Saints of this Day April 22  Décimo Kaléndas Maji

Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас!
  (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)

The saints are a “cloud of witnesses over our head”, showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.

Mary's Divine Motherhood

Mary Mother of GOD 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary
April 22 - Discovery of the Treatise on The True Devotion of Mary in 1842,
 found “in a trunk” according to a prophesy (Saint Louis Grignion de Monfort) Mary is a Woman who Loves (III) Benedict XVI Deus est caritas # 41

Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly "Mother of God" (Theotokos).
Catechism of the Catholic Church 495, quoting the Council of Ephesus (431): DS 251.

   As unlikely as it may seem, the French actor Robert Hossein, born in 1927, has produced a large number of movies and plays with a religious theme in the past thirty years. This is because he suddenly discovered the Catholic faith in 1971, on a visit to San Damiano, a small town in Lombardy, Italy, where the Blessed Virgin appeared for the first time on October 16, 1964.
   The “seer”, a fifty-four year old peasant woman called “Mamma Rosa”, died in 1984. The Blessed Virgin asked Mamma Rosa to turn her garden into a place of worship and to invite crowds of people to come and pray the Rosary there. Now each month French trains and buses leave Paris carrying pilgrims on their way to spend 3 days in San Damiano.

      Robert Hossein has never joined these “organized pilgrimages”. In fact, on the day of his conversion, he simply decided to visit San Damiano while vacationing in the area of Plaisance, Italy. Since that day, he has kept a photo by an amateur photographer in his wallet taken of the village in 1971. The photo shows the sun strangely deformed, which believers in San Damiano do not hesitate calling an apparition of the Blessed Virgin. The photo was appraised at that time by technicians from Leiz, France, and they certified that it is authentic.

1091 BD WOLFHELM, ABBOT was remarkable for devotion to the rule and love of the Bible, the study of which he urged upon all those under his charge. An admirable superior, he instilled into others what he practised himself——a life well balanced between action and contemplation; In a letter which he addressed to the abbot of Gladbach upon the errors of Berengarius he said: “In order to see the bread and the wine, he [Berengarius] uses the eyes of the body, but at the same time he closes the eyes of the soul and so he does not see the Body and Blood of the Lord”.

They have their feast together on 22 April, on which day they appear in most of the martyrologies,
though Notker and a few others give Soter on the 21st and Caius on the 19th or 21st.

   Soter was pope for eight years, c. 167 to 175 (Harnack prefers 166-174). We possess a fragment of an interesting letter addressed to him by St. Dionysius of Corinth, who writes: “From the beginning it has been your custom to do good to all the brethren in many ways, and to send alms to many churches in every city, refreshing the poverty of those who sent requests, or giving aid to the brethren in the mines, by the alms which you have had the habit of giving from old, Romans keeping up the traditional custom of the Romans; which your blessed Bishop Soter has not only preserved, but has even increased, by providing the abundance which he has sent to the saints, and by further consoling with blessed words with brethren who came to him, as a loving father his children.  Today, therefore, we have kept the holy Lord's day, on which we have read your letter, which we shall always have to read and be admonished, even as the former letter which was written to us by the ministry of Clement.” (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., IV, xxiv.) The letter which Soter had written in the name of his church is lost, though Harnack and others have attempted to identify it with the so-called “Second Epistle of Clement” (see CLEMENT OF ROME).
    The reverence for the pope's paternal letter is to be noticed. The traditional generosity of the Roman Church is again referred to by St. Dionysius of Alexandria to Pope Dionysius in the middle of the third century, and Eusebius says it still continued in his time. Nothing further is known of this pope.

283, to 22 April, 296 Pope Caius lived in the time of peace before the last great persecution. He was pope for twelve years, four months, and seven days, from 17 December, 283, to 22 April, 296, according to the Liberian catalogue (Harnack, Chronol., I, 155, after Lipsius and Lightfoot); Eusebius is wrong in giving him fifteen years. He is mentioned in the fourth-century “Depositio Episcoporum” (therefore not as a martyr): X kl maii Caii in Callisti. He was buried in the chapel of the popes in that cemetary. Nothing whatever is known of his life.

He lived in the time of peace before the last great persecution.
Constantinópoli sancti Agapíti Papæ Primi, cujus sánctitas a beáto Gregório Magno commendátur.  Ipsíus autem corpus, póstea Romam relátum, in Vaticáno cónditum est.
    At Constantinople, Pope St. Agapitus the First, whose sanctity was praised by St. Gregory the Great.  His body was afterwards taken to Rome and buried in the Vatican.

Today we commemorate the Holy Myrrh-bearing women Sts Mary Magdalene (July 22), Mary the wife of Clopas, Joanna (June 27), Salome, mother of the sons of Zebedee (August 3), Martha and Mary, sisters of Lazarus (June 4). Also St Joseph of Arimathea (July 31), and Nicodemus.

The holy right-believing Queen Tamara of Georgia is commemorated twice during the year: on May 1, the day of her repose, and also on the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women.
Synaxis of all Saints of Thessalonica.
St Seraphim Bishop of Phanar (December 4, 1610)
New Martyr Elias Ardunis (January 31, 1686)
New Martyr Demetrius of the Peolponnesos (April 13, 1803)

St. Tamara is commemorated on the Sunday of the Myrrh-beating Women in addition to her regular commemoration on May 1.
In 1166 a daughter, Tamar, was born to King George III (1155–1184) and Queen Burdukhan of Georgia. The king proclaimed that he would share the throne with his daughter from the day she turned twelve years of age.

The royal court unanimously vowed its allegiance and service to Tamar, and father and daughter ruled the country together for five years. After King George’s death in 1184, the nobility recognized the young Tamar as the sole ruler of all Georgia. Queen Tamar was enthroned as ruler of all Georgia at the age of eighteen. She is called “King” in the Georgian language because her father had no male heir and so she ruled as a monarch and not as a consort.

At the beginning of her reign, Tamar convened a Church council and addressed the clergy with wisdom and humility: “Judge according to righteousness, affirming good and condemning evil,” she advised. “Begin with me—if I sin I should be censured, for the royal crown is sent down from above as a sign of divine service. Allow neither the wealth of the nobles nor the poverty of the masses to hinder your work. You by word and I by deed, you by preaching and I by the law, you by upbringing and I by education will care for those souls whom God has entrusted to us, and together we will abide by the law of God, in order to escape eternal condemnation.… You as priests and I as ruler, you as stewards of good and I as the watchman of that good.”

The Church and the royal court chose a suitor for Tamar: Yuri, the son of Prince Andrei Bogoliubsky of Vladimir-Suzdal (in Georgia Yuri was known as “George the Russian”). The handsome George Rusi was a valiant soldier, and under his command the Georgians returned victorious from many battles. His marriage to Tamar, however, exposed many of the coarser sides of his character. He was often drunk and inclined toward immoral deeds. In the end, Tamar’s court sent him away from Georgia to Constantinople, armed with a generous recompense. Many Middle Eastern rulers were drawn to Queen Tamar’s beauty and desired to marry her, but she rejected them all. Finally at the insistence of her court, she agreed to wed a second time to ensure the preservation of the dynasty. This time, however, she asked her aunt and nurse Rusudan (the sister of King George III) to find her a suitor. The man she chose, Davit-Soslan Bagrationi, was the son of the Ossetian ruler and a descendant of King George I (1014–1027).

In 1195 a joint Muslim military campaign against Georgia was planned under the leadership of Atabeg (a military commander) Abu Bakr of Persian Azerbaijan. At Queen Tamar’s command, a call to arms was issued. The faithful were instructed by Metropolitan Anton of Chqondidi to celebrate All-night Vigils and Liturgies and to generously distribute alms so that the poor could rest from their labors in order to pray. In ten days the army was prepared, and Queen Tamar addressed the Georgian soldiers for the last time before the battle began. “My brothers! Do not allow your hearts to tremble before the multitude of enemies, for God is with us.… Trust God alone, turn your hearts to Him in righteousness, and place your every hope in the Cross of Christ and in the Most Holy Theotokos!” she exhorted them.
Having taken off her shoes, Queen Tamar climbed the hill to the Metekhi Church of the Theotokos (in Tbilisi) and knelt before the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. She prayed without ceasing until the good news arrived: the battle near Shamkori had ended in the unquestionable victory of the Orthodox Georgian army.

After this initial victory the Georgian army launched into a series of triumphs over the Turks, and neighboring countries began to regard Georgia as the protector of the entire Transcaucasus. By the beginning the 13th century, Georgia was commanding a political authority recognized by both the Christian West and the Muslim East.
Georgia’s military successes alarmed the Islamic world. Sultan Rukn al-Din was certain that a united Muslim force could definitively decide the issue of power in the region, and he marched on Georgia around the year 1203, commanding an enormous army.
Having encamped near Basiani, Rukn al-Din sent a messenger to Queen Tamar with an audacious demand: to surrender without a fight. In reward for her obedience, the sultan promised to marry her on the condition that she embrace Islam; if Tamar were to cleave to Christianity, he would number her among the other unfortunate concubines in his harem. When the messenger relayed the sultan’s demand, a certain nobleman, Zakaria Mkhargrdzelidze, was so outraged that he slapped him on the face, knocking him unconscious.

The Georgian soldiers were summoned without delay. Queen Tamar prayed for victory before the Vardzia Icon of the Theotokos, then, barefoot, led her army to the gates of the city.

Hoping in the Lord and the fervent prayers of Queen Tamar, the Georgian army marched toward Basiani. The enemy was routed. The victory at Basiani was an enormous event not only for Georgia, but for the entire Christian world.
The military victories increased Queen Tamar’s faith. In the daytime she shone in all her royal finery and wisely administered the affairs of the government; during the night, on bended knees, she beseeched the Lord tearfully to strengthen the Georgian Church. She busied herself with needlework and distributed her embroidery to the poor.
Once, exhausted from her prayers and needlework, Tamar dozed off and saw a vision. Entering a luxuriously furnished home, she saw a gold throne studded with jewels, and she turned to approach it, but was suddenly stopped by an old man crowned with a halo. “Who is more worthy than I to receive such a glorious throne?” Queen Tamar asked him.
He answered her, saying, “This throne is intended for your maidservant, who sewed vestments for twelve priests with her own hands. You are already the possessor of great treasure in this world.” And he pointed her in a different direction.

History has preserved another poignant episode from Queen Tamar’s life: Once she was preparing to attend a festal Liturgy in Gelati, and she fastened precious rubies to the belt around her waist. Soon after she was told that a beggar outside the monastery tower was asking for alms, and she ordered her entourage to wait. Having finished dressing, she went out to the tower but found no one there. Terribly distressed, she reproached herself for having denied the poor and thus denying Christ Himself. Immediately she removed her belt, the cause of her temptation, and presented it as an offering to the Gelati Icon of the Theotokos.
During Queen Tamar’s reign a veritable monastic city was carved in the rocks of Vardzia, and the God-fearing Georgian ruler would labor there during the Great Fast. The churches of Pitareti, Kvabtakhevi, Betania, and many others were also built at that time. Holy Queen Tamar generously endowed the churches and monasteries not only on Georgian territory but also outside her borders: in Palestine, Cyprus, Mt. Sinai, the Black Mountains, Greece, Mt. Athos, Petritsoni (Bulgaria), Macedonia, Thrace, Romania, Isauria and Constantinople. The divinely guided Queen Tamar abolished the death penalty and all forms of bodily torture.
A regular, secret observance of a strict ascetic regime—fasting, a stone bed, and litanies chanted in bare feet—finally took its toll on Queen Tamar’s health. For a long time she refrained from speaking to anyone about her condition, but when the pain became unbearable she finally sought help. The best physicians of the time were unable to diagnose her illness, and all of Georgia was seized with fear of disaster. Everyone from the small to the great prayed fervently for Georgia’s ruler and defender. The people were prepared to offer not only their own lives, but even the lives of their children, for the sake of their beloved ruler.
God sent Tamar a sign when He was ready to receive her into His Kingdom. Then the pious ruler bade farewell to her court and turned in prayer to an icon of Christ and the Life-giving Cross: “Lord Jesus Christ! Omnipotent Master of heaven and earth! To Thee I deliver the nation and people that were entrusted to my care and purchased by Thy Precious Blood, the children whom Thou didst bestow upon me, and to Thee I surrender my soul, O Lord!”
The burial place of Queen Tamar has remained a mystery to this day. Some sources claim that her tomb is in Gelati, in a branch of burial vaults belonging to the Bagrationi dynasty, while others argue that her holy relics are preserved in a vault at the Holy Cross Monastery in Jerusalem.

1st v. St. Apelles first bishop of Smyrna Laodicea mentioned by St. Paul in Romans
Smyrnæ sanctórum Apéllis et Lúcii, ex primis Christi discípulis.   At Smyrna, the Saints Apelles and Lucius, who were among the first disciples of Christ.
1st century martyr associated with Sts. Lucius and Clement. Apelles was the first bishop of Smyrna, Turkey, and was mentioned by St. PaulRomans(16 Verses 5-15 " Greet Ampliatus whom I love in the Lord." Lucius was the bishop of Laodicea. All three were martyred for the faith. St. Lucius and Apelles share the same feast day.

 174 Soter, Pope charity personal kindness care for persecuted; condemned Montanists (RM)
Romæ, via Appia, natális sancti Sotéris, Papæ et Mártyris.    At Rome, on the Appian Way, the birthday of St. Soter, pope and martyr.
Born at Fondi (near Gaeta), Italy; After the death of Pope Anicetus in the middle of the 2nd century, Soter was elected to this danger-fraught office about 166-167. His influence was widespread, partly because of his charity (known from a letter of Bishop Saint Dionysius of Corinth), his personal kindness, and especially his care for those who had been persecuted for their faith by being deported to the mines and prisons.
This kindliness did not mean that Pope Soter looked kindly on error. During his pontificate, a number of Christians, known as Montanists, were preaching that the heavenly Jerusalem would soon descend near Pepuza, a town in Phrygia. These Montanists condemned their fellow - Christians as far too lax: they did not fast enough, it was alleged; they should never marry again if one partner had died; they did not prophesy enough, for they lacked the gift of the Holy Spirit.
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ST SOTER was raised to the papacy upon the death of St Anicetus. Eusebius has preserved parts of a letter of thanks addressed to the Romans by St Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, in which allusion is made to the pope’s fatherly kindness and liberality, especially to those who suffered for the faith. St Dionysius promises that a letter which St Soter had written to him should be read in the assemblies of the Corinthians together with that of Pope St Clement. It has been contended by some that what is known to us as the second epistle of St Clement is no other than this letter. The church honours Soter as a martyr, but no account of his death has been preserved.
Of the life of St Caius, the successor of St Eutychian in the apostolic see, nothing is known. According to a late tradition he was a Dalmatian and a relation of the Emperor Diocletian. Owing to the fury of the persecution in his days, he is said to have lived for eight years concealed in the catacombs and to have been honoured as a martyr because of his sufferings. His epitaph, found in a fragmentary state in the catacomb of St Callixtus, clearly names, in accord with the “Depositio Episcoporum” of the Philocalian calendar, April 22 as the date of his interment.

He lived in the time of peace before the last great persecution.

The acts of these martyrs have been printed both in the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. iii, and by Ruinart. Delehaye describes them as “pas trés importants” (Origines du Culte des Martyrs, p. 352).

202 St. Leonides of Alexandria noted scholar Martyred father of Origen
Alexandríæ natális sancti Leónidæ Mártyris, qui sub Sevéro passus est.
    At Alexandria, the birthday of the martyr St. Leonides, who suffered under Severus.
202 ST LEONIDES, MARTYR
THE most illustrious of the Alexandrian martyrs who suffered during the reign of the Emperor Severus was a learned Christian philosopher called Leonides. He was a married man, and the eldest of his seven sons was the great scholar Origen, whom he loved dearly and educated himself with the utmost care. When the persecution was at its height at Alexandria under Laetus, governor of Egypt, Leonides was cast into prison.
Origen, at that time only seventeen years old, was consumed by a desire for martyrdom, and so eager to go forth to seek it that his mother locked up all his clothes to keep him at home. He then wrote a touching letter to his father exhorting him to accept with courage and joy the crown that was offered him, adding, “Take heed, sir, that you do not, for our sakes, change your mind”. Leonides was beheaded in the year 202, his property being confiscated and his family reduced to great poverty.

Leonides of Alexandria M (RM) (also known as Leonidas)The Alexandrian martyr Leonides was the father of seven children, one of whom was Origen whose clothes had to be concealed by his mother in order to prevent him from accompanying his father to his martyrdom. He was himself a distinguished philosopher. Prior to his beheading under Laetus, governor of Egypt, during the reign of Septimus Severus, his property was confiscated and he was imprisoned for being a Christian (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).

The Holy Martyr Leonidas  April 22  SerbianOrthodoxChurch.net
The father of Origen, he suffered for Christ in Alexandria in 202. First, by imperial decree, all his goods were confiscated and then he was condemned to death.

296 Saint Caius, Pope Dalmatian M (RM)
Item Romæ sancti Caji, Papæ et Mártyris; qui martyrio coronátus est sub Diocletiáno Príncipe.
  In the same city, Pope St. Caius, was crowned with martyrdom under Emperor Diocletian.
All that is known about Saint Caius has come to us through unreliable tradition. It is said that Pope Caius was a Dalmatian and a relative of Emperor Diocletian. December 17, 283, he became pope. During the tranquil initial years of his pontificate, Caius decreed that bishops must be priests before consecration to the episcopacy. He is honored as a martyr because of his sufferings: During Diocletian's persecution of Christians, he fled and was forced to live for eight years in concealment in a cave or the catacombs. The degree of unreliability of this tradition is demonstrated by the fact that the Diocletian persecution did not begin until six or seven years after his death (Attwater2, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).

342 St. Abdiesus deacon in the Christian community of Persia martyrdom w/others by King Shapur II
Eódem die sanctórum plurimórum Mártyrum, qui, sequénti anno post óbitum Simeónis, ánnuo item die quo passiónis Domínicæ memória celebrabátur, per totam Pérsidis regiónem, pro Christi nómine, sub Rege Sápore, gládio cædi jussi sunt.  In quo fídei certámine passus est Azades eunúchus, Regi caríssimus; Milles Epíscopus, sanctitáte et miraculórum virtúte insígnis; Acépsimas Epíscopus, cum Presbytero suo Jacóbo, item Aíthala et Josépho Presbyteris, Azadáne et Abdiéso Diáconis, et complúribus áliis Cléricis; Maréas quoque et Bicor Epíscopi, cum áliis vigínti Epíscopis, et Cléricis fere ducéntis quinquagínta, Mónachis étiam et sacris Virgínibus plúrimis.  Has inter Vírgines fuit étiam sancti Simeónis Epíscopi soror, nómine Tárbula, cum pedíssequa sua; quæ, stipítibus alligátæ serráque scissæ, crudelíssime necátæ sunt.
    The same day, many holy martyrs who, the year following the death of St. Simeon, and on the anniversary of the Passion of our Lord, were put to the sword for the name of Christ throughout Persia, under King Sapor.  Among those who then suffered for the faith were the eunuch Azades, a favorite of the king; Milles, a bishop renowned for sanctity and miracles; Bishop Acepsimas with one of his priests named James; also Aithalas and Joseph, priests; Azadan and Abdiesus, deacons, and many other clerics; Mareas and Bicor, bishop, with twenty other bishops, and nearly two hundred and fifty clerics; many monks and consecrated virgins, among whom was the sister of St. Simeon, called Tarbula, with her maid, who were both killed in a most cruel manner by being tied to stakes and sawn asunder.
Also called Hebed Jesus, a deacon in the Christian community of Persia who was caught up in the persecutions conducted by King Shapur II(310–379). Records indicate that Abdiesus was accompanied in his martyrdom by Abrosimus, Acepsimus, Azadanes, Azades, Bicor, Mareas, Milles, and a women named Tarbula. Some were Persian courtiers, others priests and bishops. Tarbula was the sister of St. Simeon, and suffered a particularly cruel death by sawing.

342 Abrosimus of Persia priest stoned to death with many of his flock M (RM)
Item in Pérside sanctórum Parménii, Heliménæ et Chrysóteli Presbyterórum, Lucæ et Múcii Diaconórum; quorum triúmphus martyrii in passióne sanctórum Abdon et Sennen habétur.
    Also in Persia, Saints Parmenius, Helimenas, and Chrysotelus, priests; Lucas and Mucius, deacons, whose triumph is related in the Acts of Saints Abdon and Sennen.

(also known as Abrosima) feast day is November 10 in the Orthodox Church. Saint Abrosimus, a Persian priest, was stoned to death with many of his flock under King Shapur II (Benedictines).
342 Azadanes (Azadames) Azades Tharba & Companions Died in Persia MM (RM)
Azadanes, a deacon, and Azades, a high- standing officer at the court of the Persian King Shapur II, were martyred together with Abdeisus and others (Benedictines).
342 Mareas and Companions 21 bishops 250 priests monks nuns vast number of laity MM (RM)
Bishop Mareas was another martyr under King Shapur II. Together with him suffered 21 others bishops, nearly 250 priests, many monks and nuns, and a vast number of laity. The church of Persia was brought to the verge of extinction (Benedictines).
345 St. Tarbula Virgin martyr sister of St. Simeon, the Persian bishop and martyr
also listed as:, Tarba or Tarbo. The sister of St. Simeon, the Persian bishop and martyr, she was consecrated a virgin and met her own martyrdom soon after the death of her brother. Accused of practicing witchcraft and of causing sickness to befall the wife of the ardently anti-Christian Persian king Shapur, she was condemned and executed by being sawed in half.
Tarbula of Persia VM (RM)(also known as Pherbutha, Tarbo, Tarba)
Died May 5, 345. Tarbula was the virgin sister of the great bishop-martyr Saint Simeon Barsabba'e. After her brother's death, Tarbula was accused by the Jews of having used witchcraft to cause King Shapur's wife to sicken. She was sawn in half together with her sister and another woman (Attwater, Benedictines).

376 St. Acepsimas Bishop (80 yr) martyr victim of the Persian persecutions in Hnaita, Persia
He was arrested during the anti-Christian campaigns of King Shapur II and was taken before a court where he publicly announced his faith. Records indicate that Acepsimas, the local bishop, was more than eighty when he was arrested. As a result of his steadfastness, he was tortured to death.
Acepsimas of Hnaita BM (RM) (also known as Acesimus of Honit)
Died October 10, 376. Saint Acepsimas, an octogenarian bishop of Hnaita (Honita) in Assyria (western Persia), was racked and flogged to death under Shapur II. His acta are quite authentic-- recorded by Saint Maruthas, a near contemporary, and mentioned by Sozomen. The priests Aithala and Joseph suffered with him. The Roman Martyrology commemorates many others who suffered about this time in the same persecution.
Maruthas writes that in the 37th of the 40 years of persecution a new edict was published that stated: "They abolish our doctrine; they teach men to worship one only God, and forbid them to adore the sun or fire; they use water for profane washing; they forbid persons to marry, to be soldiers in the king's armies, or to strike any one; they permit all sorts of animals to be killed, and they suffer the dead to be buried; they say that serpents and scorpions were made, not by the devil, but by God himself."
These were the charges laid upon the ancient Bishop Acepsimas, who was arrested and taken to the governor in Arbela. When asked how he could deny the divinity of the sun, the bishop expressed astonishment that any man would prefer a creature to the Creator. For this insolence he was thrown to the ground, scourged, and then imprisoned.
Meanwhile the priest Joseph of Bethcatuba and Deacon Aithalas of Beth-nudra, who was renowned for his eloquence, sanctity, and learning, were brought before the same governor. Joseph answered the charges much as Acepsimas did: that he was a Christian, and had always taught the sun to be an inanimate creature. This response resulted him Joseph being stretched on the ground and beaten successively by ten executioners until his body seemed to be one open wound. Seeing what they had done to his body, Joseph said: "I return you the greatest thanks I am able, Christ, the Son of God, who have granted me this mercy, and washed me with this second baptism of my blood, to wipe away my sins." This infuriated his persecutors, who redoubled their efforts to tear his body apart (Benedictines). In art, Saint Acepsimas is an Oriental bishop loaded with chains. He is venerated in the Eastern Church (Roeder).

St. Bicor A Persian martyr bishop unknown
Bicor was a bishop who was martyred in the persecution conducted by the Sassanid King Shapur II (310–379).
376 St. Joseph of Persia with St. Acepsimas Martyred
He suffered with St. Acepsimas under King Shapur II(310–379) in the remorseless persecution of Christians conducted by that ruler.
377 Aithalas of Persia priest M (RM)
(also known as Aithilahas) Aithalas was a Persian priest (or deacon) of bishop Acepsimas (Benedictines).
St. Mareas Martyred bishop of Persia with 21 companion bishops 250 priests monks nuns and laypeople
King Shapur II(310–379) conducted this dreadful martyrdom, which brought the Church in Persia to the verge of extinction.
380 St. Milles bishop Martyr of Persia
He was a Persian bishop put to death by King Shapur II of Persia with St. Abdiesus and many other companions.
4th v. Abdiesus the Deacon Persian martyr M (RM)
(also known as Hebedjesus) 4th century. Abdiesus was one of the vast multitude of Persians martyred under King Shapur II. This persecution lasted from 341 to 380. Abdiesus is styled a deacon in the Roman Martyrology, and is probably not to be confused with another martyr of the same name who was bishop of Cashcar (Benedictines).

St Agapitus was formerly named in the Roman Martyrology on September 20, and the notice of him in the Acta Sanctorum will be found under that day (vol. vi). See also the Liber Pontificalis with Duchesne’s notes; Grisar, Geschichte Roms and der Päpste (Eng. trans.), § 326, etc. ; and DHG., vol. i, cc. 887—890.

541 St. Leo of Sens Bishop of Sens defended the rights of his see
Apud Senónas sancti Leónis, Epíscopi et Confessóris.    At Sens, St. Leo, bishop and confessor.
France, who defended the rights of his see against the claims of the Frankish king Childebert
Leo of Sens B (RM) Saint Leo was bishop of Sens for 23 years defending the rights of his own see against the pretensions of King Childebert and reproved Saint Remigius (530) (Attwater2, Benedictines).

610 Saint Vitalius, a monk of the monastery of St Seridus, arrived in Alexandria when St John the Merciful (November 12) was Patriarch of Alexandria.    John_the_Merciful_by_Titian
Vitalius, monk at Gaza. He lived under the abbot Serid(i)on near Gaza. Vitalius went to Alexandria, he was then about sixty years. John the Almoner was at that time bishop of Alexandria (610-619). Vitalius feigned a licentious life and he visited the house of the harlots to convert them. After his death in Alexandria, his innocence was proved; and his accuser converted and entered the monastery at Gaza under the abbot Serid(i)on, and he occupied the cell that was once occupied by Vitalius. The feast of Vitalius is on Jan 11 in the Greek synaxaria.

When he was sixty years old, undertook an extraordinary task: he wrote down from memory the names of all the prostitutes of Alexandria and he began to pray for them. He worked from morning to evening, earning twelve copper coins each day. In the evening the saint bought a single bean, which he ate after sunset. Then he would give the rest of the money to one of the harlots, whom he visited at night and said, "I beg you, take this money and do not sin with anyone tonight." Then he stayed with the harlot in her room. While she slept, the Elder spent the whole night at prayer, reading the Psalms, and quietly left in the morning.

He did this each day, visiting all the harlots in turn, and he made them promise to keep the purpose of his visit secret. The people of Alexandria, not knowing the truth, became indignant over the the monk's behavior, and they reviled him. However, he meekly endured their scorn, and he only asked that they not judge others.

The holy prayers of St Vitalius saved many fallen women. Some of them went to a monastery, others got married, and others found respectable work. But they were forbidden to tell anyone the reason why they had changed their life, and thereby stop the abuse heaped upon St Vitalius. They were bound by an oath they had made to the saint. When of the woman began to break her oath and stood up to defend the saint, she fell into a demonic frenzy. After this, the people of Alexandria had no doubt concerning the sinfulness of the monk.

Certain of the clergy, scandalized by the behavior of St Vitalius, reported him to the holy Patriarch John the Merciful. But the Patriarch did not believe the informers and he said, "Cease to judge, especially monks. Don't you know what happened at the First Council of Nicea? Some of the bishops and the clergy brought letters of denunciation against each other to the emperor St Constantine the Great (May 21). He commanded that a burning candle be brought, and not even reading the letters, he burned them and said, "If I had seen with my own eyes a bishop sinning, or a priest, or a monk, then I would have veiled such with his garb, so that no one might see his sin." Thus the wise hierarch shamed the calumniators.

One time, emerging from an house of ill repute, the monk encountered a young man going there -- a prodigal fellow, who with an insult struck him on the cheek and cried out, that the monk was a disgrace to the Name of Christ. The monk answered him: "Believe me, that after me, humble man that I be, thou also shalt receive such a blow on the cheek, that will have all Alexandria thronging to thine cry".
A certain while afterwards St Vitalius settled into a small cell and in it at night he died. At that very hour a terrifying demon appeared before the youth who had struck the saint, and the demon struck the youth on the cheek and cried out: "Here is a knock from St Vitalius." The youth went into a demonic madness. In a frenzy he thrashed about on the ground, tore the clothing from himself and howled so loudly, that a multitude of people gathered.
When the youth finally came to his senses after several hours, he then rushed off to the cell of the monk, calling out: "Have mercy on me, O servant of God, for I have sinned against thee." At the door of the cell he came fully to his senses and he told those gathered there about his former encounter with St Vitalius. Then the youth knocked on the door of the cell, but he received no answer. When they broke in the door, they then saw, that the monk was dead, on his knees before an icon. In his hand was a scroll with the words: "Men of Alexandria, judge not beforehand, til cometh the Lord, the Righteous Judge".

At this moment there came up the demon-possessed woman, punished by the monk for wanting to violate the secret of his exploit. Having touched the body of the saint, she was healed and told the people about everything that had happened with her.

St John the Merciful also rejoiced, in that he had not believed the calumniators, and that a righteous man had not been condemned. And then together with the throng of repentant women, converted by St Vitalius, the holy Patriarch solemnly conveyed his remains throughout all the city and gave them reverent burial. And from that time many of the Alexandria people made themselves a promise to judge no one.

Our Holy Father, the Monk Vitalis  April 22)  SerbianOrthodoxChurch.net
In the time of Patriarch John the Merciful a young monk appeared, who, as soon as he arrived, compiled a list of all the prostitutes in Alexandria. His way of asceticism was exceptional and singular. During the day he hired himself out for the heaviest work, and at night he went into the brothels, gave the money he had earned to some prostitute and shut himself in her room with her for the whole night. As soon as he had shut the door, Vitalis begged the woman to lie down and sleep, while he spent the entire night in a corner of the room in prayer to God for that sinner. So he kept the sinner from sinning even for one night. The second night he would go to another, the third to another, and so on in order until he had gone through them all, then he went back to the one with whom he had started. By his counsel, many of these sinners left their foul calling; some married, others went to a monastery and others began some honest work for payment. All these women were forbidden by Vitalis to say why he came to them. As a result, he became a scandal to the whole of Alexandria. People reviled him in the streets, spat on him and buffeted him. But he bore it all patiently, revealing his good works to the Lord but concealing them from men. When he died, all became known about him. There began to be many miraculous healings over his grave; people came from various places, bringing their sick to it. Spat on by men, he was and is glorified by the all-seeing God. 

613 St. Theodore of Sykeon (Galatia) Abbot bishop cured a royal prince of leprosy gifts of prophecy and miracles bestowed on him by God
Anastasiópoli, in Galátia, sancti Theodóri Epíscopi, miráculis clari.         At Anastasiopolis in Galatia, St. Theodore, a bishop well known for his miracles.

613 ST THEODORE OF SYKEON, BISHOP OF ANASTASIOPOLIS

ST THEODORE was born in the Galatian town of Sykeon in Asia Minor, the son of n harlot who kept an inn. From infancy he was so given to prayer that as a schoolboy he often deprived himself of his meal to spend the dinner hour in church. At an early age he shut himself up, first in a cellar of his mother’s house and then in a cave under a disused chapel.. The desire to escape still more completely from the world led him subsequently to take up his abode for a time on a desert mountain. He assumed the monastic habit when on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and received ordination to the priesthood from his own bishop. His life was extremely austere. Vegetables were his only food, but of these he partook most sparingly, and he wore an iron girdle about his body. Endowed with the gifts of prophecy and of miracles, he obtained by his prayers, when on a second visit to the Holy Land, an abundant fall of rain after a severe drought.

Several monasteries were founded by St Theodore, notably one near an ancient chapel dedicated in honour of St George, to whom he had a great devotion, and another at his native town of Sykeon. Over the latter he ruled as abbot, although he continued to reside mainly in a remote and secluded cell. Maurice, the general of the armies of the Emperor Tiberius, upon his return from his victorious cam­paign in Persia, visited the saint, who foretold to him his accession to the imperial throne. When the prophecy was fulfilled in 582, Maurice did not fail to commend himself and his empire to the holy man’s prayers. By main force Theodore was consecrated bishop of Anastasiopolis—a post for which he felt himself totally unfitted—but after ten years he succeeded in obtaining leave to resign. From Sykeon whither he joyfully retired he was recalled to Constantinople to bless the emperor and senate, and he then cured one of the emperor’s sons of a skin disease, supposed to be leprosy. St Theodore died at Sykeon on April 22, 613. He had done much to propagate and popularize the cultus of St George.

There is a long account of this St Theodore, written by a contemporary. Perhaps for modern taste it is too much a succession of wonders, anecdotes and encounters with demoniacs, and it is not free from what Dr Baynes calls that “portentous rhetoric which often makes the reading of Byzantine hagiography a weariness of the flesh”. But it is a fascinating work for all that and, again to quote Dr. Baynes, “the best picture known to us of life in Asia Minor in the Byzantine period before the Arab invasions of the empire”.

Saint Theodore the Sykeote was born in the mid-sixth century in the village of Sykeon, not far from the city of Anastasiopolis (in Galatia, Asia Minor), into a pious family. When his mother Maria conceived the saint, she had a vision of a bright star overshadowing her womb. A clairvoyant Elder, whom she consulted, explained that this was the grace of God being poured forth on the infant in her womb.

When the boy reached the age of six, his mother presented him with a golden belt, since she intended that her son should become a soldier. That night the Holy Great Martyr George (April 23) appeared to her in a dream, and he told her not to consider military service for her son, because the boy was destined to serve God. The saint's father, Cosmas, had served as a messenger of the emperor Justinian the Great (527-565), and he died at an early age. The boy remained in the care of his mother, and his grandmother Elpis, his aunt Dispenia and his little sister Vlatta also lived with them.
In school, St Theodore displayed great apptitude in his studies, chief of which was an uncommon ability for reasoning and wisdom. He was quiet, mild, he always knew how to calm his comrades, and he did not permit fights or quarrels among them.
The pious Elder Stephen also lived at his mother's house. Imitating him, St Theodore at the age of eight began to eat only a small morsel of bread in the evening during Great Lent. So that his mother should not force him to take supper with everyone, the boy returned home from school only toward evening, after he had partaken of the Holy Mysteries with Elder Stephen. At the request of his mother, the teacher began to send him home to supper at the end of his lessons. St Theodore, however, ran to the church of the Great Martyr George, where the saint appeared to him in the form of a youth, and ushered him into the church.
When St Theodore turned ten, he fell deathly ill. They brought him to the church of St John the Baptist and placed him in front of the altar. The boy was healed by two drops of water that fell from the face of the Savior in the dome of the temple. At this time the Great Martyr George began appearing to the boy at night, and also leading him to his own temple to pray until morning. His mother, fearing the dangers of the forest at night, urged her son not to go at night.

Once, when the boy had already gone, she angrily followed him to the church, and she dragged him out by the hair and tied him to his bed. But that very night the Great Martyr George appeared to her in a dream, and commanded her not to hinder the child from going to church. Both Elpis and Dispenia had the same vision. The women then understood St Theodore's special calling, and they no longer hindered him. Even his little sister Vlatta began to imitate him.

From that time, St Theodore began to intensify his labors. He spent both the First Week of Great Lent and the Week of the Veneration of the Cross in complete silence.

Another time, the boy went into the desert to obtain the blessing of the Elder Glycerius. Then there was a terrible drought throughout the land, and the Elder said, "Child, let us pray to the Lord on bended knee, asking Him to send rain. Then we shall learn whether our prayers are pleasing to the Lord." The old man and the boy began to pray, and immediately it began to rain. Then the Elder said to St Theodore, that the grace of God was upon him, and he blessed him to become a monk when the time came.

When he was fourteen, St Theodore left home and lived near the church of the Great Martyr George. His mother brought him food, but St Theodore left everything on the stones by the church, and he ate only a single prosphora each day. Even at such a young age, St Theodore was granted the gift of healing. Through his prayers a demon-possessed youth was restored to health.  St Theodore then fled human glory and he withdrew into complete solitude. Under a large boulder not far from the church of St George, he dug a cave and persuaded a certain deacon to cover over the entrance with earth, leaving only a small opening for air. The deacon brought him bread and water and he told no one,where the monk had hidden himself.  For two years St Theodore lived in this seclusion and complete quiet. His relatives mourned for the saint, thinking that he had been devoured by wild beasts.
The deacon finally revealed the secret, since he was afraid that St Theodore would perish in the narrow cave, and moreover he pitied the weeping mother. They took St Theodore out of the cave barely alive.
The mother wanted to take her son home and nurse him back to health, but the saint remained near the church of St George, and after several days he was completely well.

News of the youth's exploits reached the local bishop Theodosius, who ordained him to the diaconate, and later to the holy priesthood, although the saint was only seventeen years old at the time.
After a certain while St Theodore went to venerate the holy places in Jerusalem, and there at the Chozeba Lavra near Jordan, he received monastic tonsure.
When he returned to his native land, he again continued to live near the church of St George.

The ascetic life of the young hieromonk attracted to him people seeking salvation. The saint tonsured the youth Epiphanius, and later on a pious woman, healed by the saint from her sickness, brought him her son Philoumenus. Then the virtuous youth John also came to him. Thus brethren gradually gathered around the monk.
St Theodore continued in his harsh labors. At his request a blacksmith made him an iron cage without a roof, and so narrow that it was scarcely possible to stand. In this cage the monk stood in heavy chains from Holy Pascha until the Nativity of Christ. From the Baptism of the Lord until Holy Pascha he secluded himself in his cave, from which he emerged only for church services on Saturdays and Sundays. Throughout the whole of the forty-day Fast the saint ate only greens, and bread on Saturdays and Sundays.
Living in such manner, he received from the Lord the power over wild animals. Bears and wolves came up to him and took food from his hand. Through the saint's prayers, those afflicted with leprosy were healed, and demons were cast out from whole districts. In the nearby village of Magatia, when locusts threatened the crops, people turned to St Theodore for help. He sent them to church. After Divine Liturgy, which he served, the villagers returned home and learned that during the service all the locusts had died.
When the military commander Mauricius was returning to Constantinople by way of Galatia after a Persian war, the monk predicted that he would become emperor. The prediction came true, and the emperor Mauricius (582-602) fulfilled the saint's request: he sent bread to the monastery each year for the multitude of people being fed there.  The small temple of St George could not accommodate all those who wanted to pray in it. Then through the efforts of the saint a beautiful new church was built. During this while the Bishop of Anastasiopolis happened to die. The people of the city requested Metropolitan Paul of Ancyra to install St Theodore as their bishop.

As bishop, St Theodore toiled much for the welfare of the Church, but his soul yearned for solitary communion with God. After several years he went to venerate the holy places in Jerusalem. And there, concealing his identity, he settled at the Lavra of St Sava, where he lived in solitude from the Nativity of Christ until Pascha. Then the Great Martyr George led him to return to Anastasiopolis.

Theodore's sanctity was so evident that when he celebrated the Eucharist, the grace of the Holy Spirit appeared as a radiant purple light, overshadowed the Holy Gifts.

In one of the cities of Galatia, a terrible event occurred: during a church procession the wooden crosses being carried began to strike each other by themselves, with the result that Patriarch Thomas (607-610, March 21) summoned St Theodore, asking him the meaning of this terrible portent. Having the gift of foresight, St Theodore explained that this indicated coming misfortunes for the Church of God (he was prophetically indicating the future heresy of the Iconoclasts). In his grief the holy Patriarch Thomas begged the saint to pray that he would soon die, so that he would not witness the coming woe.

A native of Sykeon, in Galatia, Asia Minor, he was the son of a Byzantine imperial messenger and possibly of a prostitute. Entering a monastery in Jerusalem, he served there for many years until becoming abbot of a number of monastic institutions. He predicted the rise of Emperor Maurice and cured a royal prince of leprosy. About 590, he was appointed bishop of Anastasiopol in Galatia.

Theodore of Sykeon (Sikion) B (RM) (also known as Theodore of Sikion) Born in Sykeon, Galatia, Asia Minor; died April 22, 613. The beginning of Theodore's life was infortuitous: He was the bastard child of a girl named Mary who, with her sister, kept an inn at the village of Sykeon. They prostituted themselves to their customers. His father was a circus artist, who specialized in acrobatic camel- riding and had nothing to do with his son. Perhaps his mother was a nominal Christian--she had her son baptized.
When Theodore was only six, Mary wanted him to enter the service of the emperor. She prepared for him a gold belt and expensive clothing to make him presentable at court. Then Saint George (303 1/14 helpers) appeared to her in a dream and she abandoned this plan. Instead she arranged for Theodore's education with a local teacher.
About this time, the inn was transformed by the arrival of an elderly man, named Stephen, whose cooking transformed the inn into a place renowned for its cuisine. Thus, the women were able to forego prostitution as an additional source of income.
Even as a child, Theodore showed a propensity for holiness, which was encouraged by Stephen and heightened following his recovery from a near fatal attack of the bubonic plague. Theodore would skip dinner, depriving himself of nourishment, in order to spend the time in church praying at the shrine of Saint George. He would shut himself up in the cellar or in a cave under a disused chapel at Arkea, about eight miles from home. Later his mother married a prominent businessman of Ankara and left him with his grandmother and aunt, whom as a young man he converted to better ways.
Theodore himself became a monk when on a visit to Jerusalem. Reputedly at the age of 18, he was ordained to the priesthood by his own bishop. Theodore exercised considerable influence, perhaps because of the gifts of prophecy and miracles bestowed on him by God. It is said that he grew suspicious of a finely wrought chalice that turned out to have been made from a prostitute's chamber pot. As a priest-monk he led an austere life: He lived on vegetables, fasted frequently, and wore an iron girdle. When he settled in Mossyna, he helped in the treatment of girls believed to be troubled by unclean spirits.

Strangely, it is recorded that he requested that he be placed in a wooden cage from Christmas to Palm Sunday. Later, he moved into an iron cage suspended on the face of the rock in mid-air above his cave. As a penance he wore an iron breastplate (perhaps in remembrance of his favorite Saint George?) and iron rings for his hands and feet and an iron collar and belt. As is recorded of many Irish saints and desert Fathers, Saint Theodore is said to have been familiar with wild animals--even bears and wolves.
He founded monasteries in his own country and governed the one in his native town, although he frequently retired to a remote and secluded cell because his hermitage, transformed by many visitors seeking his counsel and disciples, had become a complex of buildings including a large church, monastery, and guest house.
In spite of his strong objection, about 590, Theodore was elected bishop of Anastasiopolis, not far from Turkey's capital of Ankara, and consecrated by Archbishop Paul of Ankara.

His episcopate was marked by a long series of miracles. An African monk, Antiochus, who came to see Theodore on behalf of a town pillaged by barbarians describes the saint: "He had eyebrows that met each other . . . was about a hundred years old, the hair of his head was as white as wool and hung down to his loins; so too did his beard, and his nails were very long. It was about sixty years since he had touched wine or oil, thirty since he had tasted bread. His food was uncooked vegetables with salt and vinegar; his drink water." Theodore helped Antiochus with his mission and consulted him about the possibility of resigning his episcopate.
Theodore wanted to resign because competing demands on his time-- governing his abbey and diocese--left too little time for prayer. Often his prayers were interrupted to settle disputes or deal with administrative details. The final straw was civil unrest in the villages that belonged to the Church and were entrusted to laymen who oppressed the villagers. Theodore was accused by one of them, Theodosius, with instigating the peasants to revolt. Theodosius finally kicked away the chair on which the bishop was sitting and knocked him on his back.
After 10 years Theodore resigned this office and retired to Saint Michael at Acrena (Akreina) near Pidrum (Tchardak) and Heliopolis. He visited his patron Emperor Maurice at Constantinople and healing one of the princes of a skin disease (leprosy or elephantiasis?). The emperor and empress invited him to their table. There it was decided that all the monasteries should have the power of sanctuary and that the appointment of abbots should be in the jurisdiction of the patriarch rather than the local bishops. Returning to his oratory, he lived as a monk again and continued to work miracles until his death at Sykeon. He was also a great promoter of the cultus of Saint George.
A long vita of Saint Theodore was written by one of his disciples; it is mostly a record of healings of the sick and the possessed and other marvels attributed to this holy man, and of anecdotes illustrating the virtues of his character. He seems to have become a physician and had the gift of reconciling married couples which led to barren wives having children. It does, however, provide a lively picture of life in Asia Minor just before the Arab occupation. Theodore's relics were translated to Constantinople (Attwater, Benedictines, Dawes, Farmer, Walsh).

This was printed in the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. iii, from a very unsatisfactory copy. See also Léon, Auréole Séraphique  (Eng. trans.), vol. ii, pp. 171—175; Tassi, Vita del B. Francesco Venimbeni (1893); and especially the few pages devoted to Bd Francis by Sabatier in his edition of Francis Bartholi, Tractatus de Indulgentia S. Mariae de Portiuncula, preface, pp. lxvi—lxix.

There is a short account of the beato in the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. ii, and in Procter, Lives of Dominican Saints, pp. 103—105. See also Taurisano, Catalogus Hagiographicus OP., p. 42, and C. F. Savio, Storia Compendiosa di Savigliano (1925).