Who was St. Valentine? What did he do that gave him sainthood? Many traditional legends are linked to Valentine. One such goes as follows. Under the rule of Emperor Claudius II Rome was involved in many bloody and unpopular military campaigns. Claudius the Cruel, as he was known at the Read more…
Dionysius, the Areopagite a Biblical figure (Acts 17: 34), was a judge at the Areopagus Court in Athens, who lived in the first century. He was born around the year A.D. 9, in a rich and noble family. He lived originally in the city of Athens at the time of the Apostles Read more…
Theophilos born, in a pagan family near Tigris and Euphrates rivers, in Mesopotamia, modern Antakya, modern Turkey, is a saint of the Syrian Church, sixth bishop of Antioch. A convert to Christianity, he was a prolific writer who was often quoted by later Christian writers. He was an early clever Christian skeptic apologist, who Read more…
The Holy Martyr Longinus, the Centurion, was a Roman soldier, who served in Roman garrison, based in Jerusalem in Judea, under the command of the then prefect and Governor, Pontius Pilate, of Judea during 26-36 AD. He was assigned with the duty of crucifixion of the Lord as well as Read more…
Andronicus (Andronikos – man of victory; conqueror of men) is counted as one among the Seventy and was disciple of the Savior. He and his fellow-worker Junia are mentioned by St Paul in his Epistle to the Romans. “Greet Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen and fellow prisoners, who are of Read more…
St Theodore was called Sanctified, as he had purified his heart of passions and tuned his body worthy to be a temple of the holy Spirit and because he was the first in his monastery ordained to the priesthood. St Theodore who was born in the Upper Thebaid, to rich Read more…
St. Pachomius, the Great, venerable hermit father, was an early Egyptian ascetic, both a desert Father and a founder of coenobitic monasticism in Egypt. He was born in Thebes (Upper Thebaid), Egypt around A.D. 290, to pagan parents. His name, in his native Coptic, Pachom, means ‘eagle’. He received an excellent secular education, had a good character, Read more…
The two Saints Methodius and Cyril were brothers, who brought Orthodoxy to the Slavic peoples of central Europe in the ninth century. Michael (Methodius) and Constantine (Cyril) were born early in the 9th century in Thessaloniki into a noble illustrious and pious Greek senatorial family, living in the Greek city of Read more…
Nicodemus was an honored member of the Sanhedrin, which was the ruling body of the Jews or Jewish supreme council (Jn 7: 50–51). He was a strict Pharisee, (strict disciplinarians, who spend their lives observing scribal laws). He held a high position of trust and a leader of the Jews (Jn. Read more…
St. John Climacus (Klimakos) is honored by the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches, as a great ascetic and as the author of a remarkable work entitled, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, a treasury of spiritual wisdom. Therefore, he has been named ‘Climacus‘ or ‘of the Ladder‘. He is known also as Read more…