The Appearance of Five Holy Martyrs To A Girl Who Wanted to Have a Certainty of Eternity

Apart from the appearance of Saints Eustratios, Auxentios, Eugenios, Mardarios and Orestes in the metochion of the Nea Moni of Chios, they can be here and there both then and now and even always and everywhere.

These five Saints also gave witness to a girl from our company here in Argostoli. A young boy with a fine character had passed away in an accident and through dreams and some messages found in his books he was talking about the beauty of eternal life. That girl, when she heard about all this, was moved and that night, before going to sleep, she too asked to see that young man in her sleep and to feel the desired certainty of eternity. The dream came: five Saints appeared and said their names were Eustratios, Auxentios, Eugenios, Mardarios and Orestes. She had a feeling that she did not know them, but in their brightness and those heavenly melodies, she saw just as brightly that dear youth singing with the Saints.

The Clairvoyance of Saint John the Hesychast

A certain woman from Cappadocia, named Vasilina, a deaconess of the holy Church of Constantinople, arrived in Jerusalem with her cousin, a man of high rank. He was truly a virtuous man, but he adhered to the wickedness of Severus,* and that is why he was not in communion with the holy catholic Church. The pious deaconess invested a lot of effort to convert him to the right faith and join the holy Church. That is why she fervently begged each of the holy fathers to pray to God for him.

Hearing about Saint John the Hesychast, she wanted to venerate him as well. But when she found out that women could not enter the Lavra, she called Theodore, John's disciple, and begged him to take the man who had come with her to the holy elder. Theodore took the heresy-injured man, went with him to the elder, bowed to him according to custom, and said: "Bless us, father!"

Saint John the Hesychast: A Bishop Who Was Led By a Bright Star to the Lavra of Saint Savvas

When our Venerable Father John served as Bishop of Kolonia, he continued to live by the strict rules of a monk in regard to his asceticism, fasting and prayer. Having considered the hustle and bustle of this world, Saint John decided to leave the episcopacy, and went to the holy city of Jerusalem to serve God in silence, solitary prayer and asceticism. Therefore, after performing the divine service, he dismissed the presbyters and clerics who were with him, so that no one knew, he went to the sea dock, got into a ship and traveled to the holy city of Jerusalem. Arriving there, he went to the first hospital of the holy city, where there was a prayer house in the name of the holy great martyr George, and spent some time there as one of the beggars. Observing the commotion of the people, blessed John grieved greatly; and longing for a quiet and lonely place, he prayed to God with tears to show him a suitable, quiet and comfortable place for salvation. And one night, when he was fervently praying about it, he looked up and saw there suddenly appeared a brilliant star in the form of a cross; it was approaching him, and he heard a voice from the light of the star saying: "If you want to be saved, follow this light." - And he immediately followed it with joy, and was led by that star to the great Lavra of our Venerable and God-bearing Father Savvas, in the thirty-eighth year of his life, at the time of the patriarch Sallustius of Jerusalem.

 

 

Saint Cyril of Philea and the Slap of the Guardian Angel

Saint Cyril of Philea (1015 – 2 December 1111) was once visited by a monastic acquaintance of his who had great faith in the Saint and who told him the following:

“Abba, while resting in my cell, I was meditating on my sins and mourning, now over their magnitude, now over my lack of repentance. Suddenly, I was overcome by unbounded and unconstrained weeping, which accompanied me in all my works. The tears moistened my face to such an extent that for two days and nights I did not remember to take food. In the meantime, my heart became excessively heated, I lamented bitterly and plaintively, while at the same time I felt a sweetness and ineffable delight, joined with sorrow and inexpressible joy, now giving thanks to God, now offering prayers and supplications, and then again sending up thanks and glorification beyond measure.

Holy Hieromartyr Alexander Tsitseronov, Known as Cicero (+ 1938)

St. Alexander Tsitseronov (Feast Day - December 28)

Alexander Tsitseronov was born on August 15, 1893 in the village of Popadyino, of the Mikhailovsky district, in the Ryazan province, into the family of Deacon Alexander Andreyevich Tsitseronov and his wife Alexandra Petrovna. Three out of ten children of the Deacon became priests, and three daughters married future priests.

At twenty-one, Alexander Tsitseronov graduated from the Ryazan Theological Seminary. During his studies, he met a graduate of the Ryazan Women's Diocesan School, Evgenia Ivanovna Ivankova, the daughter of Archpriest John Pavlovich Ivankov, who blessed the young couple for marriage. Alexander was first a Reader in the church of the village of Pecherniki, of the Mikhailovsky district. Then he was ordained a Deacon and later a Priest, and in 1914 he was assigned to a parish in the village of Polivanovo. In 1915, the couple went to their destination. In addition to Polivanovo, the parish included the villages of Tarakanovka, Savinka, Studenets, Letniki, Bolshaya Khlebenka.

Saint Simon the Myrrhgusher Resource Page

St. Simon the Athonite (Feast Day - December 28)

Verses

With Peter you carried a common calling and rock,
Your myrrh surpassing the rock O Simon.

 

Saint Simon the Myrrhgusher, Founder of Simonopetra Monastery 

 

Saint Simon the Myrrhgusher and his Spiritual Father

 

Saint Simon the Myrrhgusher and the Dragon

 

Saint Simon the Myrrhgusher and the Star of New Bethlehem

 

The Cave of Saint Simon the Myrrhgusher (photos) 

 

An Old Seal of Simonopetra Monastery

 

Saint Theophano the Empress Resource Page

St. Theophano the Empress (Feast Day - December 16)

Verses

Coming near to the Lord, Empress Theophano,

Your virtues remained polished.

 

Synaxarion of the Holy Empress Theophano 

 

Saint Theophano the Empress 

 

The Feast of All Saints Was Inspired By An Empress

 

The Incorrupt Relics of the Holy Empress Theophano at the Phanar

 

Euphemia, Theophano and Solomone

 

The Cross of Saint Theophano the Empress

 

 

The Discovery of the Relics of Saint Anysia of Thessaloniki in 1980

 

 

Saint Anysia was born to a wealthy and pious Christian family in Thessaloniki. Upon the death of her parents, she dedicated herself to vows of chastity and poverty, praying and helping the poor. In 298, while she was on her way to church, a Roman soldier apprehended her. Discovering she was a Christian, he beat her, and intended to drag her to a pagan temple to sacrifice to the Roman gods. When she refused and confessed Christ to be the true God, she spit in his face, and he murdered her by driving a sword through her stomach. Devout Christians then buried her with honors and eventually a church was built over her grave.

Saint Anysios, Bishop of Thessaloniki (+ 407)

 

St. Anysios of Thessaloniki (Feast Day - December 30)

Saint Anysios was the disciple and co-worker of his holy predecessor, Bishop Ascholios of Thessaloniki (Jan. 23). Saint Ambrose of Milan congratulated him personally, as well as the clergy, and people of Thessaloniki on his succession to the see of Thessaloniki in 383 (Letters 15 and 16). He commended his zeal and expressed great hopes for his episcopate. In Letter 15, Saint Ambrose compares the succession of Anysios to the succession of the Prophet Elisha:

"Like Elijah he [Ascholios] was carried up to heaven, not in a chariot of fire, nor by horses of fire, (unless haply it was but that we saw them not) nor in any whirlwind in the sky, but by the will and in the calm of our God, and with the jubilation of the holy Angels who rejoiced that such a man had come among them. Surely we cannot doubt this, when all other particulars agree so well. For at the very moment when he was being taken up, he let fall so to speak the vestment which he wore, and invested with it holy Anysios his disciple, and clothed him with the robes of his own priesthood. His merits and graces I do not now hear for the first time, nor have I first learnt them from your letters, but I recognized them in what you wrote. For as if foreknowing that he would be his successor, Acholios designated him as such by tokens, though in open speech he concealed it; saying that he had been aided by his care, labour, and ministry, thus seeming to declare him his coadjutor, one who would not come as a novice to the chief office of the priesthood, but as a tried performer of its duties. Well does that saying in the Gospel befit him, 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things.'"

The Only Monastery in the Orthodox World Dedicated to the Holy Innocents

 

The Sacred Monastery of the Holy Infants was established in the year 2000 with the blessing of the then Metropolitan Hieronymos of Thebes and Levadeia (currently the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece). It is located between Oinoi of Attica and Panakto of Thebes. The katholikon of the Monastery was consecrated by Archbishop Hieronymos on the 17th of November 2007. There are currently a total of five nuns in the Monastery. Next to the katholikon is a cemetery exclusively for infants who died prematurely. There is also a playground for children.

 

Saint Simon the Myrrhgusher and the Star of New Bethlehem

 

 

When Saint Simon the Myrrhgusher, founder of Simonopetra Monastery on Mount Athos, was living as hermit in a cave on the Holy Mountain, after many years of struggling there and subjecting himself to every form of hardship, he had the following vision as the feast of the Nativity of Christ drew near. One night, Simon exited the cave and beheld a bright star in the heavens above a large high rock opposite his cave. This star was seen frequently by Simon over the course of many nights, remaining in the same place above the high rock. Seeing that this was no ordinary star, Simon thought that perhaps it was a sign of the devil to lead him astray, so he ignored it.

Saint Ignatius of Loma and Yaroslav (+ 1591)

 

St. Ignatius of Loma (Feast Day - December 28)

 

The circumstances of his life while still in the world are unknown. He started his ascetic path at the Priluki Monastery of the Savior at Vologda, and he received monastic tonsure at the Saint Cyril of White Lake Monastery. Saint Ignatius then departed to the vicinity of Loma seeking seclusion and there founded a hermitage, which gradually attracted disciples.

The desire for an isolated hermitic life again compelled the Venerable Ignatius to leave the monastery he had founded. Having transferred the administration of his monastery to one of his disciples, the ascetic withdrew to the Vadozhsky volost, to the banks of the Darovitsa River, which flows into the Sarau River one mile from the place of the monk's settlement, and began to live there as a hermit. The place was silent, wooded, and the human settlements were five or six miles away. A barely noticeable path winding along the bank of the Darovitsa River was the only way to reach this place.

Venerable Agapios the New (+ 1812)

 

Monastery of the Philosopher in Dimitsana

Venerable Agapios the New, known in the world as Antonios Antonopoulos, also known as Agapios Papantopoulos, was from Dimitsana, a mountain village of the Peloponnese, and was born in 1753. As a youth he was educated at the Holy Monastery of the Philosopher, where he was taught by such teachers as Agapios Leonardos and Gerasimos Gounas.

Saint Eubiotos as a Model for our Lives

 

St. Eubiotos of Kyzikos (Feast Day - December 18)

By Protopresbyter Fr. George Papavarnavas

Saint Eubiotos was from Kyzikos of Asia Minor, and lived towards the end of the third century and the beginning of the fourth century. He was a famous ascetic and confessor. Having been arrested by pagans he endured with great courage horrible tortures, from which, miraculously, he remained unharmed. Because of the miracles that took place during his martyrdom, many well-meaning pagans believed in Christ and became confessors and martyrs. When Maximian saw that the Saint remained unharmed by the horrible tortures, he ordered the executioners to behead him. They, however, because it suddenly became dark, slaughtered each other. Thus, the Saint remained unharmed again, for this reason he was thrown into prison, where he remained twenty-two days. He was then released, at the behest of Maximian, when he was informed that Constantine the Great was ascending from the western parts of Europe to the east. He lived another five years in asceticism and prayer. Many people hastened to his hermitage, mainly people in pain, whom he received with great love and supported, strengthening and comforting them with his divinely inspired and comforting words, but also with the miraculous healings of various diseases that took place with his divinely-entreating prayers.

Synaxis of the Holy Family of Saint Gregory Palamas

In 2009, at the recommendation of the Metropolis of Berea, Naousa and Kampania, the Ecumenical Patriarchate established a feast day in honor of the family of St. Gregory Palamas. His father's name was Constantine, his mother Kalloni, his brothers were Makarios and Theodosios, and his sisters were Theodote and Epicharis. The day chosen for the feast is December 18th or the Sunday after November 14th.

St. Philotheos Kokkinos, a disciple of St. Gregory and his biographer, writes the following of his father:

"Gregory was the offspring of noble and pious parents. So virtuous was his father that the emperor Adronikos II Palaiologos, made him one of his counselors. And not only the earthly king, but also God the Heavenly King, honored and glorified him even while he was still alive with miracles. Foreknowing his death, Constantine – that was his name – took the Angelic Habit, that is, he became a monk, and was named Constantios."

The Incorrupt Relics of the Holy Empress Theophano at the Phanar

 

The Holy Empress Theophano was the pious wife of Emperor Leo VI the Wise, who reposed at the age of 31 around the year 894 after she dedicated her life to God as a nun. Her husband considered her to be a Saint, and as a memorial to her he built the Church of Saint Theophano next to the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople, probably within a year after her death. When Theophano died, her body was likely placed in the Church of the Holy Apostles then transferred to the adjoining Church of Saint Theophano. However, certain bishops objected to Leo building a church dedicated to his wife, so Leo was forced to change the name of this church, which he then dedicated to All Saints, so as to still include his wife as one of many Saints that could be commemorated there. 

 

Saint Nektarios of Bitel (+ 1500)

 

St. Nektarios of Bitel (Feast Day - December 15)

Venerable Nektarios was born in the small town of Bitel (or Butili) in Bulgaria around the year 1430. In the world he was named Nicholas. Before the Turkish invasion his mother had a vision: the Most Holy Virgin herself appeared and told her to flee and go into hiding with her husband and children. They immediately got people together from Bitel – children, women and weak old people left the city, while the men remained to defend the city from the Turkish invader with weapons. The Turks conquered the city and spread devastation, slaughter and atrocities. When the Turks passed and the situation was calmed down, many of the residents returned, but Nicholas’s father, who was now old and after making an agreement with his wife, withdrew to a monastery dedicated to the Holy Unmercenaries Saints Kosmas and Damian, not far from Bitel, where he became a monk with the name Pachomios. Young Nicholas often visited his father there, and received an education.

Life of Saint Parthenios of Chios: Based on Local Testimonies from the Clergy and Laity of Chios

St. Parthenios of Chios (Feast Day - December 8)

 

Our Venerable Father Parthenios was born in the village of Dafnonas on the island of Chios in the year 1815 to pious parents, Michael and Antonia Frangoskoufis (or Meni). Saint Makarios the Notaras, Metropolitan of Corinth, who was then living as an ascetic in Chios, prophesied about the birth of the child to his mother, who was already advanced in age, as follows: "You will have a boy and name him Polydoros. He will become a monk and through him many souls shall be saved." Polydoros was thus born, grew up, became a tradesman, and by the age of twenty was engaged to be married. However, a year later his fiancée died. Upon his return from a journey he visited her grave, and removing the stone covering he saw her rotting corpse full of worms. Taking a handful of worms in his hands he philosophized about death and the vanity of worldly things. It was then that he decided to abandon everything.

Saint John the Faster of the Kiev Caves

 

Venerable John the Faster presumably lived in the thirteenth century in the Near Caves of the Kiev Caves Lavra. He is called "the Faster" because this was the discipline that distinguished him and helped him approach God. In one troparion it says that John "was illumined by fasting, consuming the word of God more than food." Nothing else is known of him. His incorrupt relics rest in the Near Caves.

 

 

The Boldness of Saint Ambrose and the Piety of Emperor Theodosius the Great

By Theodoret
Ecclesiastical History, 5.17

 

Thessalonica is a large and very populous city, belonging to Macedonia, but the capital of Thessaly and Achaia, as well as of many other provinces which are governed by the prefect of Illyricum. Here arose a great sedition, and several of the magistrates were stoned and violently treated.

The emperor was fired with anger when he heard the news, and unable to endure the rush of his passion, did not even check its onset by the curb of reason, but allowed his rage to be the minister of his vengeance. When the imperial passion had received its authority, as though itself an independent prince, it broke the bonds and yoke of reason, unsheathed swords of injustice right and left without distinction, and slew innocent and guilty together. No trial preceded the sentence. No condemnation was passed on the perpetrators of the crimes. Multitudes were mowed down like ears of grain in harvest-tide. It is said that seven thousand perished.