From Diocese of Sourozh
British Orthodox Saints
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints (Psalm 115:6)
Since the time of the establishment of the Diocese of Sourozh, and throughout the time of the pastoral service of His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony of blessed memory, the clergy and faithful of our diocese have sought to preserve and honour the memory of the many Saints of God who shone forth in these islands of Britain, labouring to preach the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, bearing witness to Him through martyrdom, monastic struggle or through their pastoral service in the Church of God.
The Holy Tradition of our church recounts how, from the time of the Holy Apostles, who followed the Lord's command to 'Go and teach all nations' (Matt 28:19), the Good News of our Lord and Saviour was preached in the land of Britain, being brought here by the Holy Apostles themselves, among them the Apostle Simon the Zealot, the Righteous Joseph of Arimathea and the Apostle Aristobulus of the Seventy. Later, as witnessed to by the early histories of the Church, the God-Preserved Emperor Constantine was proclaimed Emperor in the city of York, his mother the Holy Empress Helena being of British lineage.
From the time of the first preaching of the Gospel of Christ in these lands, hundreds of saints shone forth here in this place. The memory of many of these has been preserved and honoured throughout the generations, and now, in these days of our own Orthodox witness, the saints of the early, Undivided Church are again known, loved and venerated by the faithful members of our Diocese, as well as by the Orthodox faithful of other Local Churches dwelling in Great Britain. Among these are the following:
The Holy Martyr Alban (+304)
The Protomartyr of Britain, who suffered for Christ during the persecution of Diocletian, gave his life to preserve the Christian witness of the priest who baptised him.
His holy relics, enshrined in the city named after him, Saint Albans, were venerated for centuries and are now venerated there again—a part of them having been returned to the ancient Abbey and Cathedral Church built to his honour and memory.
His memory is kept on the twenty-second day of June.
The Holy Hierarch David of Wales, Bishop of Menevia (+601)
Father David preached the Gospel to the Welsh and established the monastic life in the land of Wales. He defended the Orthodox against the erroneous doctrine of Pelagius, being prominent in the Synod of Brevi in 569 which defeated that heresy.
He is honoured as the heavenly patron of the land of Wales and his shrine is venerated in the Cathedral in St David's the present-day place of his ancient see of Menevia.
His memory is kept on the first day of March.
The Holy Hierarch Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland (+493)
Saint Patrick is renowned for his sanctified life and many miracles throughout the world. He brought the Christian faith to the Irish people, being sent to preach the gospel there by St Celestine, Pope of Rome.
Bringing the people of Ireland from the darkness of idolatry to the light of Christ, he built the Church firmly there, establishing it in the foundations of the monastic life.
His memory is kept on the seventeenth day of March.
The Venerable Columba, Abbot of Iona (+597)
Distinguished from his youth by his devotion to the monastic life, and illumined by the grace of working miracles, Columba left his native Ireland, travelling to Iona in north-west Scotland, where he established a monastic habitation of great renown.
His life was spent in preaching the Gospel to the people of that place and establishing the life of the Church there.
His memory is kept on the ninth day of June.
The Holy Hierarchs Aidan (+651) and Cuthbert (+687), Bishops of Lindisfarne
St Aidan, the first Bishop of Lindisrane, was the Apostle of Northumbria. A monk of St Columba's monastery in Iona, he was consecrated bishop in 535 coming to Lindisfarme to preach the gospel there. The Venerable Bede, the chronicler of early Christian Britain, tells us that St Aidan was 'a hierarch inspired with a passionate love of virtue, but at the same time full of a surpassing mildness and gentleness'.
His memory is kept on the thirty-first day of August.
St Cuthbert, renowned for his life of ascetic labours and graced with the gift of working miracles, worked for the unity of the Church in Britain at a time of strife and division. His holy relics, which shone forth with the grace of miracles for many centuries after his repose, continue to be venerated in the cathedral church of the city of Durham to this day.
His memory is kept on the twentieth day of March.
The Venerable Hilda, Abbess of Whitby (+680)
Our holy mother Hilda was of noble birth. After her conversion to Christianity, she embraced the monastic life, and established a famous 'double' monastery (with communities of both monks and nuns) at Whitby . There she presided over the famous Synod of Whitby in 664, which determined the correct date for the celebration of Pascha and other church disciplines.
Her memory is kept on the seventeenth day of November.
The Holy Hierarchs Augustine (+604) and Theodore (+690), Archbishops of Canterbury
St Augustine, the Apostle of the English, was sent to preach the Gospel of Christ to the English by St Gregory Dialogus ('the Great'), Pope of Rome. Arriving at the shores of Kent in 596, he succeeded in bringing the King Aethelbert to Christ, and established his Episcopal see at Canterbury, which remains to this day the see of the Primate of the Church of England.
His memory is kept on the twenty-sixth day of May.
St Theodore, a Greek from Tarsus, the city of the Holy Apostle Paul, was consecrated as bishop in 668 by Pope Vitalian of Rome. He was already in his sixty-sixth year when consecrated bishop, but laboured for the twenty-one years of his episcopate to establish on sure foundations the life and Orthodoxy of the English Church.
His memory is kept on the nineteenth day of September.
