Saint Nicon, the son of a certain noble, was from Armenia. Forsaking his parents and homeland, he passed throughout the parts of the East, crying to all men, "Repent ye," because of which he received this name. Finally, he came to Lacedaemonia of the Peloponnesus, where he built a church in honour of Christ our Saviour. After having dwelt there many years in solitude, and having converted many from paganism, he departed to the Lord about the end of the ninth century.

St. Stylianos was from Paphlagonia living in the latter 6th century and early 7th century. He loved the Lord Jesus Christ with his whole heart and lived in strict asceticism. When he fell asleep in the Lord, his face shone like the sun and an angel appeared to take his soul to Glory. His prayers have worked many miracles, both during his earthly life and since. He is of special help to children who are ill and to childless couples. He is known as a protector of orphans.

This Saint was from the city of Bythlaba and was of noble birth; he was the closest and most honoured friend of Isdiger (or Yazdegerd) I, King of Persia (reigned 399-420). Though a Christian from his youth, James renounced Christ because he was allured by the King's friendship and flatteries. When his mother and his wife learned of this, they declared to him by letter that they would have nothing more to do with him, since he had preferred a glory that is temporal to the love of Christ. Wounded in soul by these words and coming to himself, the Saint wept over his error, and repudiated the worship of the idols. Therefore, becoming exceedingly wroth, the King - this was Bahram (or Varahran) V (reigned 421-438), Isdiger's son and successor - condemned him to a most bitter death, the likes of which not even a brute beast was ever condemned to: that is, his body was dismembered at every joint of his arms and legs. And so, when he had been cut asunder limb by limb to his very hips and shoulders, the courageous Martyr was finally beheaded, in the year 421.

Saint Irenarchos, who was from Sebastia, lived during the reign of Diocletian. In his youth he ministered to the holy Martyrs during the time of their punishment in prison. Once, on beholding seven women being tormented in behalf of Christ, and marvelling at their courage, and seeing how, although they were weak in body, they nonetheless became like men before the tyrant and put him to shame, the Saint was enlightened by divine grace and confessed Christ with boldness. Tried by fire and water, he was beheaded together with the holy women in the year 298.

Saint Paramonus contested for piety's sake during the reign of Decius, in the year 250. A ruler named Aquilinus, seeking relief from a bodily malady, visited a certain therapeutic hot spring. He brought with him captive Christians from Nicomedia, and commanded them to offer sacrifice in the temple of Isis. When they refused, he had them all slaughtered, to the number of 370. Saint Paramonus, beholding their murder, boldly cried out against such an act of ungodliness. When Aquilinus heard this, he sent men to take the Saint. Some smote him with spears, others pierced his tongue and body with sharp reeds, until he died.

Saint Philumenus' contest in martyrdom took place during the reign of Aurelian, in the year 270. Coming from Lycaonia, he was conveying a load of wheat into Galatia when he was denounced as a Christian to Felix, Governor of Ancyra. Nails were driven into his hands, feet, and head, and he was commanded to run. While running in the road, he fell and gave up his holy soul into the hands of God.

This Saint was from Bethsaida of Galilee; he was the son of Jonas and the brother of Peter, the chief of the Apostles. He had first been a disciple of John the Baptist; afterwards, on hearing the Baptist's witness concerning Jesus, when he pointed Him out with his finger and said, "Behold the Lamb of God, Which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1.29,36), he straightway followed Christ, and became His first disciple; wherefore he is called the First-called of the Apostles. After the Ascension of the Saviour, he preached in various lands; and having suffered many things for His Name's sake, he died in Patras of Achaia, where he was crucified on a cross in the shape of an "X," the first letter of "Christ" in Greek; this cross is also the symbol of Saint Andrew.

Saint Philaret a native of Paphlagonia in Asia Minor, was a virtuous Christian layman who lived in lawful wedlock and raised a family. He was most renowned for his generosity to all in need. With the permission of God, in a short space of time he lost the greater part of his possessions to theft and other misfortunes and was left with nothing but his family, his home, and a little livestock. Yet he continued to give generously to the poor despite the faint-heartedness of his family, who reproached him for giving alms when they were in need themselves; and God, seeing his faith, restored his prosperity to him many times over. He foresaw the day of his death, and reposed in an odour of sanctity in Constantinople in 789.

This Prophet, whose name means "loving embrace," is eighth in order of the minor Prophets. His homeland and tribe are not recorded in the Divine Scriptures; according to some, he was of the tribe of Symeon. He prophesied in the years of Joachim, who is also called Jechonias, before the Babylonian captivity of the Jewish People, which took place 599 years before Christ. When Nabuchodonosor came to take the Israelites captive, Habakkuk fled to Ostrakine, and after Jerusalem was destroyed and the Chaldeans departed, Habakkuk returned and cultivated his field. Once he made some pottage and was about to take it to the reapers in the field. An Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and carried him with the pottage to Babylon to feed Daniel in the lions' den, then brought him back to Judea (Bel and the Dragon, 33-39): His book of prophecy is divided into three chapters; the third chapter is also used as the Fourth Ode of the Psalter. His holy relics were found in Palestine during the reign of Emperor Theodosius the Great, through a revelation to Zebennus, Bishop of Eleutheropolis (Sozomen, Eccl. Hist., Book VII, 29).