May 3 — Orthodox Calendar — Meals for the Soul

Ven. Theodosius, Abbot of the Kiev Caves

Polyeleos. Kept with the Polyeleos at Matins.

Commemorated today

St Theodosius, abbot of the Kiev Caves Monastery and founder of cenobitic monasticism in Russia (1074).Monastic · d. 1074
What is known
A monastic — the calendar usually says venerable — lived under vows: a monk, nun, hermit, abbot or abbess. This is the largest single group in the Menaion, and for most of them the monastery is the whole of what is recorded.
The title places them at Kiev Caves Monastery. The year given is 1074.
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.
Martyrs Timothy the Reader and his wife Maura of Antinoe in Egypt (286)Martyr · d. 286
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 Antinoe. The year given is 286.
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.
Peter the WonderworkerWonderworker
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.
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.
Theophan, Bishop of PeritheorionHierarch
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 Peritheorion. 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.
Xenia of Kalamata the Great MartyrGreat Martyr
What is known
A great martyr is one whose sufferings were unusually prolonged or public, and whose veneration spread widely and early. The title marks the scale of what was endured and of the honour that followed, not a higher rank in heaven.
The title places them at Kalamata.
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.
Ahmet the Calligrapher & MartyrMartyr
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.
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.
Oikoumenios the Wonderworker, Bishop of TrikkaHierarch
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 Trikka. 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 May 3 by the civil calendar. On the Julian calendar this same commemoration is kept on May 16 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.