Saints & Fathers

The apostolic and ante-Nicene confessors (1st to 3rd c.)

• St Ignatius the God bearer

  Ἅγιος Ἰγνάτιος ὁ Θεοφόρος

  †c. 107 · 20 December · Bishop of Antioch, hieromartyr

  Bound the Church to the bishop and the one Eucharist, and commanded the faithful to keep aloof from heretics; martyred at Rome.

• St Polycarp of Smyrna

  †155/156 · 23 February · 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. · 23 August · Bishop of Lyons

  Wrote Against Heresies against the Gnostics, grounding the faith in the apostolic tradition and succession.

• St Cyprian of Carthage

  †258 · 31 August · 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.

The Arian crisis and the Nicene fathers (4th c.)

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 · 29 May · 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 · 6 December · Archbishop of Myra

  Present at Nicaea; (by tradition) confronted Arius himself in defence of the Son's divinity.

• St Spyridon of Trimythous

  †c. 348 · 12 December · 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 · 6 November · Patriarch of Constantinople

  Repeatedly expelled from his throne by the Arians and finally strangled in exile at Cucusus.

• St Hilary of Poitiers

  †367 · 13/14 January · Bishop of Poitiers

  The “Athanasius of the West”; exiled to Phrygia for refusing to condemn Athanasius and subscribe to Arianism.

• St Cyril of Jerusalem

  †386 · 18 March · Archbishop of Jerusalem

  Thrice driven from his see under Arian ascendancy; catechist of the Church.

• St Meletius of Antioch

  †381 · 12 February · Archbishop of Antioch

  Thrice exiled by the Arians; opened the Second Ecumenical Council and died presiding over it.

• St Eusebius of Samosata

  †379 · 22 June · 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 the Theologian

  Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος ὁ Θεολόγος

  329 to 390 · 25 January · Archbishop of Constantinople

  Reclaimed the capital for the Nicene faith from a single house chapel; taught that communion with impiety blackens the depths of the soul.

• St Gregory of Nyssa

  †c. 395 · 10 January · 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 · 28 January · 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 · 12 May · Archbishop of Salamis in Cyprus

  Compiled the Panarion, the great “medicine chest” cataloguing and refuting eighty heresies.

• St Ambrose of Milan

  †397 · 7 December · 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 · 11 November · 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.

• St John Chrysostom

  †407 · 13 November / 27 January · Archbishop of Constantinople

  Taught: if the leader errs concerning the faith, flee him even were he an angel from heaven; himself deposed unjustly and died in exile.

Chalcedon and its defenders (5th c.)

• St Flavian of Constantinople

  †449/450 · 16/18 February · 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 · 18 February · 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 · 10 September · Empress

  With Marcian convened Chalcedon and secured the Orthodox definition against Eutyches and the violence of 449.

• St Proterius of Alexandria

  †457 · 28 February · Patriarch, hieromartyr

  Chalcedonian patriarch of Alexandria, murdered in the baptistery by an anti-Chalcedonian mob.

• St Sabbas the Sanctified

  439 to 532 · 5 December · 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 · 11 January · Abbot

  Under an anti-Chalcedonian emperor, publicly anathematized from the ambo of Jerusalem whoever refuses the four councils.

• St Vincent of Lérins

  †c. 445 · 24 May · Monk of Lérins

  Gave the rule of catholicity: that which has been believed everywhere, always, by all.

The Monothelite trial (7th c.)

• St Martin the Confessor, Pope of Rome

  †655 · 14 April · Pope of Rome, confessor

  Convened the Lateran Synod of 649 condemning Monothelitism against the imperial Typos; arrested, tried, and died in Crimean exile.

The Iconoclast persecutions (8th to 9th c.)

The age in which the pattern of Canon 15 was lived before it was written.

• St Germanus I of Constantinople

  †c. 733 · 12 May · Patriarch, confessor

  Laid down his omophorion rather than subscribe to Leo III's iconoclasm.

• St Stephen the New

  †764/767 · 28 November · 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 · 29 May · Nun, martyr

  According to her Life, died defending the icon of Christ at the Chalke Gate.

• St Plato of Sakkoudion

  †814 · 4 April · 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 · 2 June / 13 March · 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. · 27 December / 11 October · 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 · 14 June · Patriarch, confessor

  Imprisoned under the iconoclasts; presided at the Triumph of Orthodoxy in 843.

• St Theodora the Empress

  †c. 867 · 11 February · Empress

  Restored the holy icons with St Methodius in 843.

• St Tarasius of Constantinople

  †806 · 25 February · Patriarch

  Presided at the Seventh Ecumenical Council (Nicaea II) which restored the icons.

From Palamas to the Turkokratia (14th to 18th c.)

• St Gregory Palamas

  Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος ὁ Παλαμᾶς

  1296 to 1359 · 14 November / 2nd Sunday of Lent · Archbishop of Thessalonica

  Imprisoned and excommunicated by Patriarch John Kalekas for defending the uncreated energies; vindicated by the councils of 1347 and 1351.

• St Gennadius Scholarios

  †c. 1473 · 31 August (with the Patriarchs) · Patriarch of Constantinople

  Heir of St Mark of Ephesus in the resistance to the Union of Florence; first patriarch after the Fall.

• St Makarios of Corinth

  1731 to 1805 · 17 April · Metropolitan of Corinth

  Leader of the Kollyvades, persecuted for defending the received liturgical tradition and frequent communion.

• St Athanasius Parios

  †1813 · 24 June · 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 · 14 July · Monk of Athos

  Compiled the Pedalion (Rudder), the commentary on the sacred canons this library cites throughout, and suffered accusation for the Kollyvades cause.

Confessors of the modern age (20th c.)

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 · 28 December · 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 · 12 July · 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.