Orthodox saints and name days on March 9

Name days on March 9

Sarantis, Ourpasianos, Kaisarios, Kesarios, Caesarius, Caesar

Saints and feasts of March 9

• 

  Forty Holy Martyrs of Sebaste

  Martyr, Σαράντα Μάρτυρες

  The Forty Holy Martyrs of Sebaste were Roman soldiers who confessed Christ in Armenia in the year 320, during the persecution of Licinius. Refusing to deny the Lord, they were condemned to stand through the night upon a frozen lake, with warm baths set on the shore to tempt them. One gave way, but a guard, beholding crowns descending upon the martyrs, confessed Christ and took his place, completing the forty.

  Name days: Sarantis

• Ourpasianos

  Martyr, Ουρπασιανός

  St. Ourpasianos was a senator of Nicomedia under the emperor Maximian. When the emperor demanded that Christians in his service renounce their faith, Ourpasianos laid down his belt of office before him and confessed Christ openly.

  Name days: Ourpasianos

• Kaisarios the Physician

  Saint, Καισάριος

  St. Kaisarios was the younger brother of St. Gregory the Theologian, born in Cappadocia in the fourth century. Educated in Alexandria, he became a distinguished physician and served at the imperial court in Constantinople, keeping his Christian faith even under Julian the Apostate.

  Name days: Kaisarios, Kesarios, Caesarius, Caesar

• Vitalios of Sicily

  Venerable, Βιτάλιος

  St. Vitalios was born in Castronovo in Sicily in the tenth century and became a monk of the Greek monastery of St. Philip at Agira. He later lived as a hermit in various places in Sicily and Calabria, gathering disciples and founding monasteries, and was known for his miracles and his care for the poor.

• Christos and Panagos

  Martyr, Χρίστος και Πανάγος

  Sts. Christos the priest and Panagos were New Martyrs of the Ottoman period commemorated in the Greek synaxaria on March 9. Tradition relates that they were seized by the Turkish authorities and put to death for refusing to deny the Christian faith.

• Six Martyrs of One Family

  Saint, Μάρτυρες μιας οικογενείας

  The Greek synaxarion for March 9 records a whole household of martyrs, a grandfather and grandmother, a father and mother, and their two children, who confessed Christ together and were put to death for the faith. Their names have not been preserved.