Procession of the Lifegiving Cross
Doxology. Kept with the Great Doxology.
Fast day — no meat; dairy and eggs are allowed.
Commemorated today
- Procession of the Precious Wood of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord (1164)d. 1164
What is known
The year given is 1164.
This is a feast of the Church rather than the commemoration of a person, so there is no life behind it to tell.
- Begin Dormition Fast
What is known
One of the Twelve Great Feasts: the falling asleep of the Theotokos, preceded by a two-week fast.
This is a feast of the Church rather than the commemoration of a person, so there is no life behind it to tell.
- Holy Seven Maccabees, their mother Solomonia, and their teacher Eleazar (168 BC)
What is known
Beyond this, no life of them survives that could be checked — which is true of most of the saints kept on any given day. The commemoration is the record.
- St Nicholas, enlightener of Japan (1912)d. 1912 life on this site
The life we have written
Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Nicholas of Japan
A Russian monk spent half a century helping Japanese Christians build a Japanese Orthodox Church, translating its worship with exacting care and refusing to let war turn their communion in Christ into an instrument of nationalism.
- Era
- 1836–1912
- Region
- Russia and Japan
- Category
- Missionary, translator, archbishop, and Equal-to-the-Apostles
- Feast
- February 3 (February 16 civil date in jurisdictions following the Julian calendar)
- Timothy the Wonderworker, Archbishop of PriconissusHierarch
What is known
A hierarch is a bishop — including patriarchs, metropolitans and archbishops. The Church commemorates bishops in this rank whether they are remembered chiefly for teaching, for governing, or for holding a see through a difficult century.
The title places them at Priconissus. Kept in the Greek tradition.
Beyond this, no life of them survives that could be checked — which is true of most of the saints kept on any given day. The commemoration is the record.
- Elesa the Righteous-Martyr of KythiraMartyr
What is known
A martyr died rather than deny Christ. The word is Greek for witness, and the Church uses it in that sense: the death is testimony, not merely a fate. Most of these deaths fall in the Roman persecutions before 313, though the title is not restricted to them.
The title places them at Kythira. Kept in the Greek tradition.
Beyond this, no life of them survives that could be checked — which is true of most of the saints kept on any given day. The commemoration is the record.
Appointed readings
- 1 Corinthians 1:18–24
- John 19:6–11, 13–20, 25–28, 30–35
- Hebrews 11:33–12:2 continues in 12
- Matthew 10:32–36, 11:1
- Hebrews 2:11–18
- John 5:1–4
- Hebrews 11:33–12:2 continues in 12
- Matthew 10:16–22
About this page. This is the Menaion date — the fixed calendar. Parishes on the New Calendar keep it on August 1 by the civil calendar. On the Julian calendar this same commemoration is kept on August 14 by the civil calendar. The movable cycle, which turns on the date of Pascha and changes every year, is on the calendar page. Where a life has been written on this site the name links to it; where it has not, only what the commemoration itself attests is shown, and nothing is added to it.