All great, medium, small and everyday church holidays are recorded in one book - the calendar. This Orthodox calendar indicates which saints the church honors on this particular day, including August 21. What church holiday falls on this date? Which saints does the Orthodox Church remember on this day? We will talk about this in our article.
What church holidays are celebrated on August 21st?
The holidays that are celebrated on this day are everyday. On this day, the Orthodox Church only remembers the saints whose names are associated with the date of August 21st. What church holiday, or rather several holidays, is celebrated on this day? This is the day:
- St. Myron of Crete, miracle worker and bishop;
- St. Emilian of Cyzicus, bishop, clergyman;
- Tolga Icon of the Mother of God;
- St. Gregory of Sinai;
- Zosima and Savvaty of Solovetsky.
On the same day, the church remembers ten ascetics of Egypt and two martyrs of Tyre; Gregory, Pecherskyicon painter; Martyrs Eleutherios and Leonidas; New Martyrs Nicholas (Shumkov), Nikodim (Krotov).
St. Myron's Day in the Orthodox calendar
On one of the summer days the church venerates the name of Bishop Myron, who lived about 250-350 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 is this saint. This is the day of memory of St. Myron of Crete.
Saint Myron was born on the island of Crete, 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, Myron, instead of punishing them, helped to put the bag on one of their shoulders. The saint always shared his bread with other people, and for this the Lord gave him more and more harvest.
Shortly after the death of the ruler Decius, who carried out constant persecution of the flock, Myron was elected bishop of the island, and after some time the saint received the gift of miracles. Once he managed to stop the course of a stormy river, and then let it go back to its original course. Saint Myron continued to profess the Christian faith throughout his life and passed away to the Lord around the year 350 at the age of one hundred.
Celebration in honor of the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God
The Tolga Icon of the Mother of God is one of the most revered in the Russian Orthodox Church. The Mother of God appeared to Bishop Prokhor of Rostov at nightAugust 21 (8 old style) 1314 on the Tolga River near Yaroslavl. And the next morning, a miraculous icon of the Mother of God with a baby in her arms was found in that very place. Some time later, a church was built here, and even later, the Tolga Monastery, where the icon is kept to this day.
The icon is miraculous. Numerous healings of sick people are associated with it, and a 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 miraculously, only by angelic hands, was transferred to a grove not far from the monastery. At the very hour when the monks found it, the icon was surrounded by radiance. Here, on this spot, a new church was built.
Memory of St. Emilian of Cyzicus
The Orthodox Church on August 21 honors the memory of another saint and Bishop Emilian of Cyzicus. The saint lived at the time when the iconoclast emperor Leo V the Armenian reigned on the territory of Byzantium. This ruler was known for his brutal fight 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 Cyzicus, was the first to speak out against this, saying that only the Church, but not the rulers, could decide such questions. For this, he was sent to prison, where he, being a confessor, soon died.
DaySt. Gregory of Sinai
St. Gregory of Sinai lived around 1268-1346 during the late Byzantine Empire. 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 monk is the author of numerous teachings on mental prayer and other writings, with which he had a huge impact on the spiritual life of the Byzantine Empire.
The memory of St. Gregory of Sinai is honored on August 21st. On the same day, all men named by this name celebrate their name day.
Memory of Zosima and Savvaty of Solovetsky
And the Russian Orthodox Church honors the memory of two saints on this day. The names of Zosima and Savvaty 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 behind the altar of the Transfiguration Cathedral of the Solovetsky Monastery. The transfer of the relics took place in 1566 on August 21.
St. Zosima and Savvaty are considered the founder of a monastery on one of the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea. The monks themselves did not even know 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 Herman rebuilt the monastery itself in 1436, which was settled in the shortest possible time.
