Orthodox saints and name days on March 11

Name days on March 11

Sofronios, Theodora, Pionios, Sabina

Saints and feasts of March 11

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  Sophronios of Jerusalem

  Hierarch, Σωφρόνιος

  St. Sophronios, Patriarch of Jerusalem, was born in Damascus in the sixth century. A monk and a learned theologian, he traveled the monasteries of the East with his friend John Moschos, and as patriarch he stood firm against the Monothelite heresy, defending the fullness of both the divine and human wills in Christ.

  Name days: Sofronios

• Theodora of Arta

  Holy Woman, Θεοδώρα της Άρτας

  St. Theodora was born of the noble Petraliphas family in the thirteenth century and married Michael II Doukas, Despot of Epirus. Slandered and driven from the court by a rival, she endured years of exile with patience until her husband repented and restored her; she then used her position to found churches and monasteries and to care for the poor.

  Name days: Theodora

• Pionios and Sabina

  Hierarch, Πιόνιος

  St. Pionios was a presbyter of Smyrna who was arrested with several companions in the third century, on the anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Polycarp. His defense before the authorities, in which he refused every inducement to sacrifice, is preserved in an ancient account of his martyrdom.

  Name days: Pionios, Sabina

• George the Newly-Appeared

  Venerable, Γεώργιος ο Νεοφανής

  St. George the Newly-Appeared was a monk of Constantinople who lived near the church at Diipion in the tenth century. Tradition relates that he practiced great asceticism and that after his repose his relics were found incorrupt and worked miracles, whence his title.

• Trophimos and Thallos

  Martyr, Τρόφιμος

  Sts. Trophimos and Thallos were brothers from Stratonikeia in Caria who suffered at Laodicea under the emperor Diocletian. Tradition relates that they were tortured and stoned, and at last crucified, and that they preached Christ from the cross until their death.

• Euthymios of Novgorod

  Hierarch, Ευθύμιος του Νόβγκοροντ

  St. Euthymios was born in Novgorod in the late fourteenth century and became a monk in his youth. Chosen Archbishop of Novgorod in 1429, he built churches and monasteries, restored the cathedral of St. Sophia, and was known for his strict life and his love for the monastic rule.

• Sophronios of Vratsa

  Hierarch, Σωφρόνιος Βράτσης

  St. Sophronios of Vratsa was born in Kotel in Bulgaria in 1739 and served as a parish priest before becoming Bishop of Vratsa. A disciple of the work of St. Paisios of Hilendar, he labored for the education of the Bulgarian people, copying and translating books and preaching in the vernacular despite persecution by local Ottoman rulers.