https://orthodoxsmile.blogspot.com
Orthodox Smile
Orthodox Saints Book
of Celtic Saints and All Saints
English Flowers of Orthodoxy 17
ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY – MULTILINGUAL ORTHODOXY – EASTERN ORTHODOX CHURCH – ΟΡΘΟΔΟΞΙΑ – SIMBAHANG ORTODOKSO NG SILANGAN – 东正教在中国 – ORTODOXIA – 日本正教会 – ORTODOSSIA – อีสเทิร์นออร์ทอดอกซ์ – ORTHODOXIE – 동방 정교회 – PRAWOSŁAWIE – ORTHODOXE KERK - නැගෙනහිර ඕර්තඩොක්ස් සභාව – СРЦЕ ПРАВОСЛАВНО – BISERICA ORTODOXĂ – GEREJA ORTODOKS – ORTODOKSI – ПРАВОСЛАВИЕ – ORTODOKSE KIRKE – CHÍNH THỐNG GIÁO ĐÔNG PHƯƠNG – EAGLAIS CHEARTCHREIDMHEACH – ՈՒՂՂԱՓԱՌ ԵԿԵՂԵՑԻՆ / Abel-Tasos Gkiouzelis - https://gkiouzelisabeltasos.blogspot.com - Email: gkiouz.abel@gmail.com - Feel free to email me...!
♫•(¯`v´¯) ¸.•*¨*
◦.(¯`:☼:´¯)
..✿.(.^.)•.¸¸.•`•.¸¸✿
✩¸ ¸.•¨
Sources:
<>
The Saints of Christ are always alive and near to us like Prophet Moses in Luke 9:30.
Prophet Moses died (Deuteronomy 34:5-8) but he is alive and appeared in glorious splendor:
"Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus" (Luke 9:30).
<>
St. Eusebius Martyr in Saint Gall (Mount Saint Victor), Switzerland
31 January
Died 884; Montague shows his feast on January 30. The Irishman Eusebius, called Scotigena by Ratpert of Saint Gall, was a pilgrim who took the Benedictine habit in the Swiss abbey of Saint Gall. Ekkehard, another chronicler of the abbey, reports that Eusebius was from Ireland. Soon after his arrival in Switzerland, Eusebius opted for the life of solitude as a hermit on Mount Saint Victor in the Vorarlberg, where he spent 30 years.
He was highly venerated in his lifetime by King Charles, son and successor to King Louis. In 883, the emperor founded an Irish monastery, Raetia, for him on the mountain. Two years later Charles deeded by royal charter the revenues of one of his villas near Rottris in the Voralberg to the monastery for a hospice for Irish pilgrims. Here 12 pilgrims could be accommodated on their way to Rome.
When he was denouncing the sins of some godless peasants, one of them struck and killed him with a scythe; hence, he is venerated as a martyr.
<>
Saint Theodosius of Antioch, Syria
January 11
Saint Theodosius of Antioch in his early years left the rich home of his illustrious parents and entered upon the straight and arduous path of asceticism. He settled into a small cell on the shore of the Gulf of Isska, near the city of Ossos. The saint weakened his body with prostrations and by lying upon the bare ground. He also wore a hairshirt and heavy iron chains. His hair grew so long that it covered his feet.
By continuous feats of fasting and prayer he conquered his fleshly and spiritual passions, he quieted his temper, and drove away unclean thoughts. He labored much, tilling his garden and occupying himself with plaiting ropes. In his native land Saint Theodosius founded a monastery (Skupela). He imparted to the monks a love for physical toil and for spiritual deeds. Saint Theodosius had a special concern for strangers.
The sublime life of the saint was known even beyond the confines of the monastery. Both Christians and pagans knew him. Seafarers in time of peril called out for help to “the God of Theodosius.” It happened that at the mere mention of Saint Theodosius, the waves of the sea were calmed. Brigands feared and respected him, and sought his prayers. Fleeing the praise of people, the saint settled near the village of Maraton, founding here the Maratonia monastery. There the great ascetic peacefully finished the days of his God-pleasing life (412).
<>
St. Madoes of Scotland
31 January
Date unknown. A place in the Carse of Gowrie takes its name from Madoes. Some believe he is identical to Saint Moedoc or Aidan of Ferns (f.d. today). Another tradition makes of him a fellow missionary Saint Boniface Quiritinus or Curitan (f.d. March 14), who appears to have been sent from Rome to preach in Scotland. Legend and fact have become entangled in his story.
<>
St. Amnichad, hermit in Fulda, Germany, from Ireland or Scotland
30 January
Died 1043. Amnichad may have been born either in Ireland or Scotland. It is said that he travelled to Germany after having been banished by Corcoran from the monastery of Iniscaltra on the Shannon because he broke the abbey's rule by once providing additional refreshments to visitors between meals. Thereafter Amnichad wandered through Europe until he settled himself as a monk at Fulda in Germany, where he had himself walled up in a cell to live the rest of his life as a anchorite. Sixteen years after his death, Blessed Marianus Scotus (f.d. February 9) joined Fulda. He records that daily for ten years he celebrated Mass over the tomb of Amnichad, around which a supernatural light was often seen and a heavenly psalmody was heard.
<>
Theodosius, Metropolitan of Trebizond, Asia Minor
January 11
Saint Theodosius, Metropolitan of Trebizond, was born in the village of Koritsa, near the Kastorian hills. At eighteen years of age he became a monk at Constantinople and went to the Philotheou monastery on Mount Athos, where he led a strict ascetic life.
He was chosen igumen of the monastery in 1375, and afterwards was made Metropolitan of Trebizond because of the holiness of his life. He persuaded John Alexius Komnenos to build the monastery of Dionysiou on Mount Athos. After a God-pleasing life, he died in Trebizond in 1392.
<>
St. Bathildis (Bathild) of Chelles, Queen of France, from Britain
30 January
Died January 30, 680; Roman Martyrology sets her feast as January 26.
Bathild, like Saint Patrick, had been a slave. An Anglo-Saxon by birth, in 641 she was captured by Danish raiders and sold to Erchinoald, the chief officer of the palace of Clovis II, King of the Franks. She quickly gained favour, for she had charm, beauty, and a graceful and gentle nature. She also won the affection of her fellow-servants, for she would do them many kindnesses such as cleaning their shoes and mending their clothes, and her bright and attractive disposition endeared her to them all.
The officer, impressed by her fine qualities, wished to make her his wife, but Bathild, alarmed at the prospect, both by reason of her modesty and of her humble status, disguised herself in old and ragged clothes, and hid herself away among the lower servants of the palace; and he, not finding her in her usual place, and thinking she had fled, married another woman.
Her next suitor, however, was none other than the king himself, for when she had discarded her old clothes and appeared again in her place, he noticed her grace and beauty, and declared his love for her. Thus in 649, the 19-year-old slave girl Bathild became Queen of France, amidst the applause of the court and the kingdom. She bore Clovis three sons: Clotaire III, Childeric II, and Thierry III--all of whom became kings. On the death of Clovis (c. 655-657), she was appointed regent in the name of her eldest son, who was only five, and ruled capably for eight years with Saint Eligius (f.d. December 1) as her adviser.
She made a good queen and ruled wisely. Unlike many who rise suddenly to high place and fortune, she never forgot that she had been a slave, and did all within her power to relieve those in captivity. We are told that Queen Bathild was the holiest and most devout of women; her pious munificence knew no bounds; remembering her own bondage, she set apart vast sums for the redemption of captives. Bathild helped promote Christianity by seconding the zeal of Saint Ouen (f.d. August 24), Saint Leodegardius (f.d. October 2), and many other bishops.
At that time the poorer inhabitants of France were often obliged to sell their children as slaves to meet the crushing taxes imposed upon them. Bathild reduced this taxation, forbade the purchase of Christian slaves and the sale of French subjects, and declared that any slave who set foot in France would from that moment be free. Thus, this enlightened women earned the love of her people and was a pioneer in the abolition of slavery.
A contemporary English writer, Eddius (the biographer of Saint Wilfrid), asserts that Queen Bathild was responsible for the political assassination of Bishop Saint Annemund (Dalfinus) of Lyons (f.d. September 28) and nine other bishops. What actually happened is obscure, and it is unlikely that Bathild was guilty of the crime.
She also founded many abbeys, such as Corbie, Saint-Denis, and Chelles, which became civilised settlements in wild and remote areas inhabited only by prowling wolves and other wild beasts. Under her guidance forests and waste land were reclaimed, cornland and pasture took their place, and agriculture flourished. She built hospitals and sold her jewellery to supply the needy. Finally, when Clotaire came of age, she retired to her own royal abbey of Chelles, near Paris, where she served the other nuns with humility and obeyed the abbess like the least of the sisters.
She died at Chelles before she had reached her 50th birthday. Death touched her with a gentle hand; as she died, she said she saw a ladder reaching from the altar to heaven, and up this she climbed in the company of angels.
Her life was written by a contemporary. Chelles convent had many contacts with Anglo-Saxon England, which led to the spread of her cultus to the British Isles.
Saint Bathildis is generally pictured as a crowned queen or nun before the altar of the Virgin, two angels support a child on a ladder (the ladder implies the pun echelle-Chelles) and also the vision she is said to have had at her death. She might also be shown: (1) holding a broom; (2) giving alms or bread; (3) seeing a vision of the crucified Christ before her; or (4) holding Chelles Abbey, which she founded.
She is the patroness of children.
<>
St. Glastian (MacGlastian) of Kinglassie, Bishop of Fife, Scotland
28 January
Born in County Fife, Scotland; died at Kinglassie (Kinglace), Scotland, in 830. As bishop of Fife, Saint Glastian mediated in the bloody civil war between the Picts and the Scots. When the Picts were subjugated, Glastian did much to alleviate their lot. He is the patron saint of Kinglassie in Fife, and venerated in Kyntire.
<>
St. Tortgith of Barking, England
(Theorigitha, Thordgith, Thorctgyd)
26 January
Died c. 681-700; feast day sometimes given as January 25. Tortgith, novice-mistress of Barking Abbey under Saint Etheldreda (f.d. June 23), was the friend of its founder, Saint Ethelburga (f.d. October 12). She is described as a miracle of patience under suffering, zeal, and care for the young. She suffered paralysis for six years (669-675) and experienced a vision of Ethelburga just before the abbess's death. Three years later, after losing her power of speech, too, she had another vision and spoke with Ethelburga about her imminent death. Her words but not those of Ethelburga were recorded by witnesses and sent to the Venerable Bede.
<>
St. Eochod, Apostle to the Picts of Galloway, Scotland
25 January
Died 597. One of Saint Columba's twelve companions, Saint Eochod was chosen by Columba to evangelize northern Britain. He is called the Apostle of the Picts of Galloway
<>
Saint Dwynwen of Llanddwyn Island, Wales (+460), Patroness of Love and Marriage
January 25
One of the most celebrated female saints of Wales is Venerable Dwynwen (also Donwenna: + c. 460; according to another version: fifth-sixth centuries). The name “Dwynwen” means “she who leads a blessed life”. She hailed from Wales and was famous for her ascetic life. Little genuine information on this early Welsh saint is known, however, pious people in Wales and Cornwall greatly venerated and loved this saint throughout the centuries.
According to later legends, Dwynwen was one of the numerous children of the Holy Right-Believing King Brychan of Brecknock in South Wales. A young man named Maelon, amazed by the beauty and devout Christian life of Dwynwen, wished to marry her. But the holy maiden, who longed for ascetic life in seclusion and virginity, refused to marry him and began to pray hard so that God did not allow this marriage. (According to other versions, young Dwynwen herself fell in love with this man but her ardent desire to become an anchoress overcame her; or, for some reason, she could not marry him – probably because of her father’s opposition). Then Maelon decided to take the maiden by force. But, before he could carry out his wicked plot, an angel appeared to Dwynwen in a dream and gave her a potion to drink. At the same moment Dwynwen felt as if she was cured from some disease, but also in the same instant Maelon was turned to ice.
Having learned about the misfortune that befell the man, Dwynwen pleaded to God that Maelon be returned to life immediately and that all sincere and wholehearted prayers of the faithful for a firm Christian marriage be always fulfilled through her intercessions (or, if it was against the will of God, that they be freed from their desires to marry). The Lord heard her prayer: Maelon was “thawed” at once, and the saint of God became the heavenly protectress of those in love and those seeking a husband or a wife.
Whatever the exact truth of all this, as her thanksgiving to God for help Dwynwen chose to live as an anchoress in full seclusion till the end of her life. So she retired to a remote and tiny islet just to the west of the larger isle of Anglesey off the northwestern Welsh coast and lived there for some sixty years in holiness, unceasing prayer and communion with God. By the end of her life the holy virgin may have founded a small monastic community on her isle, but there is not sufficient evidence to prove the existence of a convent there. Also, according to some traditions, the saint built a chapel or a church on her isle, for which she carried heavy stones alone from the coast, and also studied the healing qualities of local herbs and thus cured from many diseases people who came to her from all corners of Wales. The saint reposed and was buried on the same isle that has been known as Ynys Llanddwyn (“Island of the Church of Dwynwen”) since then in her honor.
Whether the account of Maelon and Dwynwen’s failed marriage is a true story or just a later romantic legend, it is certain that this saint led an ascetic life in Llanddwyn for many years and became the patron of love and marriage afterwards for very many centuries. Thousands of pilgrims from Wales and even beyond flocked to her chapel, the shrine with her relics and the holy wells associated with her at Llanddwyn every year, in spite of the extreme remoteness of that site, and asked for her protection – and numerous miracles were recorded. The shrine of St. Dwynwen was so famous that it rivalled St. David’s Cathedral with the shrine of St. David and the holy well of St. Winifred at Holywell in popularity in Wales.
Especially young men and girls from Wales and other parts of Britain used to come to St. Dwynwen at Llanddwyn, fervently pray, asking for her protection and granting a blessed and successful marriage through her intercessions – and many received that what they asked for. In the Middle Ages the chapel (and later church) in Llanddwyn was enlarged and many times received generous donations as an expression of believers’ gratitude for its patron-saint’s prayers. The medieval church must have been very splendid, and it certainly had a golden statue of its patroness. Wax candles were permanently lit around the saint’s shrine and the local parish gradually became one of the richest ones in North Wales. The prominent Welsh poets Dafydd ap Gwilym (mid-fourteenth century) and Dafydd Trefor (in c. 1500) both visited Llanddwyn and praised its beauty and spirituality, along with the virtues of St. Dwynwen, in verses of their poems. A number of very touching songs were dedicated to the saint over the centuries.
The petitions of many pilgrims who were in love or asked for a lifelong husband or a wife were fulfilled after their prayers near St. Dwynwen’s relics as well as by her holy well. In the Middle Ages there appeared many superstitions about her holy well in particular. Many believed that the saint revealed to them the will of God right beside the well, and the answer could supposedly be seen from movement of the fish (especially the “sacred eels” of Dwynwen) which lived in the spring. For example, if a girl threw her handkerchief on the surface of St. Dwynwen well and it disturbed the eel that lived there, this meant that the faithfulness of her future partner was guaranteed. If the water of the neighboring “wishing well” began to “boil” when a pilgrim was coming up, it meant a successful marriage in the near future. Despite the great distance, proximity to the forest and prohibition of the veneration of saints after the Reformation, the influx of pilgrims continued even for some time after Henry VIII.
St. Dwynwen, however, helped not only lovers, but also the sick and even animals. Many farmers of Wales considered her their and their animals’ heavenly patron. Countless cases of healing from various ailments near her relics and holy wells were recorded (cures from different aches, pleurisy, warts); miracles continue to occur even nowadays. Today only stone ruins remain of the once large church of St. Dwynwen in Llanddwyn. Llanddwyn Island (“Ynys Llanddwyn” in Welsh) is attached to Anglesey, but becomes a separate isle at high tide. It is situated in the Irish Sea and separated from mainland Wales by the Menai Strait. On a clear day Snowdon – the highest mountain in Wales – along with the Wicklow Mountains in eastern Ireland can be seen from here at the same time. Llanddwyn is currently uninhabited.
The church ruins and other memorial objects of the islet are located on the territory of a nature reserve. It is said that Dwynwen’s holy well has partly survived and it is now a small trickle of water running down from a rocky cliff. It is situated some thirty steps north of the church ruins. There are also several “candidates” as holy wells associated with our saint from among numerous springs that can be found on the isle and even one on mainland Anglesey. Though it is difficult to identify the exact location of the true holy well, miracles still abound on account of the faith of pilgrims.
Llandwyn Island also has a small museum dedicated to the memory of St. Dwynwen – it is located in the formerly abandoned Pilot’s Cottages. Some historians believe that St. Dwynwen’s holy relics may lie buried somewhere close to her original church. Archeological excavations began on this site several years ago and plans to partly restore the site were announced. Llanddwyn Island is noted for its beautiful nature, coastal dunes, colored flowers, and varied wildlife, with even some rare species of plants and birds. The nearest village to Llanddwyn is Newborough on Anglesey.
The revival of the veneration of St. Dwynwen began in the nineteenth century, when a fourteen-foot-tall cross was erected in her memory close to the church’s ruins (the supposed site of her hermitage), and in 1903 a Celtic-style St. Dwynwen’s cross was installed nearby. From the 1960s on the veneration of Dwynwen as the patroness of lovers developed a very secular nature, becoming analagous to “St. Valentine’s Day”. In recent times, the council of the Welsh county of Gwynedd in north-western Wales has been promoting the day (feast) of St. Dwynwen – Dydd Santes Dwynwen—as the official day of lovers.
Today on the feast-day of St. Dwynwen according to the old calendar (January 25) some Welsh people give those of the opposite sex cards the words “Dwi'n dy garu di!” (that is, “I love you!”) and flowers. The most skilled men used to carve special wooden “love spoons” as gifts for their loved ones for this day (this custom began as early as the seventeenth century, and originally love spoons were very ornate with numerous signs symbolizing love, faithfulness, care, tenderness, and eternity on them). Some Welshmen prefer to propose to their sweethearts precisely on January 25. There is also a revival of Dwynwen’s veneration as a protectress of farm animals.
Apart from Llanddwyn, several other Welsh place-names bear the name of this saint, for example, Porthddwyn. Besides, in the north of the county of Cornwall (England), near the River Camel, there is the little village of Advent, whose Cornish name is “Sen Adhwynn” and Welsh name, “Santes Dwynwen”. The local parish church, the earliest parts of which are from the fifteenth century, is dedicated to “Saint Adwen”, or “Saint Adwenna”, who is described as a daughter of King Brychan of Brecknock and patroness of sweethearts in Cornwall – she is identified by many researchers with our St. Dwynwen.
We hope and pray that the veneration of this ancient Orthodox saint, patroness of love and marriage, will increase among Orthodox Christians as well.
Holy Mother Dwynwen of Llandwyn Island, pray to God for us!
<>
Saint Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia, Hieromartyr
January 9
Saint Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow, in the world Theodore, was descended from the illustrious noble lineage of the Kolichevi, occupying a prominent place in the Boyar duma at the court of the Moscow sovereigns. He was born in the year 1507. His father, Stephen Ivanovich, “a man enlightened and filled with military spirit,” attentively prepared his son for government service. Theodore’s pious mother Barbara, who ended her days as a nun with the name Barsanouphia, implanted in the soul of her son a sincere faith and deep piety. Young Theodore Kolichev applied himself diligently to the Holy Scripture and to the writings of the holy Fathers. The Moscow Great Prince Basil III, the father of Ivan the Terrible, brought young Theodore into the court, but he was not attracted to court life. Conscious of its vanity and sinfulness, Theodore 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 young Prince Ivan’s sincere devotion to him, promising him a great future in government service, could not deter him from seeking the Heavenly City.
On Sunday, June 5, 1537, in church for Divine Liturgy, Theodore felt intensely in his soul the words of the Savior: “No man can serve two masters” (Mt.6:24), which determined his ultimate destiny. Praying fervently to the Moscow wonderworkers, and without bidding farewell to his relatives, he secretly left Moscow in the attire of a peasant, and for a 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 renowned Solovki monastery on the White Sea. There he fulfilled very difficult obediences: he chopped firewood, dug the ground, and worked in the mill. After a year and a half of testing, the igumen Alexis tonsured him, giving him the monastic name Philip and entrusting him in obedience to the Elder Jonah Shamina, a converser with Saint Alexander of Svir (August 30).
Under the guidance of experienced elders Philip grew spiritually, and progressed in fasting and prayer. Igumen Alexis sent him to work at the monastery forge, where Saint Philip combined the activity of unceasing prayer with his work with a heavy hammer.
He was always the first one in church for the services, and was the last to leave. He toiled also in the bakery, where the humble ascetic was comforted with a heavenly sign. In the monastery afterwards they displayed the “Bakery” image of the Mother of God, through which the heavenly Mediatrix bestowed Her blessing upon the humble baker Philip. With the blessing of the igumen, Saint Philip spent a certain while in wilderness solitude, attending to himself and to God.
In 1546 at Novgorod the Great, Archbishop Theodosius made Philip igumen of the Solovki monastery. The new igumen strove with all his might to exalt the spiritual significance of the monastery and its founders, Saints Sabbatius and Zosimus of Solovki (September 27, April 17). He searched for the Hodēgḗtria icon of the Mother of God brought to the island by the first head of Solovki, Saint Sabbatius. He located the stone cross which once stood before the saint’s cell. The Psalter belonging to Saint Zosimus (+1478), the first igumen of Solovki, was also found. His robe, in which igumens would vest during the service on the days when Saint Zosimus was commemorated, was also discovered.
The monastery experienced a spiritual revival. A new monastic Rule was adopted to regulate life at the monastery. Saint Philip built majestic temples: a church of the Dormition of the Mother of God, consecrated in the year 1557, and a church of the Transfiguration of the Lord. The igumen himself worked as a simple laborer, helping to build the walls of the Transfiguration church. Beneath the north portico he dug himself a grave beside that of his guide, the Elder Jonah. Spiritual life in these years flourished at the monastery: struggling with the brethren with the disciples of Igumen Philip were Saints John and Longinus of Yarenga (July 3) and Bassian and Jonah of Pertominsk (July 12).
Saint Philip often withdrew to a desolate wilderness spot for quiet prayer, two versts from the monastery, which was later known as the Philippov wilderness.
But the Lord was preparing the saint for other work. In Moscow, Tsar Ivan the Terrible fondly remembered the Solovki hermit from his childhood. The Tsar hoped to find in Saint Philip a true companion, confessor and counsellor, who in his exalted monastic life had nothing in common with the sedition of the nobles. The Metropolitan of Moscow, in Ivan’s opinion, ought to have a certain spiritual meekness to quell the treachery and malice within the Boyar soul. The choice of Saint Philip as archpastor of the Russian Church seemed to him the best possible.
For a long time the saint refused to assume the great burden of the primacy of the Russian Church. He did not sense any spiritual affinity with Ivan. He attempted to get the Tsar to abolish the Oprichniki [secret police]. Ivan the Terrible attempted to argue its civil necessity. Finally, the dread Tsar and the holy Metropolitan came to an agreement: Saint Philip would not meddle in the affairs of the Oprichniki and the running of the government, he would resign as Metropolitan in case the Tsar could not fulfill his wishes, and that he would be a support and counsellor of the Tsar, just as former Metropolitans supported the Moscow sovereigns. On July 25, 1566 Saint Philip was consecrated for the cathedra of Moscow’s hierarch saints, whose number he was soon to join.
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 , he was involved in compiling the Chronicles (and himself suddenly cut the thread of the Moscow chronicle writing), he examined the intricacies of the monastic Rule, and more than once he thought about abdicating the throne for the monastic life.
Every aspect of governmental service, all the measures undertaken to restructure civil and social life, Ivan the Terrible tried to rationalize as a manifestation of Divine Providence, as God acting in history. His beloved spiritual heroes were Saint Michael of Chernigov (September 20) and Saint Theodore the Black (September 19), military men active with complex contradictory destinies, moving toward their ends through whatever the obstacles before them, and fulfilling their duties to the nation and to the Church.
The more the darkness thickened around Ivan, the more resolutely he demanded cleansing and redemption of his soul. Journeying on pilgrimage to the Saint Cyril of White Lake monastery, he declared his wish to become a monk to the igumen and the brethren. The haughty autocrat fell on his knees before the igumen, who blessed his intent. Ivan wrote, “it seems to me, an accursed sinner, that I am already robed in black.”
Ivan imagined the Oprichnina in the form of a monastic brotherhood, serving God with weapons and military deeds. The Oprichniki were required to dress in monastic garb and attend long and tiring church services, lasting from 4 to 10 o’clock in the morning. “Brethren” not in church at 4 o’clock in the morning, were given a penance by the Tsar. Ivan and his sons fervently wished to pray and sing in the church choir. From church they went to the trapeza, and while the Oprichniki ate, the Tsar stood beside them. The Oprichniki gathered leftover food from the table and distributed it to the poor at the doorway of the trapeza.
Ivan, with tears of repentance and wanting to be an esteemer of the holy ascetics, the teachers of repentance, wanted to wash and burn away his own sins and those of his companions, cherishing the assurance that even his terribly cruel actions would prove to be for 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 “Synodikon.” Shortly before his death, he ordered full lists compiled of the people murdered by him and his Oprichniki. These were then distributed to all the Russian monasteries. Ivan acknowledged all his sins against the nation, and besought the holy monks to pray to God for the forgiveness of his tormented soul.
The pseudo-monasticism of Ivan the Terrible, a dark most grievous oppression over Russia, tormented Saint Philip, who considered it impossible to mix the earthly and the heavenly, serving the Cross and serving the sword. Saint Philip saw how much unrepentant malice and envy was concealed beneath the black cowls of the Oprichniki. There were outright murderers among them, hardened in lawless bloodletting, and profiteers seeking gain, rooted in sin and transgressions. By the sufferance of God, history is often made by the hands of the impious, and Ivan the Terrible wanted to whiten his black brotherhood before God. The blood spilled by its thugs and fanatics cried out to Heaven.
Saint Philip decided to oppose Ivan. This was prompted by 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 to the Polish king, who already was on the move with an army towards Russian territory.
Ivan dealt severely with the conspirators, and again he shed much blood. It was bitter for Saint Philip, and the conscience of the saint 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, March 2, 1568, when the Tsar with his Oprichniki entered the Dormition cathedral in monastic garb, as was their custom, Saint Philip refused to bless him, and began openly to denounce the lawless acts committed by the Oprichniki. The accusations of the hierarch shattered the harmony of the church service. In a rage Ivan retorted, “Would you oppose us? We shall see your firmness! I have been too soft on you.”
The Tsar began to show ever greater cruelty in persecuting all those who opposed him. Executions followed one after the other. The fate of the saintly confessor was sealed. But Ivan wanted to preserve a semblance of canonical propriety. The Boyar Duma obediently carried out his decision to place the Primate of the Russian Church on trial. A cathedral court was set up to try Metropolitan Philip in the presence of a diminished Boyar Duma, and false witnesses were found. To the deep sorrow of the saint, these were monks of the Solovki monastery, his former disciples and novices whom he loved. They accused Saint Philip of a multitude of transgressions, including sorcery.
“Like all my ancestors,” the saint declared, “I came into this world prepared to suffer for truth.” Having refuted all the accusations, the holy sufferer attempted to halt the trial by volunteering to resign his office. His resignation was not accepted, however, and new abuse awaited the martyr.
Even after a sentence of life imprisonment had been handed down, they compelled Saint Philip to serve Liturgy in the Dormition cathedral. This was on November 8, 1568. In the middle of the service, the Oprichniki burst into the temple, they publicly read the council’s sentence of condemnation, and then abused the saint. Tearing his vestments off, they dressed him in rags, dragged him out of the church and drove him off to the Theophany monastery on a simple peasant’s sledge.
For a long while they held the martyr in the cellars of the Moscow monasteries. They placed his feet into stocks, they held him in chains, and put a heavy chain around his neck. Finally, they drove him off to the Tver Otroch monastery. And there a year later, on December 23,1569, the saint was put to death at the hands of Maliuta Skuratov. Only three days before this the saint foresaw the end of his earthly life and received the Holy Mysteries. At first, his relics were committed to earth there at the monastery, beyond the church altar. Later, they were transferred to the Solovki monastery (August 11, 1591) and from there to Moscow (July 3, 1652).
Initially, the memory of Saint Philip was celebrated by the Russian Church on December 23, the day of his martyric death. In 1660, the celebration was transferred to January 9.
<>
St. Cadoc, Bishop and Martyr of Llancarvan, Wales
24 January
Died c. 580.
Cadoc was the son of a robber, one of the lesser kings of Wales, who with an armed band of 300 men had stolen the daughter of a neighbouring chieftain for his wife. In this ugly episode 200 of his followers perished, and out of this unpromising union was born Cadoc, the Welsh saint, founder of the monastery of Llancarvan.
It is hardly credible that form so wild and barbarous a background should have come such a gentle and enlightened prince, but fortunately his erratic and impulsive father placed him in the care of an Irish monk whose cow he had stolen and who had been bold enough to demand its return. From this good man Cadoc learned the rudiments of Latin, and after pursuing his studies in Ireland, preferred the life of a priest to that of a prince.
Stories are told of how one day in his poverty, during a famine, when he sat with his books in his cell, a white mouse ran suddenly on to the table from a hole in the wall and put down a grain of corn. Cadoc followed it and found in the cellar beneath him an old Celtic subterranean granary stacked with grain. It is also said that once he hid himself in a wood from an armed swineherd of an enemy tribe, and there came a wild boar, white with age, who, disturbed by his presence, made three fierce bounds in his direction and then disappeared. Cadoc marked the spot with three tree branches, and it became the site of his great church and abbey of Llancarvan. He himself took an active part in its building, and it became a busy centre of industry, The best of patriots, he said, is he who tills the soil.
When, on one occasion, a band of robbers came to pillage the monastery, Cadoc and his monks went out to meet them with their harps, chanting as they went, and the marauders were so surprised by their attitude and so enchanted by the music that they withdrew.
But the best story is that of his parents' conversion. It was a happy day when by the river they made public profession of their faith. The robber king had found his Saviour, and father and son together recited the Psalm: The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble.
Cadoc later took refuge from the Anglo-Saxons in the Isle of Flatholmes, and then in Brittany, where he established another monastery upon a small island to which he built a stone bridge so that the children could cross to his school. Finally he returned to Britain and, obeying his own maxim: Would you find glory? March to the grave, deliberately cut himself off from the shelter of his own monastery of Llancarvan, and lived among the Saxon settlements to console the native Christians who had survived the massacres of the pagan invaders. This was at Weedon in Northamptonshire, and there he met with a martyr's death. While celebrating the Eucharist one day, the service was rudely disturbed by Saxon horsemen, and Cadoc was slain as he served at the altar.
https://celticsaints.org/2026/0124c.html
<>
Saint Eustratius the Wonderworker
January 9
Saint Eustratius came from the city of Tarsus. At twenty years of age he secretly left his parents’ home and settled in the Abgar monastery (on Olympos in Asia Minor). There he lived a strict ascetic life, eating only bread and water, and spending his nights at prayer. After a certain while he was chosen as igumen of the monastery.
During the reign of the Iconoclast Leo the Armenian (813-820), Saint Eustratius hid from pursuit by roaming the hills and the wilds. After the death of the emperor he returned to the monastery. Prayer was always on his lips, and he constantly repeated the words: “Lord, have mercy!”
Before his death he gave instructions to the monks not to be attracted towards earthly blessings, and constantly to think about the future life. Signing himself with the Sign of the Cross, he said, “Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit” and he died in peace at age 95.
<>
How St. Manchan of Ireland (+664) came to Lemonaghan
In 644, Diarmuid, High King of Ireland was on his way to fight a battle against Guaire, the King of Connaught, when he stopped off at Clonmacnois to ask the monks for their prayers for his success. Having won the battle, a grateful Diarmuid granted Ciarán, abbot of Clonmacnois, the "island in the bog" which we now know as Lemonaghan, provided that he send one of his monks there to Christianize it.
St. Ciarán chose St. Manchan for the mission. The thriving community that was already on the island were converted to Christianity by St. Manchan. He then went on to establish a monastery there. He built a cell for his mother, St. Mella, in an adjoining piece of high ground, and the intervening bog was bridged by a togher or walkway made from sandstone laid on brushwood and gravel. St. Manchan is alleged to have taken a vow never to look at a woman as part of his orders, so he is supposed to have had to sit back to back with his mother in order to communicate with her.
St. Manchan had many followers at Lemonaghan and ancient headstones still survive from the era. St. Manchan's well was used for cures since pagan times, and continues to be used for a variety of cures today, as is the holy water font in the ruined church in the graveyard.
https://celticsaints.org/2026/0124b.html
MET.
<>
St. Guasacht Bishop of Granard, Ireland, Son of Saint Patrick's former master
24 January
4th century. Guasacht was the son of Maelchu (Miluic), the master under whom Saint Patrick worked as a slave in Ireland. Maelchu set fire to his home, locked the doors, and perished in the flames rather than meet Patrick again. Guasacht, however, was converted by Patrick, whom he helped in the evangelization of Ireland, both as a layman and later as bishop of Granard (County Longford). His two sisters, known as the Emers (f.d. December 11), also became Christians and lived as monastics.
ΜΕΤ.
<>
<<<
St. Fechin, Abbot of Fobhar (Fore), Ireland
20 January
Born at Bile Fechin (Connaught), Ireland; died c. 665. Fechin, the abbot-founder of several Irish monasteries, was trained by Saint Nathy (f.d. August 9) at Achonry, County Sligo. After a life of sanctity, he died during the great pestilence which came upon Britain and Ireland in the year after the Council at Whitby and felled four Irish kings and nearly two-thirds of the populace.
Fechin's name is particularly connected with that of Fobhar (Fore or Foure) in Westmeath, which was his first monastic foundation, and an important one for its manuscripts. Fechin was the son of Coelcharna, descendant of Eochad Fionn, brother to the famous king Conn of the Hundred Battles, and his mother Lassair was of the royal blood of Munster. When fit to be sent to school he was placed under St Nathy of Achonry.
Having finished his studies he was ordained priest, and retired to a solitary place at Fore in Westmeath, there to live as a hermit. But he was followed by many disciples, and Fore became a monastery. Here he eventually governed over 300 monks. He is said to have pitied the monks engaged in grinding their corn in querns, he therefore brought water from a marsh to the monastery, by cutting a tunnel through the rock, and then established a water mill. Of this Giraldus Cambrensis relates the following :-
There is a mill at Foure, which St Fechin made most miraculously with his own hands, in the side of a certain rock. No women are allowed to enter either this mill or the church of the Saint; and the mill is held in as much reverence by the people as any of the churches dedicated to him.
His influence was very great with the kings and princes of his age. The Saint finding a poor leper, full of sores one day, took him to the Queen, and bade her minister to him as to Christ. She bravely overcame her repugnance, and tended him with gentle care. of three hundred monks. He also established a religious house in the island of Immagh, near the coast of Galway. The inhabitants were then pagans, but Fechin and his monks converted them.
The monastery dedicated to the Virgin Mary which he founded in Cong is renowned because of the Cross of Cong, one of the great treasures of Ireland, which had been hidden in an old oaken chest in the village, and now resides in the National Museum in Dublin. Both the church and monastery at Cong were rebuilt in 1120 for the Augustinians by Turlough O'Connor, who gave them the bejewelled processional cross he had made to enshrine a particle of the True Cross. Cong Abbey also served as the refuge for the last high king of Ireland, Roderick O'Connor. The monastery was suppressed by King Henry VIII.
St. Fechin's other foundations include those at Ballysadare (his birthplace?),Imaid Island, Omey and Ard Oilean, from which came the oldest manuscript about his life. All of these are now in ruins. His memory, however, is also perpetuated at Ecclefechan and Saint Vigean's (the name under which he is invoked in the Dunkeld Litany), near Arbroath in Scotland, where a fair was held on his feast day.
<>
Saint Gregory, Wonderworker of the Kiev Near Caves
January 8
Saint Gregory was tonsured at the Kiev Caves monastery in the time of Saint Theodosius (May 3). The saint devoted much time to reading books, which were his sole possession. He had the ability to bring thieves to their senses. Several times robbers broke in on him in his cell or in the garden, but the saint reasoned with them, the thieves repented, and began to lead honest lives.
Once, when the monk went to the Dnieper River for water, some servants of Prince Rostislav caught sight of the Elder and rudely began making fun of him. The saint answered them, “Children, when you should be asking for everyone’s prayers, you are displeasing God. Weep, for disaster approaches. Repent and ask God to be merciful to you on the Day of Judgment. All you will find death in the water with your prince.” By orders of the enraged Prince Rostislav, the monk was bound hand and foot, and he was drowned in the Dnieper with a stone around his neck. Still, his prediction came true. Rostislav did not return from the campaign. In that same year of 1093 the twenty-year-old prince drowned in sight of his brother, Vladimir Monomakh, trying to save himself as he fled from the Polovetsians.
Several sources identify Saint Gregory with Saint Gregory, a composer of Canons in honor of the holy Prince Vladimir, Saint Theodosius, and the holy Martyrs Boris and Gleb. But Saint Gregory, compiler of canons, lived later and died in about the year 1120. Saint Gregory the Wonderworker died in 1093 and was buried in the Near Caves. His memory is celebrated also on September 28 and on the second Sunday of Great Lent.
<>
St. Blaithmaic Martyr on Iona Island, Scotland
19 January
Died c. 823; feast day formerly on January 15. Blaithmac was an Irish abbot, who, desiring martyrdom, crossed over to England, which was then prey to the heathen Danes.
His contemporary, Walafrid Strabo (died 849), the German Benedictine of Reichenau, narrates his life in a 180-line metrical poem, which has been reprinted in Migne's "Patrologia" and Messingham's "Florilegium Insulae Sanctorum". According to this tradition, Blaithmac was heir to an Irish throne, but entered a monastery instead and later became its abbot. Desiring the crown of martyrs, he obtained permission to live among his brethren at Iona.
During the absence of its abbot Dermait, Blaithmac foretold the Viking raid on Iona and buried the shrine containing the relics of Saint Columba (f.d. June 9). After carefully replacing the sod above the burial site, Blaithmac then gave each of the monks the choice of fleeing or staying.
As he was offering the Holy Sacrifice the next morning, the invaders rushed in. The whole community was slaughtered, until only Blaithmaic, the temporary abbot, was left. He was promised that his life would be spared if he gave them the relics. He refused and was hacked to pieces by the Danes on the altar steps of the abbey church. When his brethren returned, they buried him where he had fallen. The relics were later reposed at Dunkeld in 849
<>
St. Dermot, Abbot of Innis-Clotran Island
18 January
6th century. Saint Diarmis was the spiritual director and teacher of Saint Kieran of Clonmacnois (f.d. September 9) and later abbot-founder of a monastery on Innis-Clotran Island.
<>
St. Day, Abbot in Cornwall, England
18 January
Date unknown. A Cornish church is dedicated to Saint Day, otherwise, nothing is known. He may possibly be identical to Abbot Saint Deicola.
<>
Saint Hieromartyr Isidore and 72 others at Yuriev, Estonia
January 8
Saint Isidore was priest of Saint Nicholas church in the city of Yuriev (Derpto, at present Taru in Estonia). According to the terms of a treaty concluded in 1463 between the Moscow Great Prince Ivan III and the Livonian knights, the latter were obligated to extend every protection to the Orthodox at Derpto. But the Livonian knights (who were German Catholics) broke the treaty and tried to force the Orthodox to become Roman Catholics.
The priest Isidore bravely stood forth in defense of Orthodoxy, preferring to accept a martyr’s crown rather than submit to the Catholics. The Latin bishop and the Roman Catholic nobles of Yuriev had been told that Saint Isidore and the Orthodox population of the city had spoken against the faith and customs of the Germans.
When Saint Isidore and seventy-two of his parishioners went to bless the waters of the River Omovzha (or Emaiyga, now Emajogi) for the Feast of Theophany, they were arrested and brought before the Latin bishop Andrew and the civil judges of the city. Pressure was brought on them to convert to Catholicism, but the saint and his flock refused to renounce Christ or the Orthodox Faith. Enraged by this, the authorities had them thrown into prison.
Saint Isidore encouraged his flock to prepare themselves for death, and not to fear torture. He partook of the reserved Gifts he carried with him, then communed all the men, women, and children with the Holy and Life-Giving Mysteries of Christ.
Then the bishop and the judges summoned the Orthodox to appear before them once more, demanding that they convert to Catholicism. When they refused to do so, they were dragged back to the river and pushed through the hole in the ice that they had cut to bless the water. So they all suffered and died for Christ, Who bestowed on them crowns of unfading glory.
During the spring floods, the incorrupt bodies of the holy martyrs, including the fully-vested body of the hieromartyr Isidore, were found by Russian merchants journeying along the river bank. They buried the saints around the church of Saint Nicholas.
Although people began to venerate these saints shortly after their death, they were not officially glorified by the Church until 1897.
<>
St. Molagga Abbot of Fermoy, Ireland, from Wales
20 January
Died c. 664. The Irish Molagga was raised in Wales under Saint David (Dewi; f.d. March 1). He founded a monastery at Fulachmhin (Fermoy), and is much venerated in northern Cork nearby. He is also associated with Balbriggan in Dublin.
<>
Saint Paisius of Uglich
January 8
Saint Paisius of Uglich was igumen of the Protection monastery, near Uglich. He was born in the Tver district near the city of Kashin, and he was a nephew of Saint Macarius of Kalyazin (March 17).
Saint Paisius entered his uncle’s monastery after the death of his parents, when he was just an eleven-year-old child. Under his uncle’s guidance, Saint Paisius led a monastic life of obedience, fasting and prayer, and he was put to work copying soul-saving books.
“A man wondrous of spirit, famed teacher of holiness and most astounding wonderworker, he founded (in 1464) the cenobitic Protection monastery three versts from Uglich at the wish of Prince Andrew, and he was chosen igumen.” Saint Paisius was also “founder and organizer of the holy Nikolsky Grekhozaruchnya monastery in 1489.”
Struggling at the Protection monastery, Saint Paisius lived into old age and died on June 6, 1504. His relics, glorified by miracles, rest beneath a crypt in the Protection monastery.
<>
St. Vimin of Holywood, Bishop and founder of the Monastery of Holywood in Nithsdale, Scotland
21 January
6th century. Saint Vimin, a Scottish bishop whose history is very confused, is said to have been the founder of the monastery of Holywood at Nithsdale. It is related that Vimin was an abbot in Fifeshire when he was consecrated bishop. He actively evangelized the region. In order to avoid the temptations to pride that accompanied his many miracles, he moved to a deserted place and founded Holywood ("Sacrumboscum"), which later became famous for producing many holy and learned men. The family of Wemse in Fifeshire is said to be of the same lineage as Vimin.
<>
Saint Carterius of Caesarea in Cappadocia
January 8
Saint Carterius lived during the reign of Diocletian, and was a teacher in Caesarea of Cappadocia. He stood before a statue of Serapis and prayed to Christ, and the idol shattered to pieces. The procurator Urbanus ordered Saint Carterius to be tortured and then beheaded. Some, however, say he was killed with a spear.
<>
Saint Theophilus the Deacon, and Saint Helladius, Martyrs in Libya
January 8
Saint Theophilus the deacon suffered with Saint Helladius. After confessing Christ before the governor of Libya, they were tortured and slain.
<>
St. Brigid the Virgin in Kilbride, Ireland
21 January
6th century. Saint Brigid is venerated in the diocese of Lismore. It is recorded that her famous namesake of Kildare (f.d. February 1) visited her more than once at Kilbride.
<>
Saint Julian and his wife, Saint Basilissa, and those with them, Martyrs in Egypt
January 8
The Holy Martyr Julian was born in the Egyptian city of Antinoe, and to satisfy his parents he entered into marriage with the noble and rich maiden, Basilissa. Though married, the spouses remained virginal. Upon the death of their parents they built two monasteries: one for men, and one for women. They themselves became monastics and headed these monasteries.
In the year 313, during the reign of Diocletian, Saint Julian suffered cruelly for his faith in Christ. By his bravery he converted Celsius, the son of his torturer the hegemon Marcian, and his wife, Marionilla. Having resurrected a dead pagan, the saint also converted him. The converts received Baptism from the priest Anthony. In Baptism the pagan was named Anastasius (i.e. “Resurrected”). After being locked in prison, they all received the crown of martyrdom, won through beheading by the sword. Also with them were twenty soldiers and seven youths.
<>
St. Lawdog, abbot on Bardsey Island, Wales
21 January
6th century. He is the titular patron of four churches in the diocese of Saint David's in Wales and, perhaps, identical with Saint Lleuddad (Laudatus; f.d. January 15), abbot of Bardsey.
<>
Saint Elias the Hermit, of Egypt
January 8
Saint Elias the Egyptian became a monk and pursued asceticism for seventy-five years on a desolate mountain in a cave. He died in the fourth century at the age of 110.
<>
St. Maccallin Abbot in Waulsort, Belgium, from Ireland
21 January
Died 978. Maccallin was an Irishman who made a pilgrimage to Saint Fursey's shrine at Peronne during the Viking terror. He entered the Benedictine abbey of Gorze. Later he became a hermit and was given a grant of land on which he founded Saint Michael's monastery at Thierache and governed it as abbot. Soon after he made a second foundation at Waulsort ("Valciodorum") Abbey, near Dinant, Belgium, on the River Meuse, over which he placed Saint Cadroe (f.d. March 6). In 946, Emperor Otto I issued a charter that stipulated that Waulsort should be governed by an Irish abbot so long as one was available within the community.
<>
Saint Abo the Perfumer, Martyr of Tbilisi, Georgia
January 8
In the 8th century a Saracen army tyrannized Kartli as a first step towards overturning the Georgian nation. The invaders were certain that the best way to conquer Georgia was to uproot the Christian Faith. The Georgian people were alarmed, and the clergy and the best sons of Kartli sought desperately for a resolution to this calamity. Much blood was shed in 766 when the Muslim invaders crushed an uprising in the eastern region of Kakheti.
In 772, Caliph Al Mansur (754-775), dissatisfied with the provincial governor of Kartli, Duke Nerse, summoned him to Baghdad. Nerse spent the following three years in captivity. During that time he became acquainted with a seventeen-year-old perfumer named Abo, and when he was released he brought Abo back with him to Georgia. Abo was amazed at the great piety of the Georgian people, and he began to learn the Georgian language, attend the divine services, and speak with local priests. Abo sought with all his heart to become a Christian, and he was eventually baptized in Khazaria, while in the company of Duke Nerse.
Later, Abo accompanied the duke to Abkhazeti, to escape the Saracen raids. Discovering an entire population of Christians praising Jesus Christ with one heart and mouth, Abo gave great thanks to God for the opportunity to visit this area. Nerse later returned to Kartli, but Abo remained at the request of the Abkhaz king, who feared that the Saracens would torture Abo for his devout faith in Christ. Soon, however, Abo became restless and told the king, “Let me go, and I will freely declare my Christian Faith to those who hate Christ!”
Abo labored in Tbilisi for three years, preaching the Christian Faith. Then his own former countrymen betrayed and captured him, but he was released soon after at the request of the duke Stepanoz.
A new emir was appointed to rule in Tbilisi, and when the Christians heard that he was plotting to capture Abo, they begged him to conceal his identity. But Abo simply rejoiced and told them, “I am prepared not only to be tortured for Christ, but to die for His sake as well.” As predicted, the emir’s servants captured Abo and brought him before a judge. The judge tried in vain to entice Abo to return to the faith of his ancestors. Then, in a rage, he ordered that Abo be cast into prison and that his hands and feet be fettered in chains. But his suffering for Christ filled the blessed Abo with even greater love, and he asked his Christian brothers and sisters to sell his clothes and use the money earned to buy candles and incense for local churches.
On the day of his execution Abo washed his face, anointed it with holy oil, partook of the Holy Gifts, and prepared for his death as though preparing for a feast. “Weep not, but rejoice, for I am going to my Lord. Pray for me, and may the peace of God protect you,” he cheerfully told the faithful Christians who surrounded him in his last hours.
When his time had come, Saint Abo placed his arms on his breast in the form of a cross and joyously bowed his head beneath the sword. The executioners swung their swords three times in hopes of frightening Abo into denying Christ, but the blessed Abo stood unyielding until his last breath. Finally, convinced that all their efforts and cunning were in vain, the executioners were given a sign and they beheaded the holy Abo. Defeated and ashamed, Abo’s godless executioners tossed his body, his garments, and the earth that had been soaked with his blood into a sack, dragged it outside the city, and burned it near the Mtkvari River. Then they wrapped his ashes in sheepskin and cast them into the river.
In the evening a sign was given from above. Next to the Metekhi Cliff, by the bridge, a shining star hung over the river with its bright light reflecting in the water where the remains of the saint rested. Later, a chapel was built in honor of Saint Abo on the left bank of the Mtkvari.
<>
St. Brithwold of Sarum, Bishop of Ramsbury, England
22 January
Died 1045. Saint Brithwold was a monk at Glastonbury in Wiltshire who was chosen bishop of Ramsbury in 995, and governed it for 50 years. After his death the see was moved to Old Sarum. His fame comes not from his long episcopate, but from his prophecy and vision concerning the successor to Saint Edward the Confessor (f.d. October 13). He was a great benefactor to Malmesbury and Glastonbury, where he was buried.
<>
Saint Gregory of Ochrid
January 8
Saint Gregory was a faithful teacher and shepherd of Christ’s flock. An inscription in the church of Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) in Ochrid refers to him as “Gregory the Wise.”
<>
St. Colman Bishop of Lismore, Ireland (+702)
23 January
Died c. 702. Saint Colman succeeded Saint Hierlug (Zailug) as abbot-bishop of Lismore in 698. During his rule the fame of Lismore reached its peak (Benedictines).
The Monastery of Lismore
As the School of Armagh in the North of Ireland, and that of Clonmacnoise in the centre, so the School of Lismore was the most celebrated in the South of Ireland. It was founded in the year 635 by St. Carthach the Younger, in a most picturesque site, steeply rising from the southern bank of the Blackwater. Its founder had spent nearly forty years of his monastic life in the monastery of Rahan on the southern borders of ancient Meath, in what is now King's County. He dearly loved that monastery which he had founded and which he fondly hoped would be the place of his resurrection; but the men of Meath - clerics and chieftains - grew jealous of the great monastery founded in their territory by a stranger from Munster, and they persuaded Prince Blathmac, son of Aedh Slaine, of the southern Hy Mall, to expel the venerable old man from the monastic home which he loved so well. The eviction is described by the Irish annalists as most unjust and cruel, yet, under God's guidance, it led to the foundation of Lismore on the beautiful margin of what was then called Avonmore, the great river, a site granted to St. Carthach by the prince of the Desii of Waterford.
Lismore was founded in 635; and the founder survived only two years, for he died in 637, but Providence blessed his work, and his monastery grew to be the greatest centre of learning and piety in all the South of Erin. The Rule of St. Carthach is the most notable literary monument which the founder left behind him. It is fortunately still extant in the ancient Gaelic verse in which it was written. It consists of 185 four-lined stanzas, which have been translated by O'Curry - who has no doubt of its authenticity - and is beyond doubt one of the most interesting and important documents of the early Irish Church.
The Rule of Saint Carthage can be found in The Celtic Monk: Rules & Writings of Early Irish Monks Uinseann O'Maidin OCR, pub. Cistercian Studies Series Number 162, 1996. ISBN: 0879076623 (pb) and 0879075627 (hb).
But Lismore produced a still more famous saint and scholar, the great St. Cathaldus of Tarentum. His Irish name was Cathal, and it appears he was born at a place called Rathan, not far from Lismore. Our Irish annals tell us nothing of St. Cathaldus, because he went abroad early in life, but the brothers Morini of his adopted home give us many particulars. They tell us he was a native of Hibernia - born at Rathan in Momonia - that he studied at Lismore, and became bishop of his native territory of Rathan, but that afterwards, inspired by the love of missionary enterprise, he made his way to Jerusalem, and on his return was, with his companions, wrecked at Tarentum - the beautiful Tarentum - at the heel of Italy. Its pleasure-loving inhabitants, forgetting the Gospel preached to them by St. Peter and St. Mark, had become practically pagans when Cathaldus and his companions were cast upon their shores. Seeing the city given up to vice and sensuality, the Irish prelate preached with great fervour, and wrought many miracles, so that the Tarentines gave up their sinful ways, and from that day to this have recognised the Irish Cathaldus as their patron saint, and greatly venerate his tomb, which was found intact in the cathedral as far back as the year 1110, with his name Cathaldus Rachan inscribed upon a cross therein. Another distinguished scholar of Lismore, and probably its second abbot, was St. Cuanna, most likely the half-brother and successor of the founder. He was born at Kilcoonagh, or Killcooney, a parish near Headford in the County Galway which takes its name from him. No doubt he went to Lismore on account of his close connection with St. Carthach, and for the same reason was chosen to succeed him in the school of Lismore. Colgan thought that the ancient but now lost "Book of Cuanach", cited in the "Annals of Ulster", but not later than A.D. 628, was the work of this St. Cuanna of Kilcooney and Lismore. It is also said that Aldfrid, King of Northumbria, spent some time at the school of Lismore, for he visited most of the famous schools of Erin towards the close of the seventh century, and at that time Lismore was one of the most celebrated. It was a place of pilgrimage also, and many Irish princes gave up the sceptre and returned to Lismore to end their lives in prayer and penance. There, too, by his own desire, was interred St. Celsus of Armagh, who died at Ardpatrick, but directed that he should be buried in Lismore - but we have sought in vain for any trace of his monument.
Two interesting memorials of Lismore are fortunately still preserved. The first is the crosier of Lismore, found accidentally in Lismore Castle in the year 1814. The inscription tells us that it was made for Niall Mac Mic Aeducan, Bishop of Lismore, 1090-1113, by Neclan the artist. This refers to the making of the case or shrine, which enclosed an old oak stick, the original crosier of the founder. Most of the ornaments are richly gilt, interspersed with others of silver and niello, and bosses of coloured enamels. You can see the crosier here:
The second is the "Book of Lismore" found in the castle at the same time with the crosier, enclosed in a wooden box in a built-up doorway. The castle was built as long ago as 1185 by Prince John. Afterwards the bishops of Lismore came to live there, and no doubt both crosier and book belonged to the bishops and were hidden for security in troublesome times. The Book of Lismore contains a very valuable series of the lives of our Irish saints, written in the finest medieval Irish. It was in 1890 admirably translated into English by Dr. Whitley Stokes. One of the Saints' Lives (paraphrased), Saint Fanahan of Brigown, may be read here http://incolor.inetnebr.com/jskean/Fanahan.htm
<>
St. Fillan (Faolan), Abbot of Strathfillan, Scotland
9 January
Also 19 January. Son of Saint Kentigerna, Hermit of Loch Lomond. Monk. Hermit, living most of his life in prayer near the Saint Andrew Monastery. Built a church at Gledochart. For centuries after his death, the mentally ill were miraculously cured by being dipped in a fountain in the church.
* * *
19 January
Early 8th century; in Ireland his feast is celebrated on January 9 which is the day of his death.
The Irish Fillan, son of Feriach, grandson of King Ceallach of Leinster, received the monastic habit in the abbey of Saint Fintan Munnu. Then he accompanied his mother, Saint Kentigerna (f.d. January 7), and his uncle, Saint Comgan (f.d. October 13), to Scotland, where he became a missionary monk. He was perhaps a monk at Taghmon in Wexford and a hermit at Pittenweem, Fife, before being chosen as abbot of the nearby monastery, which he governed for some years. He retired to Glendochart in Perthshire, where he lived a solitary life and built a church. There he died and was buried at the place now called Strathfillan in his honour. Until the early 19th century, the mentally ill were dipped into the pool here and then left all night, tied up, in a corner of Fillan's ruined chapel. If they were found loose the next morning, they were considered cured.
Further north, in Ross-shire, there are dedications to his memory and that of his uncle (Kilkoan and Killellan). Both Irish and Scottish martyrologies recorded his sanctity, and the "Aberdeen Breviary" relates some extraordinary miracles performed by him.
History also records that Robert the Bruce put his hopes of victory at Bannockburn into the hands of Saint Fillan. It is reported that he brought an arm relic of the saint into battle having passed most of the night praying for his intercession. Not surprisingly, the Scottish victory at Bannockburn revived and perpetuated his veneration, and his feast is still kept in the diocese of Dunkeld.
The bell and staff of St. Fillan still exist. His pastoral staff, or crozier, (the Quigrich), and his bell are in the National Museum in Edinburgh. To see the reliquary cover of the crozier, go here http://www.cushnieent.force9.co.uk/photogallery1.html
His "healing stones" are at the Tweed Mill, Dochart Bridge, Killin.
<>
St. Dunchaid O'Braoin, Abbot of Clonmacnoise, Ireland
16 January
Born in Westmeath; died at Armagh, 988. Saint Dunchaid was an anchorite until 969, when he was chosen abbot of Clonmacnoise Monastery. In his old age he retired to Armagh, where he died.
<>
Macarius of Mount Athos
January 6
Saint Macarius was born in Thessalonica during the reign of Emperor Manuel II Paleologos, and went to Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos when he was young. Later, he went to Constantinople and became igumen of the Monastery of the Pantocrator, and chaplain to the Emperor.
He died in 1431 during an epidemic in Chalke.
<>
Saint Cedd of Lastingham, England
Commemorated on January 7
Saint Cedd was a missionary and bishop who spread the faith throughout England during the seventh century.
The eldest of four brothers, all of whom became priests, he was born in 620 AD into a noble Northumbrian family. At an early age, he began studies at the Lindisfarne Priory, where he became familiar with Irish monasticism. After pursuing further studies in Ireland, he was sent by Bishop Finan of Lindisfarne to evangelize the people of Essex. He baptized many of the locals, built several churches, and founded monasteries in Bradwell-on-Sea and East Tilbury.
After his consecration to the episcopacy as Bishop of Essex, he reinstated Saint Paul's in London as the main seat of his diocese. He remained fond of his northern homeland and made regular visits there. On one such occasion in 658, he was approached by King Aethelwald of Deira who, finding Saint Cedd to be a good and wise man, pressed him to accept a parcel of land at Lastingham in Yorkshire on which to build a monastery. Saint Cedd eventually agreed, laying the foundation stones after the parcel had been cleansed through prayer and fasting. He became the first Abbot of Lastingham and remained so while still ministering to his flock in Essex.
Saint Cedd died in Lastingham during a great plague that also claimed the life of his brother Cynebil. Eventually, he was buried under the altar of a little stone church built at Lastingham in honor of the Mother of God. His relics were later transferred to the Litchfield Cathedral, which had been built by his brother Chad.
oca.org
<>
Feast of the Theophany of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
Commemorated on January 6
Theophany is the Feast which reveals the Most Holy Trinity to the world through the Baptism of the Lord (Mt.3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22). God the Father spoke from Heaven about the Son, the Son was baptized by Saint John the Forerunner, 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 God is Light and has appeared to illumine “those who sat in darkness,” and “in the region of the shadow of death” (Mt.4:16), and to save the fallen race of mankind by grace.
In the ancient Church it was the custom to baptize catechumens at the Vespers of Theophany, so that Baptism also is revealed as the spiritual illumination of mankind.
The origin of the Feast of Theophany goes back to Apostolic times, and it is mentioned in The Apostolic Constitutions (Book V:13). From the second century we have the testimony of Saint Clement of Alexandria concerning the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord, and the night vigil before this Feast.
There is a third century dialogue about the services for Theophany between the holy martyr Hippolytus and Saint Gregory the Wonderworker. In the following centuries, from the fourth to ninth century, all the great Fathers of the Church: Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom, Ambrose of Milan, John of Damascus, commented on the Feast of Theophany.
The monks Joseph the Studite, Theophanes and Byzantios composed much liturgical music for this Feast, which is sung at Orthodox services even today. Saint John of Damascus said that the Lord was baptized, not because He Himself had need for cleansing, but “to bury human sin by water,” to fulfill the Law, to reveal the mystery of the Holy Trinity, and finally, to sanctify “the nature of water” and to offer us the form and example of Baptism.
On the Feast of the Baptism of Christ, the Holy Church proclaims our faith in the most sublime mystery, incomprehensible to human intellect, of one God in three Persons. It teaches us to confess and glorify the Holy Trinity, one in Essence and Undivided. It exposes and overthrows the errors of ancient teachings which attempted to explain the Creator of the world by reason, and in human terms.
The Church shows the necessity of Baptism for believers in Christ, and it inspires us with 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, therefore it is necessary to preserve worthily these gifts of the grace of holy Baptism, keeping clean this priceless garb, for “As many as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ” (Gal 3:27).
On the day of Theophany, all foods are permitted, even if the Feast falls on a Wednesday or Friday.
<>
St. Honoratus of Arles, Bishop
16 January
Born in Treves (Trier), Germany, (or Lorraine, France), c. 350; died at Arles, France, 429.
Saint Honoratus was born into a Gallo-Roman family of consular rank. He was well-versed in the liberal arts. He converted from paganism to Christianity in his youth and won his older brother, Venantius, to Christ. The two brothers desired to forsake the world entirely; but their father put continual temptations in their way. Finally, they secured the services of Saint Caprasius (f.d. June 1), a holy hermit, who acted as their instructor in the ways of holiness.
The three sailed from Marseilles to Greece, intending to live there in some unknown desert and learn more about monasticism. Venantius died at Modon; Honoratus was also ill. He and his mentor were forced to return home via Rome. He intended to live the life of a hermit, but God had other plans for him. At first he lived as one near Frejus. Two small islands were just off the coast near Cannes: a larger one called Lero (now St. Margaret's); the other, smaller and further out called Lerins (now Saint-Honorat).
Around 410 (400?), he established himself on this smaller desert island, where he was joined by SS. Lupus of Troyes (f.d. July 29), Eucherius of Lyons (f.d. November 16), and Hilary of Arles (f.d. May 5), as well as others. This was the beginning of the celebrated monastery of Lerins, whose history lasted for nearly 1,400 years. Some of the monks lived in community; others were anchorites. The Rule was that of Saint Pachomius (f.d. May 9).
About 426-427, he was forced to become archbishop of the important see of Arles. However, the labours in the field he did not want lasted less than three years. Honoratus died exhausted by his austerities and apostolic labours in 429.
His relative Hilary, who succeeded him as bishop of Arles, wrote a panegyric of Saint Honoratus that speaks of the trouble taken by the saint to ensure that no one in this island community should be dispirited, overworked, or idle; and 'it is astonishing how much work he got through himself, of poor health as he was.' Many visitors found their way to the island (including Saint John Cassian), and no one left it 'without a perfectly carefree mind.' Honoratus is one of those blessedly joyful saints (Attwater, Benedictines, Encyclopaedia, Hoare, Walsh).
Lerin Islands (Iles des Lerins) - Directly off the shore of Cannes are the Iles de Lerins. These islands mirror the city's history and there is a classic coastal fortress designed by Vauban on the Ile Sainte-Marguerite with its Maritime Museum and where the mysterious Man in the Iron Mask and Marshal Bazaine were imprisoned. The Ile Saint-Honorat has a Mediterranean coastal forest of native pine, eucalyptus and cypress trees and a fortified abbey based in the monastery founded by Saint Honoratus at the end of the 4th Century, which graduated St. Patrick, St. Hilaire, and St. Cezaire, among others.
Saint Honoratus is generally portrayed as driving serpents from the island of Lerins, whose monastery he founded. He is shown at times (1) as a bishop over the island of Lerins with a phoenix below, or (2) drawing water from a rock with his mitre near him (Roeder).
<>
Saint Pakhomios of Keno Lake, Russia
Commemorated on January 7
Saint Pakhomios is commemorated on the Saturday after Theophany. He was the disciple and fellow ascetic of Saint Alexander of Oshevensk (April 20). Father Pakhomios left his instructor's Monastery shortly after the latter's repose. A strict faster and man of prayer, Pakhomios spent many years in solitude. Over time, the local residents began coming to the place of his ascetical exploits (podvigs), and some asked the Elder for his advice and his blessing.
Gradually, many monks settled near the Elder's cell. There a temple was built in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord, which became the focus of the Savior-Transfiguration Keno Monastery. This occurred no later than the beginning of the XVI century, or possibly at the end of the XV century. Saint Pakhomios established a hospital for infirm monks. The brethren themselves, along with their Igoumen, worked on the land: they sowed, harvested wheat, caught fish, and cleared the forest for fields.
In 1508, Saint Anthony of Siya (December 7), who was once a disciple of Saint Pakhomios, was tonsured at Keno Monastery. Saint Pakhomios would not entrust Saint Anthony to one of the other monks, but he himself took him under his wing and was his guide in asceticism and in the spiritual life. Saint Anthony possessed every virtue and resisted every temptation, purifying his mind and soul from the passions, and freeing himself from worldly attachments. When the time came for Saint Anthony to leave the Monastery and live in solitude, Saint Pakhomios blessed him to follow that path saying, “May the Lord bless you, my child. May the Lord’s will be done.”
Saint Pakhomios was a great ascetic and a clairvoyant Elder, a good and faithful servant who, at an advanced age, reposed in 1515 at the Monastery he had founded.
Soon afterward, miracles began to take place at the Saint's tomb. In 1800, the Transfiguration Church, and everything in it was destroyed in a fire. Only three planks over the Saint's grave remained untouched by the fire.
<>
St. Nennius, Abbot and hermit on the isle of Inismuighesamb on lake Erne, Ulster, Ireland
17 January
6th century. All that is known of him is that he was Irish, became a disciple of Saint Finnian of Clonard (f.d. December 12) at Clonard in Meath, and is one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. It is said that from his youth, Nennius was a Christian who was single-hearted for God, and received his first training under Bishop Saint Fiace of Leinster (f.d. October 12). Tradition says that he left Clonard to become a hermit on the isle of Inismuighesamb on lake Erne, Ulster, where many sought his spiritual direction and he founded a monastery.
<>
Synaxis of the Holy Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John
Commemorated on January 7
In the Orthodox Church it is customary, on the day following the Great Feasts of the Lord and the Mother of God, to remember those saints who participated directly in the sacred event. So, on the day following the Theophany of the Lord, the Church honors the one who participated directly in the Baptism of Christ, placing his own hand upon the head of the Savior.
Saint John, the holy Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord, whom the Lord called the greatest of the prophets, concludes the history of the Old Testament and opens the era of the New Testament. The holy Prophet John bore witness to the Only-Begotten Son of God, incarnate in the flesh. Saint John was accounted worthy to baptize Him in the waters of the Jordan, and he was a witness of the Theophany of the Most Holy Trinity on the day of the Savior’s Baptism.
The holy Prophet John, the son of the Priest Zachariah and Righteous Elizabeth, was related to the Lord on His mother’s side. The holy Forerunner, John, was born six months before Christ. The Archangel Gabriel announced his birth in the Temple at Jerusalem, revealing to Zachariah that a son was to be born to him.
Through the prayers offered beforehand, the child was filled with the Holy Spirit. Saint John prepared himself in the wilds of the desert for his great service by a strict life, by fasting, prayer and sympathy for the fate of God’s people.
At the age of thirty, he came forth preaching repentance. He appeared on the banks of the Jordan, to prepare the people by his preaching to accept the Savior of the world. In church hymnology, Saint John is called a “bright morning star,” whose gleaming outshone the brilliance of all the other stars, announcing the coming dawn of the day of grace, illumined with the light of the spiritual Sun, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Having baptized the sinless Lamb of God, Saint John soon died a martyr’s death, beheaded by the sword on orders of King Herod at the request of his daughter Salome. (On Saint John the Baptist, see Mt.3:1-16, 11:1-19, 14:1-12; Mark 1:2-8, 6:14-29; Luke 1:5-25, 39-80, 3:1-20, 7:18-35, 9:7-9; John 1:19-34, 3:22-26).
The Transfer of the Right Hand of the holy Forerunner from Antioch to Constantinople (956) and the Miracle of Saint John the Forerunner against the Hagarenes (Moslems) at Chios:
The body of Saint John the Baptist was buried in the Samaritan city of Sebaste. The holy Evangelist Luke, who went preaching Christ in various cities and towns, came to Sebaste, where they gave him the right hand of the holy Prophet John, the very hand with which he had baptized the Savior. The Evangelist Luke took it with him to his native city of Antioch.
When the Moslems seized Antioch centuries later, a deacon named Job brought the holy hand of the Forerunner from Antioch to Chalcedon. From there, on the eve of the Theophany of the Lord, it was transferred to Constantinople (956) and kept thereafter.
In the year 1200, the Russian pilgrim Dobrynya, who later became Saint Anthony, Archbishop of Novgorod (February 10), saw the right hand of the Forerunner in the imperial palace. From the Lives of the Saints we learn that in the year 1263, during the capture of Constantinople by the Crusaders, the emperor Baldwin gave one bone from the wrist of Saint John the Baptist to Ottonus de Cichon, who then gave it to a Cistercian abbey in France.
The right hand continued to be kept in Constantinople. And at the end of the fourteenth to the beginning of the fifteenth centuries, the holy relic was seen at Constantinople in the Peribleptos monastery by the Russian pilgrims Stephen of Novgorod, the deacon Ignatius, the cantor Alexander and the deacon Zosimus. When Constantinople fell to the Turks in 1453, sacred objects were gathered up at the the conqueror’s orders and kept under lock in the imperial treasury.
In the Lives of the Saints is clear testimony that in the year 1484 the right hand of the holy Forerunner was given away by the son of the Moslem sultan Bayazet to the knights of Rhodes to gain their good will, since a dangerous rival for Bayazet, his own brother, had allied himself with them. A contemporary participant, the vice-chancellor of Rhodes, Wilhelm Gaorsan Gallo, also speaks of this event. The knights of Rhodes, having established their base on the island of Malta (in the Mediterranean Sea), then transferred the sacred relic they had received to Malta.
When the Russian Tsar Paul I (1796-1801) became Grand Master of the Maltese Order in honor of the holy Prophet John, the right hand of the Baptist, part of the Life-Creating Cross and the Philermos Icon (October 12) of the Mother of God (from Mt Philermos on the island of Rhodes) were transferred in 1799 from the island of Malta to Russia [because of the Napoleonic threat], to the chapel at Gatchina (October 12). In the same year these sacred items were transferred into the church dedicated to the Icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands at the Winter Palace. A special service was composed for this Feast.
Besides the Synaxis of the honorable, glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates his memory on the following days: September 23, his Conception; June 24, his Nativity; August 29, his Beheading; February 24, the First and Second Finding of his Head; May 25, the Third Finding of his Head; October 12, the Transfer of his Right Hand from Malta to Gatchina (1799).
<>
St. Dicuil, Abbot in Lure, France, from Ireland
18 January
Born in Leinster, Ireland, c. 530; died in Lure, France, c. 625. Deicolus, the elder brother of Saint Gall (f.d. October 16), was one of the 12 disciples of Saint Columbanus (f.d. November 21) who accompanied him to France in 576 and helped to found the great abbey of Luxeuil. Deicolus worked with Columbanus in Austrasia and Burgundy. Though life was not easy, Deicolus was known for the peace and joy that radiated from his soul and could be seen on his face. Columbanus once asked him, Why are you always smiling? He simply answered, Because no one can take God from me.br />
When Columbanus was expelled by Thierry in 610, Deicolus succumbed to fatigue just a few miles from Luxeuil. Columbanus blessed the monk who was unable to accompany him into exile because of his age. Deicolus wandered a bit in the forest region. When he became thirsty with no water in sight, he knelt down in prayer. Miraculously, a spring gushed forth under his walking stick. He settled where the water arose at Lure (Lutra) in the Vosges.
But the spring is not the only miracle attributed to Deicolus. The pastor of the nearby chapel of Saint Martin objected to the saint coming there each night to pray. He was troubled by the stranger for whom doors opened without keys. Soon, however, a community gathered around the ancient monk. King Clothaire provided funds for the monastery he founded on the site. There Deicolus retired to live as a hermit until his death.
His lonely mountain cell was the beginning of the city of Lure in northeastern France. The abbots of Lure were made princes of the Holy Roman Empire more than 1,000 years later. Deicolus's cultus is still strong around Lure, where even at the end of the 19th century children's clothes were washed in the spring because it cured childhood illnesses. Deicolus teaches us that joyful souls delight the Lord and others.
Saint Deicolus is pictured as a hermit. A wild boar hunted by King Clothair takes refuge at his feet. Sometimes there is a ray of light on him.
<>
St. Anthony the Great, Abbot and hermit in Egypt
17 January
Born at Koman (Coma) near Memphis, Egypt, c. 251; died on Mount Kolzim, January 17, 356.
The same St. Anthony is often depicted on Irish High Crosses, together with St Paul of Thebes, both being brought bread by a raven as they converse about spiritual matters
Whoever sits in solitude and is quiet has escaped from three wars: hearing, speaking, and seeing. Yet against one thing he must constantly battle: his own heart. --Saint Antony Abbot.
The devil dreads fasting, prayer, humility, and good works: He is not able even to stop my mouth who speak against him. The illusions of the devil soon vanish, especially if a man arms himself with the Sign of the Cross. The devils tremble at the Sign of the Cross of our Lord, by which He triumphed over and disarmed them. --Saint Antony Abbot.
Antony's work was of lasting import--centuries later, in the 20th century, the monasteries he established still exist and are peopled by numerous monks as the Coptic Orthodox Church enjoys a thriving monastic life in the 20th century.
But the Church has never been simply a clique of saints but a field of weeds as well as wheat. Even after only its first 250 years of existence the level of early enthusiasm and standard of holiness had sunk a great deal as large groups of people, some lukewarm, entered the Church. The Church does not exist for men who are already holy, but rather to help us to grow in sanctity. Her moral laws do not exist to inhibit our freedom, but as signposts allowing us the freedom to become most ourselves, who are made by, for, and in the image of God. Her Sacraments are not prizes for the already perfected but medicine for the sick and weak.
Yet the Church is not just a hospital for the morally wounded or spiritual convalescents. The generous heart, the strong worker, the vivid imagination, the triumphant will--all these are cared for, nurtured, and called to live within her. And not only the Church as a body, but each of us within Her, contains this mixture of the sick and the holy. We are beaten down by the evil within and around us but, with God's help, arise again to continue the fight. Antony was one of those whose virtues encouraged others to continue the battle and win the crown of glory offered to all by our Lord Jesus Christ.
Antony, the founder of Christian monasticism, is considered as such because he gathered the desert hermits into loosely-knit communities and exercised a certain authority over them. Nevertheless, he himself spent most of his life in solitude.
In order to keep Antony from being tainted by bad example, his rich and pious parents kept him always at home, unacquainted with any branch of human literature or other languages. His childhood was marked by his even temper, attendance to religious duties, and obedience to his parents.
At age 18 to 20, his parents died leaving him a vast fortune, including 300 "auras" (about 120 acres) of rich Egyptian soil. The "Golden Legend" says that one day in church Antony heard: If you wish to be perfect, go and sell all that you have and give it to the poor. Many of us hear this passage without really paying much attention to it. But Antony, impressed by Christ's words to the rich young ruler, gave up everything and, providing only for the needs of his sister, became an ascetic. She, however, following his example, surrendered her share in the inheritance and entered a house of virgins.
He went to live alone in various spots in the neighbourhood of his home in Lower Egypt, but sought the counsel of an aged hermit to teach him the spiritual life and help to control what he felt was his wayward, impressionable temperament, which he knew he could not govern all alone. During the next 15 years, he also visited other solitaries, copying in himself the principal virtue of each. Soon he was a model of humility, charity, and prayerfulness.
He found God on the abrupt and rocky banks of the Nile, where burning stones take possession of flowers before they even bloom. Fleeing the agony of a corrupt and crumbling world, he sought in silence and poverty to hear the whispers of the divine presence, to make the sand and flagstones flourish with spiritual flowers.
Antony began the life of a hermit, living in a tomb. He spent his time in prayer, study, and the manual work necessary to earn his living, while practising the strictest self-denial. He ate only bread, with a little salt, and water, which he never tasted before sunset, and sometimes only once every several days. He wore sackcloth and sheepskin, and often knelt in prayer from sunset to sunrise. When he did sleep, it was on a rush mat or the bare floor. Thus, he became Antony the Great: the giant of holiness, the athlete of the spiritual order, the colossal mystic whose name dominates early Christianity in Egypt.
Here the devils assaulted him most furiously, appearing as various monsters and worldly temptations such as rich clothing, delicious food, and beautiful women. They even wounded him severely. But his courage never failed, and he overcame them all by confidence in God and by the Sign of the Cross. One night many devils scourged him so terribly that he lay as if dead. A friend found him that way and, believing him dead, carried him home. When Antony awakened, he persuaded his friend to carry him, in spite of his wounds, back to his solitude. Here, prostrate from weakness, he defied the devils, saying, I fear you not; you cannot separate me from the love of Christ.
Hereupon the fiends appearing again, renewed the attack, and alarmed him with terrible noises and a variety of spectres in hideous shapes until a ray of heavenly light chased them away. He cried out as we so often do when besieged by the enemy: Where were You, my Lord and my Master? Why weren't You here from the beginning of my conflict to assuage my pain? A voice answered: Antony, I was here the whole time; I stood by you, and saw your combat. And because you manfully withstood your enemies, I will always protect you, and will make your name famous throughout the earth.
Not only did the devils assault him in this way, they also tempted him with thoughts about failed opportunities for doing good with the property he had given away. This is a common ploy of the evil one: to attempt to pull us away from the vocation to which God has called us, making us slothful or dissatisfied with our own role in the salvation of the world and the glorification of the Father.
About 285, in a quest for greater solitude, he left the area around his birthplace and took up residence in an abandoned fort atop Mount Pispir (now Der el Memun), living in nearly complete solitude and seeing almost no one, eating only dates growing nearby and the bread thrown to him over the wall. He continued this life for 20 years until he knew and could govern himself to do the exterior work.
In 305, he emerged to organise at Fayum (Phaium) the colony of ascetics that had grown around his retreat into a loosely organised monastery with a rule, though each monk lived in solitude except for worship. Most say it was the first Christian monastery. The dissipation occasioned by this undertaking led him into a temptation of despair, which he overcame by prayer and hard manual labour.
During this time of his life, he daily ate six ounces of bread soaked in water with a little salt, and sometimes added a few dates. He generally ate after sunset, but on some days at 3:00 p.m. In his old age, he also added a little oil. Thus, in his more active period he somewhat modified his earlier austerities.
It is said that he was always so cheerful when in company that strangers could always identify him from among his disciples by the joy that always painted his countenance. This, of course, was the result of the inward peace and composure of his soul--Christ's final gift to us, His servants. (It does appear, however, that Antony also possessed the gift of tears.)
Antony exhorted his brethren to spend as little time as possible in the care of the body. Nevertheless, he was careful never to place perfection in mortification, but rather in charity. He instructed his monks to always be mindful of eternity: to reflect every morning that they might not live until nightfall, every evening that they may never see the sun rise, and to perform every action as if it were the last of their lives, with all the fervour of their souls to please God.
In 311, at the height of Emperor Maximin's persecution, he went to Alexandria to give encouragement to the Christians being persecuted there and in the mines of the Sudan where they were imprisoned. He wore a white tunic of sheepskin during his stay in Alexandria so that he would be recognised by other Christians. He took care, however, never to provoke the judges or impeach himself, as some rashly did. He returned to his monastery when the persecution subsided in 312 and organised another at Pispir, near the Nile.
Again he retired, this time with his disciple Saint Macarius the Younger (f.d. January 2) to a cliffside cave on Mount Kolzim near the northwest corner of the Red Sea, where he remained for the rest of his long life cultivating enough land to support himself, weaving reed mats, and visiting the monks of the desert community. Generally, Macarius would entertain any strangers who managed to reach their aerie. If they were found to be spiritual men, Antony would spend time with them, too.
Another lesson we can learn from Saint Antony: In a time of spiritual dryness take up an ordinary occupation. When Antony found uninterrupted contemplation above his strength, an angel taught his to use intervals of manual labour interspersed with prayer. Soon prayer was added to the work of his hands.
He had many followers and soon his life of solitude became impossible. Numerous colonies of monks, following his example, multiplied with great rapidity, so that the deserts of the Nile and the sands of Libya were peopled with thousands of anchorites. The rocks resounded with their songs, and at Easter immense congregations of up to 50,000 people would gather to celebrate the glory of the Risen One.
Antony's influence exerted itself like a radiating force in other countries, too. Saint Hilarion (f.d. October 21) visited him about 310, and inaugurated monasteries in Palestine; Mar Agwin did so in 325 in Mesopotamia; Saint Pachomius (f.d. May 9), nearer home, in 318. Antony had two qualities proper to great men--he was able (such was the force of his personality) to leave almost complete freedom and initiative to the men under his immediate influence; and he did not grumble if others imitated and also modified his system. Thus, Pachomius started a much more centralised, highly organised monasticism more like modern monasteries--the system that spread to the West.
A significant feature of these desert saints was their physical strength and energy. Antony himself remained alert and vigorous despite his privations, and those who followed him became spiritual athletes, men and women who under conditions of great severity developed strong physique and braced themselves in health and virtue. (When Antony died at age 105, his sight and hearing were unimpaired and he had all his teeth.) These desert fathers lived in remote places in huts, caves or abandoned buildings, and sought God through intellectual and physical self-discipline in a life of prayer, meditation, austerity, and manual labour (to feed themselves). Such lives produced characters of impressive integrity and wisdom, as well as keen understanding of the human psyche.
Some desert monks were characterised by extravagant austerities and fanaticism; not so Antony. He was notably moderate for his time, a man of spiritual wisdom, whose austerity of life was always consciously directed to the better service of God.
Many stories are told of Antony and of his encounters with strange creatures (including a centaur and satyr in the story of his search for Saint Paul the Hermit (f.d. January 15), and of how by the power of prayer he overcame his fears and proved that the wildest phantasies of the mind can be dispelled by the grace of God. He had also the gift of taming wild animals and on that account is called their patron saint. Why do you hurt me, he asked the beasts of the desert, gently taking hold of one of them, who do not hurt you? and they left him in peace.
He had a great reputation for holiness, but on one occasion he heard an inner voice: Antony, you are not so perfect as is a cobbler that dwells at Alexandria. Whereupon he took his staff and sought him out. The cobbler was amazed to see such a holy and famous man at his door. Antony enquired how he spent his time.
Sir, he replied, as for me, good works have I none, for my life is but simple and slender. I am but a poor cobbler. In the morning when I rise, I pray for the whole city wherein I dwell, especially for all such neighbours and poor friends as I have. After, I set me at my labour, where I spend the whole day in getting my living. And I keep me from all falsehood, for I hate nothing so much as I do deceitfulness; wherefore when I make to any man a promise, I keep to it and perform it truly. And thus I spent my time poorly with my wife and children, whom I teach and instruct, as far as my wit will serve me, to fear and dread God. And this is the sum of my simple life.br />
Thus, Antony learned that there are many way of holiness and that perfection is not only to be found in the lonely places of the desert.
About 337, Emperor Constantine and his two sons, Constantius and Constans, wrote a joint letter to Antony seeking advice and asking for his prayers. His monks were surprised that he should be so honoured. Unmoved he said, Do not wonder that the emperor writes to us, one man to another; rather admire that God should have written to us, and that He has spoken to us through His Son. In total, his response to the emperor preserved by Saint Athanasius (f.d. May 2), and seven other letters to various monasteries are the sum of Antony's literary output.
In 339, Saint Antony had a vision in which mules kicked down the altar. This was taken as a warning about the havoc the Arian persecution wrought just two years later in Alexandria. At the request of the bishops, about 355, Antony again went to Alexandria to join those combatting Arianism. He taught that God the Son is not a creature but the same substance as the Father, and that the Arians, who claimed he was, were heathens. There he met and became close friends with Saint Athanasius, whose "Vita Antonii" is the chief source of information about Antony.
On his return, he again sought refuge in the cave on Mount Kolzim, where he received visitors, including Emperor Constantine, and dispensed advice. He chief advice was that knowledge of oneself was the necessary and only step by which one can ascend to the knowledge and love of God.
Full of years, of battles and victories, Antony died on January 17 in the desert where only legend could trace his path. He was secretly buried on Mount Kolzim. About 561, his body was discovered and with great solemnity translated to Alexandria, then to Constantinople, and is now at Vienne, France.
After Saint Antony had lived in the desert for 75 years, he was told in a vision about the hermit Saint Paul (f.d. January 15), who had been living in asceticism for 90 years. At once he resolved to find him and set out across the desert. On the way he met with a centaur and a satyr, before finding Saint Paul in a cave in the rocks beside a stream and a palm-tree. The two embraced in immediate recognition, after which Saint Paul inquired about the state of the world that he had left so long ago.
Saint Jerome (f.d. September 30), in his account of Paul the Hermit, describes the meeting of the two during which a raven dropped a loaf of bread for the hermits to share. Paul then asked Antony to return to his own hermitage and fetch the cloak given to him by Bishop Saint Athanasius in which he wished to be buried. En route back to the elder hermit, Antony saw Paul ascending into heaven. At the cave he found the dead body in an attitude of prayer. Antony was too old to have the strength to dig a grave, but two lions came and dug it with their paws. Antony wrapped Paul's body in the cloak and buried it.
The ascetic lives of Paul of Thebes and Anthony was known to the monks of ancient Ireland and they strove to emulate their asceticism. They frequently carved onto the Irish High Crosses the scene of the two ascetics conversing while a raven brings them bread. These High Crosses, with Paul. and Antony depicted on them, may be seen in Ireland even today. If you go here and look at the North Face of the Cross you can see the two hermits on the Ruthwell Cross, created about 700 AD.
Saint Jerome (f.d. September 30) and Rufinus relate that Antony met Didymus, the blind head of the catechetical school at Alexandria.
His fights with the devil, his temptations, his meeting with Saint Paul the Hermit, his association with monks who treasured his sayings, his prophecies: These are all told in his "Life" written by Saint Athanasius, to whom he bequeathed one of his sheepskins and his cloak as a public testimony of his being united in faith and communion with that holy prelate.
Upon his death 14 years after that of Saint Paul, Antony was buried secretly, according to his own wish. Both during his life and after his death his influence was great, and veneration for him remains strong all over Christendom (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Butler, Delaney, Encyclopaedia, Gill, Husenbeth, Martindale, Meyer, Tabor, White).
In art Saint Antony is depicted as a very old monk in a habit to indicate that he was the founder of monasticism. But he is represented in various ways: (1) with a bell or asperges (both to exorcise evil spirits) and a "tau"-shaped cross which designates, perhaps, his age and authority, and which is worn by the Knights of Saint Antony (instituted 1352); (2) with a pig (representing sensuality and gluttony), to denote his battles with the devil; (3) with a book to signify Antony's devotion to the Scriptures; or (4) with flames to indicate the disease known as Saint Antony's Fire, against which his name was invoked in the Middle Ages; (5) with the devil near him; (6) tempted by devils or carried aloft by them; (7) with the centaur and satyr he met on his way to Saint Paul; (8) breaking bread with Saint Paul the Hermit (the bread is brought to them by ravens); (9) with two lions, who dig Paul's grave; (10) making baskets, which was one of the primary occupations of the Egyptian monks; or (11) as a young man distributing his wealth (Appleton, Encyclopaedia, Roeder, Tabor). Attwater claims that his emblems are a pig and a bell.
Saint Antony is the patron of basket-makers (Roeder), domestic animals, pet, people those with skin diseases (White). He is invoked against erysipelas (Saint Antony's Fire), probably because of his reputation as a healer (Roeder, White).
celticsaints.org
<>
St. Dunchaid O'Braoin, Abbot of Clonmacnoise, Ireland
16 January
Born in Westmeath; died at Armagh, 988. Saint Dunchaid was an anchorite until 969, when he was chosen abbot of Clonmacnoise Monastery. In his old age he retired to Armagh, where he died.
<>
Prophet Micah
January 5
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 cast into prison. Set free after the downfall of Ahab (3 Kings 22: 8-22), the holy prophet Micah died as a martyr in the ninth century B.C.
<>
St. Fursey of East Anglia and Lagny Abbot of Burgh Castle, and Peronne Monastery, France, from Ireland
16 January
Born Island of Inisquin(?), Lough Corri, Ireland; died in France c. 648.
After Saint Columbanus (f.d. November 21) Fursey is perhaps the best known of the Irish monastic missionaries abroad in the earlier middle ages. Born of noble parents, Saint Fursey left home to build a monastery at Rathmat (probably Killursa), attracted throngs of disciples, and then after a time at home began preaching.
Twelve years later, sometime after 630, with his brothers SS. Foillan (f.d. October 31) and Ultan (f.d. May 2), he travelled to East Anglia (England) as a pilgrim for Christ, and was welcomed by King Saint Sigebert (f.d. September 27) of the East Angles, who was encouraging the work of Saint Felix of Dunwich (f.d. March 8) at just this time. Sigebert gave them the old fortress of Cnobheresburg (Burgh Castle, Suffolk) and its adjacent lands for a monastery.
Fursey, therefore, established a monastery on this land, and ministered from there for about ten years. About 642, on the death of Sigebert in battle against King Penda of Mercia, Fursey left on a pilgrimage to Rome. He never returned. Instead he moved on to Gaul, where he was given land by Mayor Erchinoald of Neustria (into whose household Saint Bathildis (f.d. January 30) had recently been sold). There Fursey founded a monastery at Lagny-sur-Marne, near Paris, c. 644.
Fursey died at Mezerolles (Somme) while on a journey, and was buried at Peronne (Picardy), where his tomb became a place of pilgrimage and the monastery there an Irish centre.
Saint Bede (f.d. May 26) wrote more about Fursey than any other Irish missionary, except Saint Aidan (f.d. August 31). Fursey, says Bede, was renowned for his words and works, outstanding in goodness, and it is Bede who relates the visions of the unseen world of spirits, good and evil, which account for much of Fursey's fame. From time to time he would fall into a trance-like state for a considerable period, during which he would see such things as the fires of falsehood, covetousness, discord, and injustice lying in wait to consume the world. He also had a vision of the afterlife, which Bede recounts--one of the earliest such. Together with those of the English Drithelm (f.d. August 17) (also recorded by Bede), Saint Fursey's visions had considerable influence in the religious thought of western Europe in the later middle ages, notably as expressed in Dante's "Divine Comedy".
Fursey impressed everyone that met him. So many miracles were attributed to him in his own lifetime that he should be counted among the greatest of saints. He initiated his mission in France by restoring to life the son of a local nobleman, Count Haymon, who begged him to build his monastery on the nobleman's land. The saint declined, but this is the very site on which he died. Fursey's sanctity was a topic of conversation and came to the attention of French kings and nobles, who vied with each other to attract him to their territory, even after his death.
Count Haymon intended to inter Fursey in Mezerolles, but the Chancellor of Peronne, Erchinoald, sent a royal guard to seize the remains. His holy body lay in a portico for four years, awaiting the completion of a magnificent new church to receive him. Bede records "concerning the incorruption of his body, we have briefly taken notice so that the sublime character of this man may be better known to the readers."
In 654, Fursey's relics were translated to a shrine "in the shape of a little house," supposedly made by Saint Eligius (f.d. December 1). They were translated again in 1056. King Louis in 1256 declared his desire to be present for the retranslation of his remains to a new shrine at Peronne. On his return from a crusade, Louis went straight to Peronne, where he placed his own seal on the sepulchre. Most of the relics remained until the French Revolution; a head reliquary survived even the Prussian bombing of 1870. French, Irish, and English calendars (especially at Canterbury, which claimed his head relics) attest to his cultus. (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopaedia, Farmer, Montague).
In art Saint Fursey is portrayed as an abbot raising from the dead a youth, son of a nobleman. He may also by shown in ecstasy (Roeder). The figure of Fursey is now carried on the banner of the city of Peronne (Montague).
<>
St. Sawl of Wales
15 January
6th century. Saint Sawl was the Welsh chieftain who fathered Saint Asaph (f.d. May 1). The traditions concerning Sawl are very obscure.
Another Life from Lives of the British Saints Vol.iv by Sabine Baring-Gould.
This is an early form of Samuel. Sawyl Benuchel was the son of Pabo Post Prydyn and he and his brothers Dunawd and Cerwydd are said to have been Saints of Bangor Dunawd. He married Gwenasedd, daughter of Rhain Rhieinwg, by whom he became the father of St. Asaph. In the Old-Welsh pedigrees in Harleian MS 3,859 his name appears as Samuil Pennissel, being credited with having a low instead of a high head. He is celebrated in the Triads as one of the three Trahawg Overbearing ones of the Isle of Britain. His Feast Day is given as January 15.
<>
St. Lleudadd of Bardsey, Abbot
15 January
6th century. The Welsh Saint Lleudadd, abbot of Bardsey (Carnarvon), accompanied Saint Cadfan (f.d. November 1) to Brittany. He may be identical to Saint Lo of Coutances (Lauto; f.d. September 22).
<>
Saint Apollinaria of Egypt
January 5
The renowned Apollinaria lived during the reign of Leo the Great (457–474), and was the daughter of Anthemius, a former proconsul of Rome during the minority of Theodosius the Younger (408-450). Saint Apollinaria was renowned for her beauty and wisdom, as well as for her fervent faith and whole-hearted devotion to Christ. From a young age she was inclined to live a life of virginity, and she prayed to God night and day that she might achieve her desire, which was to remain a virgin until death. For this reason she entreated her parents to let her go to Jerusalem. When they granted her permission, the blessed one took some male and female servants with her, as well as gold, silver and expensive clothes, and left for Jerusalem. There she distributed everything to the poor. After she venerated the Holy Places, she freed her servants, keeping just one old servant and a eunuch with her. With them, she went to Alexandria. Arriving there at a level and even place, she decided to rest a little from her weary journey. Slipping away from her servants, she changed into monastic garb and hid in a marsh, where she lived a life of asceticism for several years in strict fasting and prayer. One day, an angel appeared to her in a dream and instructed her to go to the monastery of Sketis, which was under the spiritual direction of Saint Macarius of Egypt (January 19), and to call herself Dorotheus. Saint Macarius accepted her as one of the brethren, and she quickly distinguished herself by her ascetical life.
Saint Apollinaria’s parents had another daughter who was possessed by an unclean spirit. They sent her to Saint Macarius at Sketis, who brought the afflicted girl to "Father Dorotheus." Through her prayers, and by divine grace, her sister was healed. Everyone wanted her to remain with them, but she bade all of them farewell and returned to her monastic cell. Soon, her sister was attacked by a violent demon, who made her appear to be pregnant. The demon spoke through the girl’s lips, saying that Dorotheus had forced himself on her. Her outraged parents sent soldiers to the monastery to find the monk who had defiled their daughter. Saint Apollinaria took the blame and accompanied the envoys to the home of her parents in Rome. There she revealed her secret to them, healed her sister, and returned to Sketis. She reposed in the year 470, and was found worthy to dwell in the heavenly abodes (John 14:2). Only after her death, as the monks were preparing her body for burial, was it discovered that “he” was actually a woman. The Saint was buried in a cave in the monastery church of Saint Macarius of Egypt.
Saint Apollinaria is commemorated on January 4 in Greek usage, while the Slavic churches honor her on January 5.
<>
St. Ceolwulf, King of Northumbria and Monk at Lindisfarne Island, England
15 January
Died 764 (or perhaps a few years earlier). King Ceolwulf of Northumbria, England, abdicated his throne after reigning for eight years to become a monk at Lindisfarne. Or so some sources would have you believe. Apparently the story is deeper, Ceolwulf ascended the throne of Northumbria in 729 and just two years later he was captured and forcibly tonsured. Later that year he was released and continued his rule.
Somehow God was working even in the evil of civil unrest. In 737 or 738, Ceolwulf did indeed willingly give up civil power in exchange for the grace of the evangelical counsels at Lindisfarne. He was so highly venerated that the Venerable Bede (f.d. May 26) dedicated his Ecclesiastical History to the Most Glorious King Ceolwulf. Bede praised Ceolwulf's piety but was reserved regarding the king's ability to govern.
At Lindisfarne, which he endowed so generously that the monks could then afford to drink beer or wine on feast days (formerly, like many ascetics, they drank only water or milk), Ceolwulf encouraged learning and the monastic lifestyle. Ceolwulf was buried near Saint Cuthbert (f.d. March 20) at the monastery, where miracles proved his sanctity. The relics of both saints were translated in 830 to Egred's new church at Norham-on-Tweed. Later Ceolwulf's head was transferred to Durham.
<>
St. Ita of Limerick, Ireland, Virgin
15 January
Died c. 570. Saint Ita is the most famous woman saint in Ireland after Saint Brigid (f.d. February 1), and is known as the Brigid of Munster. She is said to have been of royal lineage, born in one of the baronies of Decies near Drum in County Waterford, and called Deirdre.
An aristocrat wished to marry her, but after praying and fasting for three days and with divine help, she convinced her father to allow her to lead the life of a maiden. She migrated to Hy Conaill (Killeedy), in the western part of Limerick, and founded a community of women dedicated to God, which soon attracted many young women. She also founded and directed a school. It is said that Bishop Saint Erc gave into her care Saint Brendan (f.d. May 16), who would become a famous abbot and missionary (though the chronology makes this unlikely). Many other Irish saints were taught by her for years. For this reason, she is often called foster-mother of the saints of Ireland.
Brendan once asked her what three things God especially loved. She replied, True faith in God with a pure heart, a simple life with a religious spirit, and open-handedness inspired by charity.
An Irish lullaby for the Infant Jesus is attributed to her. Saint Ita's legend stresses her physical austerities. The principle mark of her devotion was the indwelling of the Holy Trinity. Like other monastic figures of Ireland, she spent much time in solitude, praying and fasting, and the rest of the time in service to those seeking her assistance and advice.
She and her sisters helped to treat the sick of the area. Many miracles are also attributed to her including one in which she reattached the head to the body of a man who had been decapitated, and another that she lived only on food from heaven.
Although her life is overlaid by much unreliable material, because she has been so popular and her "vita" was not written for centuries, there is no reason to doubt her existence. There are church dedications and place names that recall her both in her birthplace and around her monastery. She is also mentioned in the poem of Blessed Alcuin (f.d. May 19), and her cultus is still vibrant (Attwater2, Benedictines, Delaney, Farmer, Montague, Riain, Walsh, White).
An extract from the entry on St. Ita in Edward Sellner's The Wisdom of the Celtic Saints.
Ita (also Ite or Ide) is, after Brigit, the most famous of Irish women soul friends. Her hagiographer even describes her as a second Brigit. A sixth-century abbess, Ita founded a monastery in Country Limerick at Killeedy (which means Cell of Church of Ita). She came from the highly respected clan of the Deisi, and her father, like Brigit's, was resistant to her becoming a nun. After gaining his permission, Ita left home and settled at the foot of Sliabh Luachra, where other women from neighbouring clans soon joined her. There she founded a monastic school for the education of small boys, one of whom was Brendan of Clonfert. She evidently had many students, for she is called the Foster-mother of the Saints of Erin.
Ita's original, some claim, was Deirdre, but because of her thirst (iota) for holiness she became known as Ita. This quality may have been what drew so many women to join her monastery and families to send their sons to her. Ita wanted her students to become acquainted with the saints as soul friends. Besides her mentoring, Ita is associated with competence in healing and with an asceticism that an angel had to warn her about.
Ita died in approximately 570. Her grave, frequently decorated with flowers, is in the ruins of a Romanesque church at Killeedy where her monastery once stood. A holy well nearby, almost invisible now, was known for centuries for curing smallpox in children and other diseases as well.
Her feast day is January 15.
Ita's Qualities as a Child, and the Fiery Grace of God
Ita was born in Ireland of noble lineage, that is, of the stock of Feidhlimidh Reachtmiher, by whom all Ireland was supremely ruled for many years from the royal fort of Tara. He had three sons, Tiacha, Cond and Eochaid. Ita was born of the people called the Deisi, and from her baptism on she was filled with the Holy Spirit. All marvelled at her childhood purity and behaviour, and her abstinence on the days she had to fast. She performed many miracles while she was yet a small child, and when she could speak and walk she was prudent, very generous and mild toward everyone, gentle and chaste in her language, and God-fearing. She consistently attempted to overcome evil and always did what she could to promote good. As a young girl she lived at home with her parents.
One day, while Ita was asleep in her room the whole place seemed to be on fire. When her neighbours came to give assistance, however, the fire in her room seemed to have been extinguished. All marvelled at that, and it was said that it was the grace of God that burned about Ita as she slept. When she arose from her sleep, her whole appearance seemed to be angelic, for she had beauty that has never been seen before or since. Her appearance was such that it was the grace of God that burned about her. After a short interval, her original appearance returned, which certainly was beautiful enough.
Ita's Dream and the Angel that Helped Discern Its Meaning
Another day when she went to sleep, Ita saw an angel of the Lord approach her and give her three precious stones. When she awoke she did not know what that dream signified, and she had a question in her heart about it. Then an angel appeared to her and said, Why are you wondering about that dream? Those three precious stoned you saw being given to you signify the coming of the Blessed Trinity to you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Always in your sleep and vigils the angels of God and holy visions will come to you, for you are a temple of God, in body and soul. After saying this, the angel left her.
Ita's Desire to be Consecrated to Christ, and her Parents' Resistance
Another day Ita came to her mother and announced to her the divine precepts the Holy Spirit had taught her. She asked her mother to seek her father's permission so that she might consecrate herself to Christ. But her father was defiantly opposed to what she desired. The request was also very displeasing to her mother , and when others added their petitions, Ita's father vehemently refused to give permission. Then Ita, filled with the spirit of prophecy, said to all: Leave my father alone for a while. Though he now forbids me to be consecrated to Christ, he will come to persuade me and eventually will order me to do so, for he will be compelled by Jesus Christ my Lord to let me go wherever I wish to serve God. And it happened as she had predicted. This is how it came about.
Not long afterward, Ita fasted for three days and three nights. During those days and nights, through dreams and vigils, it became clear that the devil was waging several battles against Ita. She, however, resisted him in everything, whether she slept or watched. One night, the devil, sad and grieving, left Ita with these words: Alas, Ita, you will free yourself from me, and many others too will be delivered.
celticsaints.org
<>
Saint Phosterius the Hermit
January 5
Saint Phosterius the Hermit led an ascetical life on a lofty mountain, where he was fed by an angel. He brought many back to the Church from the heresy of Iconoclasm by his miracles and saintly life.
<>
St. Ossene, or Oissein, son to Ceallach, of Clonmore, County of Louth, Ireland
1 January
Sixth century. Both published and unpublished copies of the Tallagh Martyrology assign the 1st day of January as a festival to Ossene, of Cluana Mor. This is the name of a parish and townland in the ancient territory of Cianachta Arda, It is known as Clonmore, in the present barony of Ferrard, county of Louth. Ossein, son to Ceallach, of Cluainmor-Fer-n Arda, according to the Martyrologies of Marianus O'Gorman and of Donegal, was venerated on this day. This saint flourished at an early period, since St. Columkille founded or repaired Cluain-mor-fernarda, in the territory of Bregia,and placed St. Ossin, or Osseneus over it.
https://celticsaints.org/2026/0101b.html
<>
Saint Menas of Sinai
January 5
Saint Menas lived in asceticism for more than fifty years in the monastery of Sinai, where he died peacefully in the second half of the sixth century. Myrrh flowed from his holy relics. Saint John Climacus speaks of this wonderful man in The Ladder of Divine Ascent (Step 4:34).
<>
Saint Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia
January 1
Saint Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, “belongs not to the Church of Caesarea alone, nor merely to his own time, nor was he of benefit only to his own kinsmen, but rather to all lands and cities worldwide, and to all people he brought and still brings benefit, and for Christians he always was and will be a most salvific teacher.” Thus spoke Saint Basil’s contemporary, Saint Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium (November 23).
Saint Basil was born in the year 330 at Caesarea, the administrative center of Cappadocia. He was of illustrious lineage, famed for its eminence and wealth, and zealous for the Christian Faith. The saint’s grandfather and grandmother on his father’s side had to hide in the forests of Pontus for seven years during the persecution under Diocletian.
Saint Basil’s mother Saint Emilia was the daughter of a martyr. On the Greek calendar, she is commemorated on May 30. Saint Basil’s father was also named Basil. He was a lawyer and renowned rhetorician, and lived at Caesarea.
Ten children were born to the elder Basil and Emilia: five sons and five daughters. Five of them were later numbered among the saints: Basil the Great; Macrina (July 19) was an exemplar of ascetic life, and exerted strong influence on the life and character of Saint Basil the Great; Gregory, afterwards Bishop of Nyssa (January 10); Peter, Bishop of Sebaste (January 9); and Theosebia, a deaconess (January 10).
Saint Basil spent the first years of his life on an estate belonging to his parents at the River Iris, where he was raised under the supervision of his mother Emilia and grandmother Macrina. They were women of great refinement, who remembered an earlier bishop of Cappadocia, Saint Gregory the Wonderworker (November 17). Basil received his initial education under the supervision of his father, and then he studied under the finest teachers in Caesarea of Cappadocia, and it was here that he made the acquaintance of Saint Gregory the Theologian (January 25 and January 30). Later, Basil transferred to a school at Constantinople, where he listened to eminent orators and philosophers. To complete his education Saint Basil went to Athens, the center of classical enlightenment.
After a four or five year stay at Athens, Basil had mastered all the available disciplines. “He studied everything thoroughly, more than others are wont to study a single subject. He studied each science in its very totality, as though he would study nothing else.” Philosopher, philologist, orator, jurist, naturalist, possessing profound knowledge in astronomy, mathematics and medicine, “he was a ship fully laden with learning, to the extent permitted by human nature.”
At Athens a close friendship developed between Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian (Nazianzus), which continued throughout their life. In fact, they regarded themselves as one soul in two bodies. Later on, in his eulogy for Basil the Great, Saint Gregory the Theologian speaks with delight about this period: “Various hopes guided us, and indeed inevitably, in learning... Two paths opened up before us: the one to our sacred temples and the teachers therein; the other towards preceptors of disciplines beyond.”
About the year 357, Saint Basil returned to Caesarea, where for a while he devoted himself to rhetoric. But soon, refusing offers from Caesarea’s citizens who wanted to entrust him with the education of their offspring, Saint Basil entered upon the path of ascetic life.
After the death of her husband, Basil’s mother, her eldest daughter Macrina, and several female servants withdrew to the family estate at Iris and there began to lead an ascetic life. Basil was baptized by Dianios, the Bishop of Caesarea, and was tonsured a Reader (On the Holy Spirit, 29). He first read the Holy Scriptures to the people, then explained them.
Later on, “wishing to acquire a guide to the knowledge of truth”, the saint undertook a journey into Egypt, Syria and Palestine, to meet the great Christian ascetics dwelling there. On returning to Cappadocia, he decided to do as they did. He distributed his wealth to the needy, then settled on the opposite side of the river not far from his mother Emilia and sister Macrina, gathering around him monks living a cenobitic life.
By his letters, Basil drew his good friend Gregory the Theologian to the monastery. Saints Basil and Gregory labored in strict abstinence in their dwelling place, which had no roof or fireplace, and the food was very humble. They themselves cleared away the stones, planted and watered the trees, and carried heavy loads. Their hands were constantly calloused from the hard work. For clothing Basil had only a tunic and monastic mantle. He wore a hairshirt, but only at night, so that it would not be obvious.
In their solitude, Saints Basil and Gregory occupied themselves in an intense study of Holy Scripture. They were guided by the writings of the Fathers and commentators of the past, especially the good writings of Origen. From all these works they compiled an anthology called Philokalia. Also at this time, at the request of the monks, Saint Basil wrote down a collection of rules for virtuous life. By his preaching and by his example Saint Basil assisted in the spiritual perfection of Christians in Cappadocia and Pontus; and many indeed turned to him. Monasteries were organized for men and for women, in which places Basil sought to combine the cenobitic (koine bios, or common) lifestyle with that of the solitary hermit.
During the reign of Constantius (337-361) the heretical teachings of Arius were spreading, and the Church summoned both its saints into service. Saint Basil returned to Caesarea. In the year 362 he was ordained deacon by Bishop Meletius of Antioch. In 364 he was ordained to the holy priesthood by Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea. “But seeing,” as Gregory the Theologian relates, “that everyone exceedingly praised and honored Basil for his wisdom and reverence, Eusebius, through human weakness, succumbed to jealousy of him, and began to show dislike for him.” The monks rose up in defense of Saint Basil. To avoid causing Church discord, Basil withdrew to his own monastery and concerned himself with the organization of monasteries.
With the coming to power of the emperor Valens (364-378), who was a resolute adherent of Arianism, a time of troubles began for Orthodoxy, the onset of a great struggle. Saint Basil hastily returned to Caesarea at the request of Bishop Eusebius. In the words of Gregory the Theologian, he was for Bishop Eusebius “a good advisor, a righteous representative, an expounder of the Word of God, a staff for the aged, a faithful support in internal matters, and an activist in external matters.”
From this time church governance passed over to Basil, though he was subordinate to the hierarch. He preached daily, and often twice, in the morning and in the evening. During this time Saint Basil composed his Liturgy. He wrote a work “On the Six Days of Creation” (Hexaemeron) and another on the Prophet Isaiah in sixteen chapters, yet another on the Psalms, and also a second compilation of monastic rules. Saint Basil wrote also three books “Against Eunomius,” an Arian teacher who, with the help of Aristotelian concepts, had presented the Arian dogma in philosophic form, converting Christian teaching into a logical scheme of rational concepts.
Saint Gregory the Theologian, speaking about the activity of Basil the Great during this period, points to “the caring for the destitute and the taking in of strangers, the supervision of virgins, written and unwritten monastic rules for monks, the arrangement of prayers [Liturgy], the felicitous arrangement of altars and other things.” Upon the death of Eusebius, the Bishop of Caesarea, Saint Basil was chosen to succeed him in the year 370. As Bishop of Caesarea, Saint Basil the Great was the newest of fifty bishops in eleven provinces. Saint Athanasius the Great (May 2), with joy and with thanks to God welcomed the appointment to Cappadocia of such a bishop as Basil, famed for his reverence, deep knowledge of Holy Scripture, great learning, and his efforts for the welfare of Church peace and unity.
Under Valens, the external government belonged to the Arians, who held various opinions regarding the divinity of the Son of God, and were divided into several factions. These dogmatic disputes were concerned with questions about the Holy Spirit. In his books Against Eunomios, Saint Basil the Great taught the divinity of the Holy Spirit and His equality with the Father and the Son. Subsequently, in order to provide a full explanation of Orthodox teaching on this question, Saint Basil wrote his book “On the Holy Spirit” at the request of Saint Amphilochius, the Bishop of Iconium.
Saint Basil’s difficulties were made worse by various circumstances: Cappadocia was divided in two under the rearrangement of provincial districts. Then at Antioch a schism occurred, occasioned by the consecration of a second bishop. There was the negative and haughty attitude of Western bishops to the attempts to draw them into the struggle with the Arians. And there was also the departure of Eustathius of Sebaste over to the Arian side. Basil had been connected to him by ties of close friendship. Amidst the constant perils Saint Basil gave encouragement to the Orthodox, confirmed them in the Faith, summoning them to bravery and endurance. The holy bishop wrote numerous letters to the churches, to bishops, to clergy and to individuals. Overcoming the heretics “by the weapon of his mouth, and by the arrows of his letters,” as an untiring champion of Orthodoxy, Saint Basil challenged the hostility and intrigues of the Arian heretics all his life. He has been compared to a bee, stinging the Church’s enemies, yet nourishing his flock with the sweet honey of his teaching.
The emperor Valens, mercilessly sending into exile any bishop who displeased him, and having implanted Arianism into other Asia Minor provinces, suddenly appeared in Cappadocia for this same purpose. He sent the prefect Modestus to Saint Basil. He began to threaten the saint with the confiscation of his property, banishment, beatings, and even death.
Saint Basil said, “If you take away my possessions, you will not enrich yourself, nor will you make me a pauper. You have no need of my old worn-out clothing, nor of my few books, of which the entirety of my wealth is comprised. Exile means nothing to me, since I am bound to no particular place. This place in which I now dwell is not mine, and any place you send me shall be mine. Better to say: every place is God’s. Where would I be neither a stranger and sojourner (Ps. 38/39:13)? Who can torture me? I am so weak, that the very first blow would render me insensible. Death would be a kindness to me, for it will bring me all the sooner to God, for Whom I live and labor, and to Whom I hasten.”
The official was stunned by his answer. “No one has ever spoken so audaciously to me,” he said.
“Perhaps,” the saint remarked, “ that is because you’ve never spoken to a bishop before. In all else we are meek, the most humble of all. But when it concerns God, and people rise up against Him, then we, counting everything else as naught, look to Him alone. Then fire, sword, wild beasts and iron rods that rend the body, serve to fill us with joy, rather than fear.”
Reporting to Valens that Saint Basil was not to be intimidated, Modestus said, “Emperor, we stand defeated by a leader of the Church.” Basil the Great again showed firmness before the emperor and his retinue and made such a strong impression on Valens that the emperor dared not give in to the Arians demanding Basil’s exile. “On the day of Theophany, amidst an innumerable multitude of the people, Valens entered the church and mixed in with the throng, in order to give the appearance of being in unity with the Church. When the singing of Psalms began in the church, it was like thunder to his hearing. The emperor beheld a sea of people, and in the altar and all around was splendor; in front of all was Basil, who acknowledged neither by gesture nor by glance, that anything else was going on in church.” Everything was focused only on God and the altar-table, and the clergy serving there in awe and reverence.
Saint Basil celebrated the church services almost every day. He was particularly concerned about the strict fulfilling of the Canons of the Church, and took care that only worthy individuals should enter into the clergy. He incessantly made the rounds of his own church, lest anywhere there be an infraction of Church discipline, and setting aright any unseemliness. At Caesarea, Saint Basil built two monasteries, a men’s and a women’s, with a church in honor of the Forty Martyrs (March 9) whose relics were buried there. Following the example of monks, the saint’s clergy, even deacons and priests, lived in remarkable poverty, to toil and lead chaste and virtuous lives. For his clergy Saint Basil obtained an exemption from taxation. He used all his personal wealth and the income from his church for the benefit of the destitute; in every center of his diocese he built a poor-house; and at Caesarea, a home for wanderers and the homeless.
Sickly since youth, the toil of teaching, his life of abstinence, and the concerns and sorrows of pastoral service took their toll on him. Saint Basil died on January 1, 379 at age 49. Shortly before his death, the saint blessed Saint Gregory the Theologian to accept the See of Constantinople.
Upon the repose of Saint Basil, the Church immediately began to celebrate his memory. Saint Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium, in his eulogy to Saint Basil the Great, said: “It is neither without a reason nor by chance that holy Basil has taken leave from the body and had repose from the world unto God on the day of the Circumcision of Jesus, celebrated between the day of the Nativity and the day of the Baptism of Christ. Therefore, this most blessed one, preaching and praising the Nativity and Baptism of Christ, extolling spiritual circumcision, himself forsaking the flesh, now ascends to Christ on the sacred day of remembrance of the Circumcision of Christ. Therefore, let it also be established on this present day annually to honor the memory of Basil the Great festively and with solemnity.”
Saint Basil is also called “the revealer of heavenly mysteries” (Ouranophantor), a “renowned and bright star,” and “the glory and beauty of the Church.” His honorable head is in the Great Lavra on Mount Athos.
In some countries it is customary to sing special carols today in honor of Saint Basil. He is believed to visit the homes of the faithful, and a place is set for him at the table. People visit the homes of friends and relatives, and the mistress of the house gives a small gift to the children. A special bread (Vasilopita) is blessed and distributed after the Liturgy. A silver coin is baked into the bread, and whoever receives the slice with the coin is said to receive the blessing of Saint Basil for the coming year.
<>
St David is the greatest figure in the Welsh Age of Saints, the bringer of Christianity to the Celtic tribes of Western Britain and the only native-born patron saint of the countries of Britain and Ireland.
His mother, St Non, gave birth to him on a Pembrokeshire clifftop during a raging storm. As she delivered him, a bolt of lighting is said to have struck a rock she was clinging to, splitting it in two and creating a holy well, which exists to this day. The nearby ruins of St Non’s Chapel also mark his birthplace.
St David was thought to have performed a number of miracles during his life, but the most famous one occurred when he was preaching to a large crowd in Llanddewi Brefi. When people at the back complained they could not see or hear him, the ground on which he was stood rose up to form a hill. At that very moment, a white dove, sent by God, settled on his shoulder.
It’s said that David played an important role in the battle between the Welsh and the Anglo-Saxons. The Welsh were losing more and more ground and part of the problem was that they couldn’t tell their foes apart from their own men, as their clothing was so similar. David called out to them: “Welshmen, you must mark yourselves so that you can better tell who is Saxon and who is Welsh.” Plucking a leek from the ground, he continued: “Here, wear these so you will know any soldier who does not have a leek is your enemy.” Although some of the soldiers thought this rather an odd idea, they went along with it as the monk was a man of God. Soon, every Welsh soldier was wearing a leek in his helmet and before long, the Welsh had won the battle. Leeks are still worn by the Welsh on his feast day (and national day of Wales), 1 March.
St David was well over 100 years old when he died on 1 March 589.
https://celticroutes.info/celtic-highlights-old/people-places/st-david/
<>
Saint Martyr Basil of Ancyra, Asia Minor
January 1
Saint Basil lived in the time of Julian the Apostate (331-363), and confessed his faith in Christ before the governor Saturninus. He was tortured in Ancyra, then sent to Constantinople, where he was suspended from a tree, stretched on a rack, beaten, then stabbed with red-hot needles. He was also thrown into a fiery furnace, but was not harmed. He was sent to Caesarea and was torn to pieces by lions in the arena.
This saint, a layman, should not be confused with the other Saint Basil of Ancyra, who was a priest (March 22).
oca.org
<>
Saint Gregory of Crete, Greece
January 5
Saint Gregory of Akrita was born on the island of Crete in the year 760, and was raised by pious parents. At this time the iconoclast heretics persecuted the Orthodox. The youth Gregory, wanting to preserve his Orthodox Faith, went to Seleukia and led a life of piety.
At the age of twenty, Saint Gregory went to Jerusalem and lived there for twelve years, enduring fierce persecution from the Jews. From there Saint Gregory journeyed to Rome, where he entered a monastery. He became acquainted with Saint Michael, Bishop of Synnada (May 23), who took him along and settled in a monastery on the Cape of Akrita (Sea of Marmora). The saint accomplished great ascetic deeds and died there around the year 820.
<>
Saint Emilia, Mother of Saint Basil the Great
January 1
Saint Basil the Great’s mother Saint Emilia was the daughter of a martyr. On the Greek calendar, she is commemorated on May 30. Saint Basil’s father was also named Basil. He was a lawyer and renowned rhetorician, and lived at Caesarea.
Ten children were born to the elder Basil and Emilia: five sons and five daughters. Five of them were later numbered among the saints: Basil the Great; Macrina (July 19) was an exemplar of ascetic life, and exerted strong influence on the life and character of Saint Basil; Gregory, afterwards Bishop of Nyssa (January 10); Peter, Bishop of Sebaste (January 9); and Theosebia, a deaconess (January 10).
<>
Saint Kevin of Glendalough, Ireland (+618)
The unfiltered beauty and heavenly tranquillity of Glendalough in County Wicklow is what attracts almost three-quarters of a million visitors each year. It’s also what brought St Kevin here in the 6th century, to spend 7 years in isolation before founding the monastery.
He chose to live in a metre-high cave by the shore of the upper lake. St Kevin’s Bed, as it is known, can still be seen from the north shore. It’s said he wore only animal skins, and that he threw them off in winter to immerse himself for hours in the freezing lake and, to achieve a similar effect in summer, to plunge himself into forests of nettles.
St Kevin had a deep love for nature and respect for all its creations. While praying in his cell with his arm outstretched, a blackbird nested in his hand. Kevin was forced to hold his hand there with trance-like stillness until all the eggs had hatched and the chicks had fledged and flown away.
His hospitality extended to his fellow man too. Despite spending 7 years in solitude, he became known as a holy man and teacher. Others came to Glendalough to follow his way of life and soon a monastic settlement was established, which would become one of the great spiritual centres of Christianity in Ireland.
Kevin and his monks generously provided free education and board to noblemen and commoners alike. Unlike many other monasteries, they were also happy to receive those who did not intend to become monks, but who simply wanted to learn.
Kevin’s story is often referred to as a journey from seclusion to community and much of it can still be traced at Glendalough. Despite being one of the tourism jewels in the crown of Ireland’s Ancient East, if not Ireland as a whole, you won’t have to wander too far to find the spirituality and peacefulness that drew monks to Glendalough all those centuries ago.
<>
Saint Monastic Martyr Telemakhos in Rome
January 1
Saint Telemakhos (Telémakhos) was a monk who lived in the V century during the reign of Emperor Honorius. He traveled from Asia to Rome desiring to save the city. He was opposed to the gladiatorial contests which took place in the amphitheaters, and so he rushed to the Colosseum and shouted for the gladiators to stop, in the name of Christ. Then the crowd began to laugh and heckle him. One of the gladiators struck Telemakhos in the stomach with his sword and he fell down. He got up again and shouted for the two gladiators to stop. One of them stabbed him in the stomach with his sword, and after uttering the same words for the last time, Telemakhos died in the sand of the amphitheater, bathed in blood. The crowd became silent and left the Colosseum.
Because of this Saint's death on January 1, 404 the last gladiatorial contest in the history of the Roman Empire took place. Three days later, these contests were abolished by imperial decree.
<>
- Modern Saints -
Saint Phillippos Tsanis, New-Martyr in Germany (+2024)
He was martyred for wearing a Cross in June 2024 in Germany
F.
<>
St. Airmedach (Hermetius, or Ermedhach), Abbot of Craibhi-Laisre, probably Creevagh, near Clonmacnoise, King's County, Ireland
1 January
Seventh century. Airmedach, Abbot of Craibhi-Lasri, occurs at the 1st day of January, in the "Martyrology of Tallagh."' This saint is called Eirmbeadhach in the "Annals of the Four Masters." Marianus O'Gorman inserts this Hermetius in the Calendar at the 1st day of January. His birth may probably be referred to the early part of the seventh century. The "Martyrology of Donegal" mentions Ermedhach, Abbot of Craebh-Laisre, as having been venerated at this day. In a table appended, the name of this holy man is Latinized or Grecized, Hermes. The present saint died A.D. 681, according to the "Annals of the Four Masters," or A.D. 682, according to those of Ulster. Craebh-Laisre is said to be the name of a place near Clonmacnoise. Some doubt has been entertained as to whether this saint had been identical with a certain Hermetius, Bishop and Abbot of Clogher, mentioned in the "Tripartite Life of St. Patrick." He is said to have written Acts of the great Irish apostle. Craebh-Laisre means in English "Laisre's Bush," or "Branch," viz., of the "Old Tree".
<>
Saint New Martyr George of Iberia - Georgia
January 2
Saint George (Zorzes) was from Georgia, and was sold into slavery when he was young. His master, a Muslim from the Greek island of Mytilene, forced him to embrace Islam and renamed him Sali. After his master died, George remained on the island and opened a small shop.
In 1770, when he was seventy years old, he appeared before the authorities and announced that he was an Orthodox Christian. The kadi thought that George had lost his mind, since his declaration would lead to his death.
The next day George was questioned again, and then he was beaten. He endured his torments with silence, but would not be turned from his confession of faith. After more torture, the holy martyr was hanged on January 2, 1770, receiving a crown of glory from the Savior Christ.
oca.org
<>
Saint Nectan, Hermit-Martyr in Wartland, England, from Wales (+510)
June 17
Saint Nectan was born in Ireland but moved to Wales when he was young in 423 AD, the eldest of the 24 children of King Brychan of Brycheiniog (now Brecknock in Wales). Saint Nectan heard of the great hermit of the Egyptian desert, St Anthony, and was inspired to imitate his way of life. Seeking greater solitude, Saint Nectan and his companions left Wales, intending to settle wherever their boat happened to land. Saint Nectan and his companions wound up on the northern coast of Devon at Hartland, where they lived for several years in a dense forest. The saint's family would visit him there on the last day of the year. Later, he relocated to a remote valley with a spring.
At Hartland, Saint Nectan lived in the solitude of a remote valley where he helped a swineherd recover his lost pigs and in turn was given a gift of two cows. Saint Nectan's cows were stolen and after finding them he attempted to convert the robbers to the Christian faith. In return, he was attacked by robbers who cut off his head. The same authority says that he picked his head up and walked back to his well before collapsing and dying. Seeing this, the man who killed Saint Nectan went out of his mind, but the other thief buried him. From that time, miracles began to take place at Saint Nectan's tomb. Local tradition says that wherever the blood from Saint Nectan's beheaded head fell, foxgloves grew.
Saint Nectan is also associated with St Nectan's Glen and Waterfall at Trethevy, near Tintagel, in Cornwall, where it is claimed he spent some time as a hermit. Saint Nectan is believed to have sited his hermitage above the waterfall. He rang a silver bell in times of stormy weather to warn shipping of the perils of the rocks at the mouth of the Rocky Valley.
Saint Nectan is also said to have appeared in 937, on the eve of the Battle of Brunanburh. A young man from Hartland felt himself afflicted with the plague and called upon God and Saint Nectan to help him. Saint Nectan appeared to the young man just after midnight and touched the afflicted area of his body, healing him. When King Athelstan heard of this, asked for more information about Saint Nectan. The young man urged the king to have faith in Saint Nectan with faith, and he would be victorious. After the battle, Athelstan visited Hartland and donated property to the saint's church.
Saint Nectan's feast day is 17 June, the day of his death (+510). He is the Patron Saint of Hartland, Devon, England.
F.
<>
Saint Romanus the Martyr
January 5
New Martyr Romanus of Karpenisi was born in Karpenisi in central Greece. He was a monk on Mount Athos for a time, and suffered for Christ at Constantinople, beheaded by the Turks in the year 1694. His relics were taken by ship to England.
<>
Saint Bronach (St Bronacha), Virgin of Glen-Seichis, Ireland
2 April
Date unknown. The name of this virgin is registered in the martyrologies of Tallaght and Donegal. Glen-Seichis is the old name of Kilbroney or Kilbronach in County Down near Rostrevor, Ireland, which takes its present name from her. Saint Bronach's Bell is the subject of a well-known Irish legend of a mysterious, invisible bell that rang in Kilbroney churchyard.
In 1885, a storm ripped down an old oak tree near Kilbroney, and in its branches was found a 6th-century bell. For many years the denizens heard a bell ringing and attributed it to a supernatural origin. It seems, however, that the bell was hidden during the Reformation to prevent its removal or destruction. Over the years the tongue had worn away, so the bell stopped ringing, yet talk of it did not. The bell and Bronach's cross can now be found at the parish church of Rostrevor.
<>
Modern Saints - "I exist, seek to find Me!" - The conversion of the Dutch monk and hermit Jozef van den Berg (+2023), former actor, from atheism to Orthodoxy
Jozef (Joseph) Van den Berg was a Dutch former mime and a great famous stage actor. He was born on August 22, 1949 in Beers, Netherlands and had no relationship with God at all, he was an atheist. He was married with four children. Everything changed one day in a performance in which he played the role of an atheist and said: "There is no God, there is no God." He then heard a voice inside him saying: "I exist, seek to find me!" From that moment something changed in him. He truly sought and found Him!
In fact, he had a very good friend who informed him that she knew St. Porphyrios and that she would be going to Greece and if he wished to write him a letter, she would give it to him.
When his friend arrived in Greece, she went to St. Porphyrios and as soon as she told him about Joseph, he beamed with joy and told her that he had to see him. Indeed it happened, Joseph went and found him in Greece. St. Porphyrios spoke to Joseph about Orthodoxy. In Greece, he also met St. Paisios in Mount Athos. He also met with St. Sophrony Sakharov in Essex, England. Miraculously something changed inside him and he decided to give up everything, money, fame, family, friends, publicity to become an Orthodox Christian and live as a hermit in a hut in the Neerjinen forest in the Netherlands.
The only things he took with him when he set out to find God were a bicycle and a trunk with a few clothes. He was baptized and became an Orthodox Christian. His hut was visited daily by many people, also by priests and bishops from all over. He had recently come to Greece for health reasons where he was hospitalized and fell asleep in the Lord at the age of 74, in October 2023 in a monastery in Soho, near Thessaloniki. He had cancer. Ηe was unable to walk and was confined to a wheelchair.
F.
<>
Western Europe was the home of many venerable Orthodox Saints, such as St. Patrick, St. Ita, St. Declan, St. Ia, St. Aidan, St. Hilda etc.
For the first thousand years after the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, Rome was a faithful part of the Orthodox Church, and Western Europe was the home of many venerable Orthodox Saints, such as St. Patrick, St. Declan, St. Ia, St. Aidan, St. Hilda, St. Columba, St. Ita, St. Ursula, St. Olaf, St. Sunniva, St. Ambrose, St. Hillary, St. Vincent, St. Gregory, St. Benedict, and many others. All of these Saints — as well as their prayers and liturgies — are fully Orthodox, and continue to be beloved by Orthodox Christians today.
https://orthochristian.com/143205.html
<>
No comments:
Post a Comment