Brian Whirledge

Saint Olga was born on February 3, 1916, in the Yup'ik village of Kwethluk, Alaska. Her family herded reindeer, and Olga (Arrsamquq, her Yup'ik name) loved spending time in the mountains as a child, playing with her six brothers. She married her...

Mother Maria (Skobtsova) was a native of Latvia, born in 1891. As a teenager, she was drawn to the teachings of the Socialists. Eventually her concern for the poor led her back to her faith in Christ, and she returned to her native Russian Orthodox...

Saint Katherine (also spelled Catherine) is celebrated as a Great Martyr of the Orthodox Church. She suffered greatly for her faith in Christ in the year 305 at the hands of Maximinus of Alexandria. She was killed for refusing his marriage intentions,...

Saint Theodora was born in Paphlagonia, along the Black Sea coast in Asia Minor, about the year 815. The daughter of a military commander, she is believed to have been of Armenian descent. When Theodora was about 15 years old, she was selected to...

Saint Mary lived in the fifth century. As a girl, she left her Christian family in order to follow her pleasures in unbridled sinful living. At one point she joined a group of pilgrims to Jerusalem, selling herself in exchange for passage. When they...

Saint Ia Wen was a Chinese Orthodox Christian school teacher. She was martyred at the age of 56 on the night of June 10, 1900. She was among about a dozen Orthodox Christians who were slain while sheltering in the house of their priest, Fr. Mitrophan...

Saint Thekla (also spelled Thecla) was born into a pagan noble family just sixteen years after the Ascension. When she was eighteen, she became a disciple of St. Paul against the wishes of her mother and fiancé. Despite the objections of her...

Saint Nino (also spelled Nina or Nune) was born in Cappadocia about the year 280. She was a kinswoman of Saint George. Her parents sold their possessions, moved to Jerusalem, and entered the monastic life, leaving Nino in the care of an old woman who...

The renowned Russian Saint Juliana of Lazarevo lived in the 16th century. She was faithful as a noblewoman, spouse, mother, and daughter of the Church, modeling how to live a saintly life in the context of family and everyday concerns. She cared for...

Saint Ludmila was born about the year 860 to the ruling family of Bohemia in the modern Czech Republic. At the age of about 13, she was married to Borivoy, the first Christian Duke of Bohemia. They worked together to enlighten their subjects with the...

Saint Zlata (also known as Saint Chryse; both words mean "gold") was born in the 18th century in the village of Slatena, Ottoman Bulgaria (modern Chrysi, Greece). She came from a poor peasant family of devoted Orthodox Christians, despite the...

Saint Agafya (Agatha) was the wife of Grand Duke Yuri II of Vladimir (1188-1238), and Theodora was their eight-year-old daughter. Grand Duke Yuri's rule saw the Mongols invade the lands of Kievan Rus. In the course of many battles, they gradually took...