February 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

February 23 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - February 25

An Eastern Orthodox cross

All fixed commemorations below are observed on March 9 (March 8 on leap years) by Eastern Orthodox Churches on the Old Calendar.[note 1]

For February 24th, Orthodox Churches on the Old Calendar commemorate the Saints listed on February 11.

Feast

• First (4th century) and Second (452) Findings of the Precious Head of St. John the Baptist.[1][2][3][4][5][note 2]

Saints

• Saint John the Harvester (Theristos), of Calabria (9th century)[7][note 3]

Pre-Schism Western saints

• Martyrs Montanus, Lucias, Julian, Victoricus, Flavian, and their companions, at Carthage (259)[1][8][10][11][note 4][note 5]
• Saint Primitiva (Primitivus), an early martyr, probably in Rome.[8][6]
• Saint Modestus, Bishop of Trier in Germany and Confessor (489)[8][6][note 6]
• Saint Praetextatus (Prix), Bishop of Rouen in France and Martyr (586)[8][6][12][note 7]
• Saint Liudhard (Letard), Chaplain and Bishop of Queen Bertha of Kent (c. 600)[8][13][note 8]
• Saint Æthelberht of Kent, King of Kent (616)[14][15][16][note 9][note 10]
• Saint Boisil of Melrose Abbey (664)[17]
• Saint Cummain Ailbe (Cumine the White), Abbot of Iona (669)[1][8][10][18]
• Saint Betto, a monk at Sainte Colombe in Sens in France, who became Bishop of Auxerre in 889 (918)[8]

Post-Schism Orthodox saints

• Venerable Erasmus of the Kiev Caves Monastery (c. 1160)[1][5][10][19][20]

Other commemorations

• Uncovering of the relics (1486) of St. Romanus, Prince of Uglich (1285)[1][10]

Icon gallery

• 
  John the Baptist.
• 
  Monastery of Saint John Theristus, Bivongi, province of Reggio Calabria, Italy.
• 
  Saint Praetextatus (Prix).
• 
  Replica of the Liudhard medalet, which depicts Liudhard.
• 
  St. Æthelberht of Kent
  (All Souls College Chapel, Oxford).
• 
  St. Boisil greets St. Cuthbert at Melrose Abbey.

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. "At Jerusalem, the first finding of the head of our Lord's Precursor."[6]
3. Of Calabrian parentage, he was born in Sicily, where his mother had been taken as a slave by the Saracens. He managed to escape to Calabria while still a child and there became a monk. Theristos, meaning harvester, refers to a miraculous harvest reaped by the saint.[8]
   In December 1994, the Regional Council of Calabria unanimously declared the Byzantine area located between the rivers Stilaro and Aces sacred, in order to allow for the re-establishment of Orthodox monasticism. Thus the Monastery of San Giovanni Theristis was founded. On 24 February 1995, the City of Bivongi officially handed over the Monastery to the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Italy, thus contributing to the restoration of the ancient ties made between monasticism on Athos and Italo-Greek monasticism. From 1994 until mid-2008 Greek-Orthodox monks from Mount Athos, Greece were living in the monastery praying, studying and working. On July 2008, the city council took the monastery from the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Currently the monks residing there are of the Patriarchate of Romania.[9]
4. A group of ten martyrs in North Africa, disciples of St Cyprian of Carthage, who suffered in that city under Valerian. The story of their imprisonment was told by themselves and that of their martyrdom by eyewitnesses.
5. "In Africa, the holy martyrs Montanus, Lucius, Julian, Victoricus, Flavian, and their companions. They were disciples of St. Cyprian, and suffered martyrdom under the emperor Valerian."[6]
6. His relics are venerated in the church of St Matthias in Trier.
7. Bishop of Rouen in France (550-586). For his courage in denouncing the wicked, he was cruelly persecuted and exiled. Recalled seven years later, he was martyred on Easter Sunday in his own church.
8. He may have played an important part in the conversion of King Ethelbert, preparing for the conversion of Kent.
9. "In England, St. Ethelbert, king of Kent, converted to the faith of Christ by St. Augustine, bishop of the English."[6]
10. "At Canterbury, the deposition of ST. ETHELBERT, Confessor, King of Kent, disciple of St. Augustine, and the first Christian Prince of the English nation."[15]

References

1. February 24 / March 9. Orthodox Calendar (PRAVOSLAVIE.RU).
2. Great Synaxaristes: (in Greek) Εὕρεσις Τιμίας κεφαλῆς τοῦ Ἁγίου Προφήτου, προδρόμου καὶ βαπτιστοῦ Ἰωάννη. 24 Φεβρουαρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
3. (in Greek) Συναξαριστής. 24 Φεβρουαρίου. ECCLESIA.GR. (H ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ).
4. First and second finding of the Honorable Head of the Holy Glorious Prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist of the Lord, John. OCA - Lives of the Saints.
5. (in Russian) 24 февраля (ст.ст.) 9 марта 2014 (нов. ст.). Русская Православная Церковь Отдел внешних церковных связей. (DECR).
6. 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. 57-58.
7. Great Synaxaristes: (in Greek) Ὁ Ὅσιος Ἰωάννης ὁ Θεριστὴς ὁ ἐν Καλαβρίᾳ. 24 Φεβρουαρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
8. February 24. Latin Saints of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Rome.
9. (in Italian) Monastero San Giovanni Theristis. Ortodossia Cristiana. Retrieved: 13 November, 2014.
10. March 9 / February 24. Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church (A parish of the Patriarchate of Moscow).
11. Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould (M.A.). "SS. MONTANUS, LUCIUS, JULIAN, AND COMP., MM. (A.D. 259.)." In: The Lives of the Saints. Volume the Second: February. London: John C. Nimmo, 1897. p. 395-401.
12. Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould (M.A.). "S. PRÆTEXTATUS OF ROUEN, B. M. (A.D. 586.)." In: The Lives of the Saints. Volume the Second: February. London: John C. Nimmo, 1897. p. 402-406.
13. Sir William Smith. LIUDHARDUS. In: A Dictionary of Christian Biography, Literature, Sects and Doctrines. Volume III - Hermogenes-Myensis. London, 1882. Page 731.
14. Great Synaxaristes: (in Greek) Ὁ Ἅγιος Ἐθελμπέρτος βασιλιὰς τῆς Ἀγγλίας. 24 Φεβρουαρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
15. 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. 83-84.
16. Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould (M.A.). "S. ETHELBERT, K. C. (A.D. 616.)." In: The Lives of the Saints. Volume the Second: February. London: John C. Nimmo, 1897. p. 406-409.
17. Great Synaxaristes: (in Greek) Ὁ Ὅσιος Μποϊζὶλ ἐκ Σκωτίας. 24 Φεβρουαρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
18. Very Rev. John O'Hanlon. "ARTICLE I.—ST. CUMMINEUS ALBUS, CUIMINE AILBE, OR FIONN, ABBOT OF IONA, SCOTLAND. [SEVENTH CENTURY]." In: Lives of the Irish Saints: With Special Festivals, and the Commemorations of Holy Persons. VOL. II. Dublin, 1875. pp. 689-695.
19. Great Synaxaristes: (in Greek) Ὁ Ὅσιος Ἔρασμος ἐκ Ρωσίας. 24 Φεβρουαρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
20. Venerable Erasmus of the Kiev Near Caves. OCA - Lives of the Saints.

Sources

• February 24 / March 9. Orthodox Calendar (PRAVOSLAVIE.RU).
• March 9 / February 24. Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church (A parish of the Patriarchate of Moscow).
• February 24. 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. 17.
• The Twenty-Fourth Day of the Month of February. Orthodoxy in China.
• February 24. 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. 57-58.
• 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. 83-84.

Greek Sources

• Great Synaxaristes: (in Greek) 24 ΦΕΒΡΟΥΑΡΙΟΥ. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
• (in Greek) Συναξαριστής. 24 Φεβρουαρίου. ECCLESIA.GR. (H ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ).

Russian Sources

• (in Russian) 9 марта (24 февраля). Православная Энциклопедия под редакцией Патриарха Московского и всея Руси Кирилла (электронная версия). (Orthodox Encyclopedia - Pravenc.ru).
• (in Russian) 24 февраля (ст.ст.) 9 марта 2014 (нов. ст.). Русская Православная Церковь Отдел внешних церковных связей. (DECR).