Monastic

Feast Day/Commemorated: August 16 The Early Life and Calling of Saint Joseph the Hesychast  Francis Kottis, born in Paros on February 12, 1897, was the fourth of seven children to a poor but devout couple. Due to his family's extreme poverty,...

Feast Day/Commemorated: April 9 The Holy Newly-Appeared Martyrs of Lesbos, Saints Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene, were killed by the invading Turks on Bright Tuesday, April 9, 1463, just ten years after the Fall of Constantinople. For nearly five...

Feast Day/Commemorated: November 6 Saint Stylianos was born in Paphlagonia, Asia Minor, sometime between the fourth and sixth centuries, inheriting a substantial fortune from his parents. However, the future saint had little interest in worldly wealth...

Feast Day/Commemorated: May 10 Saint Isidora, known as a Fool-for-Christ, endured a life of extreme humility and self-denial within the Tabenna monastery in sixth-century Egypt. Embracing the spiritual discipline of "folly," she deliberately acted in a...

Feast Day/Commemorated: January 4 Saint Nikephoros, born Nicholas Tzanakakis in a mountainous village of Crete in 1890, endured profound hardship from an early age. His life was marked by the tragic loss of his simple, pious parents, leaving him an...

Feast Day/Commemorated: January 2 Saint Seraphim of Sarov was born in Kursk in 1759 and demonstrated a connection to the divine from his childhood. At the age of nine, he suffered from a severe sickness but was miraculously healed after the Mother of...

Feast Day/Commemorated: January 3 The holy New Martyr Ephraim was born in Greece in 1384 and was raised by his pious mother after his father passed away. When he was just fourteen, he entered a monastery dedicated to the Annunciation and Saint Paraskevḗ...

Feast Day/Commemorated: June 15 Saint Jerome, born Eusebius Hieronymos Sophronius in Stridon, was a pivotal figure in Christian history. He received a thorough secular education in Rome, where he initially succumbed to worldly temptations before...

Feast Day/Commemorated: November 28 In 715, Stephen the New was born into a pious Christian family in Constantinople. His parents, having only daughters, had prayed for a son and, in gratitude, dedicated him to God at the Church of the Theotokos. During...

This icon features Saint Joseph the Hesychast along with his spiritual children, Saint Ephraim of Katounakia and Blessed Geronda Ephraim of Philotheou and Arizona.2 of these Saints have been glorified. Saint Joseph (Feast Day August 16) and Saint Ephraim...

Feast Day/Commemorated: August 10 Saint Blane (c. 530–590) was a monk from the Isle of Bute who established a monastery in what is now Dunblane, Scotland. The son of a Pictish king, he was educated in Ireland and was a nephew of Saint Catan, who...

Feast Day/Commemorated: December 2 The Life of Saint Paisius Olaru of Sihăstria and Shila Monastery (Romania)Saint Paisius (1897-1990), born Peter Olaru, was a revered Romanian schemamonk and confessor whose profound spiritual influence extended to the...