Saint Paul of Thebes was born in Egypt around 227 in the Thebaid of Egypt. Left orphaned, he suffered many things from a greedy relative over his inheritance. During the persecution against Christians under the emperor Decius (249-251), Saint Paul learned of his brother-in-law’s insidious…

Saint John the Hut-Dweller was the son of rich and illustrious parents, and was born in Constantinople in the early fifth century. He received a fine education, and he mastered rhetoric and philosophy by the age of twelve. He also loved to read spiritual books. Perceiving the vanity of worldly…

The Monk Martyr Pansophius, was a son of the Alexandrian proconsul Nilus. After the death of his father, he distributed his inheritance to the poor and settled in the desert, where he lived in asceticism for twenty-seven years. During the persecution by Decius (249-251) Saint Pansophius was…

Saint Prochorus of Pshina pursued asceticism in the Bransk wilderness at the River Pshina, and he founded a monastery there. He is renowned as one of the great ascetics of monastic life. He died at the end of the tenth century. Miracles occurred from the saint’s relics. According to the…

Saint Gabriel, founder of the Lesnov monastery near the city of Kratov. Receiving a large inheritance after the death of his parents, he rejected marriage and became a monk on a mountain at Lesnov. There he built a church in the name of the Archangel Michael, and gathered many monks around him. He…

Saint Ita, “the Foster Mother of the Irish Saints,” was born in the fifth century. She, like many of the Irish saints, was of the nobility. Her parents were devout Christians who lived in County Waterford. She founded a school and convent at Killeedy (Cille Ide) which still bears her…

Saints Salome of Ujarma and Perozhavra of Sivnia were the helpers and closest companions of Saint Nino, Enlightener of Georgia. Saint Nino herself had converted them to the Christian Faith. Salome was the wife of Revi, the son of King Mirian, and Perozhavra was married to the ruler of the Kartli…

Saint Barlaam of Keretsk served during the sixteenth century as a priest in the Keretsk area of the Kolsk peninsula on the White Sea. He was venerated as the patron of White Sea industrial workers and sea-farers. He was glorified by posthumous miracles, saving those in danger of drowning.