January 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

An Eastern Orthodox cross

January 17 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - January 19

All fixed commemorations below are observed on January 31 by Eastern Orthodox Churches on the Old Calendar. ^{[note 1]}

For January 18th, Orthodox Churches on the Old Calendar commemorate the Saints listed on January 5 .

Saints

• Martyr Theodula ^[1] and her companions Helladius, Theodoulos, Boethius, Evagrius, and Macarius, ^[2] of Anazarbus, Cilicia (c. 304) ^[3]
• Martyr Xenia, by fire ^[4]
• Saint Athanasius the Great, Patriarch of Alexandria (373) ^{[3] [5] [6]}
• Venerable Marcian, Monk of Cyrrhus, Syria (c. 388) ^{[3] [7] [8]}
• Venerable Silvanus (Sylvanus) the Ascetic of Gaza, Palestine (before 414) ^{[9] [10]}
• Saint Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria (444) ^{[3] [11] [12]}
• Venerable Ephraim (Ephraimios), Bishop of Mylasa, Caria, Asia Minor (5th century) ^{[13] [14] [note 2]}

Pre-Schism Western saints

• Virgin Martyr Prisca, venerated from ancient times in Rome, where a church is dedicated to her on the Aventine (1st or 3rd century) ^[15]
• Martyrs Archelais, Thecla and Susanna, three holy virgins, at Salerno (293) ^{[15] [note 3]} (see also: June 6)
• Saint Volusianus of Tours, a married senator who was chosen Bishop of Tours in France and shortly after driven out by Arian Visigoths (496) ^[15]
• Saint Liberata of Como, a holy virgin in Como in Italy where with her sister Saint Faustina she founded the convent of Santa Margarita (580) ^[15]
• Saint Leobardus the Recluse of Marmoutier, Gaul (593) ^{[3] [15]}
• Saint Ninnidh of Inishmacsaint (Inismacsaint), Ireland (6th century) ^[3] (see also: January 17 )
• Saint Deicolus, one of the twelve disciples to accompany St. Columbanus in his missionary enterprise (625) ^{[15] [note 4]}
• Saint Ulfrid (Wolfred, Wulfrid, Wilfrid), missionary in Germany and Sweden, martyred for destroying an image of Thor (1028) ^{[14] [15] [note 5] [note 6]}

Post-Schism Orthodox saints

• Venerable Ephraim the Lesser (the Philosopher) of Georgia (1101) ^{[3] [18]}
• Venerable Cyril, Abbot of Kiev (1146) ^[3]
• Saint Joachim I, Patriarch of Tarnovo (Turnovo, Trnovo) and Bulgaria (1248) ^{[3] [19] [20]}
• Venerable Schemamonk Cyril and Schemanun Maria (both c. 1337), parents of Saint Sergius of Radonezh ^{[3] [21]}
• Saint Maximus the New of Serbia, Metropolitan of Wallachia (1516), son of Saint Stefan Branković the Blind, Despot of Serbia ^{[3] [22] [23] [24]}
• Venerable Athanasius, Monk of Valaam Monastery and Abbot of Syamzha (Syadem, Syandema, Syandemsk, Syandemsky), Vologda Oblast (1550) ^{[3] [25] [26]}
• Righteous Athanasius, Fool for Christ of Novolotsk (Navolotsk) Monastery, Karelia (16th-17th centuries) ^{[3] [27] [28]}
• Venerable Christophoros "Papoulakos" (Christophoros Panayiotopoulos), missionary monk and defender of Orthodoxy in the new Kingdom of Greece (1861) ^{[29] [30] [31] [note 7] [note 8] [note 9]}
• Venerable Alexis Shushania, Hieromonk of Teklati, Georgia (1923) ^{[3] [33]}

New martyrs and confessors

• New Hieromartyr Michael Kargopolov, Priest (1919) ^{[9] [34]}
• New Hieromartyr Eugene Isadsky, Priest (1930) ^{[9] [34]}
• New Hieromartyr Vladimir Zubkovich, Archpriest of Smolevichi, Belorussia (1937) ^{[3] [9]}
• New Hieromartyrs Nicholas Krasovsky, Sergius Lebedev, and Alexander Rousinov, Priests (1938) ^{[9] [34]}

Other commemorations

• Slaying of Bishop Paul de Ballester-Convallier of Mexico (1984) ^[3]

Icon gallery

• 
  Saint Athanasius the Great.
• 
  Saint Cyril of Alexandria.
• 
  Saints Athanasius and Cyril of Alexandria
  (Menologion of Basil II)
• 
  Virgin-martyr Prisca.
• 
  Saint Christophoros Panayiotopoulos ("Papoulakos"), missionary monk.

Notes

1. The notation Old Style or (OS) is sometimes used to indicate a date in the Julian Calendar (which is used by churches on the "Old Calendar").
   The notation New Style or (NS), indicates a date in the Revised Julian calendar (which is used by churches on the "New Calendar").
2. Venerable Ephraimios is recorded in Sinai Codex 150.
3. Three holy virgins of the Romagna in Italy who went to Nola in the Campagna in order to escape death, but there too they were accused of being Orthodox, were tortured, taken to Salerno and beheaded.
4. A monk at Bangor in Ireland, he followed St. Columbanus to Burgundy in France, where he helped found the monastery of Luxeuil. Later he founded a second monastery in Lure in the Vosges.
5. "He was an Englishman of great learning and virtue; and preached the faith, first in Germany; afterwards in Sweden, under the pious king Olas II, who first took the title of king of Sweden; for his predecessors had only been styled kings of Upsal. The good bishop converted many to Christ, till in the year 1028, while he was preaching against the idol Tarstans or Thor, and hewing it down with a hatchet, he was slain by the pagans." ^[16]
6. "In Sweden, the passion of ST. ULFRID, Martyr, who was an Englishman by birth, and went to preach to the pagans of that country. ULFRID, also called Wulfrid, was an Englishman, who, in obedience to a divine inspiration, quitted his native land, to preach the Gospel to the pagans of Sweden. His mission was attended with ample success, and many converts were made to the Faith. In his zeal for the destruction of the kingdom of Satan, in the presence of a multitude of people, he attacked the idol of Thor, and hewed it to pieces with an axe. Upon this, the furious idolaters immediately rushed upon the servant of God, and cruelly put him to death on the spot. They also treated his venerable remains with many insults, and cast them into a marsh, thus leaving them, until in better times Ulfrid was venerated as a Martyr of Christ. The commemoration in the old calendars is on the 18th of January." ^[17]
7. His glorification was initially proposed by the Metropolis of Kalavryta, of the Church of Greece, with the proposal confirmed by the Greek Holy Synod in May 2023. It was then passed on to the Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. He was glorified by the Ecumenical Patriarchate on August 30, 2024. The official communiqué of the Ecumenical Patriarchate was as follows:

   (in Greek) "Συνεχιζομένων τῶν ἐργασιῶν τῆς Ἁγίας καί Ἱερᾶς Συνόδου, αὕτη ἀπεφάσισεν ὁμοφώνως ὅπως γένηται δεκτή ἡ εἰσήγησις τῆς Ἁγιωτάτης Ἐκκλησίας τῆς Ἑλλάδος περί κατατάξεως εἰς τό ἁγιολόγιον τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τοῦ μακαριστοῦ μοναχοῦ Χριστοφόρου Παναγιωτοπούλου τοῦ ἐπιλεγομένου Παπουλάκου, τῆς μνήμης αὐτοῦ ἑορταζομένης κατ᾿ ἔτος τήν 18ην Ἰανουαρίου." ^[31]

8. In 1847, at nearly eighty years of age, the monk Christophoros Panayiotopoulos ("Papoulakos") c. 1770–1861, undertook a popular preaching mission in the villages of Achaea to revitalize the spiritual conditions of the people which were slowly becoming westernized with an Enlightenment ideology, affecting the sociological make up of the newborn Greek state within a decade. ^[32] Ultimately Papoulakos helped bring the Greek people back to their roots in Orthodoxy and the Christian ideal, for which he suffered much persecution from both the Church and State and died in exile, and is today renowned as a great ascetic and hero of modern Greece.

   "Moving as he did amongst the people and seeing the consequences of the Bavarian government's policies, his preaching turned to contemporary politics. He fiercely denounced the autocephaly and the abolition of ancient metropolitan sees, which left the people shepherd-less. He condemned the dissolution of monasteries, foreign missionaries, and the non-Orthodox schools they had established and the exclusion of the sacred Scriptures (i.e., the Septuagint) from the schools. Behind these acts Papoulakos saw a clear aim: 'It is their purpose to ruin our religion.' And he lists the guilty: the English who controlled the state with their loan; the foreigners, the 'Luthero-Calvinists,' Bavarians and missionaries who were swamping Greece; Kairis, 'who had lit the match;' Pharmakidis, 'who had poured out the poison;' the Synod which had meekly accepted the foreigners' schemes and which Papoulakos calls 'polluted, diabolical, sealed with Armannsperg's seal.' " ^[32]

9. See: (in Greek) Άγιος Χριστοφόρος Παπουλάκος . Βικιπαίδεια. (Greek Wikipedia).

References

1. Great Synaxaristes: (in Greek) Ἡ Ἁγία Θεοδούλη ἡ Μάρτυς. 18 Ιανουαρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
2. Great Synaxaristes: (in Greek) Οἱ Ἅγιοι Ἑλλάδιος, Θεόδουλος, Βοήθος, Εὐάγριος καὶ Μακάριος οἱ Μάρτυρες. 18 Ιανουαρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
3. January 18/January 31. Orthodox Calendar (PRAVOSLAVIE.RU).
4. Great Synaxaristes: (in Greek) Ἡ Ἁγία Ξένη ἡ Μάρτυς. 18 Ιανουαρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
5. Great Synaxaristes: (in Greek) Ὁ Ἅγιος Ἀθανάσιος ὁ Μέγας. 18 Ιανουαρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
6. Saint Athanasius the Great, Archbishop of Alexandria. OCA - Lives of the Saints.
7. Great Synaxaristes: (in Greek) Ὁ Ὅσιος Μαρκιανὸς. 18 Ιανουαρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
8. Venerable Marcian of Cyrrhus in Syria. OCA - Lives of the Saints.
9. January 31 / January 18. HOLY TRINITY RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH (A parish of the Patriarchate of Moscow).
10. Great Synaxaristes: (in Greek) Ὁ Ὅσιος Σιλβανὸς ὁ ἐν Παλαιστίνῃ ἀσκήσας. 18 Ιανουαρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
11. Great Synaxaristes: (in Greek) Ὁ Ἅγιος Κύριλλος Πατριάρχης Ἀλεξανδρείας. 18 Ιανουαρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
12. Saint Cyril, Archbishop of Alexandria. OCA - Lives of the Saints.
13. Great Synaxaristes: (in Greek) Ὁ Ὅσιος Ἐφραίμιος. 18 Ιανουαρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
14. The Autonomous Orthodox Metropolia of Western Europe and the Americas (ROCOR). St. Hilarion Calendar of Saints for the year of our Lord 2004. St. Hilarion Press (Austin, TX). p. 8.
15. January 18. Latin Saints of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Rome.
16. Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). "St. Ulfrid, or Wolfred, Bishop and Martyr." Volume I: January. The Lives of the Saints. 1866. (www.bartleby.com). Retrieved: 2026-01-25.
17. Rev. Richard Stanton. A Menology of England and Wales, or, Brief Memorials of the Ancient British and English Saints Arranged According to the Calendar, Together with the Martyrs of the 16th and 17th Centuries. London: Burns & Oates, 1892. p. 24
18. Saint Ephraim the Lesser. OCA - Lives of the Saints.
19. Saint Joachim I, Patriarch of Trnovo and Bulgaria. OCA - Lives of the Saints.
20. Great Synaxaristes: (in Greek) Ὁ Ἅγιος Ἰωακεὶμ ἐκ Βουλγαρίας. 18 Ιανουαρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
21. Venerable Schemamonk Cyril and Schemanun Maria, the parents of Saint Sergius of Radonezh. OCA - Lives of the Saints
22. Saint Maximus the New. OCA - Lives of the Saints.
23. Saint Maximus, Archbishop of Serbia. OCA - Lives of the Saints.
24. Great Synaxaristes: (in Greek) Ὁ Ἅγιος Μάξιμος Ἐπίσκοπος Οὐγγροβλαχίας. 18 Ιανουαρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
25. Venerable Athanasius, Abbot of Syandemsk, Vologda. OCA - Lives of the Saints.
26. Great Synaxaristes: (in Greek) Ὁ Ὅσιος Ἀθανάσιος ἐκ Ρωσίας. 18 Ιανουαρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
27. Great Synaxaristes: (in Greek) Ὁ Ὅσιος Ἀθανάσιος ὁ διὰ Χριστὸν Σαλός. 18 Ιανουαρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
28. Righteous Athanasius of Novolotsk. OCA - Lives of the Saints.
29. 19th-century monk-preacher Christophoros “Papoulakos” canonized by Patriarchate of Constantinople. Orthodox Christianity. Istanbul, September 2, 2024. Retrieved: February 16, 2026.
30. Signing of Act of Canonization of St. Christophoros “Papoulakos” in Istanbul. Orthodox Christianity. Istanbul, February 12, 2025. Retrieved: February 16, 2026.
31. (in Greek) Ανακοινωθέν για τις εργασίες της Αγίας και Ιεράς Συνόδου (30 Αυγούστου 2024). Οικουμενικό Πατριαρχείο (Ecumenical Patriarchate). Ανάρτηση 30/08/2024. Retrieved: February 11, 2026.
32. Christos Yannaras. Orthodoxy and the West: Hellenic Self-Identity in the Modern Age. Transl. Peter Chamberas and Norman Russell. Brookline: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2006. pp.183–184.
33. Venerable Hieromonk Alexei of Teklati. OCA - Lives of the Saints.
34. (in Russian) 18 января (ст.ст.) 31 января 2014 (нов. ст.) Archived 2014-01-11 at the Wayback Machine . Русская Православная Церковь Отдел внешних церковных связей. (DECR).

Sources

• January 18/January 31. Orthodox Calendar (PRAVOSLAVIE.RU).
• January 31 / January 18. HOLY TRINITY RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH (A parish of the Patriarchate of Moscow).
• January 18. OCA - The Lives of the Saints.
• The Autonomous Orthodox Metropolia of Western Europe and the Americas (ROCOR). St. Hilarion Calendar of Saints for the year of our Lord 2004. St. Hilarion Press (Austin, TX). p. 8.
• January 18. Latin Saints of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Rome.
• The Roman Martyrology. Transl. by the Archbishop of Baltimore. Last Edition, According to the Copy Printed at Rome in 1914. Revised Edition, with the Imprimatur of His Eminence Cardinal Gibbons. Baltimore: John Murphy Company, 1916. pp. 18–19.

Greek Sources

• Great Synaxaristes: (in Greek) 18 ΙΑΝΟΥΑΡΙΟΥ. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
• (in Greek) Συναξαριστής. 18 Ιανουαρίου. ECCLESIA.GR. (H ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ).

Russian Sources

• (in Russian) 31 января (18 января). Православная Энциклопедия под редакцией Патриарха Московского и всея Руси Кирилла (электронная версия). (Orthodox Encyclopedia - Pravenc.ru).
• (in Russian) 18 января (ст.ст.) 31 января 2014 (нов. ст.) Archived 2014-01-11 at the Wayback Machine . Русская Православная Церковь Отдел внешних церковных связей. (DECR).