Saint George, also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition, he was a soldier in the Roman army. He was of Cappadocian Greek origin and a member of the Praetorian Guard for Roman emperor Diocletian, but was sentenced to death for refusing to recant his Christian faith. He became one of the most venerated saints and megalomartyrs in Christianity, and he has been especially venerated as a military saint since the Crusades. He is respected by Christians, Druze, as well as some Muslims as a martyr of monotheistic faith.
Catherine of Alexandria, also spelled Katherine is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, who was martyred in the early fourth century at the hands of the emperor Maxentius. According to her hagiography, she was both a princess and a noted scholar who became a Christian around the age of 14, converted hundreds of people to Christianity and was martyred around the age of eighteen. More than 1,100 years after Catherine's martyrdom, Joan of Arc identified her as one of the saints who appeared to and counselled her.
Saint Eustace is revered as a Christian martyr. According to legend, he was martyred in AD 118, at the command of emperor Hadrian. Eustace was a pagan Roman general, who converted to Christianity after he had a vision of the cross while hunting. He lost all his wealth, was separated from his wife and sons, and went into exile in Egypt. Called back to lead the Roman army by emperor Trajan, Eustace was happily reunited with his family and restored to high social standing, but after the death of Trajan, he and his family were martyred under Hadrian for refusing to sacrifice to pagan Roman gods.
Saint Demetriusof Thessalonica, also known as the Holy Great-Martyr Demetrius the Myroblyte, was a Greek Christian martyr of the early 4th century AD.
Saint Theodore, distinguished as Theodore of Amasea, Theodore the Recruit, and by other names, is a Christian saint and Great Martyr, particularly revered in the Eastern Orthodox Churches but also honored in Roman Catholicism and Oriental Orthodoxy. According to legend, he was a legionary in the Roman army who suffered martyrdom by immolation at Amasea in Galatian Pontus during the Great Persecution under Diocletian in the early 4th century. Venerated by the late 4th century, he became a prominent warrior saint during the Middle Ages, attracted a great deal of additional legends including accounts of battle against dragons, and was often confused with the similar Theodore Stratelates of Heraclea.
Thecla was a saint of the early Christian Church, and a reported follower of Paul the Apostle. The earliest record of her life comes from the ancient apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla.
Pancras was a Roman citizen who converted to Christianity and was beheaded for his faith at the age of fourteen, around the year 304. His name is Greek (Πανκράτιος) and means "the one that holds everything".
Cyricus, and his mother, Julitta are venerated as early Christian martyrs. According to tradition, they were put to death at Tarsus in AD 304.
Saint Anastasia is a Christian saint and martyr who died at Sirmium in the Roman province of Pannonia Secunda. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, she is venerated as St. Anastasia the Pharmakolytria, i.e. "Deliverer from Potions". This epithet is also translated as "One who Cures (Wounds)" in Lampe's A Patristic Greek Lexicon.
Euphemia, known as the All-praised in the Eastern Orthodox Church, was a virgin martyr, who died for her faith at Chalcedon in 303 AD.
Eudokia was a Samarian woman who lived in Heliopolis of Phoenicia.
Saint Sophia of Rome is venerated as a Christian martyr. She is identified in hagiographical tradition with the figure of Sophia of Milan, the mother of Saints Faith, Hope and Charity, whose veneration is attested for the sixth century.
Saint Paraskevi of Rome is venerated as a Christian martyr of the 2nd century. She was arrested and tortured under the reign of the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius for her refusal to worship idols. Though he eventually released her after she performed a miracle that cured him of his blindness, she was arrested on multiple later occasions for her Christianity and was eventually beheaded by the Roman governor Tarasius.
Saint Paraskeva of the Balkans was an ascetic female saint of the 10th century. She was born in Epivates, near present-day Istanbul, and had visions of the Virgin Mary. After living in Chalcedon and Heraclea Pontica, she settled in a convent in the desert near the Jordan River, where she died at the age of 27. The cult of Saint Paraskeva began to spread in the 14th century from Bulgaria into the Danubian Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia. There was confusion over her identity and attributes because her Greek name "paraskevi" means "Friday," and translations in other languages, such as Romanian and Serbian, were "Saint Friday". Her cult continues to be celebrated in many Orthodox countries, and her feast day is commemorated on October 14 in the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Saint Barbara, known in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the Great Martyr Barbara, was an early Christian [Greek saint and martyr.
Saint Venera is venerated as a Christian martyr of the 2nd century. Little is known of this saint. The date of her death is traditionally given as July 26, 143 AD.
Folk Orthodoxy refers to the folk religion and syncretic elements present in the Eastern Orthodox communities. It is a subgroup of folk Christianity, similar to Folk Catholicism. Peasants incorporated many pre-Christian (pagan) beliefs and observances, including the coordination of feast days with agricultural life.
Week - In popular tradition of the Slavs personification Sunday as day of the week. It is correlated with Saint Anastasia (in Bulgarians also with Saint Kyriakia. The veneration of the Week is associated with the prohibition of various kinds of work.
Paraskeva Friday is an image based on a personification of Friday as the day of the week and the cult of saints Paraskeva of Iconium, called Friday and Paraskeva of Serbia. In folk tradition, the image of Paraskeva Friday correlates with the image of Goddess, Saint Anastasia of the Lady of Sorrows, and the Week as a personified image of Sunday.
