Date page
15 May 2026, Friday
Feasts, fasts and events
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Lives and liturgical texts
Venerable Pachomius the Great, Founder of Coenobitic Monasticism
Saint Pachomius the Great was both a model of desert dwelling, and with Saints Anthony the Great (January 17), Macarius the Great (January 19), and Euthymius the Great (January 20), a founder of the cenobitic monastic life in Egypt. Saint Pachomius was born in the third century in the Thebaid (Upper Egypt). His parents were pagans who gave him an excellent secular education. From his youth he had a good character, and he was prudent and sensible. When Pachomius reached the age of twenty, he was called up to serve in the army of the emperor Constantine (apparently, in the year 315). They put the new conscripts in a city prison guarded by soldiers. The local Christians fed the soldiers and took care of them.
Saint Isaiah the Wonderworker, Bishop of Rostov
Saint Isaiah was born near Kiev to pious parents who raised him in the Orthodox Faith. In his youth, he forsook worldly vanity and entered the Kiev Caves Monastery, where he was tonsured by Saint Theodosios († May 3, 1074). Aflame with love for the Savior, the young monk engaged in the difficult struggles of fasting and prayer. At the same time, he was meek, humble, obedient, non-acquisitive, fraternal, and he mortified the carnal passions through abstinence and patience, as well as the virtues of wisdom, spiritual courage, and chastity. He recalled the words of an ancient Elder: "A man's strength does not depend upon human nature, which is subject to change, but upon resolute intention." Strengthened by God's help, he constantly ascended in spirit to the heavenly Jerusalem.1 News of the young monk Isaiah's ascetical struggles soon spread beyond the Monastery. And when Barlaam, the first...
The Holy Right-believing Tsarevich Demetrios of Uglich and Moscow
The Holy Right-believing Tsarevitch Demetrios (Tsarévitch Dēmḗtrios) of Uglich (Moscow) was born on October 19, 1582. He was the son of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. During the reign of Theodore, the de facto ruler of the Russian state was his brother-in-law, the power-hungry boyar Boris Godunov. After Ivan's death on March 18, 1584, Boris began to eliminate all the nobles who were opposed to him. Then the Tsarevitch Demetrios and his mother, Tsaritsa Maria, were exiled to Uglich. Desiring to become the lawful heir to the Russian throne, Boris Godunov began to act against the Tsarevitch as against a personal enemy. At first he tried to slander the new heir to the throne, spreading false rumors about his alleged illegitimate birth. Then he spread the fallacy that Demetrios had inherited the harshness of his father, the sovereign. Since these actions did not bring the desired result, the insidio...
Venerable Isaiah, Wonderworker of the Kiev Near Caves
Very little information about the life and podvig1 of Saint Isaiah the Wonderworker has been preserved. He contested during the XI – early XII centuries. His life, by which he pleased the Lord, was one of silence and tireless work, for which he is called "a venerable and industrious Elder." In the Service for the Venerable Saints of the Near (Antoniev) Caves, Saint Isaiah is mentioned along with Saints Onuphrios (July 21) and Sylvester (January 2). "Onuphrios, the lover of silence, and Isaiah, the desert-loving turtle-dove, with the blessed Sylvester, are a triple-stranded sling against the demons, who are driven away by them; for setting the assaults of the passions completely at naught, they received the gift of helping others. Therefore, they are magnified by all" (Ode 9, stikheron 5). This Saint Isaiah reposed on May 15, 1115, and his relics are in the Near Caves of Saint Anthony. He...
Venerable Pachomius, Abbot of Nerekhta
Saint Pachomius of Nerekhta, in the world James, was born into the family of a priest at Vladimir on the Klyazma. He was sent to school at the age of seven, since from childhood he knew the Holy Scriptures very well. Finding the bustle of the perishing world burdensome, he was tonsured at the Vladimir Nativity monastery, fulfilling various obediences without complaint. Yearning for the solitary wilderness life, the ascetic secretly left the monastery and went to the outskirts of Nerekhta. Here, at the River Gridenka, he found a suitable place for a monastery, a raised semi-island in the deep forest. The saint asked the people around Nerekhta to establish and build a monastery in the vicinity of Sypanovo, on the Kostroma frontier. The people of Nerekhta happily consented and helped in the construction of the monastery. Saint Pachomius painted an icon of the Holy Trinity, and after singing...
Venerable Silvanus of Nerekhta
No information available at this time.
Venerable Euphrosynos, Igoumen of Pskov
Saint Euphrósynos (Euphrósynos) of Pskov, in the world Eleazar, was born in about the year 1386 in the village of Videlebye, near Pskov, the same village where Saint Nikander of Pskov (September 24) had also been born. His parents wanted Eleazar to marry, but secretly he withdrew to the Snetogorsk monastery (on the Snyatni hill, now in Pskov itself) and there he was tonsured. He even traveled to the East, where he observed the monastic life there. Upon his return, he was no longer satisfied with life in the Snetogorsk Monastery. Therefore, around the year 1425, Saint Euphrosynos asked his Spiritual Father's blessing to live in solitude on the Tolva River near Pskov. There the Three Holy Hierarchs appeared to him: Saints Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom, and indicated a place to build a church. Later, the Saint founded a monastery there. Concern for the salvati...
Venerable Serapion of Pskov
Saint Serapion of Pskov was born at Yuriev (now Tartu), which then was under the rule of Germans, who sought to stamp out Orthodoxy. His parents were parishioners of a Russian church in the name of Saint Nicholas. Saint Serapion was well versed in the Holy Scripture, and more than once he entered into the defense of Orthodoxy. When they wanted to convert him by force to the foreign faith, he departed to the Tolvsk wilderness, not far from Pskov, where the Pskov ascetic monk Euphrosynus (May 15) began his prayerful work. Under his nurturing, Saint Serapion began to acquire the wisdom of wilderness life. But soon he happened to undergo temptations. Without a blessing, he wanted to leave his guide and to live an ascetic life in complete solitude. But the Lord brought the inexperienced novice to his senses: after he seriously hurt his leg, he repented of his self-will and disobedience and re...
Saint Achilles, Bishop of Larissa
Saint Achilles, Bishop of Larissa, lived during the fourth century, during the reign of Saint Constantine the Great. Glorified for his holiness of life and erudition, he was made Bishop of Larissa in Thessaly. Saint Achilles participated in the First Ecumenical Council, where he boldly denounced the heretic Arius. In his city he strove to promote Christianity, destroyed idolatrous pagan temples, and he built and adorned churches. Saint Achilles had the gift of healing sickness, especially demonic possession, and he worked many miracles. The saint died peacefully in about the year 330. His relics have remained in Prespa, in today's Republic of Macedonia, since 978.
Feasts & Saints
GOARCH Digital Chant Stand services: 2026-05-15
Calendar index day: 15-Friday
Saint Pachomius the Great
Official Saints category of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East.
Saint Achilles The Bishop of Larissa
Official Saints category of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East.