Orthodox saints and name days on September 15

Name days on September 15

Nikitas, Nicetas, Philotheos, Filotheos, Philotheus, Vissarion, Bessarion, Vissarionas

Saints and feasts of September 15

• 

  Nikitas the Great Martyr

  Martyr, Νικήτας ο Μεγαλομάρτυς

  St. Nikitas the Great Martyr was a Goth living beyond the Danube in the fourth century. Converted to Christ, he confessed the faith boldly among his own people, and when a persecution arose against the Christians of that land he was seized, tortured, and given over to death by fire around the year 372.

  Name days: Nikitas, Nikitas, Nicetas

• Philotheos the Presbyter

  Venerable, Φιλόθεος

  St. Philotheos was a married priest of a village in Bithynia in the tenth century, a man of prayer, fasting and generous charity. Tradition relates that he was granted the gift of working miracles in his lifetime, and that after his repose a healing myrrh flowed from his relics.

  Name days: Philotheos, Filotheos, Philotheus

• Bessarion of Larissa

  Hierarch, Βησσαρίων Λαρίσης

  St. Bessarion was born near Trikala in Thessaly in the fifteenth century and became Metropolitan of Larissa, a shepherd known for his charity, for ransoming captives, and for building bridges and roads for the poor of his region. He founded the monastery of Dousikou near Pyli, which still bears his name.

  Name days: Vissarion, Bessarion, Vissarionas

• John the New Martyr of Crete

  Martyr, Ιωάννης ο Κρης

  St. John was a young farmer from Sfakia in Crete who had gone to Asia Minor and was betrothed there. Tradition relates that at a festival at New Ephesus he was accused by Turks and, refusing to deny Christ, was beaten and beheaded in 1811.

• Porphyrios the Mime

  Martyr, Πορφύριος ο Μίμος

  St. Porphyrios was an actor who, in the reign of Julian the Apostate, performed a play mocking Christian baptism before the emperor. Tradition relates that when he entered the water speaking the words of baptism he was truly enlightened and confessed himself a Christian before all.

• Symeon of Thessaloniki

  Hierarch, Συμεών Θεσσαλονίκης

  St. Symeon was a monk of Constantinople who became Archbishop of Thessaloniki in the early fifteenth century, the last Orthodox hierarch of the city before its fall to the Ottomans. He is remembered above all for his writings on the Divine Liturgy and the sacraments, which remain a chief source for the understanding of Orthodox worship, and for his pastoral care of a besieged city.

• Joseph the New of Partos

  Hierarch, Ιωσήφ ο Νέος

  St. Joseph was born in Dalmatia in the sixteenth century and became a monk on Mount Athos, where he lived for many years at Vatopedi and other monasteries. In old age he was made Metropolitan of Timisoara in the Banat and later withdrew to the monastery of Partos, where he reposed.