Commemoration. A commemoration with its own hymns at Vespers.
Commemorated today
- Martyr TryphonMartyr
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.
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 Martyrs Perpetua and Felicity, and those with them at Carthage (203)Martyr · d. 203 life on this site
The life we have written
Holy Martyr Perpetua of Carthage
A young catechumen, a mother, and a prisoner whose own words allow us to hear one of the earliest Christian women speaking from the shadow of martyrdom.
- Era
- Early third century
- Region
- Carthage, Roman North Africa
- Category
- Martyr and catechumen
- Feast
- February 1
- Our Holy Mother Brigid of Kildare (524)d. 524 life on this site
The life we have written
Venerable Brigid of Kildare
Abbess, founder, and generous mother to the poor, Brigid became one of Ireland’s most beloved saints because the abundance surrounding her always seemed to flow outward.
- Era
- c. 451–c. 525
- Region
- Ireland, especially Kildare
- Category
- Abbess, monastic founder, and servant of the poor
- Feast
- February 1
- Our Holy Father Basil, Archbishop of ThessalonicaHierarch
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 Thessalonica. 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.
- Anastasios the New Martyr of NavplionNew 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.
The title places them at Navplion. 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.
- The Four Martyrs Andrianus, Polyeuktos, Plato and George who contested in MegaraMartyr
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 Megara. 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.
- Timothy the ConfessorConfessor — suffered for the faith but was not killed
What is known
A confessor suffered for the faith and lived: imprisoned, exiled, tortured, stripped of office. The Church honours the witness without requiring the death.
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
About this page. This is the Menaion date — the fixed calendar. Parishes on the New Calendar keep it on February 1 by the civil calendar. On the Julian calendar this same commemoration is kept on February 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.