This Martyr was from Greece. Being of great bodily stature and strength, he was an illustrious soldier in the Roman legions who had won many victories, and was known for his prudence and sobriety of mind. When it was learned that he gave grain to the poor from the imperial stores, and was moreover a Christian, Hadrian the Governor of Phoenicia sent Hypatius, a tribune, and Theodulus, a soldier, to arrest him. Saint Leontius converted them on the way to Tripolis in Phoenicia, where Hypatius and Theodulus were tormented and beheaded by Hadrian for their confession of Christ. Then Hadrian with many flatteries and many torments strove to turn Leontius from Christ. All his attempts failing, he had Leontius put to such tortures that he died in the midst of them, under Vespasian in the year 73.

Our righteous Father Païsius the Great was born in Egypt about the year 300 and was consecrated to God as a monk at a young age. He together with Saint John the Short (commemorated Nov. 9) was trained in the ascetical life in Scete by the great Abba Pambo (July 18). He practiced extreme fasting and vigil beyond the limits of human strength, and received many revelations of mysteries. The Saviour often appeared to him; once He appeared to him with two Angels, as He had to Abraham, and allowed him to wash His immaculate feet. When he was asked which virtue was the highest of all, he would answer, "That which is done in secret." He reposed in peace in deep old age; his relics are found in the monastery of Amba Bishoy in Wadi Natrun (the ancient Nitria of Egypt), and to the present day they work healings and miracles.

 Saint Nicholas Cabasilas was born in 1322 A.D. in Thessaloniki to the Chamaetos family but went by his mother's family name of Cabasilas. His uncle Nilus Cabasilas was a prominent theologian who succeeded St. Gregory Palamas as Archbishop of Thessaloniki. Nicholas recieved his early education there and then went to Constantinople to further his studies. It was a time of cultural and religious flowering but also political civil wars.  Although still a layperson, he spent 1 year on Mt. Athos with St. Gregory Palamas. In 1354, after the end of the civil wars between the co-emperors, Cabasilas retired from political life and began working with the Patriarch Philotheos Kokkinos.When his father and uncle died, and his mother entered a monastery, he also entered the Manganon Monastery where he became an ordained monk.

St. Nicholas is the last of the great Byzantine theologians. He was a gifted writer, and is chiefly remembered through two texts he wrote: The Life in Christ and The Exposition of the Divine Liturgy.

Niketas was born in the town of Mandraki on the Aegean island of Nisyros. His father, a town leader, committed some crime for which he was arrested, and brought to trial before the Ottoman courts. Fearing the punishment of death, he decided to become Muslim, along with his family. Thus, the very young NIketas was renamed Mehmed. Becuase the Christian community looked down upon such a betryal, the family moved to the island of Rhodes.

When he was a little older, Niketas got into a fight with a Muslim friend. When that boy's mother found out, she began yelling at Niketas (knowing the family's story) and calling him "giouri" which means "infidel." Perplexed by the insult, Niketas questioned his mother until she admitted how they became Muslim. Saddened by the story, he wanted to learn what his Orthodox Christian name had been at baptism. When he learned the truth, he determined to return to his ancestral faith and boarded a ship for Chios. Landing at the harbor of Lithe, he ended up at the  Monastery of Nea Moni, where he revealed his story to the Abbot. The Abbot told him to visit St. Makarios, the Metropolitan of Corinth, who heard his confession and received him back into the Church. He remained at Nea Moni and decided to publicly testify for his faith in Jesus Christ, reject Islam, and die a martyr.   He was just 15 years old at this time.

The teen monk arrived at the port of Chora in Chios and was arrested by the Muslim tax collector, as he had no proof that he paid his 'haratsi' or head tax, required of all Orthodox Christian in the Ottoman Turkish state (Paying the head tax, meant that you could keep your head.) As he was being taken to prison, a man who knew him with the name Mehmed expressed surprise that Muslims were now being taxed. Niketas explained his story and was overheard by the tax collector, who brought him before a judge with the more serious charges of returning to Christianity. The judge imprisoned and tortured Niketas for 10 days but he would not return to Islam. He was then led to the edge of the city and urged to return to Islam and escape death but he replied "I am a Christian; my name is Niketas."

The young Saint was decapitated adn received the crown of martyrdom on June 21, 1732. The Truks threw dirt over his body to dishonor it, but it remained clean for many days and his blood was gathered and healed the blind who were anointed with it. The TUrks then threw his body in the sea to keep it from being honored by the Christians, but his skull was saved and is kept as a relic in the Iveron Monastery in Mt. Athos.

After the expulsion of Eudoxius from the see of Antioch, the Arians of Antioch, believing that Meletius of Armenia would uphold their doctrines, petitioned the Emperor Constantius to appoint Meletius Bishop of Antioch, while signing a document jointly with the Orthodox of Antioch, unanimously agreeing to Meletius' appointment (see Feb. 12); this document was entrusted to Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata. Meletius, however, after his Orthodoxy became apparent, was banished, and the Arians persuaded Constantius to demand the document back from Eusebius, as it convicted their perfidy. Imperial officers were sent; Eusebius refused to surrender the document without the consent of all who had signed it; the officers returned to the Emperor, who furiously sent them back to Eusebius with threats. But so great a zealot for the true Faith, so staunch an enemy of the Arians, so fearless a man of valor was Saint Eusebius, that when Constantius' officers arrived, threatening to cut off his right hand unless he surrendered the document, Eusebius held out both hands. When Constantius learned of it, he was struck with astonishment and admiration.

This took place in 361, the last year of the reign of Constantius; he was succeeded by Julian the Apostate, who was slain in Persia in 363; Jovian succeeded Julian, and Valentinian succeeded Jovian in 364, making his brother Valens Emperor of the East. Valens, who supported the Arians, exiled Eusebius to Thrace in 374. The bearer of the edict of Eusebius' banishment arrived in the evening; Eusebius bade him keep silence, or else the people, learning why he had come, would drown him: and Eusebius, though an old man, left his house alone on foot by night. After Valens was slain at Adrianopole in 378 (see Saint Isaacius, Aug. 3), the holy Eusebius returned from exile under the Emperor Gratian, and he ordained for the churches of Syria men known for their virtue and Orthodoxy. About the year 380, as he was entering a certain village to enthrone its bishop, whom he had consecrated, an Arian woman threw a clay tile from the roof, and it crushed his head; as he was dying, he bound the bystanders with oaths that they not take the least vengeance. Saint Gregory the Theologian addressed several letters to him (PG 37:87, 91, 126-130); he had such reverence for him, that in one letter to him, commending himself to Saint Eusebius' prayers, he said, "That such a man should deign to be my patron also in his prayers will gain for me, I am persuaded, as much strength as I should have gained through one of the holy martyrs.

He that was greater than all who are born of women, the Prophet who received God's testimony that he surpassed all the Prophets, was born of the aged and barren Elizabeth (Luke 1: 7) and filled all his kinsmen, and those that lived round about, with gladness and wonder. But even more wondrous was that which followed on the eighth day when he was circumcised, that is, the day on which a male child receives his name. Those present called him Zacharias, the name of his father. But the mother said, "Not so, but he shall be called John." Since the child's father was unable to speak, he was asked, by means of a sign, to indicate the child's name. He then asked for a tablet and wrote, "His name is John." And immediately Zacharias' mouth was opened, his tongue was loosed from its silence of nine months, and filled with the Holy Spirit, he blessed the God of Israel, Who had fulfilled the promises made to their fathers, and had visited them that were sitting in darkness and the shadow of death, and had sent to them the light of salvation. Zacharias prophesied concerning the child also, saying that he would be a Prophet of the Most High and Forerunner of Jesus Christ. And the child John, who was filled with grace, grew and waxed strong in the Spirit; and he was in the wilderness until the day of his showing to Israel (Luke 1:57-80). His name is a variation of the Hebrew "Johanan," which means "Yah is gracious."