Saints and feasts are essential to the practice of our Orthodox faith. Open the church calendar, and you will find that each day – today, tomorrow, and the day after – commemorates a feast or a saint. Еach celebration is our opportunity to learn something new about our faith, ask ourselves essential questions about our lives, and grow spiritually. With every question answered and every lesson learned, we advance a step closer to purity and righteousness. That is true of every major or lesser feast of the Orthodox Church and every saint.
The way we understand the meaning and purpose of our lives revolved around the idea of holiness and sainthood. Saints inherit salvation. They are eternally alive in Christ. As Christians, we share the same goals in this life and the life to come. The saints give us an example and inspiration to live holy and righteous lives of service.
There are many ways of serving God and multiple types of saints. Numerous saints were martyrs who sacrificed their lives and endured great torments confessing their faith. The Apostles were the first to dedicate themselves to preaching Christ and were among the early martyrs. Church fathers gave us guidance on matters of faith and doctrine. Numerous saints were notable ascetics and models of righteous lives.
The Bible teaches us to pray for each other to find healing for our souls. It also reminds us of the great power of a prayer of a righteous person. As our brothers and sisters in Christ, we ask the saints to intercede for us before God. And through them, God sheds His multiple blessings on us. In the lives of the saints, we find numerous examples of enlightenment, healing, delivery from temptation and other gifts of God’s mercy received by their intercessory prayers.
Find out which Russian Orthodox feast or saints celebrate each day in 2022 and beyond. Learn how we do it at Saint Elisabeth Convent and what spiritual insights we draw from it. Learn about our most beloved saints, their great feats and achievements and their progress to purity from all things unholy and not Christ-like. We hope that you will find our pieces both relevant and enlightening. We do not write them as lessons in history, but as an inspiration in our search for holiness.
The venerable Theodosius lived in the eleventh century, shining among the saints of the Russian church as a father of monasticism in Russia, a model of ascetic living, and a religious writer, whose prayer for all Christians is still remembered…
An ancient chronicler thus describes the nature of their exploit: "They allowed themselves to be murdered by their older brother Svyatopolk vying for the princely throne. They chose not to raise their hand to their brother."
While the Church names St Anthony the Great the father of hermits, and St Macarius the Great the guide for skete-dwelling monks, it is St Pachomius the Great who stands as the foremost founder of communal monastic life.
St Athanasius was a man of deep religious devotion, great honesty, strong resolve, fearless, and bold in defending the truth. His writings still serve today as a source of moral guidance and the principles of Orthodox faith.
How can we keep our faith in a rapidly secularizing world? How do we resist the temptations of ideas that promise quick solutions to the world’s problems? With his life and teachings, he answered many of these questions and brought thousands…
