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Our Holy Father Arethas of the Kiev Caves

Our Holy Father Arethas of the Kiev CavesHe went to the Lord in 1190 (see the passage for consideration below). Author's note: In the Greek Synaxarion, the holy martyr Sebastiana, a disciple of the Apostle Paul, who suffered for the Faith in the year 82, in the time of the Emperor Dornitian, is also commemorated. She was first tortured in the city of Marcianopolis, where the Apostle Paul appeared to her and said: 'Rejoice, and do not be sad, for you will go from here to your own town to confess your faith in Christ.' And so it came to pass: the judge sent her to her birthplace, Heracleia, where she was tortured and finally beheaded. Her remains were put in a sack and thrown into the sea, but an angel of God took them to a place called Risiston, where Ammia, the wife of a senator, found them and gave them burial. Her relics had healing power and gave off myrrh.

St Elesbaan, Emperor of Ethiopia

St Elesbaan, Emperor of EthiopiaInflamed with love for Christ, this devout Emperor raised an army against Dunaan, the wicked persecutor of Christians in the land of Omir, but he was unsuccessful in the early stages of the battle and many of his soldiers perished in the and desert. He then lamented bitterly to God, and promised to become a monk if God would help him overcome the shedder of Christian blood. Defeating Dunaan, Elesbaan returned to Ethiopia and immediately left the imperial court and went to a monastery, where he lived in strict asceticism as a true monk for a whole fifteen years, God giving him wonderworking gifts both before and after his death. He entered into rest in 555.

The Icon: "Joy of all who Sorrow"

The Icon: This is the name given to one of the wonderworking icons of the most holy Mother of God, and today is especially the commemoration of the miraculous healing of Euphemia, sister of Patriarch Joachim, in Moscow in 1688. Euphemia had a dangerous wound in the side and, when the doctors were unsuccessful in their treatment of it, she fell down in prayer before the most holy Mother of God. She then heard a voice: "Euphemia, go to the Church of the Transfiguration of my Son; there you will find the icon "Joy of all who Sorrow". Ask the priest to pray before that icon, and you will be healed." Euphemia did this, and was immediately completely healed.

The Holy Martyr Arethas

The Holy Martyr ArethasThis holy martyr suffered for the Christian faith with more than four thousand other Christians: priests, monks and nuns, townsmen and women and children. Arethas was the local governor of the town of Negran, in the land of Omir in southern Arabia, and was ninety-five years old when he suffered. The land of Omir was governed by a Jew called Dunaan, a vicious persecutor of Christians. Resolving to exterminate Christianity completely in his land,, he laid siege to the Christian town of Negran and told the citizens that, if they did not deny Christ, he would put them all to death. The citizens closed the gates, and Dunaan attacked the city wall for a long time without success. Then the iniquitous governor swore to the citizens that he would do nothing to them if they opened the gate for him to enter and take the tribute owing to him, saying that he would then go away at once. The Christians believed him, and opened the gates. Then the bloodthirsty Jew summoned the aged Arethas to him, along with his clergy and other eminent citizens, and slew them all with the sword, and then indulged in a riot of butchery through the town. Hearing of this, the Byzantine Emperor, Justin, was greatly distressed and wrote a letter to the Ethiopian Emperor Elesbaan, urging him to set out with an army against Dunaan and avenge the Christian blood that had been spilled. Elesbaan obeyed Justin, attacked the governor of Omir, overcame him, slaughtered his entire army and put him to the sword. A devout man called Abramius was installed as ruler of Omir by God"s revelation and, as archbishop, also by God"s revelation, St Gregory (see Dec. 19th). In Negran, the Christians rebuilt the Church of the Holy Trinity that Dunaan had burned, and built a church to the holy martyr Arethas and the other martyrs of that city. They suffered and received wreaths of martyrdom from the Lord in 523.

Martyr Sebastiana of Heraclea in Thrace (86)

Martyr Sebastiana of Heraclea in Thrace (86)

Martyr Acacius of Armenia (303)



Venerable John, recluse of the Pskov Caves (1616)

The Monk John, Hermit of Pskov, asceticised during a terrible time of military troubles: in 1592 the Swedes besieged the city of Pskov, and from 1608 for seven years Polish forces made attack under the head of Lisovskii. It was only in the week before the death of the monk, through the intercession of the Pskovo-Pechersk Icon of the Mother of God and the Pskov Saints, that Pskov was delivered from the besieging army of the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus. The Monk John, as the chronicle relates, "lived within the city walls for 23 years; rancid was his fish and bread he ate not; he lived within the city as though in a wilderness, in great silence", and he died on 24 October 1616.

January 2072
SunMonTueWedThuFriSut
     Our Holy Father Elias of Murom
1
oil
St Danilo, Archbishop of Serbia
2
oil
The Holy Martyr Themistocies
3
oil
The Holy Martyr Theodota with her three Children
4
oil
Our Holy Father Nahum, the Wonderworker of Ochrid
5
oil
Our Holy Father Nicolas the Soldier
6
oil
+++ The Nativity of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ
7
fast-free
Our Holy Father Constantine of Synnada
8
fast-free
Our Holy Fathers, the Martyrs Theodore and Theophanes the Branded
9
fast-free
The Holy Martyr Domna
10
fast-free
Our Holy Fathers Mark the Gravedigger and Theophilus the Weeper
11
fast-free
Our Holy Father, the Martyr Gideon
12
fast-free
Saint Dositej of Zagreb
13
fast-free
New Martyr Peter  of the Peloponnesos
14
fast-free
Venerable Sylvester of the Kiev Caves
15
fast-free
St Genevieve of Paris
16
fast-free
Venerable Euthymius the New of Thessalonica, monk
17
fast-free
Martyr Theoidus
18
strict fast
+++ The Theophany
19
fast-free
The Holy Martyr Athanasius
20
fish
St. Theodore of Constantinople
21
fast-free
St. Peter, bishop of Sebaste in Armenia
22
oil
Saint Maire martyr
23
fast-free
Blessed Theosebia the Deaconess
24
fast-free
Virgin Martyr Euthasia
25
fast-free
Venerable Eleazar of Anzersk Island at Solovki (1656)
26
fast-free
Martyr Agnes
27
fish
The Holy Martyr Pansophius
28
fast-free
Martyrs Neon, Turbo, and the woman Jonilla (Jovilla), in Cappadocia
29
oil
St Anthony of Krasny Kholm
30
fast-free
Venerable Marcian of Cyrrhus in Syria
31
fast-free
      
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