Orthodox saints and name days on January 25

Name days on January 25

Grigorios, Grigoris, Gregory, Greg, Grigoria

Saints and feasts of January 25

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  Gregory the Theologian

  Great Feast, Γρηγόριος ο Θεολόγος

  St. Gregory the Theologian was born in Cappadocia in the fourth century and studied in Athens with his close friend St. Basil the Great. A man of deep prayer and unmatched eloquence, he was called to Constantinople when the city was dominated by Arianism, and through his celebrated theological orations restored the Orthodox faith in the Holy Trinity. He briefly served as Archbishop of Constantinople before withdrawing to a life of quiet and asceticism.

  Name days: Grigorios, Grigoris, Gregory, Greg, Grigoria

• Auxentios the New Martyr

  Martyr, Αυξέντιος

  St. Auxentios was born in Bella in Epirus and worked as a furrier in Constantinople. Having once in fear spoken words of denial, he repented and, after preparing himself with the guidance of his confessor, went before the judge, confessed Christ, and was beheaded in 1720.

• Publius the Ascetic

  Venerable, Πούπλιος

  St. Publius was a senator's son of Zeugma on the Euphrates in the fourth century who sold his goods for the poor and founded a monastic community on a hill near the city, gathering both Greek- and Syriac-speaking monks.

• Kastinos of Byzantium

  Hierarch, Καστίνος

  St. Kastinos was a Roman of senatorial rank who, tradition relates, was healed and converted by St. Cyprian of Carthage and became Bishop of Byzantium in the third century, before the city became Constantinople.

• Bretannion of Tomis

  Hierarch, Βρετάννιος

  St. Bretannion was Bishop of Tomis on the Black Sea, in present-day Romania, in the fourth century. When the Arian emperor Valens visited and tried to force his heresy on the Church, the bishop led his flock out of the cathedral rather than commune with him.

• Anatole of Optina

  Venerable, Ανατόλιος της Όπτινα

  St. Anatole was a disciple of the elders Makarios and Ambrose of Optina in the nineteenth century and later a spiritual father of the Optina skete and of the convent at Shamordino. He was a teacher of the Jesus Prayer and of humility.

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  Vladimir of Kiev

  Hierarch, Βλαδίμηρος Κιέβου

  St. Vladimir was Metropolitan of Kiev and had earlier served as Metropolitan of Moscow and of St. Petersburg. In January 1918 he was seized by armed men at the Kiev Caves Lavra, led outside its walls, and shot, becoming the first bishop to suffer under the Bolsheviks.