Born in Bulgaria in the 13th century, young Cosmas avoided marriage and journeyed to the Holy Mountain, where he was accepted into the Zographou monastery. For a long time he was a novice and then once he took monastic vows he was appointed ecclesiarch, then ordained deacon, then priest. Saint Cosmas was a secret seer of the Theotokos, Who occasionally revealed glimpses of Her care for the world to the saint. After hearing the voice of the Lord, Cosmas received the abbot's blessing to withdraw into the wilderness. In a cave cut into the side of a cliff, he lived a life of silent devotion and was granted the gift of clairvoyance. In a vision of Christ, he was warned that his final days would be a grievous trial and indeed the saint underwent three days of terrible demonic assaults before his death. Then he received the All-Pure Mysteries and peacefully departed to the Lord. At his burial, a multitude of beasts and birds flocked to his cave and cried out in his honor.
A 4th century warrior who loved Christ, Saint Nicetas was born east of the Danube and lived in the land that is present day Romania. Baptized by Theophilos, bishop of the Goths, Nicetas zealously taught the True Faith to his people. Armed with the Gospels - translated using the newly-created Gothic alphabet - Nicetas brought many pagans to Christ through his living example and inspired words. When the Christ-hating pagan prince Athanarik began his persecution of the faithful, Nicetas boldly stood before him and denounced his ignorance and cruelty. He was tortured severely but confessed Christ unwaveringly and prayed to God with thanksgiving. Finally, he was thrown into a blazing pyre and gave up his spirit but his body remained unharmed. Nicetas' friend, Marianus, retrieved his body, illumined with a miraculous light, and took it to Cilicia. There he built a church which housed the saint's wonderworking relics. Great Martyr Nicetas suffered gloriously for Christ in the year 372.
Born to a peasant family in the ninth century, Euphrosynos was a simple man with no schooling. A very faithful servant of God, he became a monk in Palestine and humbly toiled as a cook for the brethren. When a priest of the monastery asked God to show him the good things awaiting the righteous in the age to come, he slept and saw an indescribably beautiful garden and there he also saw Euphrosynos. The cook told the priest they were in Paradise by God's great mercy and gave him three apples that were growing on a tree. When he awoke, he discovered the ineffably fragrant apples lying next to him. He found Euphrosynos and asked where he had been during the night. The saint hesitated but then told him, the same place as you. The priest told the brethren what had happened and showed them the heavenly fruit. They all went to the kitchen to offer respect to Saint Euphrosynos, but he had already left the monastery. Fleeing human glory, he lived alone in the desert for the rest of his days.
Born to an aristocratic family in 9th century Constantinople, Kassiani received an excellent education, both secular and sacred. Renowned for her beauty, she was selected as a potential bride for the emperor, Theophilos. When he approached her and said Through woman came corruption (referring to Eve) she rejoined Through woman came the most excellent (referring to the Theotokos). His pride wounded by her wisdom and boldness, he chose another maiden to marry and Kassiani was free to become a bride of God. Renouncing the world and accepting monastic tonsure, Kassiani led an ascetical life pleasing to God. She built a monastery on Xerolophos and became its abbess. Combining the talents of theologian, musician, and poet, she wrote many hymns and composed the music for them, becoming the first and only female hymnographer of the Orthodox Church. 23 of her works are contained in the liturgical service books, the most well known being the Hymn of Kassiani, chanted on Holy Wednesday.
Born in prison to pious parents who were martyred for their open confession of Christ, Mamas was adopted by the widow Ammia, guided to him by an angel. Unusually bright, Mamas didn't conceal his faith at school. He laughed at pagan idols and converted many of his peers to the True Faith. When he was 15, Mamas was arrested and taken before Emperor Aurelian. Ordered to deny Christ, Mamas refused and was then beaten, burned, and thrown into the sea. An angel saved Mamas and brought him to a high mountain. Mamas built a small chapel and lived in solitude and prayer. He was given the gift of taming wild beasts through his holiness; they gathered around him, listening to the Gospel. He fed the hungry with cheese made from the milk of wild goats and word of his blessed life spread. The governor sent soldiers to arrest him and again he was subjected to grievous tortures. He was thrown to the lions but they would not hurt him. Stabbed with a trident, the holy martyr gave up his soul in the year 275.
Alexander was born in 1220, the son of Prince Yaroslav. His heart was drawn to God from his youth. Tonsured into military service by Saint Simon, Alexander vowed in the Name of God to protect the Holy Church and the Russian land. He joined many of his father's campaigns, becoming a great warrior. Alexander defeated the Swedes on the river Neva after Saints Boris and Gleb appeared and promised to aid the great prince, their kinsman. His marriage was blessed by the holy wonderworking Theodore icon of the Mother of God. Alexander victoriously repelled Crusaders from the West and Mongols from the East. Among the Golden Horde of the Tatars, he refused to sacrifice to idols and eventually established a church in their capital. Saint Alexander was a heroic ruler, a man of prayer, an ascetic, and performed innumerable acts of mercy. Returning home from a diplomatic mission in 1263, Alexander fell ill. He sought rest at a monastery and was tonsured into the Great Schema on his deathbed.
The Holy Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John
Saint John, called the greatest of the prophets by our Lord, concluded the history of the Old Testament and opened the epoch of the New Testament. John was a kinsman of the Lord, the son of the Priest Zachariah and Righteous Elizabeth, and his birth was heralded by the Archangel Gabriel. Born six months before Christ Jesus, Saint John was filled with the Holy Spirit and spent his life in the wilderness preparing for his great service through fasting and prayer. At the age of 30, he appeared on the banks of the Jordan, preaching repentance and giving witness concerning the arrival of the Only-Begotten Son of God, incarnate in the flesh. Saint John was deemed worthy to baptize Christ in the waters of the Jordan and witnessed the manifestation of the Most Holy Trinity on the day of the Baptism of the Savior. Soon afterwards, Saint John was imprisoned and then died a martyr's death, beheaded on orders of King Herod at the request of his daughter Salome.
An Ethiopian, Moses was the slave of a nobleman until he committed murder and was banished. He joined a band of robbers, living a sinful life of evil deeds until, through the mercy of God, he repented and fled to a monastery in the Egyptian desert. Giving himself entirely in obedience to his spiritual father, he spent many grueling years laboring and weeping for his sins, constantly tested by both men and demons. Tormented for years by lust, he was healed through standing at prayer in night vigils. When four robbers from his former gang descended on his cell, Moses overpowered them and tied them up. Realizing who he was, they too repented and became monks. He was physically attacked by demons but after a year of recovery he was given power over demonic forces. Ordained in old age, he founded a monastery which grew to 75 monks. Foreseeing its destruction in an attack by marauders, he warned the brothers to leave but Saint Moses himself chose to stay and die by the sword in the year 400.
A great ascetic of the Egyptian desert, Poemen was born in 340 and from his youth sought wisdom and a life in Christ. As a boy, he received the blessing of Saint Paisios the Great, who foresaw Poemen’s future as a wise elder who would lead many to salvation. He became a monk along with his two brothers and labored in strict asceticism. Poemen became a spiritual guide and teacher for many of the monks in the desert and word of his virtues and wisdom spread throughout the land. When the governor requested to see him, Poemen realized that being shown respect by dignitaries could destroy the grace of humility which God had given him and he refused. A strict faster, Poemen would often go without food for a week or more but he advised others to eat every day, but not to their fill. His disciples wrote down his sayings and many of Saint Poemen’s words of wisdom and events from his life remain as a treasure for Christians to this day. Saint Poemen the Great reposed in peace at the age of 110.
Saint Lupus lived at the turn of the fourth century and was the faithful servant of the Holy Great Martyr Demetrios of Thessalonica. Having been present at the martyrdom of his master, Lupus gathered up the blood-soaked garment of Saint Demetrios and took the imperial ring from his hand. With this clothing and ring, sanctified by the blood of the holy martyr, Saint Lupus began to heal the sick and worked many miracles at Thessalonica, glorifying Jesus Christ. Lupus destroyed pagan idols and was in turn hunted and persecuted by the pagans, but by the power of God the saint was miraculously preserved unharmed. Finally, Lupus delivered himself voluntarily into the hands of the torturers and, by the order of emperor Maximian Galerius, the holy martyr was beheaded in the year 306.
Born in Constantinople in 580, Maximus was a highly educated chief counselor to Emperor Heraclius, who, alarmed by the corrupting influence of heresy, withdrew from the imperial court and became a monk. A gifted theologian and the greatest defender of the Orthodox faith against Monothelitism (the false belief in one will in Christ), Saint Maximus found himself branded an enemy of both the emperor and several patriarchs. With courage in Christ, Maximus endured to the end, proving that there were indeed two wills, as well as two natures, in Christ. Due to the saint's heroic efforts, councils were held in Carthage and in Rome, both anathematizing the teachings of the heretics. The great suffering of Saint Maximus for Orthodoxy cannot be described: he was tortured by princes, deceived by clergy, beaten by soldiers, imprisoned, until finally, with a severed tongue and hand, exiled for life to the land that is now Georgia, where he spent three years in prison and joined the Lord in 662.
A missionary of hesychasm, Saint Gregory was born in 13th century Asia Minor. Captured by Turks during a raid and taken to Laodicea, he finally regained his freedom and traveled to Cyprus, where he entered the monastic life. At Mount Sinai, he was tonsured and assumed the Great Schema. On Crete, Gregory met the elder Arsenios who taught him about hesychia: silence, vigilance, and pure prayer. He searched all of Mount Athos, looking for monks who practiced inner prayer but found only a few so he settled in a secluded skete and spread his teachings throughout the Holy Mountain. Distinct from his contemporary Saint Gregory Palamas, Saint Gregory of Sinai was not concerned with the defense of hesychia, but sought only to teach its practice. He founded numerous monastic communities and his writings on prayer, asceticism, and the Holy Commandments can be found in The Philokalia. Saint Gregory spent his last years deep in the wilderness of Macedonia and reposed in peace in great old age.
Born in 1714 to devout parents in Mega Dendron, Saint Cosmas became a monk and then a priest at Philotheou monastery on Mount Athos. Concerned by the ignorance of the Gospel that had fallen on the Greek people after 400 years of Turkish oppression, he became a missionary. He received the blessing of Patriarch Seraphim II to travel and preach independently. He evangelized throughout Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Albania for 25 years, planting large wooden crosses in village squares and teaching the Faith to huge crowds. He founded 200 schools and 50 churches. He worked many miracles and was known for his prophecies. His strong condemnations of dishonest businesses angered some Christians and he was hated by Jews, who falsely accused him and offered money for his death. He was martyred by the Turks in 1779 and thrown into a river but his wonderworking relics were recovered and preserved. Saint Cosmas was glorified by the Church in 1961 and is considered Equal to the Apostles.
Saint Stephen was the first Christian martyr and a kinsman of the Apostle Paul. One of the seven deacons ordained by the Holy Apostles, Stephen worked great miracles through his faith. Filled with the Holy Spirit, he daringly preached the Christian Way and defeated the jewish teachers of the Law, for which they falsely accused him of blasphemy. Saint Stephen stood before the people and all saw his face illumined with the light of Grace. In a fiery speech, he boldly denounced the jews for persecuting the prophets and murdering Jesus Christ. As he spoke, Stephen saw the heavens open and beheld the Glory of God (Acts 7:56). Then the jews dragged the holy martyr out of the city and stoned him to death while he prayed for them. The Mother of God, along with the Holy Apostle John, stood on a rock in the distance and witnessed this first martyrdom for the Truth of her Son and God, and she prayed for Saint Stephen. This occurred one year after the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles.
A viking, the son of Harald, a local ruler in Norway, Olaf went on expeditions from the age of 12. Traveling with Thorkell the Tall, young Olaf discovered the Truth of Christ and received holy baptism at Rouen. He journeyed to England and fought alongside King Athelred against the invading Danes. Returning home, Olaf was victorious in the sea battle of Nesjar and was accepted as King. He waged a war to free his home from the Swedes and Danes and sought to make Christianity the basis of his kingdom. With the help of English missionaries, Saint Olaf spread the Faith throughout the land and built many churches. After ten years of peaceful reign over a unified Norway, Olaf faced a rebellion of nobles, funded by the Danish king. Olaf was overthrown and forced into exile in Kievan Rus. He returned two years later and was slain in battle. Many miracles occurred in relation to Saint Olaf's death and one year later his body was found to be incorrupt. Saint Olaf is known as the eternal King of Norway.
Saint Herman, born in 1751 near Moscow to a peasant family, became a great ascetic and servant of God, joining the first Orthodox Christian mission to North America. In his youth, he learned from a wise elder in his cell and was miraculously healed of a deadly illness, leaving doctors in awe. After military service, he was tonsured at Valaam monastery and 11 years later was chosen to join a mission to the Russian colony in Alaska. After nine months of dangerous seafaring, Herman and nine other monks arrived at Kodiak and brought thousands of natives to Christ and built a school, a church and a monastery. Defending the natives from vicious exploitation, the monks came under persecution. Herman relocated to the wilderness of Spruce Island where he spent 40 years raising Aleut orphans. He ate very little, wore a heavy iron cross and chains under his clothes, and used a wooden board and two bricks as his blanket and pillow. Cherished by all who knew him, Saint Herman joined Christ in 1836.
Born in third century Nicomedia to a wealthy pagan father and a Christian mother, Panteleimon studied medicine and then learned the True Faith from the priest Hermolaus. He healed the sick through prayer and brought many to baptism. When Panteleimon miraculously gave sight to a blind man by invoking the Name of Christ, his own father witnessed this and converted to the Faith. After inheriting his family's riches, the saint distributed his wealth to the sick and the poor. But envious colleagues reported the healer to the government. Brought to trial, Panteleimon boldly proclaimed Jesus Christ and healed a paralytic in front of the emperor, yet still he was condemned to death. After a series of extreme tortures failed to harm him and only convinced his executioners of the awesome power of Christ, Panteleimon prayed for God to forgive his persecutors. Deep in prayer, Holy Great Martyr Panteleimon commended his spirit to God and then was beheaded and joined Christ in the year 305.
Moses and his brothers served in the court of Holy Prince Boris. After Boris' martyrdom, Moses escaped to Kiev where he was captured and taken to Poland, and then sold as a slave to a wealthy and depraved widow. The woman attempted to seduce handsome Moses into debauchery, but he had vowed to live in chastity before the Lord and he remained steadfast. She tempted him with marriage and riches but he refused and secretly received monastic tonsure from a traveling Athonite hieromonk. Enraged, the wicked woman had Moses bound and beaten with iron rods until his blood soaked the ground. He was mutilated and emasculated. When the widow was killed during an uprising, Moses was freed. Bearing the wounds of a confessor, he traveled to the Kiev Caves monastery where he pursued prayer and silence. Christ gave Saint Moses the courage and strength to endure his grievous suffering and in turn he assisted many of his brothers in overcoming the fleshly temptations until he reposed in peace in 1043.
A divinely wise child, Bogolep was born to a pious couple in the 17th century and baptized Boris. As an infant, he refused to nurse on fasting days and when the church bells rang he would cry loudly until taken to divine services. In church, he radiated joy and only after liturgy would he accept food. During the plague years his legs were covered in sores and he suffered extreme pain but still limped to church every day. The disease passed but soon he was struck with leprosy. A traveling monk blessed the family and Boris became even more filled with love for God. He entreated his parents that he might become a monk and wear an angelic habit like the elder. Sensing that it was the will of God, they allowed Boris to be tonsured and take the name Bogolep. Clothed in the Great Schema, he was completely healed and three days later he left this world and joined Christ. Through Saint Bogolep’s intercessions, his city was miraculously protected from foreign invasions.
Saint Seraphim was born in Kursk in 1759 to a pious Orthodox family. As a boy, he loved church and prayer and reading Scripture. He was healed from a grave illness by an icon of the Theotokos. He went to Sarov monastery at 19, became a monk at 27, was ordained a deacon and then priest. He began living as a hermit in the forest, devoted to prayer and fasting, going to the monastery on Sundays for Holy Communion. After being beaten by robbers, he was always bent over and needed a staff to walk. He spent a thousand days and nights kneeling on a stone in prayer and then spent 13 years in absolute silence. After a heavenly vision, Seraphim ended his silence and began to speak for the benefit of others. He received thousands of pilgrims from across Russia in his forest cell, greeting all with a prostration and the words: Christ is Risen! Gifted with clairvoyance, he gave consolation and guidance to all. Saint Seraphim reposed in 1833, kneeling before an icon of the Theotokos.
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