It is to him probably that St. John Chrysostom addressed a letter from exile in 405.  Saint Maron, a friend of Saint John Chrysostom, died before 423 at an advanced age. Saint Maron founded many monasteries around Cyrus, and converted a pagan temple near Antioch into a Christian church.  

In the following century, there was a monastery that bore his name, located between Emessa and Homs in Syria. It was a stronghold in defense of the doctrines defined at the Council of Chalcedon. 

Troparion of St. Maron: 

Your abundant tears made the wilderness sprout and bloom, and your suffering  made your labours fruitful a hundredfold: you became a shining torch over the world. O Holy Father Maron, pray to Christ God that He may save our souls!

At this time, the just Elder Simeon  (Feast February 3) was living in Jerusalem. It had been revealed to him  that he would not die until he should behold the promised Messiah. By  inspiration from above, Saint Simeon went to the Temple at the very  moment when the Most Holy Mother of God (Theotokos) and Saint Joseph had  brought the Infant Jesus to fulfill the Law. 

The God-Receiver  Simeon took the divine Child in his arms, and giving thanks to God, he  spoke the words repeated by the Church each evening at Vespers: “Now you  release your servant, O Lord, according to your word, in peace; because  my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the  face of all peoples: a light of revelation to the Gentiles, and a glory  for your people Israel.” (Luke 2: 29-32). Saint Simeon said to the Most  Holy Virgin: “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and for the  rise of many in Israel, and for a sign that shall be contradicted. (And  your own soul a sword shall pierce,) that the thoughts of many hearts  may be revealed” (Luke 2: 34-35). 

At the Temple was the  84-year-old widow Anna the Prophetess, daughter of Phanuel (Feast,  February 3), “who never left the temple, with fastings and prayers  worshipping night and day. And coming up at that very hour, she began to  give praise to the Lord, and spoke of him to all who were awaiting  redemption in Jerusalem” (Luke 2: 37-38). In the icon of the Feast she  holds a scroll which reads: “This Child has established Heaven and  earth.” 

Before Christ was born, righteous men and women lived by  faith in the promised Messiah, and awaited His coming. The just Elder  Simeon and the Prophetess Anna, the last righteous people of the Old  Testament, were deemed worthy to meet the Saviour in the Temple. 

The  Feast of the Encounter of the Lord is among the most ancient feasts of  the Christian Church. We have sermons on the Feast by the holy bishops  Methodius of Patara (+ 312), Cyril of Jerusalem (+ 360), Gregory the  Theologian (+ 389), Amphilocius of Iconium (+ 394), Gregory of Nyssa (+  400), and John Chrysostom (+ 407). Despite its early origin, this Feast  was not celebrated so splendidly until the sixth century. 

In 528,  during the reign of Justinian, an earthquake killed many people in  Antioch. Other misfortunes followed this one. In 541 a terrible plague  broke out in Constantinople, carrying off several thousand people each  day. During this time of widespread suffering, a solemn prayer service  for deliverance from evils was celebrated on the Feast of the Encounter  of the Lord, and the plague ceased. In thanksgiving to God, the Church  established a more solemn celebration of this Feast. 

Church  hymnographers have adorned this Feast with their hymns: Saint Andrew of  Crete in the seventh century; Saint Cosmas Bishop of Maium, Saint John  of Damascus, and Saint Germanus Patriarch of Constantinople in the  eighth century; and Saint Joseph, Archbishop of Thessalonica in the  ninth century. 

Troparion of the Encounter

Hail, O Woman full of  grace, Virgin and Mother of God, from you has arisen the Sun of Justice, Christ our God, enlightening those who stand in darkness. You too, O just Elder Simeon, rejoice, for you carried in your arms the Redeemer of  our souls, who grants us resurrection. 

Kondakion of the Encounter

O Christ our God who, through your birth have sanctified the virginal womb and have blessed the arms of Simeon, You have come today  to save us. When wars prevail, keep your people in peace and strengthen  our Public Authorities in every good deed, for You alone are the Lover  of Mankind. 

Troparion of St. Maximus the Confessor: 

Guide  of Orthodoxy, mirror of piety and exemplary behaviour, bright star of  the universe and adornment of pontiffs, you enlightened us all by your  teaching. O wise Maximus, inspired by God and lyre of the Holy Spirit,  intercede with Christ God that He may save our souls. 

Kontakion of St. Maximus the Confessor: 

Let  us, O faithful, honour with worthy hymns the great Maximus so highly  devoted to the Holy Trinity. He preached faith in God with great courage  and glorified Christ in his two natures, two wills and two operations.  Wherefore let us cry out: “Joy to you, O Preacher of the Faith!”

After their studies at Athens, Gregory became Basil’s fellow ascetic, living the monastic life together with him for a time in the hermitages of Pontus. His father ordained him presbyter of the Church of Nazianzus, and Saint Basil consecrated him Bishop of Sasima (or Zansima), which was in the archdiocese of Caesarea. This consecration was a source of great sorrow to Gregory, and a cause of misunderstanding between him and Basil; but his love for Basil remained unchanged, as can be plainly seen from his Funeral Oration on Saint Basil.

About the Year 379, Saint Gregory came to the assistance of the Church of Constantinople, which had already been troubled for forty years by the Arians; by his supremely wise words and many labours he freed it from the corruption of heresy, and was elected Archbishop of that city by the Second Ecumenical Council, which assembled there in 381, and condemned Macedonius, Archbishop of Constantinople, the enemy of the Holy Spirit. When Saint Gregory came to Constantinople, the Arians had taken all the churches and he was forced to serve in a house chapel dedicated to Saint Anastasia the Martyr. From there he began to preach his famous five sermons on the Trinity, called the Triadica. When he left Constantinople two years later, the Arians did not have one church left to them in the city. Saint Meletius of Antioch, who was presiding over the Second Ecumenical Council, died in the course of it, and Saint Gregory was chosen in his stead; there he distinguished himself in his expositions of dogmatic theology.

Having governed the Church until 382, he delivered his farewell speech – the Syntacterion, in which he demonstrated the Divinity of the Son – before 150 bishops and the Emperor Theodosius the Great; in this speech he requested, and received from all, permission to retire from the see of Constantinople. He returned to Nazianzus, where he lived to the end of his life, and reposed in the Lord in 391, having lived some sixty-two years.

His extant writings, both prose and poems in every type of metre, demonstrate his lofty eloquence and his wondrous breadth of learning. In the beauty of his writings, he is considered to have surpassed the Greek writers of antiquity, and because of his God-inspired theological thought, he received the surname “Theologian.” Although he is sometimes called Gregory of Nazianzus, this title belongs properly to his father; he himself is known by the Church only as Gregory the Theologian. He is especially called “Trinitarian Theologian,” since in virtually every homily he refers to the Trinity and the one essence and nature of the Godhead.

Troparion of St. Gregory the Theologian:

The sweet melody of your theological teachings has overcome the noisy blasts of orators, for God has granted you the power of penetrating spiritual depths, and the gift of brilliant literary talent. Gregory, our Father, intercede with Christ God that He may save our souls.

Kontakion of St. Gregory the Theologian:

Glorious Gregory, your theological knowledge has solved the problems raised by rhetoricians: you have robed the Church with true theology inspired from on high. The Church puts on this robe and cries out with us your children: “Joy to you, O Father whose theological intelligence is so great.”

The cities of the world also enjoyed the fruit of his virtue. When the Christians were being persecuted and put to death under Maximinus in 312, he hastened to their aid and consolation. When the Church was troubled by the Arians, he went with zeal to Alexandria in 335 and struggled against them in behalf of Orthodoxy. During this time, by the grace of his words, he also turned many unbelievers to Christ.

Saint Anthony began his ascetic life outside his village of Coma in Upper Egypt, studying the ways of the ascetics and holy men there, and perfecting himself in the virtues of each until he surpassed them all. Desiring to increase his labors, he departed into the desert, and finding an abandoned fortress in the mountain, he made his dwelling in it, training himself in extreme fasting, unceasing prayer, and fierce conflicts with the demons. Here he remained, as mentioned above, about twenty years. Saint Athanasius the Great, who knew him personally and wrote his life, says that he came forth from that fortress “initiated in the mysteries and filled with the Spirit of God.” Afterwards, because of the press of the faithful, who deprived him of his solitude, he was enlightened by God to journey with certain Bedouins, until he came to a mountain in the desert near the Red Sea, where he passed the remaining part of his life.

Saint Athanasius says of him that “his countenance had a great and wonderful grace. This gift also he had from the Saviour. For if he were present in a great company of monks, and anyone who did not know him previously wished to see him, immediately coming forward he passed by the rest, and hurried to Anthony, as though attracted by his appearance. Yet neither in height nor breadth was he conspicuous above others, but in the serenity of his manner and the purity of his soul.” So passing his life, and becoming an example of virtue and a rule for monastics, he reposed on January 17 in the year 356, having lived altogether some 105 years.

Troparion of St. Anthony the Great

O Father Anthony, you imitated the zealous Elijah. You followed the straight paths of the Baptist and became a desert dweller. By prayer you confirmed the universe. Wherefore, intercede with Christ our God to save our souls.

Kontakion of St. Anthony the Great

Forsaking the uproars of life O venerable one, you completed your life in quiet, fully imitating the Baptist. Therefore, we honor you with him, O Anthony, Father of Fathers.