Orthodox saints and name days on February 20

Name days on February 20

Leon, Leo, Leonidas, Agathon, Agathonas, Bessarion, Vissarion, Apphia, Apfia

Saints and feasts of February 20

• 

  Leo of Catania

  Hierarch, Λέων

  St. Leo was Bishop of Catania in Sicily in the eighth century, a shepherd remembered for his mercy toward the poor and the sick, and honored as a wonderworker for the healings granted through his prayers. Tradition also tells of his boldness in confronting a notorious sorcerer who was leading the people astray, whose deceptions collapsed before the bishop's faith.

  Name days: Leon, Leo, Leonidas

• Agathon of Rome

  Hierarch, Αγάθων Ρώμης

  St. Agathon was born in Sicily, gave his inheritance to the poor and became a monk. Elected Bishop of Rome in 678, he sent legates to the Sixth Ecumenical Council in Constantinople, which condemned the Monothelite heresy in accordance with his confession of faith.

  Name days: Agathon, Agathonas

• Bessarion the Great

  Venerable, Βησσαρίων

  St. Bessarion was an Egyptian who became a disciple of St. Anthony the Great and St. Makarios and lived as a wanderer in the desert, owning nothing and sleeping in the open. The Sayings of the Desert Fathers preserve his words and record that he stood forty days and nights in prayer without sleep.

  Name days: Bessarion, Vissarion

• Sadok and the 128 Martyrs

  Hierarch, Σαδώκ και οι συν αυτώ

  St. Sadok succeeded the hieromartyr Symeon as bishop in Persia during the persecution of King Shapur II. Tradition relates that he was warned of his coming martyrdom in a dream by his predecessor.

• Apphia the Martyr

  Holy Woman, Απφία

  St. Apphia is greeted by the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to Philemon as a beloved fellow-Christian; tradition holds her to be the wife of Philemon, in whose house at Colossae the Church gathered.

  Name days: Apphia, Apfia

• Cornelius of the Pskov Caves

  Venerable, Κορνήλιος του Πσκωφ

  St. Cornelius was born in Pskov in 1501 to a noble family and became a monk at the Pskov Caves Monastery, where he was later elected abbot. Under his leadership the monastery flourished, its walls were built and missions were sent to the neighbouring Estonian peoples.