Icon of SS Gregory the Wonderworker & John the Merciful – S262

Description

Saint Gregory of New Caesarea, the Wonderworker, was born in a.d. 213 of eminent pagans, and studied in his youth Hellenic and Egyptian philosophy.  Unsatisfied with their shallow substance he began to search for more, and found everything in Christianity.  This he embraced and was baptized.  He became a desert hermit, but was later made Bishop of Caesarea.  He received from the Theotokos and Saint John the Beloved Disciple the words of a Creed, and this was later established at the Second Ecumenical Council in a.d. 381.  Saint Gregory was called a second Moses, and died to join Christ in a.d. 270.

Saint John the Merciful was the son of the noble Christian governor of Cyprus.  He himself, however, later preached, “If you seek nobility, seek it not in blood, but in virtue, for in virtue lies true nobility.”  After he was pressured to marry and raise a family, they all died young, and Saint John dedicated himself to merciful acts.  He was soon raised to become the Patriarch of Alexandria (from a.d. 611 to 620), continuing his great mercy, and finally went to the Lord soon after the Persian invasion of Egypt in a.d. 619.