Orthodox saints and name days on August 2

Name days on August 2

Stephen, Stephanos, Stefanos

Saints and feasts of August 2

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  Translation of Relics of St. Stephen

  Martyr, Στέφανος Πρωτομάρτυρας

  This feast commemorates the translation of the relics of the Holy Protomartyr and Archdeacon Stephen, the first to shed his blood for Christ, stoned outside Jerusalem as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. According to tradition, his long-hidden relics were revealed in the fifth century and were later brought with great honor to Constantinople, where the faithful received them with rejoicing.

  Name days: Stephen, Stephanos, Stefanos

• Theodore the New Martyr of Dardanelles

  Martyr, Θεόδωρος ο Νεομάρτυς

  Saint Theodore was a Greek Christian who, in the years of Ottoman rule, was pressured to renounce his faith. Tradition relates that after a period of weakness he repented openly, confessed Christ before the authorities at the Dardanelles and was put to death.

• Photeine of Cyprus

  Holy Woman, Φωτεινή η Κυπρία

  Venerable Photeine lived as a hermitess in a cave near Rizokarpaso in Cyprus. Tradition relates that she spent her life in prayer and fasting, and that the faithful of the region venerated her from an early date.

• Basil the Blessed of Moscow

  Venerable, Βασίλειος ο διά Χριστόν Σαλός

  Saint Basil the Blessed was a fool-for-Christ who lived in Moscow in the sixteenth century. He went barefoot and half-naked in all seasons, rebuked the powerful without fear and showed compassion to the poor.

• Maximos, Dadas and Quintilian

  Martyr, Μάξιμος, Δάδας και Κυντιλιανός

  The Martyrs Maximos, Dadas and Quintilian suffered in Dorostolon in the region of the Danube during the persecution of Diocletian. Their principal feast is in April; on this day the Church remembers the finding of their relics.