Daily Calendar – October 26

The 299th day of the year; 66 days remain until the New Year.

Church Calendar

Feast of the Iveron Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos; commemoration of the Holy Martyrs: Carpus, Bishop of Thyatira; Papylus the Deacon; Agathodorus; and Agathonica (sister of Papylus); as well as Florentius and Benjamin the Deacon; the Venerable Nikita the Confessor; the Holy Great Martyr Zlata (Chryse) the Virgin of Meglen; and the Venerable Anthony, Metropolitan of Chqondidi, and the Hieromonk Jacob.

The Iveron Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, which was located on the Holy Mountain of Athos, became renowned for numerous miracles. The Athonite monk Iamblichus made a copy of the Iveron Icon and, accompanied by other Athonite monks, sent the holy icon to Moscow. Through the Lord, this holy Iveron Icon became glorified by many miracles.

The Holy Martyr Florentius was a native of the city of Thessaloniki. He brought many pagans to the path of serving the true God, teaching them the faith in Christ and the fulfillment of God’s will. For this, the pagans subjected him to cruel torture.

The Holy Martyr Benjamin the Deacon converted many Persian pagans to the Christian faith. He suffered for preaching the Gospel in Persia during the 5th century.

Venerable Niketas the Confessor served at the royal court during the reign of Empress Irene and her brother Constantine. He later became a monk and took up residence in a monastery. When the iconoclast Theophilos ascended the imperial throne, Venerable Niketas was expelled from his monastery for denouncing the heretics. Venerable Niketas the Confessor passed away at the age of 75.

The Holy Great Martyr Zlata the Virgin, of Moglena, was born and lived in the Bulgarian village of Slatino during the time when Bulgaria was under the Turkish yoke. A local Turk repeatedly attempted to entice her—seeking to convert the saint to the faith of Muhammad—but he could not shake the spirit of this glorious confessor of Christ. The Holy Great Martyr Zlata the Virgin met a martyr’s death at the hands of Muslim Turks in 1795.

Born:

1685 – Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti, Italian composer; died in 1757.

1826 – Dimitri Bakradze, prominent historian, archaeologist, and ethnographer; died in 1890.

1880 – Andrei Bely (Boris Bugaev), Russian writer; died in 1934.

1881 – Dutu Megreli (Dimitri Khoshtaria), writer; died in 1938.

1887 – Artem Erkomaishvili, a dedicated preserver of Georgian folk song and a lotbari (choirmaster/folk music conductor); died in 1967.

1901 – Davit Tsitsishvili, renowned Georgian painter and graphic artist; died in 1986.

1907 – Tinatin Virsaladze, Georgian scholar, art historian, and Honored Figure of the Arts of Georgia.

1916 – François Mitterrand, President of France; died in 1996. 1919 – Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran; died in 1980.

1939 – Tengiz Beridze, Academician of the Georgian Academy of Sciences.

1947 – Hillary Clinton, former United States Secretary of State.

1959 – Lika Kavjaradze, Georgian film actress; died in 2017.

Deaths:

1767 – William Hogarth, English painter; born in 1697.

1972 – Igor Sikorsky, aircraft designer; born in 1889.

1979 – Park Chung-hee, President of Korea; born in 1911.

Events:

1863 – The International Red Cross organization was founded in Geneva.

1900 – The first subway system opened in New York City.

1956 – The International Atomic Energy Agency was established.

1979 – South Korean President Park Chung-hee was killed by intelligence agents.

1994 – Jordan and Israel signed a peace treaty.