Fast day.
Commemorated today
- Hieromartyr Alexander Hotovitzky, Missionary to America (1937)Hieromartyr — a bishop or priest killed for the faith · d. 1937
What is known
A hieromartyr was a bishop, priest or deacon killed for the faith. The clergy were often taken first in a persecution, because removing them scattered the community that depended on them.
The year given is 1937.
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.
- Holy Great Martyr Barbara (290)Great Martyr · d. 290 life on this site
The life we have written
Holy Greatmartyr Barbara
Hidden from the world but not from God, Barbara is remembered as a young woman who recognized the Creator, confessed the Holy Trinity, and would not surrender her faith even to family violence.
- Era
- Traditionally late third to early fourth century
- Region
- Traditionally Heliopolis in Syria; other locations appear in later accounts
- Category
- Greatmartyr and virgin
- Feast
- December 4
- Our Righteous Father John of Damascus (760)Righteous · d. 760 life on this site
The life we have written
Venerable John of Damascus
Living under a ruler beyond the Byzantine emperor’s reach, John defended the holy icons by proclaiming the astonishing truth beneath them: the invisible God truly became visible in human flesh.
- Era
- c. 675–c. 749
- Region
- Damascus and the Monastery of Saint Sabbas near Jerusalem
- Category
- Monk, Church Father, theologian, hymnographer, and defender of icons
- Feast
- December 4
- Saint Gennadius, Archbishop of Novgorod (1505)Hierarch · d. 1505
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 Novgorod. The year given is 1505.
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.
- New Hieromartyr Seraphim, Bishop of the Phanar in GreeceHieromartyr — a bishop or priest killed for the faith
What is known
A hieromartyr was a bishop, priest or deacon killed for the faith. The clergy were often taken first in a persecution, because removing them scattered the community that depended on them.
The title places them at Phanar. 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.
- Juliana the Martyr of HeliopolisMartyr
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 Heliopolis.
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
About this page. This is the Menaion date — the fixed calendar. Parishes on the New Calendar keep it on December 4 by the civil calendar. On the Julian calendar this same commemoration is kept on December 17 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.