St Leo of Optina

St Leo of OptinaSt. Leo of Optina the first of the great Optina Elders and the one who established the tradition of eldership (starchestvo) at Optina Pustyn in the 19th century is depicted here by Deacon Paul Drozdowski of Holy Trinity Monastery. Father Leo's gifts of discernment, healing, and pastoral wisdom attracted thousands of pilgrims and laid the foundations for the extraordinary spiritual flowering of Optina in the decades that followed. An Orthodox mounted

worked miracles of healing

the Jordanville school

An Orthodox mounted icon of the Holy Apostle John

His golden hair a symbol of divine light and uncreated glory

and saint of the Russian Orthodox Church — defeated the Swedes on the Neva in 1240 and the Teutonic Knights on the ice of Lake Peipus in 1242

Copies of this beloved icon are kept in countless Orthodox homes and churches

Painted in the Palekh school of the Russian iconographic tradition

honors the Archbishop-physician whose combination of scientific brilliance and sanctity makes him a patron for all who serve in medicine

Longinus the Centurion — the Roman soldier who stood at the foot of the Cross

Adrian of Nicomedia

and He was afflicted

The feast honors the birth of the holy Theotokos to Joachim and Anna