Orthodox saints and name days on April 18

Name days on April 18

Cosmas, Kosmas, Athanasia, Athanassia, Nasia, Athanasoula

Saints and feasts of April 18

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  Cosmas, Bishop of Chalcedon

  Hierarch, Κοσμάς

  St. Cosmas the Confessor was Bishop of Chalcedon in the ninth century, during the second period of iconoclasm. Raised in the monastic life before his consecration, he refused to renounce the veneration of the holy icons when the emperor demanded it, and for this he was stripped of his see and endured persecution and exile.

  Name days: Cosmas, Kosmas

• John the Hesychast

  Venerable, Ιωάννης ο Ησυχαστής

  John was a disciple of Saint Gregory of Decapolis and shared his labours in defence of the holy icons during the ninth-century iconoclast persecution. He lived in stillness and prayer and was known for his humility.

• Athanasia of Aegina

  Holy Woman, Αθανασία η εξ Αιγίνης

  Athanasia was born on the island of Aegina in the ninth century and was twice married, the second time to a man who himself later became a monk. Freed to follow her heart's desire, she founded a convent on the island and was made its abbess.

  Name days: Athanasia, Athanassia, Nasia, Athanasoula

• John the Tailor of Ioannina

  Martyr, Ιωάννης ο Ράπτης

  John was born in Ioannina in Epirus and worked as a tailor in Constantinople among Christians who had accepted Islam. Pressed by them to do the same, he answered that he had been born a Christian and would die one.

• Akakios of Melitene

  Hierarch, Ακάκιος Μελιτηνής

  Akakios was Bishop of Melitene in Armenia in the fifth century and took part in the Third Ecumenical Council at Ephesus, where he opposed the teaching of Nestorius. He was known for his gift of working wonders and his care for his flock.

• Cyril VI of Constantinople

  Hierarch, Κύριλλος ΣΤ' ο Ιερομάρτυς

  Cyril was born in Adrianople in the eighteenth century and served as Ecumenical Patriarch from 1810 to 1812, caring especially for the education of the clergy. After his resignation he lived quietly in his native city.

• Synaxis of the Kollyvades Fathers

  Saint, Σύναξη των Οσίων Κολλυβάδων

  The Kollyvades were a movement of Athonite fathers of the eighteenth century, among them Makarios of Corinth, Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain and Athanasios of Paros, who called the faithful back to the Church's tradition of frequent Communion, watchfulness and the prayer of the heart.