The Holy 45, Father Anthony & The three Maronite Franciscan brothers. (July 10)

The Holy 45 Martyrs in Nicopolis in Armenia. 

During the reign of the wicked Emperor Licinius, who ruled the eastern half of the Byzantine Empire, there was a great persecution of Christians. In Armenian Nicopolis, St. Leontius, with several of his friends, appeared before Lysius, the representative of Emperor Licinius and declared that they were Christians. "And where is your Christ?" Lysius asked. "Was He not crucified and did He not die?" To that St. Leontius replied: "Since you know that our Christ died, know also that He resurrected from the dead and ascended into heaven." After a lengthy discussion about the Faith, Lysius scourged them and threw them into prison and gave them neither food nor drink. Vlassina, a benevolent Christian woman brought them water and handed it to them through the window of the prison. An angel of God appeared to comfort and encourage them. When the time came for sentencing, two jailers and many others appeared before Lysius as converted Christians, totaling forty-five in number. The judge sentenced all of them to death but in this manner: first, that their arms and feet be severed with an axe and then they be thrown into the fire. This horrible two-fold punishment was carried out and the souls of the holy martyrs took flight to their Lord entering into eternal life. They honorably suffered and inherited the Kingdom in the year 319 A.D.

Our Venerable Father Anthony of the Kiev Lavra. 

Anthony was the founder and father of monasticism in Russia. He was born in the small town of Chernigov and, at an early age, left his home and went to Athos, the Holy Mountain, where he was tonsured a monk and lived a life of asceticism in the Monastery Esfigmenou. In obedience to a heavenly appearance, the abbot sent Anthony to Russia to establish monasticism. Anthony chose a cave near Kiev. When those who were desirous of a monastic life gathered around him, he then appointed Theodosius as abbot and he remained in the cave as a Silentary. By the blessing of God, the monastery increased and became the parent-monastery of Russian monasticism. Anthony endured much evil both from men and demons but he conquered all by his humbleness. He possessed the great gift of discerning thoughts and the future and healed the sick. He presented himself to the Lord in the year 1073 A.D. at the age of ninety, leaving his spiritual nursery to bring beneficial fruits to the Orthodox people of Russia throughout the ages.

The three Maronite Franciscan brothers, Francis, Abd-el-Mooti and Raphael Massabki, and eight others with them, killed in Damascus in 1860.

Respectably Taken From the:

"The Prologue of Ohrid"

by St. Nikolai of Zica, Serbia(Velimirovic)