended from the lineage of King David (the Romans exterminated all the descendants of King David) and was confessing the Christian faith. The pagans seized hold of Saint Simeon, who at that time was already an hundred year old man, and after lengthy torture they crucified him on a cross.</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "<p>In sacred manner do we praise thee, O sacred hierarch Symeon, * as the kinsman of Christ and a steadfast martyr * who destroyed deception and kept the Faith. * Wherefore, celebrating today thy most holy memory, ** we receive remission of sins through thy supplications.</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "1"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "<p>Today, the Church, possessing the divinely eloquent Symeon * as a exceeding great star, shineth, crying aloud: ** Rejoice, O honored crown of martyrs!</p>", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}}}}, "1998": {"name": {"short": "saints", "nominative": "Holy and Righteous Symeon the God-Receiver and Anna the Prophetess (1<sup>st</sup> C)", "cmd": "!(doy ==32 && nday == -48)"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>Righteous Symeon the God-Receiver (Slavonic: \u0411\u043e\u0433\u043e\u043f\u0440\u0438\u0438\u043c\u0435\u0446\u044a/Bogopriimets) was, according to the testimony of the holy Evangelist Luke, one of the chosen of God in expectation of the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit dwelt upon him (<a href=\"Lk#2:25\">Lk 2:25<a/>). It was announced to him from God, that he would not die until that time, when the Promised Messiah\u2013Christ the Lord\u2013would be come into the world.</p><p>Ancient historians relate that the Egyptian emperor Ptolemy II Philadelphos (285-247 BC) wished to add to the famous Library at Alexandria with texts of Holy Scripture. He invited scholars from Jerusalem, and the Sanhedrin sent their wise men. Righteous Symeon was also among the 72 scholars in Alexandria for the translation of the Sacred Scriptures into the Greek language. (The work was accomplished and received the title \u201cTranslation of the 72 Interpreters.\u201d With this also further on in the future, the New Testament was translated into the Slavonic language for the Bulgarian, Serbian, and Russian Orthodox Churches.) Righteous Symeon translated a book of the Prophet Isaiah, having read in the original the words: \u201cBehold, a Virgin shalt conceive and give birth to a Son\u201d (<a href=\"Isaiah#7:14\">Is 7: 14</a>). He decided, that the word \u201cVirgin\u201d was incorrectly used here in place of the word \u201cWoman,\u201d and he wanted to correct the text. At that moment an Angel appeared to him and held back his hand saying: \u201cHave faith in the words written down; thou thyself shalt be persuaded that they will be fulfilled, whereof thou shalt not taste of death until thou behold Christ the Lord, Who shall be born of a Pure and Immaculate Virgin.\u201d</p><p>From this day righteous Symeon began to await the coming of the Promised Messiah.</p><p>And here one day righteous Symeon, knowing of it by the Holy Spirit, was come to the Jerusalem Temple. It was on that very same day (the fortieth after the Birth of Christ), when the All-Pure Virgin Mary and Her Betrothed Joseph had come there in order to perform the ritual set down by Jewish Law\u2013to present before the Lord His Own Divine First-Born and to offer the established sacrifice.</p><p>When righteous Symeon beheld their arrival, the Holy Spirit revealed to him that the God-Infant Whom the All-Pure Virgin Mary held,\u2013was the Promised Messiah, the Saviour of the world. The elder took into his arms the Infant Christ and pronounced his prophetic words: \u201cNow lettest Thou Thy servant depart, O Lord, with peace according to Thy word, wherefore hath mine eyes beheld Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to the enlightening of gentiles and the glory of Thy people Israel.\u201d He blessed the All-Pure Virgin and Righteous Joseph and, having turned to the Mother of God he said: \u201cBehold, This One is set for the fall and rising up of many in Israel and for the sign spoken against, and for Thee thyself a sword shalt pierce the soul, so that the thoughts of many hearts might be revealed\u201d (<a href=\"Lk#2:22-35\">Lk 2: 22-35</a>).</p><p>The holy Evangelist relates further: \u201cHere also was Anna the Prophetess, daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Aser, having reached extreme old age, having lived with her husband for seven years, she was a widow for eighty-four years, who went not out from the temple, serving God both day and night by fasting and prayer. And she having approached at this time, glorified the Lord and prophesied about Him to all awaiting deliverance at Jerusalem\u201d (<a href=\"Lk#2:36-38\">Lk 2: 36-38</a>).</p><p>About the righteous and holy Symeon the God-Receiver is known that he died in extreme old age. In the VI Century his holy relics were transferred to Constantinople. In the year 1200 his grave was seen by the Russian pilgrim Saint Anthony, future archbishop of Novgorod (1212-1220. \u2020 1232, Comm. 8 October).</p>"}, "rank": 2, "services": {"LITURGY": {"KONTAKION/1": {"text": "Today the elder asked to be loosed * from the bonds of this life of corruption, ** receiving in his arms Christ, the Creator and Lord.", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}}}}, "1999": {"name": {"nominative": "The second finding (1992) of relics of Righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye (\u2020 1642)", "short": "The second"}}, "13101": {"name": {"nominative": "Finding of the relics of St Alexis the Metropolitan of Moscow and Wonderworker of All Russia (1431)", "short": "St Alexis"}}, "14172": {"name": {"nominative": "Great Martyr Paraskeva (Piatnitsa) of Iconium (3<sup>rd</sup> C)", "short": "Great Martyr Paraskeva"}, "rank": 3}, "14261": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Martha, mother of St. Symeon the Stylite", "short": "Martha"}}, "14280": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Adamantine", "short": "Adamantine"}}, "14281": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Callirrhoe", "short": "Callirrhoe"}}, "14282": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Chariclia", "short": "Chariclia"}}, "14283": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Penelope", "short": "Penelope"}}, "14284": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Clio", "short": "Clio"}}, "14285": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Thalia", "short": "Thalia"}}, "14286": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Marianthe", "short": "Marianthe"}}, "14287": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Euterpe", "short": "Euterpe"}}, "14288": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Terpsichore", "short": "Terpsichore"}}, "14289": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Urania", "short": "Urania"}}, "14291": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Callista", "short": "Callista"}}, "14292": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Evodus", "short": "Evodus"}}, "14293": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Hermogenes", "short": "Hermogenes"}}, "15501": {"name": {"nominative": "Saints Stephen and Amphilochius, Bishops of Volodymyr Volynsky", "short": "Saints"}}, "16501": {"name": {"nominative": "Translation of the relics of venerable martyr Anastasius the Persian", "short": "Venerable Martyr Anastasius"}}, "18201": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Martyr Andrew of Crete (\u2020 767)", "short": "Venerable Martyr"}, "rank": 1}, "18601": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy and All-priased Apostle Andrew the First-Called (\u2020 62)", "short": "St. Andrew"}}, "19001": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Andrew Stratelates and the 2,593 Martyrs with him in Cilicia (\u2020 c. 284-305)", "short": "Martyrs"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p> The Martyr Andrew Stratelates was a military commander in the Roman armies during the reign of the emperor Maximian (284-305). They loved him in the Roman armies because of his bravery, invincibility and sense of fairness. When a large Persian army invaded the Syrian territories, the governor Antiochus entrusted Saint Andrew with the command of the Roman army, giving him the title of \u201cStratelates\u201d (\u201cCommander-General\u201d). Saint Andrew chose for himself a not large detachment of brave soldiers and proceeded against the adversary. His soldiers were pagans. Saint Andrew himself had still not accepted Baptism, but he believed in Jesus Christ. Before the conflict he persuaded the soldiers, that the pagan gods\u2014were demons and unable to render help in battle. He proclaimed to them Jesus Christ, the omnipotent God of Heaven and earth, giving help to all believing in Him. The soldiers went into battle, calling on the help of the Saviour. The not large detachment set to flight the numerous host of the Persians. Saint Andrew returned from the campaign in glory, having gained a total victory. But the jealous reported on him to the governor Antiochus, that he\u2014was a Christian, converting to his faith the soldiers under his command. Saint Andrew was summoned to trial, and there he declared his faith in Christ. For this they subjected him to torture. He reclined himself upon a bed of white-hot copper, but as soon as he recoursed to help from the Lord, the bed became cool. They crucified his soldiers on trees, but not one of them renounced Christ. Having locked the saints away in prison, Antiochus dispatched the report of charges on to the emperor, being undecided on whether to impose the death sentence upon the acclaimed victor. The emperor knew, how the army loved Saint Andrew, and fearing a mutiny, he gave orders to free the martyrs, and secretly he ordered that each under some pretext be executed separately.</p><p>Having been set free, Saint Andrew together with his fellow soldiers went on to the city of Tarsus. There the local bishop Peter and bishop Nonos of Ber\u0153a baptised them. Then the soldiers proceeded on to the vicinity of Taxanata. Antiochus wrote a letter to the governor of the Cilicia region Seleucus, that under the excuse of deserting their military standards he should overtake the company of Saint Andrew and kill them. Seleucus came upon the martyrs in the passes of Mount Taurus, where they were evidently soon to suffer. Saint Andrew, calling the soldiers his brothers and children, urged them not to fear death. He prayed for all who would honour their memory, and besought the Lord to send a curative spring on the place where their blood would be shed. At the time of this prayer the steadfast martyrs were beheaded with swords (\u2020 c. 302). During this time a spring of water issued forth from the ground. Bishops Peter and Nonos, with their clergy secretly following the company of Saint Andrew, buried their bodies. One of the clergy, suffering for a long time from an evil spirit, drank from the spring of water and at once he was healed. Reports about this spread amongst the local people and they started to come to the spring, and through the prayers of Saint Andrew and the 2,593 Martyrs suffering with him, they received gracious help from God.</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "Leaving the glory of earthly rank behind, thou didst inherit the kingdom of heaven; and thou didst adorn crowns of incorruption as with all-wondrous stones, and didst lead to Christ an assembly of athletes. With the choirs of the angels thou didst find Christ, the never-setting Sun, in light unwaning, O holy general Andrew. With those who suffered with thee ever entreat Him, that He save our souls.", "Type": "1", "Tone": "5"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "Standing before the Lord in prayer, like a star preceding the sun, thou didst gain sight of the desired treasure of the kingdom, full of ineffable joy; and for ages without end, O general Andrew, thou dost unceasingly sing to the immortal King with the angels. With them pray thou continually for us all.", "Type": "1", "Tone": "2"}}}}, "136801": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Longinus the Centurion, who stood at the Cross of the Lord and with him 2 other Martyrs (1<sup>st</sup> C)", "short": "Martyr Longinus"}}, "140401": {"name": {"nominative": "Finding of the relics (1521) of the Venerable Macarius the Abbot of Kalyazin", "short": "Finding"}}, "140402": {"name": {"nominative": "St. Joanna the Myrrhbearer (1<sup>st</sup> C)", "short": "St. Joanna"}}, "140501": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Macarius, Archimandrite of Kanev and Pereyaslavl (\u2020 1678)", "short": "Martyr Macarius"}, "rank": 1}, "140601": {"name": {"nominative": "St. Severus the Presbyter of Interocrea in Italy (6<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "St. Severus"}}, "141101": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Macarius the Faster of the Kiev Caves (12th C)", "short": "Venerable Macarius"}}, "141102": {"name": {"nominative": "Saints Sergius and Herman, the Wonderworkers of Valaam (14<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "saints"}, "rank": 4, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p> The Monks Sergei and German of Valaam settled on the island of Valaam in 1329. The brethren gathered by them shone forth the light of Orthodoxy in this frontier land. The Karelian people began to regard Christianity with renewed suspicion, with its authority in the XIII Century being undermined by the Swedes, who sought to spread Catholicism by means of the sword. The Monks Sergei and German died in about the year 1353. A second commemoration of them is on September 11<sup>th</sup>.</p>"}}, "141103": {"name": {"nominative": "Translation of the relics of the Venerable Sergius and Herman, Wonderworkers of Valaam", "short": "Sts Sergius and Herman"}, "rank": 4}, "141201": {"name": {"nominative": "Icon of the Mother of God of \u201cthe Three Handed\u201d (8<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Icon of"}, "rank": 4}, "142810": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Cleonice", "short": "Cleonice"}}, "142811": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Sappho", "short": "Sappho"}}, "142812": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Erato", "short": "Erato"}}, "142813": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Polyhymnia", "short": "Polyhymnia"}}, "142814": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Dodona", "short": "Dodona"}}, "142815": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Athena", "short": "Athena"}}, "142816": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Troas", "short": "Troas"}}, "142817": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Cleopatra", "short": "Cleopatra"}}, "142818": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Coralia", "short": "Coralia"}}, "142819": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Callista", "short": "Callista"}}, "142820": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Theonoe", "short": "Theonoe"}}, "142821": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Theano", "short": "Theano"}}, "142822": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Aspasia", "short": "Aspasia"}}, "142823": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Polynice", "short": "Polynice"}}, "142824": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Dione", "short": "Dione"}}, "142825": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Theophane", "short": "Theophane"}}, "142826": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Erasmia", "short": "Erasmia"}}, "142827": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Hermenia", "short": "Hermenia"}}, "142828": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Aphrodite", "short": "Aphrodite"}}, "142829": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Margaret", "short": "Margaret"}}, "142830": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Antigone", "short": "Antigone"}}, "142831": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Pandora", "short": "Pandora"}}, "142832": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Chaido", "short": "Chaido"}}, "142833": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Lampro", "short": "Lampro"}}, "142834": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Moscho", "short": "Moscho"}}, "142835": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Areboia", "short": "Areboia"}}, "142836": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Theonymphe", "short": "Theonymphe"}}, "142837": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Acribe", "short": "Acribe"}}, "142838": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Melpomene", "short": "Melpomene"}}, "142839": {"name": {"nominative": "Virgin-Martyr Elpinice", "short": "Elpinice"}}, "142840": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Deacon Ammun", "short": "Ammun"}}, "143001": {"name": {"nominative": "Repose of Blessed Maxim of Moscow, the Fool-for-Christ (\u2020 1434)", "short": "Maxim"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "", "text": "<p> He was tonsured in Moscow in the 15 century \u201cHe was righteous and gentle, truthful and chaste, avoided every evil thing\u201d and \u201cshining with piety\u201d. Enduring both cold and heat, the Blessed Maximus dressed in sackcloth ran on streets of Moscow and with brief sayings taught the people with patience who accused him of sins. He died in 1433. In 1568 his relics were found incorruptible and were glorified with miracles. They repose in Moscow, in a temple of his name. See August 13. </p>"}, "rank": 2, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "With naked flesh and great patience thou uncovered the cunning of the enemy, exposing his impure deeds. Suffering greatly from scorching heat and biting frost, thou did not feel great need for fire, being covered by Divine help, O most wise Maximus. Pray for those who with faith are honorably keeping thy memory and are zealously hastening to the shrine of thy relics, that they may be delivered from troubles and falls.", "Type": "1", "Tone": "5"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "Wishing for the higher beauty, thou hast reckoned as nothing the sweet delights of the flesh and attire, and thou hast loved poverty instead of this vain world, thou hast died leading the angelic way of life, O Blessed Maximus, With them pray unceasingly to Christ for us all.", "Type": "1", "Tone": "2"}}}}, "143601": {"name": {"nominative": "3,618 Martyrs who suffered at Nicomedia (3<sup>rd</sup>-4<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Martyrs"}}, "145901": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Abdias of Persia (5<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Martyr Abdias"}}, "146401": {"name": {"nominative": "Martry Romulus and 11,000 soldiers (\u2020 c. 107-115)", "short": "Martry Romulus"}}, "146402": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Mark the Grave-Digger, Theophilus and John of the Kiev Caves (11th-12th C)", "short": "Venerable Mark"}}, "147901": {"name": {"nominative": "Forefeast of the Nativity of the Theotokos", "short": "Forefeast of"}, "rank": 2}, "147904": {"name": {"nominative": "Apodosis of the Nativity of the Theotokos", "short": "Theotokos"}, "rank": 3}, "147912": {"name": {"nominative": "Afterfeast of the Nativity of the Theotokos", "short": "Afterfeast of"}}, "149401": {"name": {"nominative": "Blessed Nicetas the Hidden of Constantinople (12th C)", "short": "Blessed Nicetas"}}, "150301": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Greek Empress Pulcheria (\u2020 453)", "short": "Pulcheria"}}, "151501": {"name": {"nominative": "Hieromartyr Presbyter Julian", "short": "Hieromartyr Presbyter Julian"}}, "152101": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Mercurius of Smolensk (\u2020 1239)", "short": "Martyr Mercurius"}, "rank": 2}, "152301": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Martyrs Seleucus, Stratonicus, Chronides, Leontius and Serapion (\u2020 c. 237)", "short": "Holy Martyrs"}}, "152501": {"name": {"short": "Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles", "nominative": "Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Methodius (\u2020 885) and Cyrill (\u2020 869), teachers of the Slavs [from Monday]", "cmd": "nday == 51"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>The Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles First-Teachers and Enlighteners of the Slavic Peoples, the Brothers Cyril and Methodius came from an illustrious and pious family living in the Greek city of Thessalonica (Soluneia). Saint Methodius was the oldest of seven brothers, Saint Constantine (Cyril\u2014was his monastic name) was the youngest. Saint Methodius was at first in the military profession and was governor in one of the Slavic principalities dependent to the Byzantine Empire\u2014probably Bulgaria, which made it possible for him to learn the Slavic language. Having dwelt there for about 10 years, Saint Methodius afterwards accepted monastic orders at one of the monasteries on Mount Olympus (Asia Minor). Saint Constantine from his early years distinguished himself by great aptitude and he studied together with the emperor Michael during that one\u2019s youth\u2014under the finest teachers in Constantinople, among which were Photios, future Patriarch of Constantinople. Saint Constantine, having attained knowledge in all the sciences of his time and also many languages, also with particular diligence studied the works of Saint Gregory the Theologian. Because of his keen mind and penetrating perception, Saint Constantine received the title \u201cPhilosopher\u201d (wise). Upon the completion of his education, Saint Constantine accepted the dignity of priest and was appointed curator of the patriarchal library at the church of Saint Sophia, but he soon quit the capital and went off secretly to a monastery. Discovered there and having returned to Constantinople, he was appointed teacher of philosophy in the highest level of the Constantinople schools. The wisdom and strength of faith for the still rather young Constantine was so great, that he won the victory in a debate with the leader of the heretic-iconoclasts Ananias. After this victory Constantine was sent by the emperor to dispute in a debate about the Holy Trinity with the Saracens (Muslims) and again he gained the victory. Having returned, Saint Constantine went off to his brother Saint Methodius on Mt. Olympus, spending the time in unceasing prayer and reading the works of the holy fathers.</p><p>The emperor soon summoned forth both of the holy brothers from the monastery and dispatched them to preach the Gospel to the Khazars. Along the way they stayed for some time in the city of Kherson (Kherson), making preparations for preaching. There the holy brothers in miraculous manner discovered the relics of the hieromartyr Clement, Pope of Rome (Comm. 25 November). There also at Kherson Saint Constantine found a Gospel and Psalter written in \u201cRussian letters\u201d [that is, Slavonic], and a man speaking in Slavic, and he began to learn from this man to read and to speak in his language. After this, the holy brothers set off to the Khazars, where they gained the victory in a debate with Jews and Moslems by preaching the Gospel teaching. On the way home the brothers again visited Kherson and, taking up the relics of Saint Clement there, they returned to Constantinople. Saint Constantine remained in the capital, but Saint Methodius received the abbacy (hegumenate) at the small Polychronion monastery\u2014not far from Mount Olympus, where he pursued asceticism as before.</p><p>Soon there came to the emperor messengers from the Moravian prince Rostislav, otherwise pressured by German bishops\u2014with a request to send teachers to Moravia, who would be able to preach in the vernacular Slavic tongue. The emperor summoned Saint Constantine and said to him: \u201cIt is necessary for thee to go thither, where it be better for thee that no one realise this.\u201d Saint Constantine prepared for the new task with fasting and prayer. With the help of his brother Saint Methodius and the students Gorazd, Clement, Sabbas (Savva), Naum and Angelyar he composed a Slavonic alphabet and translated into the Slavic tongue books\u2014without which it would be impossible to celebrate Divine services: the Gospel, Epistles, Psalter, and collected services. This occurred in the year 863.</p><p>After completing the translation, the holy brothers set off to Moravia, where they were received with great honour, and they began to teach the Divine services in the Slavic language. This aroused the malice of the German bishops, who celebrated Divine services in the Moravian churches in the Latin language, and they rose up against the holy brothers, convinced that Divine services must be done only in one of three languages: Hebrew, Greek, or Latin. Saint Constantine answered them: \u201cYe recognise only three languages by which to give glory to God. But David sang: Come to the Lord, all nations, praise the Lord all peoples, let everything that hath breath praise the Lord! And in the Holy Gospel it says: Go teach all nations\u2026\u201d The German bishops were humiliated, but they became all the more bitter and sent off a complaint to Rome. The holy brothers were summoned to Rome for a decision on this question. Taking with them the relics of Saint Clement Pope of Rome, Saints Constantine and Methodius set off to Rome. Knowing that the holy brothers were bringing along with them these relics, Pope Adrian met them along the way with his clergy. The holy brothers were greeted with honour, the pope of Rome gave permission for Divine services in the Slavonic language, and the books translated by the brothers he ordered to be placed in Roman churches and to make liturgy in the Slavonic language.</p><p>At Rome Saint Constantine fell ill and, in a miraculous vision from the Lord advising of the nearness of death, he accepted the monastic schema-order with the name of Cyril (Kirill). Fifty days after the accepting of the schema, on February 14<sup>th</sup>, 869, Saint Cyril died at 42 years of age. In expiring to God, Saint Cyril commanded his brother Saint Methodius to continue with their common task\u2014the enlightening of the Slavic peoples with the light of the true faith. Saint Methodius entreated the pope of Rome to send the body of his brother for burial in their native land, but the pope commanded the relics of Saint Cyril to be placed in the church of Saint Clement, where miracles began to occur from them.</p><p>After the death of Saint Cyril, the pope in fulfilling the request of the Slavic prince Kotsel, sent Saint Methodius to Pannonia,\u2014having ordained him Archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia, on the ancient throne of the holy Disciple Andronicus. In Pannonia, Saint Methodius together with his students continued to propagate Divine services in books inscribed in the Slavonic language. This again aroused the wrath of the German bishops. They obtained an arrest and held a trial over Saint Methodius, who was sent in chains to Swabia, where during the course of two and an half years he underwent many sufferings. Having been set free by order of the Pope of Rome, John VIII, and restored to the rule of his archdiocese, Saint Methodius continued to preach the Gospel among the Slavs. He baptised the Czech prince Borivoi and his spouse Liudmila (Comm. 16 September), and also one of the Polish princes. The German bishops started a persecution against the saint for a third time,\u2014for not accepting the Roman teaching about the procession of the Holy Spirit from both the Father and from the Son. Saint Methodius was summoned to Rome, but he justified himself before the pope, and preserved in its purity the Orthodox teaching, and was sent off again to the capital of Moravia, Velehrad.</p><p>Here in the ensuing years of his life Saint Methodius with the help of two of his priest-students translated into the Slavonic language all the Old Testament except for the Book of Maccabbees, and even the Nomocanon (Rule of the Holy Fathers) and books of the Holy Fathers (Patericon).</p><p>Sensing the nearness of death, Saint Methodius decreed one of his students\u2014Gorazd, as worthy successor to himself. The sainted-bishop predicted the day of his death and he died on April 6<sup>th</sup>, 885 at an age of about 60 years. The burial service of the saint was done in three languages\u2014Slavonic, Greek, and Latin. He was buried in the cathedral church of Velehrad.</p>"}, "rank": 5, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "In that ye share the ways of the apostles, O divinely wise Cyril and Methodius, ye teachers of the Slavic lands, entreat the Master of all, that He confirm all the Slavic nations in Orthodoxy and oneness of mind, grant peace to the world and save our souls.", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "Let us honor our two sacred enlighteners, who poured forth upon us a spring of divine knowledge through their translation of the divine Scriptures. Drawing forth abundantly therefrom to this very day, we bless you, O Cyril and Methodius, who stand before the throne of the Most High and fervently pray for our souls.", "Type": "1", "Tone": "3"}}}}, "152502": {"name": {"nominative": "St. Peter of Atroe (9<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "St. Peter"}}, "152911": {"name": {"nominative": "Forefeast of the Exaltation of the Cross", "short": "Forefeast of"}}, "152912": {"name": {"nominative": "Afterfeast of the Exaltation of the Cross", "short": "Afterfeast of"}}, "152915": {"name": {"nominative": "Apodosis of the Exaltation of the Cross", "short": "Apodosis of"}, "rank": 3}, "153301": {"name": {"nominative": "Great Martyr Nicetas the Goth (\u2020 c. 372)", "short": "Great Martyr"}, "rank": 2}, "154501": {"name": {"nominative": "Second finding of the relics of Saint Metrophan, Bishop of Vorenzh (1989)", "short": "Second finding"}}, "154502": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Martyrs Sebastiana (1<sup>st</sup> C) and Melitina of Marcianopolis (2<sup>nd</sup> C)", "short": "Holy Martyrs"}}, "154503": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Hieararch Mitrophan, in monastic-schema Macarius, Bishop of Voronezh (\u2020 1703)", "short": "Hierarch"}}, "154701": {"name": {"nominative": "Synaxis of the Chief of the Heavenly Hosts, Archangel Michael and the Other Heavenly Bodiless Powers: Archangels Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Selaphiel, Jehudiel, Barachiel, and Jeremiel", "short": "Bodiless Hosts"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "", "text": "<p> Commander Michael, whose name in Hebrew means \u201cWho is like God?,\u201d or \u201cWho is Equal to God?,\u201d is the leader of heavenly Powers and is why in Holy Scriptures he is called the \u201cCommander of the Powers of the Lord\u201d (<a href=\"bible=Josh#5:14\">Joshua 5:14</a>), \u201cOne of the chief princes\u201d (<a href=\"bible=Dan#10:13\">Dan. 10:13</a>) \u201cYour great prince\u201d (<a href=\"bible=Dan#10:21,12:1\">Dan. 10:21; 12: 1</a>). In church hymns he is hymned as \u201cleader of the angelic choir\u201d, \u201cIntercessor to the Tri-solar Divinity\u201d. Celebrating him, the Holy Church celebrates also all the bodiless Powers, and is why the same feast is called the Synaxis. This feast was established in the fourth century. The reason why the Holy Angels is commemorated in November is that November is the ninth month from March (which originally was the first month of the year) and there are nine orders of angels. These nine orders, according to the teaching of the Holy Church, are divided into three hierarchies: the highest, the middle and the lowest; each hierarchy has three ranks. To the highest hierarchy belong<ul><li>The six-winged Seraphim (<a href=\"bible=Isa#6:2\">Is. 6: 2</a>),</li><li>The many-eyed Cherubim (<a href=\"bible=Gen#3:24\">Gen. 3:24</a>), and</li><li>The God-bearing Thrones (<a href=\"bible=Col#1:16\">Col. 1: 16</a>);</li></ul> to the middle hierarchy belong<ul><li>The Dominions (<a href=\"bible=Col#1:16\">Col. 1:16</a>),</li><li>The Powers (<a href=\"bible=I_Pet#3:22\">1 Pet. 3: 22</a>), and</li><li>The Authorities (<a href=\"bible=I_Pet#3:22\">1 Pet. 3:22</a>;<a href=\"bible=Col#1:16\"> Col. 1:16)</a>;</li></ul>To the lowest hierarchy belong the<ul><li>Principalities (<a href=\"bible=Col#1:16\">Col. 1:16</a>),</li><li>The Archangels (<a href=\"bible=I_Thess#4:16\">1 Thess. 4:16</a>), and</li><li>The Angels (<a href=\"bible=I_Pet#3:22\">1 Pet. 3:22</a>).</li></ul>Besides the Archangels Michael and Gabriel (March 26 and July 13) the following archangels are known both in the Holy Scriptures and Holy Tradition: Raphael, the physician of God (<a href=\"bible=Tobit#3:17,12:15\">Tobit 3:17; 12:15</a>), Uriel, the fire or light of God (<a href=\"bible=III_Esdra#5:16\">3 Esdras 5:16</a>), Salaphiel, the prayer of God (<a href=\"bible=III_Esdra#5:16\">3 Esdras 5:16</a>), Jegudiel, the glorifier of God, Barachiel, the blessing of God, and Jeremiel, the exaltation of God (<a href=\"bible=III_Esdra#4:36\">3 Esdras 4:36</a>). </p>"}, "rank": 4, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "Supreme commanders of the armies of Heaven, * we, the unworthy, do ever entreat you, that by your prayers ye ever surround us with the protection of the wings of your immaterial glory, preserving us that earnestly fall down before you and cry aloud: Deliver us from misfortunes, in that ye are the leaders of the hosts on high.", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4", "Translator": "Aleksandr Andreev"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "O ye chief commanders of God, ministers of glory divine, captains of the angels and instructors of men: beg ye great mercy and that which is profitable for us, for ye are the supreme commanders of the bodiless hosts.", "Type": "1", "Tone": "2", "Translator": "Aleksandr Andreev"}}}}, "155001": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Martyr and Confessor Prince Michael and his counsellor Theodore, Wonderworkers of Chernigov (\u2020 1245)", "short": "Holy Martyr"}, "rank": 3}, "155401": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyrs Agathoclia and Theodota at Nic\u00e6a (\u2020 c. 230)", "short": "Martyrs"}}, "156401": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Martyrs Trophimus, Sabbatius and Dorymedon (\u2020 276)", "short": "Holy Martyrs"}, "rank": 1}, "156901": {"name": {"nominative": "Great Martyr Eustathius (Eustace) Pacidas with his wife Theopistia and children Agapius and Theopist of Rome (2<sup>nd</sup> C)", "short": "Great Martyr"}}, "157601": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Joseph of Zaonikiev Monastery (\u2020 1612)", "short": "Venerable Joseph"}}, "159001": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Nectarius the Obedient, of the Kiev Caves (12th C)", "short": "Venerable Nectarius"}}, "160001": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Nestor the Chronicler, of the Kiev Caves (\u2020 c. 1114)", "short": "Venerable Nestor"}}, "160601": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Euphrosene of Alexandria (5<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Venerable Euphrosene"}, "rank": 1}, "162101": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Herodius of Ilozersk", "short": "Venerable Herodius"}}, "162501": {"name": {"nominative": "St. Nicephorus the Confessor, Patriarch of Constantinople (\u2020 828)", "short": "St. Nicephorus"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1997 by translator Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p> Saint Nicephoros was a dignitary at the court of the empress Irene (797-802), and then accepting monasticism, he became known for his piety. In the year 806, he was elevated to the patriarchal throne. The saint was a zealous defender of icon veneration. When the Iconoclast emperor Leo the Armenian (813-820) came to rule, the saint in 815 was exiled to the Island of Prokonnis, where he died in the year 828.</p><p>In the year 846 the holy relics of Patriarch Nicephoros were opened, undecayed and fragrant. They transferred them from Prokonnis to Constantinople and placed them for one day in the church of Saint Sophia, and then they transferred them to the church of the Holy Apostles. The hands of the saint are preserved in the Khilendaria monastery on Mount Athos.</p><p>The saint left behind three writings, directed against Iconoclasm. The memory of Saint Nicephoros is celebrated also on 2 June.</p>"}, "rank": 1, "services": {"LITURGY": {"KONTAKION/1": {"text": "The choir of patriarchs doth honor thy holy memory with praises and hymns, O Nicephorus; for it received thy soul at thy translation, O glorious one. Wherefore, today the holy Church, magnifying Christ the King, doth glorify Him Who alone loveth mankind.", "Type": "1", "Tone": "1"}}}}, "162701": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyrs Dadas, Habeddai, Casd\u0153 or (Kazdoia) of Persia (\u2020 4<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Martyrs"}}, "163201": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyrs Ripsimia and Gaiania and 35 Holy Virgins and 70 men martyred with them in Armenia (4<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Martyrs"}}, "163401": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Coprios of Palestine (\u2020 530)", "short": "Venerable Coprios"}}, "163501": {"name": {"short": "Transfer", "nominative": "Transfer of the relics of St Nicholas the Wonderworker from Myra to Bari (1087)", "cmd": "nday != 46"}, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "The Clergyman\u2019s Handbook. Moscow. 1978. English translation Copyright 1997 Fr. S. Janos.", "text": "<p>In the eleventh century the Byzantine Greek empire was living through some terrible times. The Turks put an end to her influence in Asia Minor, they destroyed cities and villages, the murdered her inhabitants, and they accompanied their cruel outrage with the desecration of churches, holy relics, icons and books. The Muslim attempted also to destroy the relics of Saint Nicholas, deeply venerated by all the Christian world.</p><p>In the year 792, the caliph H\u0101r\u016bn ar-Rash\u012bd (Aaron the Just) sent Khumeid at the head of a fleet to pillage the island of Rhodes. Having lain waste this island, Khumeid set off to Lycian Myra with the intent to rob from the tomb of Saint Nicholas. But instead of it he robbed another, standing alongside the crypt of the saint. Just as they succeeded in committing this sacrilege, a terrible storm lifted upon the sea and almost all the ships were shattered into pieces.</p><p>The desecration of holy things shocked not only Eastern, but also Western Christians. Christians in Italy were particularly apprehensive for the relics of Saint Nicholas, and among them were many Greeks. The inhabitants of the city of Bari, located on the shores of the Adriatic Sea, decided to save the relics of Saint Nicholas.</p><p>In the year 1087 merchants from Bari and Venice set out to Antioch for trade. Both these and others also had proposed on the return trip to take up the relics of Saint Nicholas and transport them to Italy. In this plan the men of Bari commissioned the Venetians to land them at Myra. At first two men were sent in, who in returning reported that in the city\u2014all was quiet, and in the church where rested the glorified relics, they encountered only four monks. Immediately 47 men, having armed themselves, set out for the church of Saint Nicholas. The monk-guards, suspecting nothing, showed them the raised platform, beneath which was concealed the tomb of the saint, where by custom, they anointed foreigners with myrrh from the relics of the saint. The monks told them during this about an appearance of Saint Nicholas that evening to a certain elder. In this vision Saint Nicholas ordered the cautious preserving of his relics. This account encouraged the barons,\u2014they saw an avowal for them in this vision and as it were a decree from the saint. In order to facilitate their activity, they revealed their intent to the monks and offered them money\u2014300 gold coins. The monk-guards refused the money and wanted to warn the inhabitants about the misfortune threatening them. But the newcomers bound them and put their own guards at the doorway. They took apart the church platform beneath which stood the tomb with the relics. In this effort the youth Matthew was excessive in his especial zeal, wanting to as quickly as possible to find the relics of Saint Nicholas. In his impatience he broke the cover and the barons saw, that the sarcophagus was filled with fragrant holy myrrh. The compatriots of the barons, the presbyters Luppus and Drogus, made a litany, after which the break of Matthew began to flow with myrrh from the overflowing sarcophagus of the relics of the saint. This occurred on April 20<sup>th</sup>, 1087.</p><p>Seeing the absence of a container chest, presbyter Drogus wrapped the relics in the cover cloth, and in the company of the barons he carried them to the ship. The monks\u2014having been set free, alerted the city with the sad news about the abduction of the relics of the Wonderworker Nicholas by foreigners. A crowd of people gathered at the shore, but it was too late\u2026</p><p>On 8 May the ships arrived in Bari, and soon the joyous news made the rounds of all the city. On the following day, May 9<sup>th</sup>, 1087, they solemnly transported the relics of Saint Nicholas into the church of Saint Stephen, situated not far from the sea. The solemn bearing of the relics was accompanied by numerous healings of the sick, which inspired still greater reverence for the Saint of God. A year afterwards a church was built in the name of Saint Nicholas and consecrated by Pope Urban II.</p><p>This event, connected with the transfer of the relics of Saint Nicholas, evoked a particular veneration for the Wonderworker Nicholas and was marked by the establishing of a special feast day on May 9<sup>th</sup>. At first the Feastday of the Transfer of the Relics of Saint Nicholas was observed only by the people of the city of Bari. In the other lands of the Christian East and West it was not adopted, despite the fact that the transfer of the relics was widely known about. This circumstance is to be explained by the custom in the Middle Ages of venerating primarily the relics of local saints. Moreover, the Greek Church did not establish the celebration of this remembrance, since for it the loss of the relics of Saint Nicholas was a sad event.</p><p>The Russian Orthodox Church celebration of the memory of the Transfer of the Relics of Saint Nicholas from Lycian Myra to Bari in Italy on May 9<sup>th</sup> was established soon after the year 1087, on the basis of an already established veneration by the Russian people of the great Saint of God, brought over from Greece simultaneously with the acceptance of Christianity. The glorious accounts about the miracle-workings, done by the saint on both land and sea, were widely known to the Russian people. Their inexhaustible strength and abundance testify to the especially graced help of the great Saint of God for suffering mankind. The image of Saint Nicholas, a mighty Wonderworker and Benefactor, became especially dear to the heart of the Russian people, since it inspired deep faith and hope for his intercession. The faith of the Russian people in the abundant aid of the Saint of God was marked by numerous miracles.</p><p>A significant body of literature was compiled about him very early in Russian writings. Accounts about the miracles of Saint Nicholas done in the Russian land were recorded early on in deep antiquity. Soon after the Transfer of the Relics of Saint Nicholas from Lycian Myra to Bari, there appeared a Russian redaction of his Vita and an account about the Transfer of his holy relics, written by one contemporary to this event. Earlier still was written a laudation to the Wonderworker. And each week on Thursday, the Russian Orthodox Church honours his memory in particular.</p><p>In honour of Saint Nicholas were erected numerous churches and monasteries, and with his name Russian people are wont to name their children at Baptism. In Russia are preserved numerous wonderworking icons of the saint. Most renown among them are the images of Mozhaysk, Zaraysk, Volokolamsk, Ugreshsk and Ratny. There was neither house nor temple in the Russian land, in which there was not an image of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker. The significance of the graced intercession of the great Saint of God is expressed by the ancient compiler of the Life (Vita), in the words of whom Saint Nicholas \u201cdid work many glorious miracles both on land and on sea, aiding those downtrodden in misfortune and rescuing the drowning, carried to dry land from the depths of the sea, raising up others from corruption and bringing them home, liberating from chains and imprisonment, averting felling by the sword and freeing from death, and granting much healing to many: sight to the blind, walking to the lame, hearing to the deaf, and speech to the mute. He brought riches to many suffering in abject poverty and want, he provided the hungry food and for each in their need he appeared a ready helper, an avid defender and speedy intercessor and protector, and such as appeal to him he doth help and deliver from adversity. Both the East and the West know of this great Wonderworker, and all the ends of the earth know his miracle-working.\u201d</p>"}, "rank": 4, "services": {"LITURGY": {"TROPARION/1": {"text": "The day of splendid solemnity is come; the city of Bari rejoiceth, and with it the whole world doth exult with hymns and spiritual songs. For today is the sacred feast of the translation of the precious and much-healing relics of the hierarch Nicholas the wonderworker. For like the never-setting Sun, he shineth with brilliant beams of light, driving away the darkness of temptations and misfortunes from them that cry out with faith: Save us, O Nicholas, for thou art our intercessor!", "Type": "1", "Tone": "4"}, "KONTAKION/1": {"text": "Thy relics have moved like a star, from the East unto the West, O holy hierarch Nicholas; and the sea hath been sanctified by thy passage. The city of Bari receiveth grace through thee, for thou hast been shown forth for us as a wonder-worker: illustrious, most wondrous and merciful.", "Type": "1", "Tone": "3"}}}}, "165201": {"name": {"nominative": "Blessed Andrew, Fool-for-Christ, at Constantinople (\u2020 c. 936)", "short": "Blessed Andrew"}, "rank": 1}, "165901": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Dinoysius, Hermit of the Kiev Caves, far caves (15<sup>th</sup> C)", "short": "Venerable Dinoysius"}}, "168501": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyrs Sergius and Baccus in Syria (\u2020 290-303)", "short": "Martyrs"}}, "170701": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Theophilus", "short": "Venerable Theophilus"}}, "176401": {"name": {"nominative": "Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke (1<sup>st</sup> C)", "short": "Holy Apostle"}, "rank": 4}, "177901": {"name": {"nominative": "Repose of Saint Peter, Metropolitan of Moscow and Wonderworker of All Russia (\u2020 1326)", "short": "St. Peter"}, "rank": 4, "life": {"id": "", "copyright": "Bulgakov Handbook. Copyright 1999-2008 Archpriest Eugene D. Tarris.", "text": "He was born in Volhynia and since childhood was nurtured by his parents in the awe of God. When he was 12 years old, St. Peter, moved with love for asceticism, accepted monasticism and soon showed himself a paradigm of high virtue and piety, for which at a mature age was ordained a presbyter. He loved to read the Holy Bible and write icons. After many years of asceticism, St. Peter founded the Monastery of the Savior on the Rata River in which he became the Rector, (now village of Dvorets (Palace)). As Hegumen of the monastery St. Peter became glorified by his own life, and became known to the princes and noblemen and on a broader scale to the whole country. In 1308 St. Peter was installed as the Metropolitan Kiev and all Russia and settled in Vladimir on the Kliazma. The hierarch worked much to build up piety in his extensive flock: he himself went throughout the diocese, instructing the people in the faith and holy life, built temples, reconciled princes warring among themselves, himself went to the Horde to intercede for the clergy before the khan and so forth. In 1325 St. Peter transferred his see to Moscow that promoted its exaltation, since it then was yet insignificant as a city and to uniting all the Rus about him. Having set the foundation of the famous Dormition (Uspensky) Cathedral, St. Peter died in peace in 1326. Glorified while yet alive with the gift of insight, St. Peter after his death also became glorified for numerous miracles and healings. The Holy Church hymns him, as \u201cthe joy of the heavenly ranks, and on earth the praise of bishops, the glory of priests, the rule of monastics and confirmation of the church,\u201d \u201ccomfort of the needy, advocate of widows and orphans and great defender of the Russian land.\u201d His relics repose in the Moscow Dormition (Uspensky) Cathedral. In their presence local princes kissed the cross in loyalty to the Grand Prince of Moscow. Russian hierarchs were elected and named here. Concerning the transfer of his relics see Aug. 24."}}, "184301": {"name": {"nominative": "The service for Venerable Procopius, Confessor of Decapolis is transferred to February 24<sup>th</sup>", "short": ""}}, "190402": {"name": {"nominative": "Venerable Sava, Abbot of Zvenigorod (\u2020 1406)", "short": "Venerable Sava"}, "rank": 3}, "197401": {"name": {"nominative": "Repose of Venerable Sergius, Abbot of Radonezh and Wonderworker of All Russia (\u2020 1392)", "short": "Sergius"}}, "199801": {"name": {"nominative": "<i>The service to Sts Simeon and Anna is transfered to Monday. The service to St Nicholas of Japan is chanted today.</i>", "short": "", "cmd": "nday == -47"}}, "199901": {"name": {"nominative": "Translation of the relics of Righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye (1704)", "short": "Translation"}}, "199902": {"name": {"nominative": "Righteous Simeon, Wonderworker of Verkhotursk (\u2020 1694)", "short": "Righteous Simeon"}}, "1554011": {"name": {"nominative": "Martyr Agathoclia", "short": "Agathoclia"}}, "15250101": {"name": {"nominative": "<i>The service for Sts. Cyril and Methodius is transferred to Tuesday.</i>"}}, "16350101": {"name": {"nominative": "</i>The service for the transferring of the relics of St. Nicholas from Myra to Bari is transferred to Thursday.</i>"}}} |