On the Fifth Saturday of Great Lent, the Saturday of the Akathist, we commemorate the “Laudation of the Virgin” Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. In 625, when the emperor Heraclius was fighting the Persians, the Khan sent forces to attack Constantinople by land and by sea. Patriarch…

Saint Zosimas (April 4) was a monk at a certain Palestinian monastery on the outskirts of Caesarea. Having dwelt at the monastery since his childhood, he lived there in asceticism until he reached the age of fifty-three. Then he was disturbed by the thought that he had attained perfection, and…

Saint Euthymius of Suzdal was born in the year 1316 at Nizhni-Novgorod. From early childhood he was taught his letters and received a spiritual upbringing. He received monastic tonsure at the Nizhegorod Caves monastery under its founder, Saint Dionysius (later the Archbishop of Suzdal, commemorated…

The Holy Martyr Abraham the Bulgar, Vladimir Wonderworker, lived during the thirteenth century, and was descended from the Kamska Bulgars and brought up as a Moslem. He was good and kindly towards the destitute, and when the Lord enlightened him with the light of reason, he accepted Christianity.…

Saint Gerontius lived during the fourteenth century. He was a monk of the Kiev Caves Monastery and fulfilled the obedience of canonarch (leader of church singing). He spent all his life at the monastery, in ascetic deeds of abstinence, obedience, and prayer. Saint Gerontius was buried in the Far…

Saint Makarios (Christóphoros in the world) was born at Constantinople in 785. He lost both his parents when he was still a child, and a pious uncle assumed responsibility for his upbringing and education, and also taught him to love God. In a short time his knowledge of Holy Scripture increased,…

The Martyrs Gerontius and Basilides suffered martyrdom for Christ in the third century. They were beheaded by the sword.

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The great Georgian hymnographer, philosopher, and orator Saint John of Shavta labored in the 12th and 13th centuries, during the reign of the holy queen Tamar. Few details of his life have been preserved, but we know that he received his education at Gelati Academy, where he studied theology,…

Paul I. Plikhanov was born in the city of Samara on July 5,1845, the son of John and Natalia Plikhanov. His mother died in childbirth, and his father later remarried so that his son would have a mother. Although his stepmother was very strict, she was a real mother to him, and he loved her very…