Hieromartyr Symeon, Kinsman of the Lord
Symeon was a first cousin of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was the son of Clopas (or Cleopas, also called Alphaeus), the brother of Joseph the Betrothed. He became the second Bishop of Jerusalem, as…
Feasts and Saints
Great and Holy Thursday (Matins) Virginmartyrs Agape, Irene, and Chionia in Thessalonica
Two events shape the liturgy of Great and Holy Thursday: the Last Supper of Christ with His disciples, and the betrayal of Judas. The meaning of both is in love. The Last Supper is the…
Great and Holy Wednesday (Matins); Apostles Aristarchus, Pudens and Trophimus of the Seventy; Martyr Crescens
On Great and Holy Wednesday, the hymns of the Bridegroom Service remind us of the sinful woman who poured precious ointment on Christ’s head at Simon the leper’s house (Mt. 26:7). The disciples complained about…
†) Great and Holy Tuesday (Matins); Saint Hierarch Pachomius of Gledin; St. Martin the Confessor the Pope of Rome; Martyr Thomais
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday – these three days, which the Church calls Great and Holy have within the liturgical development of the Holy Week a very definite purpose. They place all its celebrations in the perspective…
(+) Entrance of the Lord into Jerusalem; +) Martyr Sava of Buzau; 6th Sunday of Great Lent (Palm Sunday)
Palm Sunday Palm Sunday is the celebration of the triumphant entrance of Christ into the royal city of Jerusalem. He rode on a colt for which He Himself had sent, and He permitted the people…
Venerable Basil the Confessor; Hieromartyr Proterius the Patriarch of Alexandria (Non-liturgical day. Cheese, milk, eggs, fish allowed)
Venerable Basil the Confessor Saint Basil the Confessor was a monk and suffered during the reign of the iconoclast emperor Leo the Isaurian (717-741). When a persecution started against those who venerated holy icons, Saint…
St. Cyril the Archbishop of Alexandria; 7th Sunday after Pascha (Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council)
Saint Cyril, Archbishop of Alexandria, a distinguished champion of Orthodoxy and a great teacher of the Church, came from an illustrious and pious Christian family. He studied the secular sciences, including philosophy, but most of…
Great and Holy Tuesday (Matins). Martyr Valerius
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday – these three days, which the Church calls Great and Holy have within the liturgical development of the Holy Week a very definite purpose. They place all its celebrations in the…
Hieromartyr Simeon, the Kinsman of the Lord (Fish permitted)
The holy, glorious, all-laudable Apostle and Hieromartyr Symeon the Kinsman of the Lord (Simeon) of the Seventy, was the second Bishop of Jerusalem, serving for the period of 67 to 107. He is commemorated by…
Hieromartyr Basil the Bishop of Amasea; St. Glaphyra; Martyrs Cyril, Kindeas and Dasius of Axiopolis
Hieromartyr Basil, Bishop of Amasea, lived at the beginning of the fourth century in the Pontine city of Amasea. He encouraged and comforted the Christians suffering persecution by the pagans. During this time the Eastern…