James W. Lillie We know very little concerning the martyr Nestor, other than that he was a close spiritual brother of Saint Dimitrios. He may have volunteered to fight the giant Vandal, Lyaeus, in order to prevent other Christians being drafted in to do so against their will. According Read more…
W.J. Lillie We have nothing to say with certainty about the famous martyr of Christ, Fanourios, as regards where he came from, who his parents were and when his martyrdom occurred, because all information has been lost to the depredations of time and covered by the tombstone of oblivion. Read more…
Saint Nicholas Velimirovich John was a son of Zebedee, a fisherman, and Salome, the daughter of Joseph, the Betrothed of Our Most Holy Lady, the Mother of God. When the Lord Jesus called him, John immediately left his father and their nets and, together with his brother, James, followed Read more…
Saint Theofanis served as the Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Vatopaidi, and was associated with Saint Maximos Kavsokalyvitis (†1365), whose biographer he was. Saint Nikodimos the Athonite translated this admirable and much-admired biography into a simpler form of Greek. In it, Saint Theofanis says: ‘As God is my witness, Read more…
Hierodeacon Rafael Misiaoulis, Theologian A prominent officer in the Roman army, Saint George enjoyed the favor of the Emperor Diocletian because of his bravery and abilities. Publicly, and in front of the emperor himself, he opposed the latter’s decision to launch a persecution against Christians, boldly confessing that he Read more…
Lambros Skontzos, Theologian Thessaloniki has been the cradle of many saints. There are hundreds of Thessalonian saints who adorn the holy synaxaria. One such saint is Theonas, archbishop of the city, a truly significant personality who made his mark in the Thessaloniki of the 16th century. We don’t have much Read more…
Fotis Kondoglou On the eve of the feast of Saint Dionysios in 1589, she was in the monastery she had founded in Patisia. In the evening, the sisters gathered for the vigil. Some Muslims, who had long been at odds with her, jumped over the wall of the monastery Read more…
Fotis Kondoglou Saint Filotheï was born in Athens to illustrious parents, the only child of Angelos Benizelos and his wife Syriga. She was called Filotheï when she became a nun, but before then her name was Revoula. Her mother had been barren and had begged God to give her Read more…
Saint Methodius, Patriarch of Constantinople towards the middle of the ninth century, wrote a life of Saint Nicholas in which he declares that “up to the present the life of the distinguished shepherd has been unknown to the majority of the faithful.” Nearly five hundred years had passed since the Read more…
George Arvanitis d) Immortality The victory over death, the sense and assurance of immortality is an experience that is common to all the saints and Elder Porphyrios himself. In the recorded interview mentioned above he also says: ‘The man who belongs to Christ should love Christ, and when he Read more…