Saints

The Apostle Stephen was the first deacon of the Church. For this, he is called "Protodeacon" or "Archdeacon," and as he was the first Christian martyr, he is called "Protomartyr." While performing...

One of the most renowned women saints of the early church is the virgin martyr Lucy (or Lucia). This wonderful saint was born in Syracuse, Sicily in the year 283 AD to wealthy parents. She was...

This touching 19th century Russian icon depicts the Martyr Sophia and her daughters Faith, Hope, and Love (in Slavonic: Vera, Nadezhda, and Lyubov). They lived near Rome in the 2nd century. Under...

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

The holy prophet Joshua, the Son of Nun (in Greek, Jesus of Navi), was called by Moses to survey the Promised Land. He urged the people to trust in God as they prepared to enter the land. He was...

This glorious icon of Saint John the Baptist and Forerunner is from the iconostasis at Saint Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was painted by Fr. Theodore Koufos of...

Saint Joseph the Betrothed was the foster-father of Jesus and the husband of Mary. Joseph is depicted holding a flowering branch in is his right hand. When Mary the Theotokos was to be married, the...

The Apostle and Evangelist Luke was not one of the Lord’s twelve original disciples. A Gentile physician from Antioch, he is counted among the Seventy Apostles. He was a follower of Saint Paul, and...

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...

This contemporary Byzantine icon celebrates Saint Marina the Great Martyr. She lived in was from Antioch in Pisidia (modern-day Turkey). As a holy virgin, she suffered faithfully and endured many...

Joachim and Anna were the parents of the holy Virgin Mary. They were childless, and for this they were derided by their fellow Jews, who believed they must have been cursed. They both devoted...

Born to wealthy and devout Christian parents in Egypt, Anthony was always sensitive to the duties of faith. When his parents died, Anthony distributed his inheritance to the poor and went to live a...

  Saint Olaf II was an early King of Norway and Christian martyr. He was born about the year 995 to the royal family of the small kingdom of Vestfold. He grew up participating in fighting expeditions...

The Apostle Andrew "the First-Called," was the brother of Saint Peter. He had been a disciple of Saint John the Baptist, but went to follow Christ when Saint John called Him "the Lamb of God,"...

Gabriel in the Hebrew language means Man of God or Might of God. He is a bringer of good news of the mysteries of God, especially at the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary. He holds messenger's staff,...

This icon depicts the Archangel Gabriel in his service and posture as chief messenger of the Lord of Hosts. His left hand bears a scepter, symbolizing his authority, and his right hand is raised in...

Saint Raphael was born in Beirut in 1860. He spent the first decades of his life traveling throughout the Middle East and Russia, gaining knowledge and experience as a clergyman. Father Raphael was...

Saint Seraphim is one of the Orthodox Church's most beloved holy elders. He was born in western Russia in 1754. According to tradition, he was sickly as a child but was healed through the Kursk Root...

The holy Great-Martyr Anastasia was born in Rome in the 2nd century under the Diocletian persecution. Her father was a pagan, but her mother was a secret Christian and arranged for Anastasia to be...

  The Apostle James, son of Zebedee, was one of the twelve Apostles and the first to be martyred, by Herod in AD 44. Sometimes he is called "James the Greater" to distinguish him from "James the...

Saint James was a kinsman of the Lord Jesus, either His half-brother (a son of Joseph by his first wife) or His cousin (a son of Joseph's brother Cleopas). In any case, the Scriptures refer to...

This stunning and unique Russian icon depicts the Archangel Michael in his role as chief of the bodiless powers of heaven. Painted in a traditional style in the early 19th century, it includes...

Barbara, born in the third century in Syria, was so beautiful that her pagan father placed her in an isolated tower to keep her innocent of any influence except his own until she could be married...

Saint Menas the Wonderworker is one of the best-known Egyptian saints throughout the world. He was a soldier in the Roman army, and died a martyr about the year 309 when he refused to renounce his...

This historic Byzantine icon of Christ Calling Peter and Andrew depicts the scene as recorded in the Gospels (Matthew 4, Mark 1, John 1). This relatively simple, unadorned icon movingly depicts...

Evgeny (Yevgeny or Eugene) Rodionov was born in western Russia in 1977. He was conscripted into the Russian army in 1995 and deployed to Chechnya in the midst of the First Chechen War. While...

Saint John (surnamed Mansur, later called Chrysorroas, "the Golden Stream" for his writing) was born in Damascus, Syria, late in the 7th century. (This was soon after the Umayyad dynasty took...

Saints Cyril and Methodius were 9th-century Greek brothers born in Thessalonica in Macedonia, in the Byzantine Empire. They dedicated their lives to the evangelism of the Russian peoples, and they...

Father Roman Braga was born in 1922 in a small village in central Moldova. His mother was a devout Orthodox Christian, and she raised him in a religious environment centered around the monastery of...

This 13th century fresco, from the Mileševa Monastery in Serbia, shows the angel announcing the Resurrection to the myrrh-bearing women. The tomb is shown empty, with only Christ's burial clothes...

Like St. Mark,  St. Luke was not one of the Twelve Apostles, but was one of the the four Evangelists. He was a Gentile, not a Jew, born in Antioch. He was a physician b

After the Resurrection, the Myrrh-bearing Women came to the tomb. They found the soldiers fallen as dead, the stone rolled away, and an angel sitting on it. He showed them the Lord’s empty grave...

Saint John Chrysostom (which means "Golden-Mouthed," after h

The Martyr Sophia (Sofia) and her daughters Faith, Hope, and Love (or Charity) lived near Rome in the 2nd century. Under the reign of Hadrian, they were found to be Christians and were taken before...

Saint Simeon was the old man who received the infant Christ when he was presented at the Temple for Mary's purification on the 40th day of his birth, as described in Luke 2:22-40. He offered the...

This historic Russian icon depicts the three Marys–Mary Magdalene, Mary of Clopas, and Mary the Theotokos–renowned for their worship of and service to Christ after His death. The Gospel ell us that...

Saint Demetrios (or Demetrius) was born in Thessaloniki in the third century. He was a soldier in the Roman army and exhibited every Christian virtue. During the persecution of the emperor...

Together with Saint Paul, Saint Peter was a chief of the Apostles and the first bishop of Antioch and of Rome. Originally a fisherman, Peter was called by Christ and witnessed his Transfigurati

This detail from the famous Hagia Sophia mosaic features Saint John the Baptist in a Deesis (Supplication) pose. The mosaic was completed in the 13th century. The Hagia Sophia iconography is some...

Saint Justinian the Great reigned as Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, tens of thousands of pagans were baptized into Christ and the pagan schools of Athens were closed. Some...