Athanasia then gave away the bulk of her possessions, converted their home into a convent and began building churches. She served as an abbess and was known for her miraculous healing of the sick and those seen as possessed. Her community later moved to Timia near the ancient church of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_the_Protomartyr - Stephen the Protomartyr . Here crowds flocked to see her. As her fame grew she moved to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantinople - Constantinople seeking solitude as an http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchoress - Anchoress in a cell for seven years. While walled away, she was an adviser to the Empress Theodora II. After seven years, she returned to Aegina, where she died of natural causes three days later at Timia on 14 August 860...." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athanasia_of_Aegina - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athanasia_of_Aegina

A longer account of her life is available on this PDF http://www.doaks.org/publications/doaks_online_publications/HolyWomen/talbch6.pdf - http://www.doaks.org/publications/doaks_online_publications/HolyWomen/talbch6.pdf   which is a translation of the "Holy Women of Byzantium", which is a translation from her "vitae" - "...which is held in the manuscript, Vaticanus Graecus 1660, of 916 AD. The author is unknown but most likely a man who wrote soon after St. Athanasia's death...." http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=1581 - http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=1581 . She is commemorated also in the Catholic tradition, as it can be seen from the second source I linked.

Some icons of Athanasia of Aegina:

Here with St. John the disciple of St. Gregory

"...His principal works include the Viae Dux, Qaestiones et Responsiones, Hexaemeron, Homilia i, ii, iii de creatione hominis, and the Narrationes. The Viae Dux - also called the Hodegos (Greek transliteration) and "Guide Along the Right Path" (English translation) - was written in defense of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalcedonian_Creed - Chalcedonian Creed . A collection of works by Anastasus, the Viae Dux served to support the true faith and to counter the attacks of heretics, in particular the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monophysites - Monophysites . ^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anastasius_of_Sinai#cite_note-5 - [6]}

His Qaestiones et Responsiones ("Questions and Responses") was a popular genre ^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anastasius_of_Sinai#cite_note-6 - [7]} and falls under the category of pastoral theology. It offers advice, largely to the lay community, on spiritual and sacramental matters, charitable donations, marriage, among other subjects. Here Anastasius reveals a distinctly personal tone and offers a window into the day-to-day existence of ordinary people. ^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anastasius_of_Sinai#cite_note-7 - [8]} It is especially significant because it is an eyewitness account of the expansion of Islam into Sinai and Egypt, which were predominantly Christian, and of the effect that Moslem domination had on Christian life and beliefs. ^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anastasius_of_Sinai#cite_note-8 - [9]} . Anastasius was probably the author of the Hexaemeron, a commentary in 12 books about the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genesis_creation_narrative - Genesis creation narrative . (Hexaemeron, sometimes spelled http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexameron - Hexameron , means “six-days”.)..."/Ibid/

The "Hexaemeron", is available to read here http://www.newmoses.org/project.html - http://www.newmoses.org/project.html

His monastery, St. Katherine, in Sinai

"St. Anastasius in his Monastery" by Rembrandt, 1631

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Rembrandt-Kopist_001.jpg">

By Giuseppe Franchi, 16th century

This site  http://www.anastasiosofsinai.org/links.html - http://www.anastasiosofsinai.org/links.html has links on him.

A little quote form "The Hexaemeron":

"...It says the following: In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. It uses the name heaven collectively for all the heavenly and spiritual arrangements: both of the holy forces and of the spiritual order. Thus, you must consider first the cosmos above. This was created—as the theologian says—in the following way: ‘First he takes thought of the angelic and heavenly forces; and the thought was a done feat.’ Then it uses the name earth for this perceptible and visible world, collectively with its own heaven, and all the things upon the earth along with man that have come into being and exist, both animate and inanimate. So by saying In the beginning God made the heaven, it raised your mind up to the creation of the whole arrangement above. Then by introducing and the earth, it brought your mind down to the establishment of the fulfillment below. And through a part—I mean the earth—it presented to you the whole compass. It used synecdoche, so that you recognize not only the earth, but also its surrounding heaven. Thus in two phrases, in one definition, it encompassed the act of creating and the creation itself of both the spiritual world and the visible world. And God did his creating in the beginning: that is, in his paternal beginning, which is the Word. For all things came into being through him and in him...." http://logismoitouaaron.blogspot.com/2009/05/hexaemeron-of-st-anastasius-of-sinai.html - http://logismoitouaaron.blogspot.com/2009/05/hexaemeron-of-st-anastasius-of-sinai.html

"...St Anastasius taught that God gives each Christian an angel to care for him throughout his life. However, we can drive our Guardian Angel away by our sins, just as bees are driven away by smoke. While the demons work to deprive us of the heavenly Kingdom, the holy angels guide us to do good. Therefore, only the most foolish individuals would drive away their Guardian Angel from themselves. ..." http://oca.org/FSLivesAllSaints.asp?SID=4&M=4&D=20 - http://oca.org/FSLivesAllSaints.asp?SID=4&M=4&D=20
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Rembrandt-Kopist_001.jpg -

Alexandra was the wife of the wicked Emperor Diocletian and was a Christian, but secretly. While Diocletian was having http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_George - Saint George tortured, the Empress went to the arena and bowed before St. George and professed her faith openly. Her husband was so outraged by this and by so many people being converted by witnessing George's miracles and patient endurance, that he ordered both of them to be beheaded. Alexandra quietly accepted her sentence and prayed as the guards walked her to the place of execution. She asked if she could rest for a moment. The guards allowed this. While resting by the wall of a building, she quietly gave her soul to God. She reposed on April 21, 303. Two days later, St. George was beheaded. They are commemorated at the same time along with Anatolios, Protoleon and the 630 others who were martyred for professing faith while witnessing George's martyrdom...." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Alexandra - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Alexandra

This was one version of her legend, here another one:

"...The Holy Empress Alexandra was the wife of Diocletian (284-305). Her supposed death was described in the Martyrdom of Saint George, which was written immediately after his death. The empress, however, received the crown of martyrdom several years later, in 314. Many events occurred during these years. In 305 the emperor Diocletian resigned the throne and power passed to his co-ruler Maximian Galerius (305-311), a fanatic pagan, as well as a coarse and fierce soldier. His wife was St Valeria, the daughter of the holy Empress Alexandra, whom Diocletian had given in marriage against her will. St Alexandra raised her daughter in Christian piety. When Galerius died, the emperor Maximinus sought her hand in marriage. When he was refused, he banished St Valeria to Syria, where she lived with her mother.

After the death of Maximinus in 311 the mother and daughter arrived in Nicomedia, trusting in the mercy of the emperor Licinius (311-324). Together with St Constantine, he had subscribed to the Edict of Milan, which gave Christians the freedom of religion, but secretly he remained an enemy of Christianity. Licinius gave orders to execute the holy Empress Alexandra and her daughter Valeria. They were beheaded, and their bodies thrown into the sea...." http://www.allmercifulsavior.com/icons/Icons-Alexandra.htm - http://www.allmercifulsavior.com/icons/Icons-Alexandra.htm

A representation of her by Alexey Bugarevski, 19th cent

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An Orthodox icon - St. Alexandra between St. Januarius of Neapolis and St. Anastasius Sinaita

St. Alexandra /in the right/ with St. Monica

It was a very strange and unconventional procedure. He would sup with the woman, then, giving her the money, would say: "I pay thee this, that thou mayest spend one night without sin." Afterwards he would pray with her, often passing the night in reciting the Psalms, and, on leaving, would extract a solemn promise that she would tell no one of the nature of his visit.

It led to great scandal and he was gravely misunderstood, but the Church refused to intervene and he continued his mission. Thus he visited in turn every harlot in Alexandria, and many, moved by his purity and sincerity as well as by his earnest appeal, abandoned their shameful calling. Many, indeed, afterwards married and became good wives and mothers.

But his story ends in tragedy. One day, when leaving a house of ill fame, he was struck on the head by a man who misunderstood his motive. Vitalis made his way back with difficulty to the wretched hovel where he lived, and the crowd that followed, when they entered, found him dead upon his knees. In his hand was a fragment of parchment bearing the words: "Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the heart."

He is also the patron saint of several regions and cities, including Moscow, which is why there are so many Russian ikons of Saint George.It is said that his cult was taken to England by crusaders returning from Palestine, and he became the patron saint of England. The English called on him for help in the battle of Agincourt, which was actually fought on Saint Crispin’s Day, but Saint George got the starring role, and in Shakespeare’s play Henry V the battlecry was “Cry God for Harry, England and St. George!” Shakespeare himself was born and died on Saint George’s Day, but he didn’t just make it up. After the battle Saint George’s Day, 23 April, was as important as Christmas in England....

...Saint George is the patron saint of Ethiopia, and the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Adwa - Battle of Adwa , fought against the Italians in 1896, is as important for Ethiopians as the battle of Agincourt was for the English. And it was fought on the 1st of April, which is Saint George’s Day in Ethiopia...." http://khanya.wordpress.com/2010/04/23/holy-glorious-great-martyr-victorybearer-and-wonderworker-george-303/ - http://khanya.wordpress.com/2010/04/23/holy-glorious-great-martyr-victorybearer-and-wonderworker-george-303/

http://khanya.wordpress.com/2010/04/23/holy-glorious-great-martyr-victorybearer-and-wonderworker-george-303/ - Greek icon of St. George

An Ethiopian icon of St. George

St. George Georgian icon from 12-13 century


St. George Russian icon

St. George Orthodox Coptic icon


And a Bulgarian one:


Anyway, today is also the feast of St. Ibar, who seem to be a strictly Catholic saint:
"...A pre-Patrician http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08098b.htm - Irish saint, who laboured in the present County Wexford from 425 to 450, recognized the http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08567a.htm - jurisdiction of http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11554a.htm - St. Patrick , and was confirmed in his http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02581b.htm - episcopacy . Thus, though a missionary before the arrival of the great national apostle, St. Ibar was a contemporary of http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11554a.htm - St. Patrick , and is regarded as the http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11562a.htm - patron of Begerin, in Wexford harbour. Although at first not disposed to yield to http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11554a.htm - St. Patrick he afterwards submitted and became his http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05029a.htm - disciple . Much obscurity attaches to his early training, but about the year 480 he settled at Begerin, where he built an http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11271a.htm - oratory and cell. In the "Life of St. Abban" it is stated that St. Ibar's retreat was soon peopled with numerous disciples from all parts of http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08098b.htm - Ireland , and the "Litany of Aengus" invokes the three thousand confessors who placed themselves under St. Ibar's direction. His nephew, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01006f.htm - St. Abban , as a boy of twelve came to Begerin in St. Ibar's old age and accompanied him to http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13164a.htm - Rome . His name is variously written Ibar, Iberius, and Ivor, and his death is chronicled in the year 500 on 23 April, on which day his http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06021b.htm - feast is observed. Although Begerin was formerly an island in the north of Wexford harbour, it has long since been one of the reclaimed Sloblands...."  http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07613b.htm - http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07613b.htm
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Our_Ladys_Island_Church_of_the_Assumption_Chancel_Window_Sanctus_Iberius_Detail_2010_09_26.jpg">

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In 1622 de Paul was appointed chaplain to the galleys, and in this capacity he gave missions for the galley-slaves. ^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_de_Paul#cite_note-Michael_Walsh_1991_pp_304-1 - [2]}

In 1625 de Paul founded the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congregation_of_the_Mission - Congregation of the Mission , a society of missionary priests commonly known as the Vincentians or Lazarists. In 1633, with the assistance of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_de_Marillac - Louise de Marillac he founded the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daughters_of_Charity_of_Saint_Vincent_de_Paul - Daughters of Charity . ^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_de_Paul#cite_note-Attwater.2C_Donald_pp_337-0 - [1]} He also fought against the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jansenism - Jansenist heresy.De Paul was renowned for his compassion, humility and generosity. ^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_de_Paul#cite_note-Attwater.2C_Donald_pp_337-0 - [1]} For this reason he is known as the "Great Apostle of Charity"...." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_de_Paul - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_de_Paul

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Vincent_de_Paul.PNG">

From and early age, Zita expressed concern for the poor and helpless of Lucca. As her reputation spread, the needy began to seek her out. This did not sit well with the Fatinelli family, as time spent with the poor was not time spent in her maid servant duties. As the story goes, the Lord intervened as necessary. On one such event, Zita left her chore of baking bread to tend to someone in need. Some of the other servants made sure the Fatinelli family was aware of what happened. When they went to investigate, they found angels in the Fatinelli kitchen, picking up Zita's slack. From that point on, the Fatinelli family and even the other servants were a little more understanding toward her mission. On another event, Zita had given away the family's supply of beans to the townsfolk during a severe famine. Upon suspecting this, the Fatinelli family went to the cupboard to find it full - the beans hand been miracuously replaced. Another recorded event was as dramatic, if not more so. On Christmas Eve, Zita had given away a prized and treasured family cloak to a shivering man at the doorway of St. Fredaino, the local church. This was the straw that broke the camel's back. While the elder Fatinelli was in the midst of a fit of fury, an elderly man came to the door and returned the heirloom. When townsfolk heard of the event, they decided that the man must have been an angel. From that point on, the doorway of the St. Fredaino church in Lucca has been called the "Angel Portal".

Besides being the patron saint for domestic workers and maids, she's the one to ask to help find lost keys...." http://www.scborromeo.org/saints/zita.htm - http://www.scborromeo.org/saints/zita.htm

Some representations of her:

Troparion - Tone 4

Kontakion - Tone 4

There is a good long article on the development of their image here http://www.ucc.ie/milmart/sergorig.html - http://www.ucc.ie/milmart/sergorig.html

He is also venerated in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovenia - Slovenia , where numerous churches and chapels are dedicated to him; this popular veneration goes back to the 16th century, when he was considered the patron saint of the fighters against the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Turks - Ottoman Turks . ^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acacius_of_Byzantium#cite_note-6 - [7]}

St. Achatius is one of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteen_Holy_Helpers - Fourteen Holy Helpers or Auxiliary Saints...." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acacius_of_Byzantium - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acacius_of_Byzantium

"The Martyrdom of St. Agathius" 16 cent, by an anonymous author

At the beginning of the XII Century the Russian pilgrim Daniel saw the relics of the holy Martyr Isidor on the Island of Chios. His relics were later transferred to Constantinople and placed in the church of Saint Irene...." http://www.stlukeorthodox.com/html/saints/may/14th.cfm - http://www.stlukeorthodox.com/html/saints/may/14th.cfm