We celebrate Venerable Theodosius on January 11th. And this great saint is known as the founder of the the Cenobitic monastic life! But who really was he? Let’s see what we know about Venerable Theodosius. Theodosius the Great The name Theodosius means Gift of God, or Given by God. And, appropriately, there are several known …
The end of January marks the 5th anniversary of The Byzantine Life! Although the blog didn’t go live until March, January 2018 marked the beginning of The Byzantine Life, when we purchased the domain and began building this site. There are also many great feast days in January, with the 1st marking both the Circumcision …
In the East we celebrate the Theotokos on the day after Christmas (Roman Catholics celebrate St. Stephen). We celebrate the Theotokos on the second day of the Feast of the Nativity primarily because it is through Mary that the incarnation is possible. The Nativity of Christ is the greatest moment of Mary’s life. It is …
Each month this year I want to prepare and look ahead to see what major feast days are coming up. One thing I appreciate about blogging is that it gives me a reason to look ahead at feast days. And that it makes me take the time to learn about them. However, especially with a …
Apostle Philemon We celebrate Apostle Philemon on November 22nd. He is probably most recognized as a recipient of a letter from Paul, which is included in the cannon of scripture. Philemon was wealthy, and as such at the time, had slaves in his household. In the epistle to Philemon, we hear that one of his …
Holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew We celebrate the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew on November 16th. One thing we know about St. Matthew is that he was a tax collector before following Christ. And, in reading his gospel, we see his attentiveness to numbers never leaves him! His gospel was written specifically for a Jewish …
Phillip the Apostle We know a few things about Phillip the Apostle from scripture and tradition. First of all, Phillip was well versed in the scriptures himself, and able to recognize Christ as the Messiah through this knowledge (and God’s grace). Phillip brought his friend Nathaniel to Christ (in the Gospel of John). In John’s …
Akathist to The Theotokos – Heading to Egypt In continuation of our akathist to the Theotokos series, let’s cover the seventh set of prayers! This week all of humanity comes together to sing the praises of the Theotokos. If you missed the first six articles, be sure to read them first! Start with https://thebyzantinelife.com/akathist-to-the-theotokos/ and …
A while back I did an article on encouraging faith in infants and toddlers. As a quick recap, I talked about sitting at the front in church (read about why in my article about keeping kids (somewhat) quiet at church). I also mentioned reading stories about the faith and having icons and crosses on the …
Nativity of Our Most Holy Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary On September 8th we celebrate the Nativity of Mary, which is one of the 12 major feast days. It is also the first major feast in our new liturgical year. Tradition is that Joachim (a descendant of King David) and Anna (of the tribe …