The Season of Epiphanies:
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Jan. 21 St.  Maximos the Confessor
St. Maximos of Constantinople (7th C) fought to preserve the experiential faith of the apostles against the Monothelite heretics who tried to diminish the humanity of Christ by claiming that he had no human will. This would have meant that there is something incompatible with the divine in the human nature, and so St. Maximos, faithful to the handing on of what the apostles had experienced about our Lord, refused to accept this, and was arrested, tortured, maimed and exiled. Although one Pope of Rome, Honorius I, had earlier fallen into the error of the Monothelites, another, St. Martin the Confessor (feast: June 14), rejected it, and suffered the same fate as St. Maximos.

Jan. 24 Blessed Xenia of Petersburg
A namesake of St. Xenia of Rome (5th C), also commemorated today, the Blessed Xenia was a "fool for Christ" in St. Petersburg. She lived in poverty, but her holiness was evident even in her apparent folly.

Fourth Sunday of January -- the Commemoration of the New Martyrs of Russia and Eastern Europe
On this day are remembered all those who perished under the Communist yoke of 1917 to the fall of Communism, the most terrible and scientifically efficient persecution the church has ever known. We pray that God will rebuild the indigenous churches of these lands, with justice and mercy.

Jan. 25 St. Gregory the Theologian
Called in the West, "St. Gregory Nazianzen," St. Gregory was the most poetic theologian of the Cappadocian fathers. Portions of his sermon on the revelation of Christ at this season are sung at our Christmas services.

Jan. 27 St. John Chrysostom
This "Golden-mouthed trumpet of Orthodoxy" is the author of our most frequently used liturgy. He was patriarch of Constantinople, and in that position, was a powerful advocate for the poor, and for social change in the empire. He was often exiled for his efforts, and died thus, in Armenia, in 407. This feast marks the return of his body from exile to Constantinople in 438.

Jan. 28 St. Ephraim the Syrian
A 4th-century deacon, monk and brilliant melodist in Edessa, St. Ephraim is the greatest Semitic Syriac ecclesiastical writer. His work serves to remind us that the early church was indeed both indigenous and universal, not just Greek and Latin!

Jan. 30 Synaxis of the Great Ecumenical Teachers and Hierarchs: Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom
In the 11th Century, a dispute arose during the reign of emperor Alexius Comnenus: which of these three saints (all of whom have feasts in January) was the greatest? The saints themselves settled the question in a dream of St. John, Bishop of Euchaita. They declared: "We are one in God, as you see, and there is no dispute among us, neither is there among us a first or a second!" A common celebration was thus instituted.

Due to the great erudition of these three "Satellites of the Holy Trinity," this day is celebrated among Greek Christians as the "Day of Greek Letters and Learning."

Feb. 2 the Encounter of Our Lord in the Temple with Simeon and Anna
This great feast brings the "Season of Epiphanies" to a close, recalling the encounter of the Lord with his faithful people in the temple of Jerusalem [Luke 2:22-40]. He has come, not to abolish the Law, but is revealed as the fulfillment of the Law and the prophets.
Simeon recognizes this, and gives us his beautiful prayer, which we use each day at vespers: "Now, O Lord, dismiss thy servant in peace..." We have seen the Lord, and we have worshiped him. Now we are ready to begin the preparations for Great Lent, and the journey toward Pascha.