Orthodox saints and name days on March 29

Name days on March 29

Mark, Markos

Saints and feasts of March 29

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  Mark, Bishop of Arethusa

  Martyr, Μάρκος

  St. Mark was Bishop of Arethusa in Syria in the fourth century. In the days of Constantine he had destroyed a pagan temple and built up the Church; when Julian the Apostate restored idolatry, the aged bishop was seized by the pagans of the city and subjected to prolonged and vicious torments, which he endured with such meekness that even his tormentors marveled.

  Name days: Mark, Markos

• Savvas of Kalymnos

  Venerable, Σάββας ο εν Καλύμνω

  St. Savvas the New was born in Thrace in 1862 and became a monk on Mount Athos and in the Holy Land, where he practiced iconography and lived in great austerity. Returning to Greece, he became the spiritual father of St. Nektarios of Aegina and, after his elder's repose, settled at the convent of All Saints on the island of Kalymnos.

• Cyril the Deacon

  Martyr, Κύριλλος ο Διάκονος

  St. Cyril was a deacon of Heliopolis in Phoenicia who, in the reign of Constantine, had broken idols in the city. When Julian the Apostate restored paganism, the pagans seized him and, according to tradition, tore open his body in their rage. At the same time, in Ascalon and Gaza in Palestine, consecrated virgins and priests were put to death with great cruelty.

• Jonah and Barachesios

  Martyr, Ιωνάς και Βαραχήσιος

  Sts. Jonah and Barachesios were monks of Persia in the fourth century who, during the persecution of King Shapur II, went to encourage a group of imprisoned Christians and were themselves arrested. They endured horrible tortures with great patience and were put to death, together with the martyrs Zanithas, Lazarus, Maruthas, Narses, Elias, Mares, Habib, Sembeeth and Sabas.

• Diadochos of Photike

  Hierarch, Διάδοχος Φωτικής

  St. Diadochos was Bishop of Photike in Epirus in the fifth century and one of the great teachers of the spiritual life. His work of one hundred chapters On Spiritual Knowledge, included in the Philokalia, teaches the remembrance of God and the invocation of the name of Jesus, and was read by St. Maximos the Confessor and many later fathers.

• Eustathios of Kios

  Hierarch, Ευστάθιος Κίου

  St. Eustathios was Bishop of Kios in Bithynia in the ninth century. For his defense of the holy icons he was persecuted by the iconoclasts, deprived of his see and subjected to hunger and exile.