July Synaxarion


Days: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17
        18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31


This month has thirty-one days with fourteen hours of day and ten hours of night.

July 1

Memory of the holy Wonderworkers and Unmercenaries
Cosmas and Damian

By means of the Byzantine rule over a part of Italy from Justinian to Constantine Copronymus (554-752), the veneration of the holy physicians Cosmas and Damian spread to Rome where nine churches were built in their honor, three of which are still standing. The most famous of them is the oldest, built by Pope Saint Felix IV (526-536) in the forum on the Miranda Way. The veneration rendered to these Saints in Rome made some people wrongly believe that there had been two other Saints Cosmas and Damian who had been martyred in Rome. (Because of this, it is understandable why the Byzantine Church commemorates these holy physicians on two occasions: on November 1 and on July 1).

Fourth Class Feast.

Until July 27 exclusively, the Kondakion of the Sundays and Major Feasts is the common Kondakion, except for a noted exception.

July 2

The Placing of Precious Robe of our Most Holy Lady,
the Theotokos at Blachernae (458)

The Placing of the Precious Robe took place in the magnificent church of the Theotokos in the palace of Blachernae in 458, under Emperor Leo of Thrace. This church enjoyed a very great renown, particularly after the Avars' defeat, which we commemorate on the fifth Saturday of Great Lent when we sing the Akathist hymn.

Fourth Class Feast. Troparia: of the Theotokos at Blachernae, and of the Church Patron. Kondakion of the Theotokos at Blachernae.

In occurrence with a Sunday, follow the general order of Fourth Class Feasts, except that the Kondakion is of today.

July 3

Memory of the holy Martyr Hyacinthos
(beginning of the Second century)

Our Father among the Saints Anatolios, Archbishop of Constantinople (+458)

It is believed that the holy martyr Hyacinthos suffered in Rome under Emperor Trajan, around the beginning of the Second century.

Saint Anatolios was a priest and apocrisiary of the Church of Alexandria in Constantinople. In the last years of Theodosius the Younger, Arcadius' son, Anatolios, was consecrated Archbishop of Constantinople in the month of December 449 upon the entreaties of Dioscorus of Alexandria who hoped to find in him an accomplice of his heresy. Dioscorus was deceived. At the Council of Chalcedon, the Saint deposed Dioscorus and inscribed Saint Flavian's name in the diptychs. Saint Flavian was deposed by Dioscorus to the Brigandage of Ephesus and died during a beating given him by the heretics. He was placed in the Church of the Holy Apostles and he had sent encyclical letters to the bishops to explain the Orthodox faith to them and to engage them in fighting the leaders of the heresy: Nestorius, Eutyches, Dioscorus and all those who admitted a change or a blending in Christ's divine nature. He died in peace in 458.

Fifth Class Feast.

July 4

Andrew of Crete, the Jerusalemite

Saint Andrew was born of pious parents in Damascus around 660. After having gone through the whole cycle of profane and religious studies, he was ordained a cleric of the Church of Jerusalem by Patriarch Theodore. That is why he is called the Jerusalemite. He was sent to Constantinople around 685 and signed the definition of the Sixth Ecumenical Council, held against the Monothelites. He lived there in one of the monasteries of the capital. Then he became a deacon of the Church of Constantinople and director of the Holy Wisdom Orphanage and Saint Eugene's old men's home. He was elected Archbishop of Gortyna in Crete. He attended the Council in Trullo in 692. In 712 during the reign of Philippicus Bardanes, weakened by an illness, he subscribed to the Monothelite definition of the heretical synod which this tyrant had gathered. He immediately repented of it. He left numerous writings and panegyrics to the Church, in praise of God, the Theotokos, and the Saints. He illumined the Church by his writings and hymns of which the most famous is the Great Canon, which is perhaps the first under date of the melodious Canons. He governed his flock wisely and defended the veneration of the Holy Icons and died in peace on the Island of Mytilene in 740.

Fifth Class Feast.

July 5

Memory of our venerable Fathers Athanasius of Mount Athos
(+end of the Tenth or beginning of the Eleventh century), and
Lampadios the Wonderworker (Tenth century)

The holy Martha, mother of Saint Simeon of the
Wonderful Mountain (+551)

Saint Athanasius was born in Trebizond. At first he withdrew to a mountain called Kymnias in Mysia of Bithynia. Then he went to Mount Athos and founded a great monastery, still known under the name of Saint Athenasius' Laura, or Lavra. He died around the end of the Tenth century or at the beginning of the Eleventh century.

From his childhood Saint Lampadios devoted himself to the exercises of ascetical life. He withdrew to a grotto near Irenopolis of Isauria. He lived in the Tenth century.

Saint Martha was the mother of Saint Simeon the hermit of the Wonderful Mountain whom we commemorate on May 24. Continually devoting herself to prayer in the churches, she received from heaven the promise of a child who was Saint Simeon. She was faithful to her numerous prayers and ascetical exercises. She received strangers, clothed the naked, nourished the poor, and procured baptismal robes for those who were not able to have them for baptism, and funeral clothes for the dead. She died in 551, having known three months in advance the hour of her death.

Fifth Class Feast.

July 6

Memory of our venerable Father Sisoes the Great (+429)

Saint Sisoes was of Egyptian descent. He lived sixty years on a mountain where Saint Anthony the Great had withdrawn before him. He died around 429, having received from God the gift of raising the dead.

Fifth Class Feast.

July 7

Memory of our venerable Fathers Thomas of Maleum
(end of the Tenth century) and
Akakios who is mentioned in "The Ladder of Virtues"

(First half of the Sixth century)

The holy Great martyr Kyriake
(beginning of the Fourth century)

Saint Thomas was a soldier by profession. For Christ's love he was clothed in the monastic habit and withdrew to a mountain called Maleum on the borders of he Peloponnese. He died around the end of the Tenth century.

Saint Akakios lived on the holy mountain of Sinai in the first half of the sixth century.

Saint Kyriake suffered martyrdom in Tropaea in Achaia under Emperor Diocletian around the beginning of the Fourth century.

Fifth Class Feast.

July 8

Memory of the holy and glorious Great martyr Procopius (+303)

Saint Procopius was the first victim of Diocletian's persecution in Palestine in 303. A native of Aelia or Jerusalem, he lived in Scythopolis where he occupied three offices in the Church: those of lector, of interpreter of the Syriac language, and finally, in spite of his sufferings, of exorcist. Discovered, he was led to Caesarea where the President ordered him to sacrifice to the gods and obey the four emperors. The martyr acting keenly on the sense of the words said to him: "The polyarchy is disastrous. It is better that there be only one Sovereign, only one Emperor." He was immediately led out to be beheaded and thus found the short road which leads to heaven.

Fifth Class Feast.

July 9

Memory of the holy Hieromartyr Pancratios,
Bishop of Taormina in Sicily (?)

Saint Pancratios was perhaps the first Bishop of Taormina, Sicily. He suffered martyrdom there at an uncertain epoch. Tradition relates that he lived in apostolic times. A native of the vicinity of Antioch, he received holy baptism in Jerusalem at the same time as his father and mother. Upon his parents' death, he abandoned his possessions and withdrew to a grotto in the region of Pontus. Passing through this region Saint Peter met the holy hermit and led him with him to Antioch, then to Cicilia. There, Saint Pancratios met Saint Paul who then ordained three bishops, Crescens for Galatia, Martian for Syracuse, and Saint Pancratios for Taormina. Saint Pancratios was treacherously assassinated by the pagans in an ambush.

Fifth Class Feast.

July 10

Memory of the Forty-Five Holy Martyrs of
Nicopolis in Armenia (+319)

It is believed that these holy martyrs suffered for Christ under the tyrant Licinius and President Lysias around 319. They counted in their ranks the first dignitaries of the city: Leontios, Maurikios, Daniel, and Anthony. Having submitted each one to different tortures, they were all thrown together into a fiery furnace, and thus crowned their struggles by martyrdom.

Fifth Class Feast.

July 11

Memory of the holy Great martyr and very Renowned Euphemia

Saint Euphemia is commemorated on September 16. Today only her miraculous intervention in favor of the definition of the Fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon is commemorated. As a matter of fact, it is related that during the holy Council held against the Monophysites Eutyches and Dioscorus, under Emperor Marcian and Empress Pulcheria, after long and unfruitful discussions, the Council Fathers-as many holding the Orthodox faith, six hundred and thirty in number, as the number of those holding the contrary doctrine-unanimously agreed to write the debated subject-matter in two volumes, and to implore the divine judgment to settle the controversies. Each party then put its volume into the reliquary which contained the Saint's body and the Fathers departed after having sealed the reliquary. After three days of uninterrupted prayer, they opened it in the Emperor's presence and found the heretics' volume at the Saint's feet, but on the contrary, that of the Orthodox in her right hand.

Although this is a Fifth Class Feast, the Epistle and Gospel of Saint Euphemia are read.

In occurrence with a Sunday: the Epistle of Saint Euphemia is read.

July 12

Memory of the holy Martyrs Proclos and Hilarios
(+under Trajan, 98-117)

It is believed that these holy martyrs suffered for Christ under Emperor Trajan (98-117). They were natives of the region of Kallipe, near Ancyra. Saint Proclos was seized first. Having confessed Christ before the Emperor, he was handed over to President Maximos who ordered that he be burned on the stomach and sides with flaming torches fastened to his feet. While he was being led to his torture, he met his nephew Hilarios who, having embraced him, was immediately seized as a Christian. Saint Proclos died under a shower of darts. Having courageously confessed his Christian faith, Hilarios was cruelly beaten, beheaded. He was buried under Saint Proclos.

Fifth Class Feast.

July 13

Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel

Memory of our venerable Father Stephen the Sabbaite

In addition to the solemn Synaxis of Saint Gabriel of March 26, the Church today commemorates this holy Archangel for a second time. The reason for this is perhaps the desire of the faithful to commemorate this Saint outside the time of Great Lent, when ecclesiastical solemnities are necessarily restricted. Some people believe that today's feast was especially instituted to implore Saint Gabriel's help against the Agarenians.

Saint John Damascene's nephew, Saint Stephen the Sabbaite is probably the same person as Saint Stephen the Sabbaite and Poet, whose life was related on October 28.

Fifth Class Feast.

On Sunday July 13, or on the following Sunday: The Office of the Holy God-Bearing Fathers who Attended the First Six Ecumenical Councils: the three hundred and eighteen Fathers of the first Council, at Nicaea; of the one hundred and fifty Fathers of the second Council, at Constantinople; the two hundred Fathers of the third Council, at Ephesus; the six hundred and thirty Fathers of the fourth Council, at Chalcedon; the one hundred and sixty-five Fathers of the fifth Council, at Constantinople, the second in this city; the one hundred and seventy Fathers of the sixth Council, at Constantinople, the third in this city.

Third Class Feast. Typika and Beatitudes. Isodikon of the Sunday. Troparia: of the Resurrection, of the Holy God-bearing Fathers who attended the First Six Ecumenical Councils, and of the Church Patron. Epistle and Gospel of the Holy God-bearing Fathers who attended the First Six Ecumenical Councils.

Epistle of the Sunday of the Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council of Nicaea: Titus 3:8-15.

Gospel: Matthew 5:14-19.

July 14

Memory of the holy Apostle Aquila (First century)

Our Father among the Saints Joseph the Confessor,
Archbishop of Thessalonica (ca. 762-832)

A native of Pontus in Asia Minor, Saint Aquila was a Jew by race and exercised the profession of a tent-maker. Converted to the Christian faith in Rome, by Claudius' edict around the year 50, he was driven from the capital at the same time as the other Jews. Being in Corinth with his wife Prisca around the year 50, at the time of Saint Paul's first passage through this city, he offered him hospitality. The Apostle lived with him for a rather long time exercising the same trade as Aquila. The two spouses then followed Paul to Ephesus. After his departure to Jerusalem, they asked for Apollos of Alexandria, who only preached John's baptism, and instructed him more perfectly in the way of the Lord. They then must have returned to Rome for the Apostle greets them in his epistle to the Romans (Romans 16:3) as his fellow-workers in Jesus Christ. He greets them a second time toward the end of his second epistle to Timothy (II Timothy 4:19) as sojourners at Ephesus. It is not exactly known then, where, or how they ended their lives.

The son of Photin and Theoktista and the brother of Saint Theodore the Studite, Saint Joseph was born in Constantinople around 762. He received a first-class education in Constantinople. Upon his maternal uncle Plato's exhortation, who was then the hegumen of the monastery of Symbles, he embraced monastic life with his father, two of his brothers, and three aunts, around 781. They founded a new monastery called Sakkoudion on Mount Olympus in Bithynia. When the Arabs ravaged the country, upon Empress Irene's order they went to take up their abode at the monastery of Stoudion in the capital. The monastery was no longer under Plato's direction but under Saint Theodore's own direction. The two brothers collaborated in composing the canons of the Triodion. Joseph composed several canons of the Pentekostarion as well as those for the weeks of the Oktoechos. He became Archbishop of Thessalonica in 807. He was exiled for the first time by Emperor Nicephoros I Logothetus (809-811) on account of his predecessor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus' adultery. He was exiled a second time by Leo the Armenian (815-820) for the veneration of the Holy Icons. Delivered up to death by Leo, his life was ended in a market town of Thessalia on July 15, 832. In 844, his holy body was solemnly transferred to the monastery of Stoudion and buried next to the bodies of his brother Saint Theodore and his uncle Saint Plato.

Fifth Class Feast.

July 15

Memory of the holy Martyrs Kerikos and Julitta, his mother (?)

A native of Iconium, Saint Julitta lived under Emperor Diocletian. Fleeing the persecution, she took her three year old son Kerikos and went to Seleucia. Finding the same misfortunes there, she went to Taurus in Cilicia where she was seized and led before the Governor. The Governor snatched her son and by caresses and flatteries tried to draw him to him. Crying and stammering Christ's name, the child kicked the Governor's chest as much as he could. Provoked, the Governor smashed his head against the steps of the tribunal. After many tortures his blessed mother was beheaded around the year 296.

Fifth Class Feast.

July 16

Memory of the holy Hieromartyr Athenogenes and of his
Ten disciples (Fourth century)

Saint Athenogenes was Chorbishop of Sebastea, Armenia, in the time of Emperor Diocletian. He lived with his ten disciples in the market town of Phylactoa, now called Bedochton. Led before President Philemarkos, the latter ordered that his ten disciples be beheaded and that Athenogenes be burned. He is the author of a hymn which Saint Basil mentions and which some have wrongly identified with the vesper hymn: "O Joyful Light..."

July 17

Memory of the holy Great martyr Marina
(+under Claudius the Goth, 268-269)

It is believed that Saint Marina suffered martyrdom in Antioch of Pisidia under Emperor Claudius the Goth (268-269). She was the only daughter of a pagan priest. Upon her mother's death, she was entrusted to a Christian woman who instructed her in Christ's faith. At the age of fifteen, she was seized by President Olybrios who interrogated her on her name, country, and faith. She answered: "My name is Marina. I was born and raised in Pisidia. I invoke my Lord Jesus Christ's name." She was submitted to chains, prisons, and lashes and was finally beheaded.

Fifth Class Feast.

In occurrence with a Sunday: Troparia: of the Resurrection, of the Holy God-bearing Fathers who attended the First Six Ecumenical Councils, of Saint Marina, and of the Church Patron. Ordinary Kondakion.

July 18

Memory of the holy Martyr Aimilianos
(+under Julian the Apostate, 360-363)

A native of Dorostolla in Mysia of Thrace, Saint Aimilianos was the slave of a pagan master, in the time of Emperor Julian the Apostate (360-363) and Prefect Capitolinus. Inflamed with Christ's love, he held idols in abhorrence. One day he entered a pagan temple and smashed all the statues which he found therein with the hammer which he had in his hand. Ignorant of what had happened, the pagans again replaced them. The Saint again smashed them and gave him what folly it was to rely on vain idols. Cruelly beaten with ox sinews and thrown into a fire, he thus committed his soul to God.

Fifth Class Feast.

July 19

Memory of our venerable Mother Macrina, the
Sister of Saint Basil the Great

Our venerable Father Dios (+431)

Gifted with remarkable beauty and pleasant manners, Saint Macrina, without her knowledge, was promised in marriage by her father to a young man from a noble family. This young man died on one of his business trips. Blessed Macrina rejected many other suitors and preferred widowhood and its annoyances to the joys of marriage. She abstained from all worldly relations in order to live with her mother Emelia, unoccupied for the study of the Holy Scriptures. She became a second mother for her ten younger brothers. She entirely consecrated herself to their formation and education. Until her last moments she corresponded with her brother Saint Gregory of Nyssa concerning the soul. She died in the month of December 379, after a holy and austere life.

In great austerity and continual progress in virtue, our holy father Dios lived in Antioch, Syria in the time of Theodosius the Great (379-395). He went to Constantinople and acquired the spot where he would later build his famous monastery. His virtue could not remain hidden for long. Emperor Theodosius came to see him in person and, full of admiration, offered him all the money necessary for the construction of his monastery. Against his will he was ordained a priest by the holy Bishop Atticus. He died in 431.

Fifth Class Feast.

July 20

Memory of the Holy and Glorious Prophet Elias
the Thesbite (Ninth century B.C.)

Saint Elias was born in Thebe or Thisbe, a city of Galaad in Transjordan. According to Jewish tradition he was a descendant of a priestly family. A man of solitude and austerity, his clothes consisted of a sheepskin tunic and a leather belt around his waist. His name signifies "my God is Yahweh." He confounded the ungodliness and injustice of Achab (869-850), the King of Israel. According to the tradition of the ancient Church Fathers, in particular Saint Basil, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, and perhaps the Jews themselves, Saint Elia had lived on Mount Carmel. While he was conversing with his disciple Elisae, he suddenly appeared to rise toward heaven carried away in a fiery chariot. This occurred under Josaphat, the King of Juda (873-849). According to the prophet Malachia (Malachia 3:23), God will send him "before the day of Yahweh comes, the great and terrible day, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers," that is, before the second coming of Our Savior Jesus Christ.

Third Class Feast, follow the general order of a Third Class Feast.

July 21

Memory of our venerable Fathers Simeon, a Fool-for-Christ's-Sake,
and his companion John (Sixth century)

Saints Simeon and John were natives of Edessa, Syria. They went to Jerusalem and withdrew to the monastery of Saint Gerasimos. Clothed in the holy monastic habit, they spent forty years in the desert in austerities and ascetical exercises. Saint John remained in the desert until the end of his life. On the contrary, Saint Simeon went to Edesa. There he feigned madness, which merits for him the surname of "a Fool-for-Christ's-Sake." He was only recognized after his death. Each one related a characteristic of his life that the others had not known about. All these accounts have served for the faithful's edification and usefulness. Born around the year 522, he died in peace around the end of the Sixth century.

Fifth Class Feast.

July 22

Memory of the holy Myrrh-Bearer and Equal-to-the-Apostles
Mary Magdalene (First century)

As her name indicates, this holy myrrh-bearer was a native of a city of Galilee called Magdala, near the lake of Tiberias. At Christ's word, she was delivered from seven devils which possessed her. She followed the Master everywhere, faithfully serving Him until His Passion. She prepared the aromatic spices to embalm His sacred body. With the Most Holy Theotokos, she was the first one to have seen Christ risen, when on Easter morning she saw two angels clothed in dazzling raiment, then the Lord Himself whom she took for a gardener who said to her: "Do not touch Me." Nothing is known for certain about this Saint's life after the Ascension of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Fifth Class Feast.

July 23

Translation of the relics of the holy Martyr Phocas
(between 398 and 404)

Memory of the holy Prophet Ezechiel (Sixth century B.C.)

It is believed that Saint Phocas' relics were carried to Constantinople during Saint John Chrysostom's episcopate (398-404).

The prophet Ezechiel was the son of the priest Buzi. He was led captive to Babylon under King Joachin of Juda in 597. He began his prophetic ministry in the fifth year of his captivity and continued it for almost twenty-two years. He is the third of the Major Prophets.

Fifth Class Feast.

July 24

Memory of the holy Great martyr Christina (+ca. 220)

It is believed that Saint Christina suffered martyrdom in Tyre, Phoenicia under Emperor Septimus Severus around the year 220. It is told that she was the daughter of Urban, an army leader, who locked her in a very high tower with golden idols and other precious materials. Thinking that inanimate objects made by human hands could not be gods, Saint Christina looked to heaven and, recognizing the Creator through his creatures, broke her father's idols and distributed the pieces to the poor. She was submitted to atrocious tortures and died during a beating.

Fifth Class Feast.

July 25

Dormition of holy Ann, Mother of the Theotokos

If the tradition is to be believed, Saint Ann lived for sixty-nine years, and Saint Joachim lived for eighty years. It is not known which of these two holy spouses died first. It is commonly said that the Most Holy Theotokos was already orphaned of her father and mother by twelve years of age, when she was still living in the Temple.

Third Class Feast, follow the general order of a Third Class Feast. The Kondakion is that of the Dormition of Saint Ann.

July 26

Memory of the holy Hieromartyr Hermolaus and his
Companions Hermippos and Hermocratos (+312)

The holy Hosiomartyr Paraskevia (?)

It is believed that Saint Hermolaus and his companions suffered martyrdom in Nicomedia in Bithynia, under Emperor Maximian around 312.

As for the holy martyr Paraskevia, whose name signifies "Preparation," she was born of pious parents named Agathon and Politia in a market town in the vicinity of Rome. She was called Paraskevia because she was born on a Friday (in Greek "paraskeve"). Having learned the reading of the Holy Scriptures from her youth, she led a retired life applied to meditating on the divine Word and converting a great number of infidels to Christ's faith. She was seized in the time of Emperor Antoninus the Pious and as she was commanded to adore idols, she answered with these words of the prophet Jeremia (Jeremia 10:11): "Let the gods that did not make heaven and earth perish from the earth." She was beheaded after cruel tortures around the year 140.

Fifth Class Feast.

July 27

Holy and Great Martry Panteleemon

Saint Panteleemon was born of a pagan father named Eustorgus and a Christian mother named Eubola who raised him in the true faith in Nicomedia. He was instructed in the Christian faith by Saint Hermolaus who is commemorated on July 26. Having learned the medical profession, he exercised it with a wonderful charity, healing every illness by Christ's grace more than by his profession's means. He showed compassion for all the illnesses of body and soul which merited him to be named Panteleemon instead of Pantoleon which was formerly his name. One day by the invocation of God's name, he opened a blind man's eyes and by it even opened the eyes of his heart to the light of faith. This was the cause of his martyrdom. Interrogated concerning the person who had cured him and upon the method of his cure, the blind man, as the blind man of the Gospel, simply revealed the name of his benefactor and the story of his cure to the persecutors. He was immediately put to death also. As for Saint Penteleemon, he was seized and beheaded after cruel beatings, in 305 under Emperor Maximian.

Third Class Feast. From today forward, the Kondakion of Sundays and Major Feasts is that of the Holy Transfiguration of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ (August 6).

July 28

Memory of the holy Apostles and Deacons Prochoros,
Nicanor, Timor, and Parmenas (First century)

These Saints were among the seven deacons chosen by the Apostles. Tradition relates that Prochoros became Bishop of Nicomedia in Bithynia and that he died in peace. After having preached the Gospel, Saint Nicanor died on the same day on which Saint Stephen was stoned to death. Saint Parmenas died under the eyes of the Apostles in the exercise of his office.

Fifth Class Feast.

July 30

Memory of the holy Apostles Silas, Silvanos, Crescens, Epenetos, and
Andronicos of the Seventy Disciples (First century)

It is commonly believed that the Silas of the Acts is the same person as the Silvanos of Saint Paul's epistles. He was one of the eminent persons of the Church of Jerusalem since he was sent with Paul and Barnabas to exhort and confirm the brothers in Antioch. He afterwards followed Paul into many countries.

Saint Crescens likewise followed the Apostle Saint Paul and reached Galatia.

As for Saint Epenetos, the same Apostle addresses him a greeting toward the end of his epistle to the Romans (Romans 16:5), calling him the "first-fruits of Asia," that is , of Ephesus (and not of Achaia as it is sometimes said).

In this same place (Romans 16:7), the Apostle also greets Saint Andronicos, who is the same person as the Andronicos who is commemorated on May 17 with Saint Junias.

Fifth Class Feast.

July 31

Memory of the Holy and Just Eudocimos (+840)

Saint Eudocimos lived under the Iconoclast Emperor Theophilos (829-842). Natives of Cappadocia, his parents Basil and Eudocia joined to the nobility of their patrician origin a steadfast attachment to the Orthodox faith. Raised by his pious parents in the practice of virtue, he was named by Theophilos "Candidatus" and "Stratopedarch" in Cappadocia, then in Charsianon. He was a model husband and an equitable judge, giving alms daily, offering gifts and fruits to the churches, helping widows and orphans, and, in a word, practicing all forms of virtues. He died around 840.

Fifth Class Feast.