Saints and Feasts

Our Orthodox faith includes saints and services, feasts and fasts, Scriptures and sacraments, the things we believe and the things we do. To find a particular topic quickly, check the index.

St. Dositheos, recluse of the Kiev Caves

September 25, 2019

On September 25, 1776, the monk Dositheos, recluse of the Kiev Caves, died at his prayers. That was the end of his life. It was not what anyone would have expected at the beginning. Daria and her grandmother In 1721, in a little town east of Moscow, a child was born...

How Theodora of Alexandria became a monk and a mother

September 11, 2019

There are many saints named Theodora. This Theodora lived in Alexandria in the fifth century. She was married to a man named Paphnutius, and by all accounts they had a happy marriage, living together in harmony and love. Theodora’s temptation But Theodora was...

Orthodox Saints of World War II

August 11, 2019

Orthodox Christians treasure the stories of our saints. The Holy Scriptures, the Creeds, our prayers and our hymns, tell us what we believe. The lives of the saints tell us how we should live. We look to them to guide us and to show us by their examples the Christian...

Almsgiving and the Annunciation

March 24, 2019

Tomorrow, when we celebrate the Annunciation, we celebrate the moment when God, the King of heaven and Creator of all, saw Himself as a homeless person and made Himself a beggar. All of heaven was His throne, and the earth His footstool. And yet He asked a human...

When Jesus was the guest of Zacchaeus the Publican

February 17, 2019

In today’s Gospel, we hear the story of the publican and the pharisee. And one of the publicans we know from the Bible is Zacchaeus. Little children often learn to sing a song about Zacchaeus. You might remember it. It starts like this: Zacchaeus was a wee...

Anastasis icon of the Resurrection

January 23, 2019

Explanation and icon by iconographer Randi Maria Sider-Rose The icon called Anastasis (ah-NAH-sta-sis), or The Resurrection, is a symbolic depiction of Christ’s descent into Hades in order to redeem humanity. He is grasping the hands of Adam and (usually) Eve, who...