All the great, medium, small and daily church holidays are recorded in one book - the holy calendar. This Orthodox calendar indicates which saints the church commemorates on this day, including August 21. What church holiday falls on this date? What saints does the Orthodox Church recall on this day? We will talk about this in our article.
What church holidays are celebrated on August 21?
Holidays that are celebrated on this day are daily. On this day, the Orthodox Church only remembers the saints whose names are associated with the date of August 21. What church holiday, or rather several holidays, is celebrated on this day? This is the day:
- St. Miron of Crete, the miracle worker and bishop;
- Saint Emilian of Kizic, bishop, priest;
- Tolga Icon of the Mother of God;
- Rev. Gregory of Sinait;
- Zosima and Savvaty of the Solovetsky.
On the same day, the church recalls the ten ascetics of Egypt and the two martyrs of Tire; Gregory, the Pechersk icon painter; Martyrs Eleutherius and Leonidus; New Martyrs Nicholas (Shumkov), Nicodemus (Krotov).
Day of St. Miron in the Orthodox calendar
On one of the summer days, the church honors the name of Bishop Miron, who lived about 250-350 years on the island of Crete. The celebration takes place on August 21st. What church holiday is celebrated on this date is known to all believers and to every person whose patron saint is this saint. This is a memorial day for St. Miron of Crete.
Saint Miron was born on the island of Crete, he was brought up here, married at an early age and was engaged in agriculture. From childhood he was distinguished by Christian piety and kindness. When the thieves tried to steal his grain, Miron, instead of punishing them, helped put one of them on his shoulders. The saint always shared his bread with other people, and for this the Lord gave him more and more crops.
Soon after the death of the ruler Decius, who was constantly persecuting the flock, Miron was elected bishop of the island, and after some time the saint gained the gift of miracles. Once he managed to stop the flow of a turbulent river, and then again let it go back on track. Saint Miron continued to profess the Christian faith throughout his life and departed to the Lord about 350 at the age of one hundred.
Celebration in honor of the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God
The Tolgian icon of the Mother of God is one of the most revered in the Russian Orthodox Church. The Mother of God appeared to Rostov Bishop Prokhor on the night of August 21 (8 in the old style) in 1314 on the Tolga River near Yaroslavl. And the next morning, on that very spot, a miraculous icon of the Mother of God with a baby in her arms was found. After a while, a church was built here, and even later - the Tolgsky monastery, in which the icon is stored to this day.
The icon is miraculous. Numerous healings of sick people are associated with it, and the case of the resurrection of a four-year-old child is also known. During a terrible fire in the church, when all the property that was in it burned to the ground, the icon was miraculously, except with angelic hands, was transferred to a grove near the monastery. At the very hour when the monks found her, the icon was surrounded by radiance. Here, at this place, a new church was built.
Memory of St. Emilian of Kisic
The Orthodox Church on August 21 honors the memory of another saint and Bishop Emilian of Kizic. The saint lived at a time when the iconoclast emperor Leo V Armenian reigned in Byzantium. This ruler was known for his fierce struggle against the veneration of icons.
Once the emperor summoned all the bishops to the royal palace and invited them to voluntarily renounce the icons. Saint Emilian, Bishop of Kizic, was the first to oppose this, saying that only the Church can solve such issues, but not the rulers. For this he was sent to prison, where he, as a confessor, soon died.
Rev. Gregory of Sinait Day
Rev. Gregory of Sinai lived around 1268-1346 during the late Byzantine era. He was a monk, lived for some time in the monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai. Then he settled in Crete, where he had many students. The Rev. is the author of numerous teachings on clever prayer and other writings, which he had a great influence on the spiritual life of the Byzantine Empire.
The memory of Rev. Gregory of Sinai is honored on August 21. On the same day, all men named by that name celebrate name day.
Memory of Zosima and Savvatiy of Solovetsky
And the memory of the two reverends is honored by the Russian Orthodox Church on this day. The names of Zosima and Savvatiy of Solovetsky are also associated with the date of August 21. What church holiday is celebrated by Orthodox Christians on this day? This is the date of the transfer of the relics of Saints Zosima and Savvaty to the altar of the Transfiguration Cathedral of the Solovetsky Monastery. Relocation of the relics took place in 1566 on August 21.
Rev. Zosima and Savvaty are considered the founder of a monastery on one of the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea. The monks themselves were not even familiar with each other, but their memory as the founders of the Solovetsky Monastery is honored on the same day. Savvaty organized the first monastic settlement on the islands in 1429, and the monks Zosima and German rebuilt the monastery itself in 1436, which was settled as soon as possible.