Commemoration. A commemoration with its own hymns at Vespers.
Fast day.
Commemorated today
- Hieromartyr Clement, Pope of RomeHieromartyr — 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 Rome. 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.
- Peter, Archbishop of AlexandriaHierarch
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 Alexandria. 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.
- Holy Martyr Mercurius of Smolensk (1238)Martyr · d. 1238
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 Smolensk. The year given is 1238. Kept in the Slavic 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.
- Hermogenes, the 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.
- Philoumenos and Christopher the MartyrsMartyr
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.
- Greatmartyr Catherine of Alexandria life on this site
The life we have written
Holy Greatmartyr Katherine of Alexandria
Remembered for learning, chastity, and fearless confession, Katherine offered her keen mind to Christ and refused every promise meant to purchase her faith.
- Era
- Traditionally late third to early fourth century
- Region
- Alexandria, Egypt
- Category
- Greatmartyr and virgin
- Feast
- November 24; November 25 in Greek usage
- Great Martyr Mercurius (c. 259)Great Martyr · d. c. 259
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 year given is about 259. Kept in the Slavic 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 November 24 by the civil calendar. On the Julian calendar this same commemoration is kept on December 7 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.