Saints with Funny Names

We interrupt this Eastern Rite calendar to bring you St. Joseph. Why? Because St. Joseph (feast day March 19 on the Western calendar, patron of the universal Church) does not have a separate feast day on the Eastern calendar. This may lead…

John isn’t exactly a funny name to us but when St. John the Baptist was born, his relatives were scratching their heads over it. “Where did that come from? Nobody else in the family has that name.” “Elizabeth dear, shouldn’t the boy be…

This is the tale of two holy lives and two ... not so holy ones. Sts. Theodulus and Agathopodes (died 303, feast day April 5) were members of the clergy in the church at Thessalonica (aka Salonica) in Greece. The bustling city was part of…

After having the benefit of 2,000 years of Christianity, we sometimes take the teachings of the Gospel for granted. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in…

From the nation of Armenia, in the darkest hours before the dawn, shines this tale of pure friendship. Polyeuctus (died 259) was a soldier in the service of Rome. Closer to him than a blood brother was his comrade in arms, Nearchus. In a…

Now I am going to tell you about something that until I did this article I knew next to nothing about — Advent fasting customs of the Eastern Rite. All I knew is that the period of Advent starts way sooner than Advent in the West. Instead…

When you read about the Eastern Rite saints who lived under Roman persecution, you might wonder if they were really as heroic as their biographers say they were. It was so long ago. Maybe people are exaggerating. Then you look at their…

St. Callinicus (feast day July 29) may be the perfect saint for our times, even though he lived in Asia Minor and died in the year 250. You see, he was born into a Christian home at a time when most of his neighbors were pagan. Imagine an…

The feast of All Saints is exactly the same in the East as it is in the West; it’s just on the other side of the year. It always falls on the Sunday following Pentecost, which this year is June 16. On this day, the Eastern Church…

Some of Our Lord’s disciples are famous, but others are not. Peter and the apostles are in the first category. We know where they preached; we know if and how they were martyred; we know what their feast days are. What about the “nameless”…