A Resource to Celebrate Saint Nicholas
It’s always surprised me how adults burden themselves during the Christmas Holiday Season by playing Santa, and they neglect to honor his prototype St. Nicholas. Do you know who St. Nicholas was and is? The Greek Archdiocese of America has an Advent page that features information concerning the feasts and...
Fasting, The Orthodox Christian Way
How are you fasting during Great Lent? This year, the Orthodox Church began its forty-day fasting period (more than 40 this year!) on Monday, March 14th, in preparation for Great and Holy Easter (Pascha) on May 1st. The date this year is especially far from Western Christian Easter, which will...
Why We Celebrate Three Hierarchs
St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory the Theologian and St. John Chrysostom – the three Holy Hierarchs. We celebrate their feast day today, the 30th of January, but why? Each of them has their own day, when we celebrate their lives and contributions to our Orthodox faith. But what did...
Saint Raphael of Brooklyn
Sometimes there seems to be a saint who doesn’t really stand out, believe it or not. They are laborers in God’s vineyard, and their ‘claim to fame’ is for something other than what they’ve done. They just seem to have been in the right place at the right time. At...
St. Basil Fool for Christ
“I wish you would cancel the order, good sir,” said the apprentice to the merchant. The cobbler, Basil the apprentice’s master, looked at him askance. “Be quiet, Basil! Tend to your work! The gentleman is free to order as many boots as he wants, and he’s certainly entitled to have...
St. Nina, Equal to the Apostles
The tradition of St. Nina’s story among the Georgians is based on ancient historical documents. Rufinus wrote about her in the fifth century in his church history, and she is also mentioned in the Georgian Chronicle, an ancient document concerning the history of Georgia, which relates Nina’s history from her...
St. Maria of Paris
She smoked, she liked her beer, she was twice divorced, and her eldest child was born out of wedlock. She left liturgy to answer the door and refused to serve the people she fed the fasting food that she herself, as an Orthodox nun, was supposed to eat. “They share...
St. Alexis Toth of Wilkes-Barre
The facts of St. Alexis’s life are well documented – born in 1854 in Austro-Hungary into a clerical family (his father and brothers were priests, and an uncle was a bishop), ordained in 1878 to the priesthood of the Uniate church in Hungary. He spoke a number of languages, he...
Saint Isidora of Tabenna Monastery
Very little is known about this monastic who chose the role of Fool for Christ, except that if she existed at all, she was one of the earliest recognized Fools in our history. She is said to have lived at the Tabenna monastery in Egypt. Tabenna, or Tabennesi, was the...
Holy Fools
If any one among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. (1st Cor 3:18-19) For most of us, St. Paul’s words are reminders to focus on God’s love,...
St. Juvenaly of Alaska
For over a century, it was not known what happened to the monk, Juvenaly. It was one of the mysteries of the Arctic, and the conflicting accounts that emerged over the years did nothing to clarify the actual events or his fate, and in some cases, completely misled those looking...
Saint Romanos the Melodist
Like many saints who lived long ago, we don’t know much about St. Romanos the Melodist, and what we might know isn’t agreed on by all scholars. We aren’t sure his parents were Christian. There are some experts who think he may have been from a Jewish family. He...
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