prayer liturgical

Saint Maximos of Serbia, Archbishop of Wallachia (1516)

Feast Day: January 18/31

Saint Maximos was the son of the Despot of Serbia, Saint Stephen the Blind (10 December) and of his wife Saint Angelina (30 July). Giving up all his rights as a prince he became a monk at the monastery of Manassia in central Serbia (founded by Despot Stefan Lazaravić between 1406-1418). When the Turks forced him to leave, he took refuge in Romania, where he was eventually elected Archbishop of Hungro-Wallachi and governed the Church of Christ with wisdom. In his old age he came back to Serbia, and retired to the Monastery of Krushedol. After a long illness patiently borne, he found rest there in the peace of Christ on 18 January 1516.

We learn additional information about his life from the akolouthia. We know that was handsome in appearance, that he preserved his chastity from …

prayer liturgical

Saint Heldrad of Novalèse (c. 875)

Feast Day: March 13/26

Heldrad (Heldradus, Eldradus, Eldrad) was born in 781 into the wealthy family of Ardrad, the first Lord Lambesc, at Lambesc in Provence, a town at the foot of the Côtes Mountains in the south of France. Provence was then a part of the Carolingian kingdom, which was expanding towards Italy. It was in 814 while on a pilgrimage by boat, in Italy, that he “…discovered the Monastery of Novalèse in Piémont: at the passage of Mont-Cenis was a home of charity and of Christian perfection.” The Monastery had been founded in 726 above a pre-existing church. The new Monastery was dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Andrew, and adopted the Benedictine rule in 817. Thus, he “…left the joyous warmth of Provence for the rude climate of Mont-Cenis, in order to find in solitude the presence of the Lord.”…