Feb. 4. – Isidore of Pelusium

Saint Isidore of Pelusium came from rich and noble Alexandrian parents and was highly educated. In his youth, he left his parents and wealth behind and withdrew to the desert near the city of Pelusium, at the mouth of the Nile River in Egypt—from which he received the name Pelusiotes. There he became renowned for his long years of strict asceticism, which attracted many fellow strugglers to him. Having heard of the exalted life and rare spiritual gifts of St. John Chrysostom, Isidore journeyed to Constantinople to listen to his instructions. Being himself of brilliant abilities, he fully absorbed the spirit and qualities of Chrysostom. Chosen as abbot of the monastery, he instilled in the brethren—and confirmed by his own example—modesty in clothing, the preservation of silence, frugality in food, and charity toward the poor. From his solitude he wrote many instructions to people, suited to their knowledge, station, and age. He considered his highest happiness to be the successful salvation of any perishing soul. He took part in defending the true doctrine against the heretic Nestorius, who taught that the Most Holy God-bearer gave birth not to the God-Man, but merely to the man Jesus Christ, with Whom God united Himself only after the birth and dwelt in Him as He dwelt in Moses and the other prophets; and therefore he called Christ “God-bearer” and His Mother, the Most Holy Virgin Mary, “Christ-bearer.” Isidore persuaded Emperor Theodosius to convene a Council (the Third Ecumenical Council) against Nestorius. By his writings, Isidore is considered one of the great Fathers of the Church. All his works are profound in content and simple in expression. St. Isidore reposed around the year 436.

The holy right-believing Prince George (Yuri) Vsevolodovich was Grand Prince of Vladimir. During the Tatar invasion, his family was burned in a church in Vladimir, and he himself fell in battle with the Tatars on the Sit River in the year 1238. He was beheaded, but a miracle occurred: his head, placed in the coffin, adhered to the body so that no trace of the beheading was visible. It is related of St. George that he was exceedingly pious, merciful to the poor, released his enemies with gifts, and built many churches and monasteries.

Saint Cyril of Novoezersk was a monk under St. Cornelius of Komel (commemorated May 19) and the founder of the Resurrection Novoezersk Monastery on Krasny Island, fifteen versts from Beloozero. Even as a boy he had a strong desire to dedicate himself to monastic life and secretly left his parents’ home for the Komel Monastery. There, despite his youthful age, he performed monastic labors and obediences with complete zeal and love, and spent his free time reading sacred books. Later he labored for seven years in the desert, where he subsequently founded a monastery. St. Cyril endured much from fishermen who saw in him a man who might interfere with their trade, and from robbers who were annoyed that people had settled on the island who might learn of their lawless deeds. For his holy life Cyril was granted the gift of working miracles. He reposed in the year 1582.

Saint Nicholas the Confessor was abbot of the Studite Monastery. He entered the monastery in his early youth. There, together with St. Theodore the Studite (commemorated January 26), he suffered much from the iconoclasts: they were transferred to various places of exile. After the death of St. Theodore and with the accession of the pious Empress Theodora, wife of the iconoclast Theophilus, he returned to the Studite Monastery and was appointed abbot. The pious Emperor Basil the Macedonian often invited St. Nicholas to himself, conversed with him, and made use of his counsel. For his martyric life, God endowed the venerable one with the gift of healing. He healed the Empress Eudokia, wife of Emperor Basil, from a mortal illness; he composed several hymns; and he reposed around the year 868.

The hieromartyr Abraham, Bishop of Arbela in Persia, was beheaded with a sword during the persecution under Shapur II, king of Persia, in the year 344, because he refused to renounce Christ and worship the sun.