The third edition of this collection of over one hundred lives of holy hierarchs, martyrs, confessors, ascetics, and hymnographers, has been brought back by popular demand. This book includes many of the full and newly expanded lives of all the great monastic fathers of the renowned Judean monasteries of Saints Hilarion, Euthymius, Theodosius, Savvas, Chariton, Gerasimus, Cyriacus, Dorotheos, the Chozevite fathers, and others. Learn of the intellectual life at Mar Savvas by reading the lives of the great hymnographers, Saints John of Damascus, Cosmas of Maiuma, Andrew of Crete, Theophanes the Poet, and Stephen the MelodiSaint Read about the glorious Hierarchs Cyril, Leontius, Sophronius, Hesychius, Modestus I and II of Jerusalem, Porphyrius of Gaza, Theodore of Edessa and John of Kolonia, to name a few. See how the martyrs of the first centuries boldly confessed Christ before the pagan world. Learn of the struggles, temptations and victories of the ascetics of the deserts of Sinai and Raithu through the lives of Saints John of the Ladder, Gregory the Sinaite, Neilus and many more. Learn about the lives of women ascetics and martyrs such as Mary of Egypt, Melanie, Parasceve the New, Mastridia, Ennatha, Theodosia, Thea, Valentina, Hermione, Susanna the deaconess, and many others. Learn how the Judean monasteries and the cenobitic life shaped Orthodox monasticism for centuries to come. Discover where, how and by whom the Church's hymnody, liturgical order and dogma were developed, and whose Typikon has continued through the centuries to take first place among the Typika which regulate the liturgical order of the Eastern Orthodox Church. When Egypt slipped into heresy or schism and the Athonite monasteries were far into the future, together with the baptism of Russia, it was the Lavra of Saint Savvas, with the other surviving Judean monasteries, which established the teachings, traditions, and standards accepted by the Church today.

Translated from the Greek of The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church. 585 pp., 55 icons, 2 maps and glossary.

The hardbound texts of this series are profusely illustrated with icons, sketches and maps. The hardbound titles of our Lives of the Saints Series are a series of gold-stamped burgundy covers, with acid-free pages.

Complete listing of Saints in this volume by month:

January

8 George the Chozevite
11 Theodosius the Coenobiarch
12 Peter Absalom
14 Fathers Slain at Sinai and Raithu
20 Euthymius the Great and
Theoctistus, his Fellow-Ascetic (3 September)
22 Anastasius the Persian
26 Symeon the Ancient

February

3 Adrianus and Eubulus, Martyrs at Caesarea
6 Barsanuphius the Great Elder
and John the Prophet
7 Mastridia of Jerusalem
10 Ennatha the Virgin-Martyr
16 Elias, Jeremias, Isaias, Samuel and Daniel
16 Pamphilus the Presbyter (also 5 November),
Valens the Deacon and Paul of Jamnia
16 Porphyrius, Seleucus, Theodulos and Julian
19 Conon of Penthoucla
21 Zacharias, Patriarch of Jerusalem
26 Porphyrius, Bishop of Gaza

March

4 Gerasimus of the Jordan
5 Eulogius and Eulampius the Martyrs
5 Conon the Gardener
11 Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem
11 George of Sinai
15 Martyrs Agapius, Paesis, Timolaus, Romulus,
Alexander, Alexander, Dionysius
and Dionysius
18 Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem
20 John, Sergius, Patrick and the Slain
Fathers of the Saint Savvas Monastery
24 Eight Martyrs of Caesarea
28 Hesychius, Presbyter of Jerusalem
30 John, Abbot of Sinai (also 4th Sunday of Lent)

April

1 Mary of Egypt (also 5th Sunday of Lent)
2 Martyrs Amphianus and Aedesius
5 Zosimas the Presbyter
6 Gregory of Sinai (also 8 August)
6 Two Martyrs at Ascalon
19 Paphnutius, Hieromartyr of Jerusalem
20 John of the Old Lavra
20 Anastasius I and Anastasius II,
Patriarchs of Jerusalem
20 Anastasius, Abbot of Sinai
21 Anastasius the Hermit

May

4 Martyrs Aphrodisius, Leontius, Anthony,
Melous, Valerian, Macrobius and others
14 Leontius, Patriarch of Jerusalem
29 Theodosia the Virgin-Martyr
31 Five Martyrs of Ascalon

June

4 Zosimas of Sinai
5 Dorotheus, Hieromartyr of Gaza
6 Martyrs Mary, Martha, Kyria, Vareria
and Marcia
13 James the Ascetic
25 Simon of Sinai
28 Seventy Martyrs of Scythopolis

July

2 Juvenal, Patriarch of Jerusalem
4 Andrew, Archbishop of Crete
13 Mary (Golinduc) of Persia
18 Martyrs Paul, Thea and Valentina
19 Theodore, Archbishop of Edessa,
Monk-Martyr Michael of Mar Savvas (23 May)
and King John the Persian (30 May)

August

7 Narcissus, Patriarch of Jerusalem
7 Asterius the Senator
13 Dorotheus of Gaza
13 Dositheus, Monk of Thawatha
16 Thirty-Three Martyrs of Palestine
19 Timothy, Agapius and Thekla
31 Seven Virgin-Martyrs of Gaza

September

4 Hermione the Virgin-Martyr, together
with Theodulos and Theotimus
17 Fifty Martyrs of Palestine
21 Jonas the Savvaite
21 Eusebius, Nestabus and Zeno of Gaza
24 Coprius of Saint Theodosius Monastery
28 Chariton of Old Lavra
29 Cyriacus the Anchorite
29 Mary the Ascetic
29 Theophanes the Merciful

October

3 John the Chozevite
14 Cosmas the Poet, Bishop of Maiouma
14 Paraskeve the New
14 Silvanus, Hieromartyr of Gaza
21 Hilarion the Great
28 Cyriacus, Patriarch of Jerusalem
and his Mother, Anna the Martyr
28 Stephen of Saint Savvas Monastery

November

5 Martyrs Domninus, Timothy, Theotimus,
Theophilus, Carterius, Eupsychius,
Silvanus and the Three Virgins
12 Neilos and Theodulos of Sinai (14 January)
13 Martyrs Antoninus, Nicephorus,
Herman and Manetha
18 Romanos the Deacon

December

3 John of Kolonia
4 John of Damascus
5 Savvas the Sanctified
12 Alexander, Bishop of Jerusalem
15 Susanna the Hierodeaconess
15 Pardus the Solitary
16 Modestus II, Archbishop of Jerusalem
18 Modestus I, Archbishop of Jerusalem
18 Michael the Confessor
18 Zacchaeus the Deacon and
Alphaeus the Reader
19 Martyrs Ares, Probus and Elias
24 Antiochus the Monk
27 Theodore the Branded and
Theophanes the Poet (11 October)
31 Melanie the Younger
31 Gelasius the Monk

GLOSSARY
MAP OF THE JUDEAN MONASTERIES
MAP OF SINAI AND SOUTHERN PALESTINE
BIBLIOGRAPHY