The origin of this Feast is explained in the Greek Horologion of 1897: “Because of the illnesses which occur during the month of August, it was customary at Constantinople to carry the Precious Wood of the Cross in procession throughout the city for its sanctification, and to deliver it from…

The seven holy Maccabee martyrs Abim, Antonius, Gurias, Eleazar, Eusebonus, Alimus and Marcellus, their mother Solomonia and their teacher Eleazar suffered in the year 166 before Christ under the impious Syrian king Antiochus IV Epiphanes. This foolish ruler loved pagan and Hellenistic customs, and…

Saint Solomonia was the mother of the seven Maccabee brothers. She encouraged her sons to remain faithful to the Law of God even when threatened with death. This admirable mother is honored and remembered for her great courage, for she watched all seven of her sons die in a single day. May we also…

Saint Eleazar lived in the second century before Christ, and was a scribe. At the age of ninety he voluntarily endured torture and death rather than violate the Law of God by eating swine’s flesh. By suffering death for the Law of Moses, he left young men, and the whole nation, an example of…

During the reign of Diocletian (284-305) nine holy Martyrs, Leontios, Attos, Alexander, Kindeos, Mnesitheos, Kyriakos, Mineon and Eukles were put to death at Perge in Pamphilia. Eight of them were farmers by profession, but Mineon was a carpenter. They were Christians from their early childhood,…

The "Foreteller"1 Icon of the Mother of God is located in the katholikon (cathedral church) of Konstamonitou Monastery on Mount Athos, and it became famous in the following way. On August 1, 1020, the eve of the monastery’s Feast Day (The Transfer of the Relics of the Protomartyr Stephen from…