Orthodox saints and name days on March 20

Name days on March 20

None of the saints of this day carries a name in common use, so there are no widely kept name days on March 20.

Saints and feasts of March 20

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  Mother of God of Iveron

  Great Feast, Ιβήρων

  The Iveron Icon of the Theotokos, the Portaitissa or Gate-Keeper, is one of the most venerated icons of the Mother of God. According to tradition, during the iconoclast persecutions a pious widow entrusted the icon to the sea; generations later it appeared in a pillar of light off Mount Athos and was received by the monks of the Iveron Monastery, where it has remained for a thousand years as protectress of the Holy Mountain.

• Fathers of Saint Savva

  Martyr, Αββάδες Μονής Αγίου Σάββα

  On this day the Church remembers the monks of the Great Lavra of St. Savva in the Judean desert who were killed by Arab raiders, most famously in the attack of the year 796. The raiders demanded the monastery's treasures; when the fathers answered that they had nothing but their prayers, many were shut in a cave and suffocated with smoke, and others were cut down.

• Myron of Crete

  Martyr, Μύρων ο Νεομάρτυς

  St. Myron was a young tailor of Heraklion in Crete who lived under Ottoman rule. Tradition relates that he was falsely accused by Turks of having promised to accept Islam, and when he refused to do so he was imprisoned, tortured and hanged in 1793.

• Niketas of Apollonias

  Hierarch, Νικήτας ο Ομολογητής

  St. Niketas was Bishop of Apollonias in Bithynia in the ninth century. For his defense of the holy icons during the second period of iconoclasm he was persecuted and driven from his see.

• Seven Virgin Martyrs of Amisos

  Holy Woman, Παρθενομάρτυρες Αμισού

  The seven virgin martyrs Alexandria, Claudia, Euphrasia, Matrona, Juliana, Euphemia and Theodosia were Christians of Amisos on the Black Sea who suffered in the persecution of Maximian. Brought before the governor, they confessed Christ and endured tortures, and were burned to death together.

• Rodianos, Akylas, Lollion and Emmanuel

  Martyr, Ροδιανός

  Sts. Rodianos, Akylas the Eparch, Lollion and Emmanuel are martyrs whose names the Greek synaxaria record together for March 20. Tradition relates that they confessed Christ and were put to death for the faith.

• Cuthbert of Lindisfarne

  Venerable, Κούθβερτος

  St. Cuthbert was a monk of Melrose and later prior and bishop of Lindisfarne in Northumbria in the seventh century. He traveled tirelessly to preach in remote villages, lived for years as a hermit on the island of Farne, and was known for his gentleness, his love of animals, and his miracles.