Fast day.
Commemorated today
- Holy Ten Martyrs of CreteMartyr
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 Crete.
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.
- Our Venerable Father Paul, Archbishop of Neocaesarea (4th century)Hierarch · 4th century
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 Neocaesarea. The year given is the 4th century.
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.
- Our Holy Father Nahum of Ochrid, Wonderworker and Enlightener of the Slavs (c. 900)Wonderworker · d. c. 900
What is known
Wonderworker records that miracles were attributed to this saint, during life or at the relics afterwards. It is a statement about what the Church received, not a claim this site can check.
The title places them at Ochrid. The year given is about 900.
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.
- Rememberance of the Founding of the Holy and Great Church of Christ, Hagia Sophia in Constantinople
What is known
The title places them at Founding. 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.
- Nicholas & John the New MartyrsNew Martyr — killed under Ottoman or modern persecution
What is known
A new martyr died in one of the later persecutions rather than the Roman ones — most often under Ottoman rule, or in the twentieth century under Soviet and other modern regimes. The word new distinguishes the era, not the manner.
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.
About this page. This is the Menaion date — the fixed calendar. Parishes on the New Calendar keep it on December 23 by the civil calendar. On the Julian calendar this same commemoration is kept on January 5 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.