The first lesson at Great Vespers (Genesis 28:10-17) describes Jacob’s dream of a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, and the angels ascending and descending upon it. The second lesson (Ezekiel 43:27-44:4) speaks of the gate of the sanctuary which faces east. God enters through this gate,…

Saint Sozon lived in the late III century. He was from Lykaonia in Cilicia, and originally his name was Tarasios. When he became a Christian, he was baptized and received the name Sozon. A shepherd by profession, he tried to imitate the meekness of the sheep, at which he marveled. “I am…

Saint John, Archbishop of Novgorod, was born at Novgorod of the pious parents Nicholas and Christina. He passed his childhood in quiet and peaceful surroundings. After the death of their parents, John and his brother Gabriel decided to establish a small monastery in honor of the Annunciation of…

Saint Serapion of Pskov was born at Yuriev (now Tartu), which then was under the rule of Germans, who sought to stamp out Orthodoxy. His parents were parishioners of a Russian church in the name of Saint Nicholas. Saint Serapion was well versed in the Holy Scripture, and more than once he entered…

The Hieromartyr Macarius of Kanev lived in the seventeenth century. This was a most terrible time for Orthodox Christians in western Rus. The constant struggles of the Hieromartyr, were an attempt to defend the Orthodox Faith under difficult conditions, when it was possible only to defend the…

The Holy Apostle Evodius of the Seventy was, after the holy Apostle Peter, the first bishop in Syrian Antioch. His successor, the Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-Bearer (December 20), disciple of the holy Apostle John the Theologian, mentions him in his Letter to the Antiochians: “Remember your…

The Holy Apostle Onesiphorus of the Seventy Saint Paul writes of him: “God grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my bonds. When he was at Rome, he searched for me with great diligence, and found me. May the Lord grant him to find the mercy…

The Holy Martyr Eupsychius was born in Caesaria, Cappadocia. In one of the Synaxaria he is called the son of a senator Dionysius. During a time of a persecution against Christians under Hadrian, he was arrested and tortured. After the torture they threw him into prison, where he was healed of his…

Saint Luke was a monk at the Deep Stream (Βαθέος Ρύακος) Monastery near Triglia, Lykaonia (in Asia Minor), and later became its third Igoumen, He reposed there in peace at the end of the X century. The Monastery, dedicated to the Transfiguration of Christ. was famed for the strictness…

Saint Cloud was born in 520. When his father was killed in battle in 524 he and his brothers were brought up by their grandmother Saint Clotilde (June 3). His brothers were murdered by their uncles Childebert and Clotaire to prevent them from succeeding to the Frankish throne. Saint Cloud escaped…

The future Saint Macarius was born in 1788 into the noble Ivanov family, and was baptized with the name Michael in honor of Saint Michael of Tver (November 22). His parents Nicholas and Elizabeth had an estate in the village of Shepyatino in the Dimitrov district in the Orel province. They also…

Saint Cassiani (Cassianḗ) is a well-known Byzantine poet (ποιήτρια), who lived during the reign of Emperor Theophilos (829 – 842). She was tonsured about the year 820, and founded a convent on Xerolophos, one of Constantinople's seven hills. There (according to the monk George the…