The fixed Menaion
A searchable directory of the Church's fixed commemorations, ordered by the original Julian calendar. Detailed study profiles remain distinct from the complete date register, so depth is never confused with coverage.
Complete fixed date directory
Search every locally held fixed commemoration by name, month, or rank. Dates are ecclesiastical Julian dates. The civil equivalent is supplied only as a practical reference.
Fixed commemorations only. Pascha and the movable cycle belong in the full calendar, where they are calculated separately for each year.
2,947 commemorations · showing the first 96
Julian date first · civil date second
Julian
01
Jan
Civil reference
14 January
The Circumcision of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
Saint Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia
Martyr Basil of Ancyra
Saint Emilia, Mother of Saint Basil the Great
Icon of the Mother of God “You are a Vineyard” (Georgian: Shen khar venakhi)
Monastic Martyr Telemachus
Julian
02
Jan
Civil reference
15 January
Forefeast of the Theophany of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
Repose of Venerable Seraphim, Wonderworker of Sarov
Saint Sylvester, Pope of Rome
Venerable Sylvester of the Kiev Near Caves
Righteous Juliana of Lazarevo, Murom
Hieromartyr Theogenes, Bishop of Parium on the Hellespont
New Martyr George of Iberia
Julian
03
Jan
Civil reference
16 January
Forefeast of the Theophany of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
Holy Prophet Malachi
Martyr Gordius at Caesarea, in Cappadocia
Venerable Genevieve of Paris
Saint Euthymius (Takaishvili)
Discovery of the Relics of the Holy Great Martyr Ephraim
Julian
04
Jan
Civil reference
17 January
Forefeast of the Theophany of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles
Venerable Theoctistus, Abbot at Cucomo, in Sicily
Repose of Saint Eustathius I, Archbishop of Serbia
Saint Aquila, Deacon, of the Kiev Caves
Confessors Zosimus the Hermit and Athanasius the Commentarisius (Superintendent of Prisoners), Anchorites, of Cilicia
Saint Nikephoros the Leper
Venerable Euthymius and twelve other Monks, martyred at Vatopedi
Venerable New Martyr Onuphrius of Hilandar (Mount Athos)
Holy Fathers of the Shio-Mgvime Monastery
Metropolitan Symeon of Smolensk
Julian
05
Jan
Civil reference
18 January
Eve of the Theophany of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
Hieromartyr Theopemptus, Bishop of Nicomedia, and Martyr Theonas
Venerable Synkletika of Alexandria
Prophet Micah
Saint Apollinaria of Egypt
Venerable Phosterius the Hermit
Venerable Menas of Sinai
Venerable Gregory of Crete
Venerable Romanus the Martyr
Julian
06
Jan
Civil reference
19 January
Feast of the Theophany of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
Venerable Macarius of Mount Athos
Julian
07
Jan
Civil reference
20 January
Afterfeast of the Theophany of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
Synaxis of the Holy Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John
Saint Pakhomios of Keno Lake
Saint Brannock of Braunton
Saint Cedd of Lastingham
Julian
08
Jan
Civil reference
21 January
Afterfeast of the Theophany of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
Venerable George the Chozebite, Abbot
Venerable Domnica of Constantinople
Saint Emilian the Confessor, Bishop of Cyzicus
Venerable Gregory, Wonderworker of the Kiev Near Caves
Venerable Gregory the Recluse, of the Kiev Caves
Hieromartyr Isidore and 72 others at Yuriev, Estonia
Saint Paisius of Uglich
Saint Carterius of Caesarea in Cappadocia
Martyrs Theophilus the Deacon, and Helladius, in Libya
Martyrs Julian and his wife, Basilissa, and those with them in Egypt
Venerable Elias the Hermit, of Egypt
Martyr Abo the Perfumer, of Tbilisi, Georgia
Venerable Gregory of Ochrid
Julian
09
Jan
Civil reference
22 January
Afterfeast of the Theophany of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
Martyr Polyeuktos of Melitene in Armenia
Hieromartyr Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia
Prophet Shemaiah (Samaia or Semeias)
Saint Peter, Bishop of Sebaste, in Armenia
Saint Eustratius the Wonderworker
Julian
10
Jan
Civil reference
23 January
Afterfeast of the Theophany of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
Saint Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa
Saint Dometian, Bishop of Melitene
Saint Marcian the Presbyter in Constantinople
Venerable Paul, Abbot of Obnora, Vologda
Venerable Makarios of Pisma and Kostroma
Blessed Theosebia the Deaconess, sister of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa
Venerable Antipas of Valaam Monastery
Saint Theophan the Recluse, Bishop of Tambov
Julian
11
Jan
Civil reference
24 January
Afterfeast of the Theophany of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
Venerable Theodosius the Great, the Cenobiarch
Venerable Michael the Fool-for-Christ of the Klops Monastery, Novgorod
Saint Theodosius of Antioch
Venerable Theodosius, Metropolitan of Trebizond
Yelets Icon of the Mother of God
Julian
12
Jan
Civil reference
25 January
Afterfeast of the Theophany of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
Martyr Tatiana of Rome, and those who suffered with her
Venerable Martinian, Abbot of Belozersk
Martyr Mertius of Mauretania
Martyr Peter Apselamus of Palestine
Venerable Eupraxia of Tabenna, in Egypt
Icon of the Mother of God of “the Akathist”
Icon of the Mother of God the “Milkgiver”
Icon of the Mother of God, the “Priestly”
Virgin Martyrs Neollina, Domnina, and Parthena
Founder's Icon of the Mother of God at Vatopedi Monastery
Julian
13
Jan
Civil reference
26 January
Afterfeast of the Theophany of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
Martyrs Hermylus and Stratonicus of Belgrade
Venerable Irenarchus the Recluse of Rostov
Venerable Eleazar of Anzersk Island, Solovki
Patristic study
Nineteen substantial profiles examine a saint's life, controversy, confession, sources, and related canons. These are research profiles, not substitutes for the Synaxarion.
19 profiles
Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας
Archbishop of Caesarea
Caesarea in Cappadocia
Old Calendar
1 January
Civil reference
14 January
Cappadocian father whose letters on flight from heretical communion and on receiving those who return are marshalled throughout the study.
Read the full profileἍγιος Ἱλάριος Πικταβίων
Bishop of Poitiers
Gaul; exiled to Phrygia
Old Calendar
13 January
Civil reference
26 January
The Athanasius of the West: exiled to Phrygia for refusing to condemn Athanasius and subscribe against the faith, he taught the West the Nicene confession and left the warning against loving the buildings more than the faith they were built for.
Read the full profileὍσιος Ἀντώνιος ὁ Μέγας
Father of monasticism
Egypt (the inner desert)
Old Calendar
17 January
Civil reference
30 January
The father of the monks kept, in the desert, the exact discipline the confessors kept in the cities: obedience to the Church's order, and no communion at all with schismatics and heretics. When the Arians claimed him, the old man came down to Alexandria to anathematize them publicly.
Read the full profileἍγιος Ἀθανάσιος ὁ Μέγας
Patriarch of Alexandria
Alexandria
Old Calendar
18 January · 2 May
Civil reference
31 January · 15 May
Five times exiled under four emperors for the Nicene faith, the archetype of the bishop who preferred the world's enmity to communion with error: “Athanasius against the world.”
Read the full profileἍγιος Μᾶρκος ὁ Εὐγενικός
Metropolitan of Ephesus
Constantinople · Ephesus
Old Calendar
19 January
Civil reference
1 February
The only Eastern bishop who refused to sign the Union of Florence (1439), and whose refusal became the rallying point of Orthodox resistance to the union.
Read the full profileἍγιος Εὐθύμιος ὁ Μέγας
Abbot and father of Palestinian monasticism
The Judaean desert
Old Calendar
20 January
Civil reference
2 February
When a Monophysite usurper seized the see of Jerusalem after Chalcedon, Euthymius withdrew into the deep desert and refused his communion until the lawful patriarch returned, the clearest ancient pattern of what Canon 15 would later protect.
Read the full profileὍσιος Μάξιμος ὁ Ὁμολογητής
Monk and confessor
Constantinople · North Africa · Rome
Old Calendar
21 January · 13 August
Civil reference
3 February · 26 August
The theologian who upheld two wills and two energies in Christ against the whole imperial Church, remained out of communion with every patriarchal see while they held the error, and was mutilated for refusing an obedience that would have broken the faith. Vindicated by the Sixth Ecumenical Council.
Read the full profileἍγιος Γρηγόριος ὁ Θεολόγος
Archbishop of Constantinople
Cappadocia; Constantinople
Old Calendar
25 January · 30 January
Civil reference
7 February · 12 February
The Theologian reclaimed the capital for the Nicene faith from a single house chapel when every great church was in Arian hands, priced every false peace against the truth, and then resigned the throne itself rather than be the occasion of a quarrel. His own father's case is the classic instance of a wall raised, and healed.
Read the full profileἍγιος Φώτιος ὁ Μέγας
Patriarch of Constantinople
Constantinople
Old Calendar
6 February
Civil reference
19 February
The patriarch under whom Canon 15 was issued, and who defended the received Creed against the Filioque.
Read the full profileἍγιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱεροσολύμων
Patriarch of Jerusalem
Damascus · Palestine · Jerusalem
Old Calendar
11 March
Civil reference
24 March
The first to sound the alarm against Monothelitism, and the author of the pastoral answers on defiled churches that this library cites throughout: strictness for the knowing, a door of economy for the repentant.
Read the full profileἍγιος Βικέντιος Λερίνου
Monk and priest of Lérins
Gaul (the isle of Lérins)
Old Calendar
24 May
Civil reference
6 June
The monk who gave the Church her test of the ages: hold what has been believed everywhere, always, by all. His rule is the exact instrument by which the faithful recognize an already condemned error under a new name, without setting themselves up as judges over the Church.
Read the full profileἍγιος Ἰουστῖνος Πόποβιτς
Archimandrite
Serbia (Ćelije monastery)
Old Calendar
1 June
Civil reference
14 June
The modern doctor of the resistance to ecumenism, he named it a universal heresy, warned against the coming 'Great Council', and yet lived and died within the Church, without schism: the voice this library's line descends from.
Read the full profileἍγιος Κύριλλος Ἀλεξανδρείας
Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria
Alexandria
Old Calendar
9 June · 18 January
Civil reference
22 June · 31 January
Led the Third Ecumenical Council against Nestorius, and held that keeping the unrepentant heretic at the altars defiles them.
Read the full profileἍγιος Γεννάδιος Σχολάριος
Patriarch of Constantinople
Constantinople; reposed near Serres
Old Calendar
31 August
Civil reference
13 September
The heir of St Mark of Ephesus: converted by Mark at Florence from the unionist party to the resistance, designated by the dying saint as his successor in the struggle, and then, after the Fall, the first patriarch of the enslaved City, charging the faithful to keep watch over the Orthodoxy of their own bishops.
Read the full profileὍσιος Θεόδωρος ὁ Στουδίτης
Hegumen (abbot)
Constantinople (Stoudios Monastery)
Old Calendar
11 November
Civil reference
24 November
Abbot of Stoudios and the most cited patristic authority on the defilement of communion. He withdrew communion over the Moechian affair and resisted the second Iconoclasm, without founding a rival church.
Read the full profileἍγιος Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος
Archbishop of Constantinople
Antioch; Constantinople; died at Comana in exile
Old Calendar
13 November · 27 January · 30 January
Civil reference
26 November · 9 February · 12 February
The golden mouth gave the Church the rule that governs this whole subject: if the ruler errs in life, be not curious; if he errs concerning the faith, flee him, though he were an angel from heaven. His own unjust deposition then taught, from the other side, what the Church does with a wall raised over a person rather than the faith.
Read the full profileἍγιος Γρηγόριος ὁ Παλαμᾶς
Archbishop of Thessalonica
Constantinople · Mount Athos · Thessalonica
Old Calendar
14 November
Civil reference
27 November
The defender of the reality of union with God, excommunicated and imprisoned under a sitting patriarch and vindicated by the councils within his own lifetime: the diachronic pattern of this library seen from the far side, the incumbent's verdict overturned by the Church's.
Read the full profileἍγιος Ἰωάννης ὁ Δαμασκηνός
Monk, presbyter, theologian and hymnographer
Damascus and the Lavra of St Sabbas
Old Calendar
4 December
Civil reference
17 December
The great defender of the holy icons, who answered the imperial iconoclasm from beyond the empire's reach and gave the East its first systematic dogmatics. Anathematized by the iconoclasts and vindicated by the Seventh Ecumenical Council.
Read the full profileἍγιος Ἰγνάτιος ὁ Θεοφόρος
Bishop of Antioch
Antioch; martyred at Rome
Old Calendar
20 December
Civil reference
2 January
The earliest voice after the Apostles on the one altar and the one bishop, and equally the earliest to command flight from heresy as from poison. His seven letters, written on the road to martyrdom, are the charter of both sides of this library's subject.
Read the full profileFocused historical register
This register follows saints whose public confession illuminates questions of heresy, communion, and canonical resistance. It is a focused study register, not a claim that these are the only saints in the Church.
Era 01
St Polycarp of Smyrna
†155/156 · Bishop of Smyrna, hieromartyr
Disciple of St John; called Marcion “the first-born of Satan” to his face; burned for the confession of Christ.
St Irenaeus of Lyons
2nd c. · Bishop of Lyons
Wrote Against Heresies against the Gnostics, grounding the faith in the apostolic tradition and succession.
St Cyprian of Carthage
†258 · Bishop of Carthage, hieromartyr
Taught the unity of the Church around the bishop, “he cannot have God for his Father who has not the Church for his mother”, and died a martyr.
Era 02
The century in which whole hierarchies fell to heresy and the faith was preserved by confessors, exiles, and the people.
St Alexander of Alexandria
†326/328 · Patriarch of Alexandria
First to convict Arius; convened the synod that deposed him and set the road to Nicaea.
St Nicholas of Myra
†c. 343 · Archbishop of Myra
Present at Nicaea; (by tradition) confronted Arius himself in defence of the Son's divinity.
St Spyridon of Trimythous
†c. 348 · Bishop of Trimythous
Shepherd bishop at Nicaea; confessed the Trinity with the famous simplicity of the potsherd (by tradition).
St Paul the Confessor
†c. 350 · Patriarch of Constantinople
Repeatedly expelled from his throne by the Arians and finally strangled in exile at Cucusus.
St Cyril of Jerusalem
†386 · Archbishop of Jerusalem
Thrice driven from his see under Arian ascendancy; catechist of the Church.
St Meletius of Antioch
†381 · Archbishop of Antioch
Thrice exiled by the Arians; opened the Second Ecumenical Council and died presiding over it.
St Eusebius of Samosata
†379 · Bishop of Samosata, hieromartyr
Travelled in disguise through Syria ordaining Orthodox clergy while the sees were held by Arians; killed by a roof tile thrown by an Arian.
St Gregory of Nyssa
†c. 395 · Bishop of Nyssa
Brother of St Basil; deposed and exiled by Arian intrigue, restored, and a pillar of the Second Council.
St Ephraim the Syrian
†373 · Deacon and hymnographer
Fought Arians, Bardaisanites and Manichaeans in hymns, “woe to those who defile the holy faith with heresies.”
St Epiphanius of Salamis
†403 · Archbishop of Salamis in Cyprus
Compiled the Panarion, the great “medicine chest” cataloguing and refuting eighty heresies.
St Ambrose of Milan
†397 · Bishop of Milan
Refused to surrender a basilica to the Arians against the court's demand, and barred the emperor Theodosius from the Mysteries until he repented of Thessalonica.
St Martin of Tours
†397 · Bishop of Tours
Withdrew from the communion of the bishops around Ithacius after they procured the execution of heretics by the sword, refusing both the heresy and the bloodshed.
Era 03
St Flavian of Constantinople
†449/450 · Patriarch, confessor
Condemned Eutyches; beaten at the Robber Council of Ephesus (449) and died of his injuries, vindicated at Chalcedon.
St Leo the Great
†461 · Pope of Rome
His Tome confessed the one Christ in two natures; received at Chalcedon with “Peter has spoken through Leo.”
St Pulcheria the Empress
†453 · Empress
With Marcian convened Chalcedon and secured the Orthodox definition against Eutyches and the violence of 449.
St Proterius of Alexandria
†457 · Patriarch, hieromartyr
Chalcedonian patriarch of Alexandria, murdered in the baptistery by an anti-Chalcedonian mob.
St Sabbas the Sanctified
439 to 532 · Abbot of the Great Lavra
Went up to Constantinople to defend Chalcedon before the emperor Anastasius and kept Palestine's monasteries Orthodox.
St Theodosius the Cenobiarch
†529 · Abbot
Under an anti-Chalcedonian emperor, publicly anathematized from the ambo of Jerusalem whoever refuses the four councils.
Era 04
St Martin the Confessor, Pope of Rome
†655 · Pope of Rome, confessor
Convened the Lateran Synod of 649 condemning Monothelitism against the imperial Typos; arrested, tried, and died in Crimean exile.
Era 05
The age in which the pattern of Canon 15 was lived before it was written.
St Germanus I of Constantinople
†c. 733 · Patriarch, confessor
Laid down his omophorion rather than subscribe to Leo III's iconoclasm.
St Stephen the New
†764/767 · Monk of Mt Auxentius, martyr
Refused to subscribe to the iconoclast council of Hieria and was martyred under Constantine V.
St Theodosia of Constantinople
†c. 729 · Nun, martyr
According to her Life, died defending the icon of Christ at the Chalke Gate.
St Plato of Sakkoudion
†814 · Abbot, confessor
Uncle and elder of St Theodore the Studite; imprisoned with him for refusing communion over the unlawful imperial remarriage (the Moechian affair).
St Nicephorus I of Constantinople
†828 · Patriarch, confessor
Deposed in 815 for refusing the second Iconoclasm; wrote its refutations from exile and died there.
Sts Theophanes and Theodore the Branded
Οἱ Γραπτοί
9th c. · Monks, confessors
Refused even a single act of communion with the iconoclasts, “as easy to overturn earth and heaven as to move us from piety”, and had verses branded on their faces.
St Methodius I of Constantinople
†847 · Patriarch, confessor
Imprisoned under the iconoclasts; presided at the Triumph of Orthodoxy in 843.
St Theodora the Empress
†c. 867 · Empress
Restored the holy icons with St Methodius in 843.
St Tarasius of Constantinople
†806 · Patriarch
Presided at the Seventh Ecumenical Council (Nicaea II) which restored the icons.
Era 06
St Gregory Palamas
Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος ὁ Παλαμᾶς
1296 to 1359 · Archbishop of Thessalonica
Imprisoned and excommunicated by Patriarch John Kalekas for defending the uncreated energies; vindicated by the councils of 1347 and 1351.
St Makarios of Corinth
1731 to 1805 · Metropolitan of Corinth
Leader of the Kollyvades, persecuted for defending the received liturgical tradition and frequent communion.
St Athanasius Parios
†1813 · Hieromonk, teacher
Kollyvades confessor; suspended for years over his defence of tradition, and vindicated.
St Nikodemos the Hagiorite
Ἅγιος Νικόδημος ὁ Ἁγιορείτης
1749 to 1809 · Monk of Athos
Compiled the Pedalion (Rudder), the commentary on the sacred canons this library cites throughout, and suffered accusation for the Kollyvades cause.
Era 07
Entries here concern figures canonized by canonical Orthodox Churches; their relevance to the present dispute is stated factually and labelled where contested.
St Hilarion (Troitsky)
1886 to 1929 · Archbishop, new hieromartyr
Wrote “Christianity or the Church,” insisting there is no Christianity outside the one Church; died a confessor in the Solovki camps.
St Paisios of Mount Athos
1924 to 1994 · Monk of Athos
Wrote openly (1969) against Patriarch Athenagoras' ecumenist actions; in the Athonite cessation of commemoration (1970 to 1973) he stood with the confessors who refused both the innovation and the zealot schism.