Orthodox saints and name days on October 19

Name days on October 19

Ioel, Joel, Cleopatra, Kleopatra

Saints and feasts of October 19

• 

  Joel the Prophet

  Prophet, Ιωήλ

  The holy Prophet Joel was one of the twelve minor prophets, who prophesied in the kingdom of Judah. In a time of devastation he called the people to fasting and heartfelt repentance, and he foretold the day when God would pour out His Spirit upon all flesh.

  Name days: Ioel, Joel

• Cleopatra the Righteous

  Holy Woman, Κλεοπάτρα

  Cleopatra was a widow of Edra near Mount Tabor whose husband had been a Roman officer in Egypt. Witnessing the martyrdom of Saint Varus, she secretly recovered his body and brought it home to Palestine, where she built a church in his honor.

  Name days: Cleopatra, Kleopatra

• Varus and the Six Monk-Martyrs

  Martyr, Ούαρος

  Varus was a Roman officer in Egypt and a secret Christian who visited and cared for imprisoned confessors. When one of seven imprisoned monks died before trial, Varus took his place, declaring himself a Christian.

• Sadoth of Persia

  Hierarch, Σαδώθ

  Sadoth succeeded Saint Symeon as Bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon in Persia during the persecution of King Shapur II. Arrested with his clergy and many of the faithful, he refused to worship the sun.

• John of Rila

  Venerable, Ιωάννης της Ρίλας

  John was born in the village of Skrino near Sofia in the ninth century and became a monk while young. He lived for years in a hollow tree and then in a cave in the Rila mountains, in fasting and prayer, until disciples gathered and the great Rila monastery was founded.

• Leontios the Philosopher

  Venerable, Λεόντιος ο φιλόσοφος

  Leontios is commemorated in the Synaxarion as a philosopher who forsook worldly wisdom for the ascetic life and reposed in peace. The details of his life are not preserved.