This Saint, who was a contemporary of the Apostles, had Antioch as his homeland, where he was guided to the Faith of Christ by Peter, the Chief of the Apostles. Later, he came to Sicily, where he brought many to the Faith, and was finally put to death by the pagans.

Saint Dionysius the Rhetor and his disciple Saint Metrophanes lived toward the end of the sixteenth century and the beginning of the seventeenth century, but it is not known where they were born. Saint Dionysius received the monastic tonsure at the famous Studion Monastery in Constantinople, where he and Saint Metrophanes lived. Desiring a more intensive life of prayer and solitude, the two saints left the monastery of their repentance and journeyed to the peninsula of Athos, establishing themselves in a cell near Karyes. There they devoted themselves to prayer, fasting, and vigilance.

Saint Dionysius was distinguished for his virtue and wisdom, which drew many disciples to him. Training others in the monastic life left him with very little time for his own spiritual struggles, and with so many people around him his soul was not at peace. Therefore, Saint Dionysius and Saint Metrophanes proceeded into the desert of Mount Athos in search of even greater solitude. Somewhere between Saint Anne’s and Katounakia, they found a cave and made it their abode. This would be the future site of Little Saint Anne’s Skete, and they were the first to settle at this place. In that small and humble cave, they lived a godly life which was equal to that of the angels. In their spiritual struggles they fought against the stomach’s need for food, and against the body’s need for sleep. They restricted not only the types of food they ate, but also the amount they consumed at meals. By limiting the amount of time for sleep, they were able to devote themselves more to repentance and prayer.

Saint Dionysius and Saint Metrophanes were esteemed as learned men, but they attained even greater wisdom in the true philosophy of monasticism, which has been called “a life according to the Gospel.” They made such progress in the monastic life, excelling in virtue and holiness, that they became teachers of many holy ascetics.

By voluntarily humbling themselves, these saints were exalted by God, acquiring the richest spiritual gifts and the grace of the Holy Spirit. Just as no one lights a candle and then covers it, or puts it under a bed, “but sets it on a candlestick, that those who enter in may see the light” (Luke 8:16), so the Lord did not permit the virtue of these saints to remain hidden. The light of their holy life so shone before men that those who beheld it glorified God (Matt. 5:16). Like all-luminous lamps, the saints shone forth on the Holy Mountain with the radiance of their holiness.

Later, Saint Metrophanes, with the blessing of the Athonite Fathers and of his Elder Saint Dionysius, was asked to leave Mount Athos for a time in order to preach the Word of God in the neighboring villages. After he had fulfilled this obedience he returned to the Holy Mountain.

Saint Dionysius wrote a book called KOUVARAS, which was a guide on how to benefit and train the brethren. The manuscript is preserved in the Skete’s library. Saint Dionysius taught the art of inner attention and mental prayer, and was himself proficient in them. He rendered many writings of the Holy Fathers into a simpler form of Greek so that ordinary people could understand them. Some of these have been printed in Greek theological publications in modern times. Many of his writings still remain unpublished, however.

According to the ever-memorable Father Gerasimus of Little Saint Anne’s, the twentieth century hymnographer of the Great Church (Constantinople) who composed more than

2,000 services (including the service in honor of Saint Dionysius and Saint Metrophanes), Hieromonk Dionysius fell asleep in the Lord on October 6, 1606, and his disciple Saint Metrophanes reposed shortly thereafter. At Little Saint Anne’s, however, both Saint Dionysius and Saint Metrophanes are commemorated on July 9. A church was built in 1956 at the site of their cave, and was dedicated to these saints.

According to Tradition, Saint Dionysius the Rhetor is to be depicted with straight posture, a wide forehead, a large mustache, and a square beard.

Saint Michael Paknanas (or Baknana), was born in Athens in 1750 AD and lived in a neighborhood that was under the Acropolis, the current site of the Ancient Agora. Because the finances of his parents weren’t good, he was illiterate and became a gardener. The Turks, who enslaved Greece at the time, were trying to convince him to become a Muslim. When flattery and wealth failed to persuade him, they put to use some of their more convincing standard missionary work by torturing the teenager. When all the tortures proved to be futile, the executioner was preparing to behead the young man, but at the same time he was feeling some compassion for him. So he began cutting his neck slowly with the sword by administering very light blows, while asking the martyr to reconsider. The martyr’sresponse? “I told you, I am a Christian. I refuse to become a Muslim“. This totally aggravated the executioner. He did exactly his job, and Saint Michael was sent to the heavenly mansions. It is worthwhile to mention that in the first column of Olympian Zeusin Athens, distinguished the inscription: “1771 July 9 beheaded the Paknanas Michael “ .

The Forty-five Martyrs of Nikopolis contested during the reign of Licinius, in the year 315. After many torments, they were burnt alive.

In 451, during the reign of the Sovereigns Marcian and Pulcheria, the Fourth Ecumenical Council was convoked in Chalcedon against Eutyches and those of like mind with him. After much debate, the Fathers who were the defenders of Orthodoxy, being 630 in number, agreed among themselves and with those who were of contrary mind, to write their respective definitions of faith in separate books, and to ask God to confirm the truth in this matter. When they had prepared these texts, they placed the two tomes in the case that held Saint Euphemia's relics, sealed it, and departed. After three days of night-long supplications, they opened the reliquary in the presence of the Emperor, and found the tome of the heretics under the feet of the Martyr, and that of the Orthodox in her right hand. (For her life, see Sept. 16.)

Saint Olga, renowned for her wisdom and sobriety, in her youth became the wife of Igor, Great Prince of Kiev, who ruled during the tenth century. After her husband's death, she herself ruled capably, and was finally moved to accept the Faith of Christ. She traveled to Constantinople to receive Holy Baptism. The Emperor, seeing her outward beauty and inward greatness, asked her to marry him. She said she could not do this before she was baptized; she furthermore asked him to be her Godfather at the font, which he agreed to do. After she was baptized (receiving the name of Helen), the Emperor repeated his proposal of marriage. She answered that now he was her father, through holy Baptism, and that not even among the heathen was it heard of a man marrying his daughter. Gracefully accepting to be outwitted by her, he sent her back to her land with priests and sacred texts and holy icons. Although her son Svyatoslav remained a pagan, she planted the seed of faith in her grandson Vladimir (see July 15). She reposed in peace in 969.

According to Tradition, Saint Veronica was the woman with the issue of blood, who received healing by touching the hem of Christ’s robe (Mt. 9:20).

These Martyrs contested in Ancyra in 106, during the reign of the Emperor Trajan. Saint Proclus was seized as a Christian and, confessing his faith, was burned on his sides and belly, was hung upon a beam with heavy stones tied to his feet, and finally was taken away to be shot with arrows. As he was being led forth, his nephew Hilary encountered him and greeted him, and was himself seized. After his uncle had been slain with arrows, Hilary, because he would not deny Christ, was tormented, then beheaded.

It is believed that the Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel was transferred to this day from March 26 so that it could be celebrated more festively than in the period of the Great Fast; and, in fact, all the miracles of the Archangel are celebrated on this feast day, which has been listed here in the church books since the ninth century.

Saint Aquila, who was from Pontus of Asia Minor, was a Jew by race and a tent-maker by trade. In the year 52 he and his wife Priscilla were in Corinth when Saint Paul first came there. They gave him hospitality, and the Apostle remained with them for many days, himself working at the same trade as they (Acts 18:2-3). And having believed in Christ through Paul, they followed him from that time on, working together with him and suffering perils with him for the sake of the preaching of the Gospel, as he himself testifies concerning them in his Epistle to the Romans, saying: "Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus: who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the nations" (Rom. 16:3-4). When and where they reposed is unknown.

Grandson of Saint Olga, Saint Vladimir ascended the throne of Kiev in 980. Though a zealous idolater, he was illumined by the grace of God, accepted the Christian Faith, and completely changed his ways. He was baptized in Cherson in 988, receiving the name Basil; he came forth from the font not only healed of a blindness lately afflicting him, but also from being passionate and warlike, he became meek, peaceable, and exceedingly godly. Whereas his grandmother had refused marriage with the Emperor in Constantinople (see July 11), he married Anna, sister of the Emperors Basil and Constantine, and was accompanied home by priests from Constantinople. Diligently seeking to spread Christianity throughout his realm like a new Constantine, he destroyed the idols (having the chief diety Perun scourged and then cast into the Dnieper River), and summoned all his subjects to Holy Baptism. He reposed in peace in 1015.