Find your patron saint

Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia. He built a whole town of care for the sick and poor, wrote the rules most Orthodox monks still follow, and defended the faith in the Holy Trinity. Greeks cut the Vasilopita on his day.

Old Calendar: Jan 14 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

A Russian noblewoman, wife and mother of thirteen, who fed the hungry through a famine until she had nothing left. She shows that holiness can be lived at home with a family.

Old Calendar: Jan 15 · Russia & the Slavic lands

A Russian monk who lived as a hermit in the forest, then spent his last years greeting every visitor with "Christ is risen, my joy!" He said, "Acquire the Spirit of peace, and thousands around you will be saved."

Old Calendar: Jan 15 · Russia & the Slavic lands

The Forerunner, who lived in the wilderness, preached repentance and baptized Christ in the Jordan. He was beheaded by Herod for speaking the truth. He stands at Christ's left hand on every icon screen.

Old Calendar: Jan 20 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

A deaconess of Rome martyred around 226. Moscow University was founded on her day in 1755, so Russians keep it as Students' Day.

Old Calendar: Jan 25 · Rome & the West

A young woman who brought Christianity to Georgia with a cross bound from grapevines. Through her, the king and queen were baptized and Georgia became a Christian nation.

Old Calendar: Jan 27 · Russia & the Slavic lands

A prince who ran away to Mount Athos to become a monk, then came home to be the first archbishop of Serbia. He founded schools and hospitals and made peace between his warring brothers.

Old Calendar: Jan 27 · Russia & the Slavic lands

A young Egyptian who gave away everything and went into the desert. He fought temptation for decades, and so many followed him that he is called the father of monks.

Old Calendar: Jan 30 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

Archbishop of Alexandria, exiled five times for defending the faith that Christ is truly God. He wrote On the Incarnation and the life of St. Anthony.

Old Calendar: Jan 31 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

The only bishop who refused to sign the union with Rome at the Council of Florence in 1439, when the Byzantine Empire was desperate for help. Back home, the people stood with him.

Old Calendar: Feb 1 · Greece & Cyprus

A monk and one of the deepest theologians of the Church. He refused to deny that Christ has a human will, and in old age his tongue and right hand were cut off.

Old Calendar: Feb 3 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

Widowed suddenly at 26, she gave away everything, put on her husband's clothes and wandered St. Petersburg in prayer for 45 years. People found that wherever she stopped, things went well for them.

Old Calendar: Feb 6 · Russia & the Slavic lands

Basil's closest friend, a poet and a quiet man forced into public life. His five sermons on the Holy Trinity in Constantinople earned him the title "the Theologian".

Old Calendar: Feb 7 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

A deacon of Nisibis and Edessa who wrote hundreds of hymns, so many that he is called the Harp of the Spirit. His short prayer "O Lord and Master of my life" is said every day of Lent.

Old Calendar: Feb 10 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom, celebrated together. Their feast is a school holiday in Greece and the day of education and learning.

Old Calendar: Feb 12 · Greece & Cyprus

An Irish abbess famous for giving away whatever she had to the poor, including, the stories say, her father's sword. Her cross woven from rushes still hangs in Irish homes.

Old Calendar: Feb 14 · Britain & Ireland

A young goose-herd of Phrygia, known for healing, martyred around 250. Farmers have long asked his blessing on fields, gardens and vineyards.

Old Calendar: Feb 14 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

The old man who held the infant Christ in the Temple and sang "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace." His prayer closes Vespers every evening.

Old Calendar: Feb 16 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

A priest of Magnesia martyred at the age of 113. He is called on against plague and epidemics.

Old Calendar: Feb 23 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

The empress who brought the holy icons back to the churches in 843, ending more than a century of iconoclasm. The Sunday of Orthodoxy celebrates it.

Old Calendar: Feb 24 · Greece & Cyprus

A young recruit who burned a pagan temple and was martyred around 306. Later, by tradition, he warned the Christians of Constantinople that their food had been defiled, which is remembered on the first Saturday of Lent.

Old Calendar: Mar 2 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

The Samaritan woman Christ met at the well. She ran back to her town to tell everyone, and tradition says she went on preaching until her martyrdom under Nero.

Old Calendar: Mar 11 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

A Syrian priest who came to New York in 1895 to care for Arabic-speaking Orthodox immigrants. As the first Orthodox bishop consecrated in North America, he travelled the continent founding some 30 parishes.

Old Calendar: Mar 12 · North America

A Welsh bishop and monk whose last words were "Be joyful, keep the faith, and do the little things." Wales keeps his day as its national day.

Old Calendar: Mar 14 · Britain & Ireland

A simple parish priest of Athens who served the Liturgy almost every day for 50 years, often in tiny chapels, with writers and poets as his chanters. He reposed in 1932.

Old Calendar: Mar 15 · Greece & Cyprus

An Italian monk whose short Rule, "pray and work", shaped monastic life in the West for centuries. Orthodox Christians honour him as a saint of the undivided Church.

Old Calendar: Mar 27 · Rome & the West

The son of a rich Roman family who left on his wedding day to live as a beggar. Years later he came home unrecognized and lived under the stairs of his parents' house until he died.

Old Calendar: Mar 30 · Rome & the West

Kidnapped from Britain as a teenager and enslaved in Ireland, he escaped, became a priest, and went back to the land of his captors to preach.

Old Calendar: Mar 30 · Britain & Ireland

A shepherd boy who became a monk and bishop in Northumbria. He loved solitude on the island of Farne, and the eider ducks there are still called "Cuddy ducks".

Old Calendar: Apr 2 · Britain & Ireland

A Russian priest who sailed to the Aleutian Islands in 1824, learned the local language, wrote its first alphabet and translated the Gospel. He later became Metropolitan of Moscow.

Old Calendar: Apr 13 · North America

She lived for years in lust in Alexandria, until an unseen force stopped her at the door of the church in Jerusalem. She repented, crossed the Jordan and lived 47 years alone in the desert. Her life is read in church every Lent.

Old Calendar: Apr 14 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

Bishop of North America from 1898, who founded St. Tikhon's Monastery in Pennsylvania and consecrated St. Raphael of Brooklyn. He went home to become Patriarch of Moscow just as the Bolsheviks came to power, and led the Church through persecution until 1925.

Old Calendar: Apr 20 · North America

A Roman officer who refused to give up Christ under Diocletian and was martyred around 303. The icon of him slaying the dragon shows faith defeating evil. His name means "farmer".

Old Calendar: May 6 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

Companion of Peter and Paul, he wrote the shortest of the four Gospels. Tradition says he founded the Church of Alexandria and was martyred there.

Old Calendar: May 8 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

Brother of John and one of the three closest to Christ, at the Transfiguration and in Gethsemane. He was the first apostle to die for the faith, beheaded by Herod Agrippa.

Old Calendar: May 13 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

Born blind in a poor village, she spent her life in Moscow praying for the endless stream of people who came to her through the Soviet years. Long lines still form at her relics every day.

Old Calendar: May 15 · Russia & the Slavic lands

A young woman of noble birth baptized by tradition by a disciple of St. Paul, who brought many to Christ through her endurance under torture. Her name means "peace".

Old Calendar: May 18 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

The man of the Old Testament who lost everything, his children, his wealth and his health, and still would not curse God.

Old Calendar: May 19 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

A Greek Catholic priest in Minneapolis who returned to Orthodoxy in 1891 with his whole parish, and helped tens of thousands of immigrants in America do the same.

Old Calendar: May 20 · North America

The beloved disciple, who stood at the Cross and took the Virgin Mary into his home. He wrote the Gospel of John, three letters and the Book of Revelation, and lived to old age on Patmos and in Ephesus.

Old Calendar: May 21 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

A martyr of the 3rd century whose name means "Christ-bearer". A beloved story, told mostly in the West, tells of a giant who carried a child across a river and found he was carrying Christ.

Old Calendar: May 22 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

Two brothers from Thessaloniki who created an alphabet for the Slavs and translated the Gospel and the services into their language. Every Cyrillic letter goes back to their mission.

Old Calendar: May 24 · Russia & the Slavic lands

A businesswoman of Philippi who sold purple cloth. She was the first person baptized in Europe, and opened her house to St. Paul.

Old Calendar: Jun 2 · Greece & Cyprus

The first Christian emperor, who ended the persecution of Christians and called the Council of Nicaea, and his mother Helen, who found the Cross of Christ in Jerusalem.

Old Calendar: Jun 3 · Greece & Cyprus

A Russian soldier taken prisoner and sold as a slave in Turkey. He kept his faith, worked humbly in his master's stable, and was loved even by those who held him. His relics are in Prokopi, on Euboea.

Old Calendar: Jun 9 · Greece & Cyprus

A philosopher who searched through every school of thought until he found Christ. He kept wearing his philosopher's cloak, wrote defences of the faith, and was beheaded in Rome around 165.

Old Calendar: Jun 14 · Rome & the West

The sisters of Lazarus, who welcomed Christ into their home in Bethany. Martha served and Mary sat at His feet, and both were His friends.

Old Calendar: Jun 17 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

An Irish monk who sailed to Scotland in 563 and founded the monastery of Iona, from which the Gospel spread across Scotland and northern England.

Old Calendar: Jun 22 · Britain & Ireland

A brilliant surgeon who became a bishop in the Soviet Union. He spent eleven years in prison and exile, operating on patients wherever he was, and won a state prize for his book on surgery.

Old Calendar: Jun 24 · Russia & the Slavic lands

A Roman Briton who hid a priest fleeing persecution, was converted by him, and put on his cloak to be arrested in his place. He is the first known martyr of Britain.

Old Calendar: Jul 5 · Britain & Ireland

A prince and the peasant girl who healed him and became his wife. They ruled Murom together, became monastics in old age, and died on the same day. Russia keeps their feast as its day of family and love.

Old Calendar: Jul 8 · Russia & the Slavic lands

Peter, the fisherman who denied Christ three times and was forgiven, and Paul, the persecutor who met Christ on the road to Damascus. Both were martyred in Rome under Nero.

Old Calendar: Jul 12 · Rome & the West

A Russian bishop who ran an orphanage in Shanghai and led thousands of refugees to safety across the world, finally to San Francisco. He slept little, served the Liturgy daily and visited the sick at all hours. He reposed in 1966.

Old Calendar: Jul 15 · North America

A German princess who married into the Russian royal family. After her husband was killed she founded a convent in Moscow to nurse the poor, and was martyred by the Bolsheviks in 1918.

Old Calendar: Jul 18 · Russia & the Slavic lands

Born on a Sunday to parents who had prayed for a child for years, so they named her "of the Lord's day". She was martyred under Diocletian.

Old Calendar: Jul 20 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

Princess of Kiev, ruthless in her youth, who was baptized in Constantinople and spent her later years spreading the faith. Her grandson Vladimir baptized the land of Rus.

Old Calendar: Jul 24 · Russia & the Slavic lands

A monk of Mount Athos who received thousands of visitors with humour and sharp, simple advice. He reposed in 1994, and his counsels on family life and spiritual struggle are read everywhere.

Old Calendar: Jul 25 · Greece & Cyprus

A monk of Mount Athos with an extraordinary memory, who gathered the Philokalia, the great collection of writings on prayer, with St. Makarios of Corinth.

Old Calendar: Jul 27 · Greece & Cyprus

Grand Prince of Kiev, a warlord with many wives, who was baptized in 988 and brought his people with him into the Church. He gave away his wealth and lived a changed life.

Old Calendar: Jul 28 · Russia & the Slavic lands

A teenage girl of Antioch in Pisidia, martyred for refusing to marry a pagan governor. Her icon shows her beating a demon with a hammer.

Old Calendar: Jul 30 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

The fiery prophet who stood alone against the priests of Baal, prayed for rain after three years of drought, and was taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire. Greek mountaintops are crowned with his chapels.

Old Calendar: Aug 2 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

Mother Maria Skobtsova, a poet and nun in Paris who opened houses for the homeless and refugees. In the war she hid Jews, and died in Ravensbrück in 1945.

Old Calendar: Aug 2 · Rome & the West

Healed by Christ of seven demons, she followed Him to the Cross and was the first to see Him risen. Tradition says she brought a red egg to the emperor Tiberius.

Old Calendar: Aug 4 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

The daughter of a pagan governor, who broke her father's gold idols and gave the pieces to the poor. She was martyred young.

Old Calendar: Aug 6 · Rome & the West

The mother of the Virgin Mary, who prayed for years for a child. Her falling asleep is remembered on this day, and she is celebrated with Joachim on September 9.

Old Calendar: Aug 7 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

A young woman of Rome who preached the faith and was martyred. Her name means "Friday", the day of preparation.

Old Calendar: Aug 8 · Rome & the West

A young doctor of Nicomedia who healed the sick without charging them. He was martyred under Diocletian, and is one of the holy Unmercenaries.

Old Calendar: Aug 9 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

The Virgin Mary, who gave birth to Christ. Orthodox Christians call her Theotokos, "the one who gave birth to God", and honour her above every saint. Her falling asleep, the Dormition, is the great feast of August.

Old Calendar: Aug 28 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

A hermit and abbot of Kefalonia whose incorrupt relics are carried through the island twice a year. People come to him for deliverance from evil spirits and for healing.

Old Calendar: Aug 29 · Greece & Cyprus

A monk who walked the villages of Ottoman Greece for twenty years preaching and urging every village to open a school. Some 200 schools were founded through him. He was martyred in 1779.

Old Calendar: Sep 6 · Greece & Cyprus

St. Paul's companion and the first bishop of Crete, to whom Paul wrote his letter on how to lead the Church.

Old Calendar: Sep 7 · Greece & Cyprus

Almost nothing is known of his life. His icon was found in the ruins of a church on Rhodes in the 1500s, and people began asking him to reveal what they had lost. When something is found, many bake a phanouropita, a cake, and share it.

Old Calendar: Sep 9 · Greece & Cyprus

An Ethiopian slave who became a feared robber in Egypt, then repented and became a monk in the desert, gentle and humble. He refused to judge others: "My sins run out behind me, and I do not see them."

Old Calendar: Sep 10 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

The bishop of Constantinople who prayed all night that the heretic Arius would not be received into communion, and saw his prayer answered.

Old Calendar: Sep 12 · Greece & Cyprus

A shepherd boy of Cappadocia who lived in the mountains with his flocks, and was martyred around 275. Icons show him riding a lion.

Old Calendar: Sep 15 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

The parents of the Virgin Mary, who longed for a child into old age and were answered.

Old Calendar: Sep 22 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

A humble monastery cook who was mocked by the other monks. A priest saw him in a dream in Paradise and was given apples from its garden.

Old Calendar: Sep 24 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

A martyr of Chalcedon. At the Council of Chalcedon in 451, tradition says the true confession of faith was found in her hand when her tomb was opened.

Old Calendar: Sep 29 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

Duchess of Bohemia and one of the first Czechs to be baptized. She raised her grandson, St. Wenceslas, in the faith and was murdered on her daughter-in-law's orders.

Old Calendar: Sep 29 · Russia & the Slavic lands

A widow of Rome and her three young daughters, martyred under Hadrian. Sophia buried her girls and died at their grave three days later.

Old Calendar: Sep 30 · Rome & the West

A young Aleut from Kodiak, Alaska, captured near San Francisco in 1815 and martyred for refusing to give up his Orthodox faith.

Old Calendar: Oct 7 · North America

A Russian peasant who became a monk on Mount Athos and prayed for the whole world with tears. He heard Christ say, "Keep thy mind in hell, and despair not."

Old Calendar: Oct 7 · Greece & Cyprus

A young woman of Iconium who heard St. Paul preach, broke off her engagement and followed him. She is called the first woman martyr and equal to the apostles.

Old Calendar: Oct 7 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

As a boy he could not learn to read, until a monk prayed with him and gave him blessed bread. He grew up to found the Holy Trinity Lavra and is loved as the guardian of Russia.

Old Calendar: Oct 8 · Russia & the Slavic lands

A church caretaker in Constantinople who couldn't sing, until the Theotokos gave him a scroll to eat in a dream. The next morning he sang "Today the Virgin gives birth" for the first time.

Old Calendar: Oct 14 · Greece & Cyprus

A judge of the Athenian high court who believed when St. Paul preached on the Areopagus. He became the first bishop of Athens.

Old Calendar: Oct 16 · Greece & Cyprus

The apostle who said he would not believe until he touched the wounds, and then cried "My Lord and my God!" Tradition says he carried the Gospel as far as India.

Old Calendar: Oct 19 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

A famous actress of Antioch who heard a bishop preach, repented, and lived the rest of her life disguised as a monk on the Mount of Olives.

Old Calendar: Oct 21 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

A sickly monk who, bedridden for years, received crowds every day at Optina Monastery and gave each person advice for their life. Dostoevsky modelled Elder Zosima on him.

Old Calendar: Oct 23 · Russia & the Slavic lands

A physician and Paul's travelling companion, who wrote the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. Tradition says he painted the first icons of the Theotokos.

Old Calendar: Oct 31 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

The first bishop of Jerusalem, so often on his knees in prayer that they grew hard as a camel's. He wrote the Letter of James, and the oldest Liturgy bears his name.

Old Calendar: Nov 5 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

A woman of Joppa "full of good works", who sewed clothes for the widows. When she died, St. Peter raised her to life.

Old Calendar: Nov 7 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

A young officer of Thessaloniki, martyred for teaching the faith. Myrrh has flowed from his relics, and the city has called on him in every war and siege for 1,700 years.

Old Calendar: Nov 8 · Greece & Cyprus

Two brothers, both doctors, who healed people and animals and never accepted payment. The Church calls them the holy Unmercenaries.

Old Calendar: Nov 14 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

The messenger who brought the Virgin Mary the news that she would bear Christ, and told Zechariah of the birth of John the Baptist. He appears in icons with a lily or a staff.

Old Calendar: Nov 21 · Angels

The leader of the heavenly hosts, shown in icons with a sword, standing guard over God's people. Many churches and chapels are named for him and the other Archangels.

Old Calendar: Nov 21 · Angels

A bishop slandered and driven out of Egypt, who bore it in silence and founded a convent on the island of Aegina. He reposed in 1920 and many healings, especially from cancer, are told of him.

Old Calendar: Nov 22 · Greece & Cyprus

The priest of Farasa in Cappadocia who led his village to Greece in the population exchange of 1924, and baptized the boy who became St. Paisios.

Old Calendar: Nov 23 · Greece & Cyprus

An Egyptian soldier who left the army to live as a hermit and then gave himself up as a Christian. He is the patron of Heraklion, and people ask him to find lost things and stolen animals.

Old Calendar: Nov 24 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

Archbishop of Constantinople, called "golden-mouthed" for his preaching. He spoke out for the poor against the wealthy and the court, and died in exile. The Sunday Liturgy bears his name.

Old Calendar: Nov 26 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

A monk of Athos and archbishop of Thessaloniki who defended the hesychasts, monks who pray the Jesus Prayer in stillness, and taught that we can truly know God by grace.

Old Calendar: Nov 27 · Greece & Cyprus

One of the Twelve, who brought his friend Nathanael to Christ with "Come and see." The Nativity Fast begins the day after his feast.

Old Calendar: Nov 27 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

Three martyrs of Edessa. A later miracle tells how they rescued a young woman deceived into a false marriage, so they are asked to protect marriages.

Old Calendar: Nov 28 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

A tax collector, hated by his neighbours, who got up from his table the moment Christ called him. He wrote the first Gospel.

Old Calendar: Nov 29 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

Abbess of Whitby in England, wise enough that kings came to her for advice. She trained five bishops and encouraged Caedmon, the first English poet.

Old Calendar: Nov 30 · Britain & Ireland

A refugee from Asia Minor who became abbot of St. David's Monastery on Euboea. Gentle and simple, he prayed for every visitor, and reposed in 1991.

Old Calendar: Dec 5 · Greece & Cyprus

A brilliant young woman of Alexandria who argued with fifty philosophers before the emperor and won them all to Christ. Her monastery stands at the foot of Mount Sinai.

Old Calendar: Dec 8 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

A hermit of Paphlagonia who loved children. Parents brought their sick little ones to him, and mothers still ask his prayers for infants.

Old Calendar: Dec 9 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

A fisherman and the first disciple to follow Christ, who then brought his brother Peter. He preached around the Black Sea and was crucified on an X-shaped cross in Patras, where his relics rest.

Old Calendar: Dec 13 · Greece & Cyprus

A monk of Athos who spent 33 years as chaplain to an Athens hospital. People came from everywhere for his gift of seeing into their hearts, and he spoke always of the joy of loving Christ.

Old Calendar: Dec 15 · Greece & Cyprus

A young woman locked in a tower by her pagan father, who had a third window built in it for the Holy Trinity. She was martyred by her own father.

Old Calendar: Dec 17 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

A government official in Damascus who became a monk near Jerusalem. He defended the holy icons when emperors tried to destroy them, and wrote many of the hymns sung at Pascha.

Old Calendar: Dec 17 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

A monk who founded the Great Lavra in the Judean desert, near Jerusalem, still inhabited today. The order of services most Orthodox churches use comes from his monastery.

Old Calendar: Dec 18 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

Bishop of Myra in what is now Turkey. He secretly gave gold to three poor girls so they wouldn't be sold, and is remembered for calming storms at sea. He is the Santa Claus of history.

Old Calendar: Dec 19 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

A shepherd from Cyprus who became a bishop and stayed humble. At Nicaea he squeezed a clay tile so that fire, water and earth came out, to explain the Trinity. His relics are in Corfu.

Old Calendar: Dec 25 · Greece & Cyprus

A Russian monk who arrived in Alaska in 1794 and lived for decades on Spruce Island, defending the native Alaskans and caring for orphans. He was the first saint glorified in North America.

Old Calendar: Dec 26 · North America

A bishop martyred young with his mother Anthia. His name means "freedom", so mothers in Greece ask his help for an easy delivery in childbirth.

Old Calendar: Dec 28 · Rome & the West

The young exile in Babylon who refused the king's food, prayed three times a day with his window open, and came out of the lions' den unharmed.

Old Calendar: Dec 30 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

A bishop who hid a man fleeing for his life, then learned that the man had murdered his own brother. He forgave him, gave him money and helped him escape.

Old Calendar: Dec 30 · Greece & Cyprus

Patriarch of Jerusalem who rebuilt the holy places after the Persians burned them in 614. Farmers bring their animals to be blessed on his day.

Old Calendar: Dec 31 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

A Roman steward who drank and lived in sin with his mistress Aglaida. Sent to the East to bring back relics, he became a martyr himself. Russians ask his help against drinking.

Old Calendar: Jan 1 · Rome & the West

Bishop of Antioch, by tradition the child Christ held in His arms. On the way to the lions in Rome he wrote seven letters, saying "I am the wheat of God."

Old Calendar: Jan 2 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

A parish priest near St. Petersburg who spent his life among the poor and the drunkards of the port. He founded workhouses and schools, and thousands came to him for prayer. His diary, My Life in Christ, is still widely read.

Old Calendar: Jan 2 · Russia & the Slavic lands

A Roman widow who spent her fortune visiting Christians in prison, bringing food and medicine. Her title means she frees people from poisons and evil spells.

Old Calendar: Jan 4 · Rome & the West

A noble girl of Alexandria who disguised herself as a monk to live in a monastery, and later led a community of women in Rome until her martyrdom.

Old Calendar: Jan 6 · Rome & the West

The carpenter of Nazareth who took Mary as his wife, protected the infant Christ and led the family to safety in Egypt.

Old Calendar: Jan 8 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor

One of the first deacons, who served the widows of Jerusalem. He was stoned to death, praying for his killers as he died.

Old Calendar: Jan 9 · Holy Land, Egypt & Asia Minor