What names are included in today’s feast day calendar.
Today, the feast day calendar includes those bearing the name Asterios, Asteris, Astrinos, Asterinos, Astrini, Astero, Asteria, Astroula, Asterini, Nikanor, Nikanoras.
Saint Nikanor the Miracle Worker
Saint Nikanor was born in 1491 AD in the capital of Macedonia, Thessaloniki. His parents, Ioannis and Maria, were devout and lived in the neighborhood of Saint Mina. The entire city of Thessaloniki was fortunate and praised the saint’s parents for their wealth and nobility, but mainly for the faith and virtue that distinguished them. They were charitable and compassionate, and their life was a work of love towards their suffering brethren. However, God wanted to test them with temporary childlessness, being barren like Saint Anna, the mother of Saint Nikanor. Every day she prayed in the church of Saint Mina for God to grant them a child for consolation. The prayers, fasting, and vigils of his parents were heard by our Lord and God, and at the time when the devout woman was praying to God in the Temple of Saint Mina, the will of the Lord was revealed to her: “God has heard your supplications, O woman, as once He did for the widow Anna, and He has loosened the bonds of your barrenness; simply go to your house and you shall conceive and bear a Son who will become a pure vessel of the Holy Spirit and will lead many to the Lord through his angelic and virtuous conduct.” Thus, as a divine gift, Nicholas (this was the worldly name of the saint) came into the world, and his parents entrusted him to a pious teacher to learn the sacred scriptures.
The young Nicholas, intelligent in mind, soon gained great familiarity with ecclesiastical matters and a love for the Church of Christ, as do all saints. From a young age, he understood his calling from God; his only desire was to live in solitude and to become a follower of the holy fathers of our Church. He wished throughout his life to serve the Lord completely with both soul and body. Therefore, he spent his life in fasting, vigil, and prayer. At a young age, he lost his dear father and stayed with his mother. His devout mother, not knowing her child’s desire, wished to marry him to a virtuous girl, and while on one side the saint longed to leave all worldly matters and live in solitude, dedicating himself entirely to God, on the other hand, he did not want to sadden his mother; therefore, he constantly postponed the realization of his desire to become a monk.
God, who provides for all, after a certain period, took his mother from the world, thus opening the way for Nicholas to follow the monastic life. Without wasting any time, he distributed his paternal inheritance to the poor and orphans, and although he could assume high office due to his parents’ prestigious position, he considered all of this as refuse compared to his great love for Christ. Now free from any worldly cares, he became a monk under the name Nikanor. As a monk, he multiplied the gifts that God had given him.
The reputation he gained reached the Metropolitan of Thessaloniki, who ordained him as a deacon and presbyter with the intention of making him his successor. As a clergyman of the Metropolis of Thessaloniki, Nikanor exhibited great zeal, and his contributions were unparalleled. But the time had come for what God had destined for him. In one of his night prayers, while earnestly imploring God with tears, he heard a voice from heaven saying: “Nikanor, leave your land and your relatives, and go to Mount Kallistratos and labor there well, and I will be with you to protect you all the days of your life, and I will make your name renowned and will glorify you throughout all ages.” After this divine command, the saint left Thessaloniki at a relatively young age, about 27 years, and set off to go where God had called him. On the road, in the villages he encountered, he taught the desperate Christians to keep their faith.
Upon arriving at Mount Kallistratos and seeing the tranquil place, the saint received an inner revelation from the Lord that here would be his ascetic arena. He glorified God and began to engage in ascetic struggles. Sixteen whole years of hard struggle with the flesh and the demons passed. Vigil, fasting, and toil for the love of Christ. Silence, the absence of human consolation made him a vessel of the Holy Spirit. Later, he founded the Monastery of the Transfiguration of Christ or Zavorda.
His ascetic dwelling is preserved to this day.
The Holy Monastery was founded by revelation from Christ Himself after he found an icon of the Savior hidden since the time of the iconoclasm.
His fame spread everywhere as the Lord had told him. Multitudes of people from the surrounding area rushed to the monastery to be blessed by the saint, to hear his soul-saving teaching, and to be healed as there were many miracles performed by the saint. After living virtuously and angelically, the time came for him to pass to the other eternal and true life. He foresaw his death and called the monks and laity around him, blessed them, gave them counsel, and surrendered his spirit to our Redeemer Christ on August 7, 1549. The monks of the Monastery mourned the saint who had comforted them and buried him in a chapel of the Monastery. Since then, the sanctified relic of the saint has performed many miracles until today.
Saint Asterios the Venerable Martyr and Miracle Worker
When and where he was martyred is not mentioned by the Synaxarists. In most of the Codes, he is recorded as “martyr and a senator, completed by the sword.” In the Synaxarion of Saint Nicodemus, he is referred to as “Venerable Martyr and Miracle Worker.”