Orthodox saints and name days on March 8

Name days on March 8

Zacharias, Zach, Zachary, Zacharoula, Theofylaktos, Theophylaktos, Theophylact, Theofilaktos, Ermis, Hermes

Saints and feasts of March 8

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  Zacharias

  Prophet, Ζαχαρίας

  The holy Prophet Zacharias was a priest of the Temple in Jerusalem and the father of St. John the Forerunner. As the Gospel of Luke relates, the Archangel Gabriel appeared to him at the altar of incense and announced that his aged wife Elizabeth would bear a son; when John was born, Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied of the dawn from on high.

  Name days: Zacharias, Zach, Zachary, Zacharoula

• Theophylaktos of Nicomedia

  Hierarch, Θεοφύλακτος

  St. Theophylaktos was a monk and disciple of St. Tarasios, Patriarch of Constantinople, who made him Bishop of Nicomedia in the late eighth century. There he built churches and hospices, cared for the poor and the sick with his own hands, and governed his flock with great charity.

  Name days: Theofylaktos, Theophylaktos, Theophylact, Theofilaktos

• Paul of Plousias

  Hierarch, Παύλος ο Ομολογητής

  St. Paul was Bishop of Plousias in Bithynia in the ninth century, during the second period of iconoclasm. For his defense of the holy icons he was persecuted, driven from his see and subjected to many hardships.

• Hermes the Apostle

  Apostle, Ερμής

  St. Hermes was one of the Seventy Apostles, greeted by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans. Tradition relates that he became Bishop of Dalmatia and labored there in preaching the Gospel.

  Name days: Ermis, Hermes

• Dion the Martyr

  Martyr, Δίων

  St. Dion was a martyr of the early Church whose name is recorded in the Greek synaxaria for March 8 with the note that he completed his witness by the sword. Nothing further of his life has been preserved.

• Dometios the Venerable

  Venerable, Δομέτιος

  St. Dometios is a venerable father whose name the Greek synaxaria record for March 8 with the simple note that he reposed in peace. Nothing further of his life has come down to us.

• Synaxis of the Saints of Laconia

  Saint, Σύναξις Αγίων Λακωνίας

  On this day the Church of Laconia in the Peloponnese gathers in one commemoration all the saints who were born, labored or were martyred in that region, from the early centuries through the New Martyrs of the Ottoman period.