Holy Seven Martyrs of Carthage

Verses

Seven athletes were put to death by the sword,
They stand before Christ as Holy Ones of the Holy One.

The Holy Seven Martyrs of Carthage met their end by a sword.

We do not know exactly who these Seven Holy Martyrs were or when they lived, but some sources say they were from Carthage while others say Chaldia.

Synaxis of the Holy Prophet and Baptist John in Olympou Next to Saint Thomas

On July 23rd we celebrate the Synaxis of the Holy Prophet and Baptist John in Olympou next to Saint Thomas. We do not know which church this refers to or the location, as there were four or five churches dedicated to Saint Thomas in the area of Constantinople that we know of, and about twenty churches dedicated to Saint John the Baptist.

The Wondrous Encounter of the Greek Poet Angelos Sikelianos with Saint Mary Magdalene

Angelos Sikelianos, born on 28 March 1884 and died on 19 June 1951, was a Greek lyric poet and playwright. His themes include Greek history, religious symbolism as well as universal harmony in poems such as The Moonstruck, Prologue to Life, Mother of God, and Delphic Utterance. His plays include Sibylla, Daedalus in Crete, Christ in Rome, The Death of Digenis, The Dithyramb of the Rose and Asklepius. Although occasionally his grandiloquence blunts the poetic effect of his work, some of Sikelianos finer lyrics are among the best in Western literature. In the six years from 1946 until 1951, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Saint Cornelius of Pereyaslavl (+ 1693)

St. Cornelius of Pereyaslavl (Feast Day - July 22)

Venerable Cornelius of Pereyaslavl, in the world Conon, was the son of a wealthy Ryazan merchant family, whose parents were named Gordiy and Theodora. In his youth he left his parental home and lived for five years as a novice of the Elder Paul in the Lukianov wilderness near Pereyaslavl. Afterwards the young ascetic transferred to the Pereyaslavl Monastery of Saints Boris and Gleb on the Sands [Peskakh]. However, because he was a beardless youth, and he refused to speak, the abbot Sergius would not take him in.

Despite the refusals, the lad did not depart from the monastery. Instead, he lived outside the monastery walls and spent the night at the gates, never ceasing to beg to be taken into the monastery. Finally, seeing the patience of Conon, Sergius accepted him as a novice, declaring him deaf and dumb.

Homily on the Fifth Eothinon Gospel - Luke 24:13-35

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos

The Gospel read today during Matins, refers to the appearance of Christ to the two disciples, who are not numbered among the circle of the Twelve, but instead they are among the circle of the Seventy, as they were on their way to Emmaus, a small city near Jerusalem. One of the disciples mentioned in the Gospel is Cleopas, the other, according to the tradition preserved for us, is Luke the Evangelist himself, who recorded the event.

First of all, what one finds when reading the Gospels that describe the Resurrection of Christ, is that all the descriptions are simple, plain, they do not express emotions or grand doctrines, they even express the disbelief of the disciples. All this shows the truth of the descriptions. There is nothing unnecessary, excessive, emotional. Everything is natural and true.