St. Volodymyr's Parish

Pratulyn martyrs

The Pratulyn martyrs were a group of 13 Greek-Catholic believers killed by the Russian Army on January 24, 1874 in the village of Pratulyn near Biala Padlaska (now Polish). Following the secularization and delegalization of the Eparcy of Kholm, the Russian authorities forcibly subdued all Greek-Catholic and their churches to the Russian Orthodox Church. In a protest against the Russification and confiscation of the church, the Greek-Catholic community gathered in front of the shrine, but were fired upon by the Russian forces. In modern times, the local church is devoted to the 13 people killed there.
They were beatified by the Servant of God Pope John Paul II on October 6, 1996. In 1998 some of their relics have were transferred to the Byzantine-Slavonic Rite church in nearby Kostomloty, where the Shrine of the Martyrs of Pratulin was established

Our Holy Father Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa (395)

"Saint Gregory, the younger brother of Basil the Great, illustrious in speech and a zealot for the Orthodox faith, was born in 331. His brother Basil was encouraged by their elder sister Macrina to prefer the service of God to a secular career (see July 19); Saint Gregory was moved in a similar way by his godly mother Emily, who, when Gregory was still a young man, implored him to attend a service in honour of the holy Forty Martyrs at her retreat at Annesi on the River Iris. Saint Gregory came at his mother's bidding, but being wearied with the journey, and feeling little zeal, he fell asleep during the service. The Forty Martyrs then appeared to him in a dream, threatening him and reproaching him for his slothfulness. After this he repented and became very diligent in the service of God. He became bishop in 372, and because of his Orthodoxy he was exiled in 374 by Valens, who was on one mind with the Arians. After Valens' death in 378 he was recalled to his throne by the Emperor Gratian. He attended the Local Council of Antioch, which sent him to visit the churches of Arabia and Palestine, which had been defiled and ravaged by Arianism. He attended the Second Ecumenical Council, which was assembled in Constantinople in 381. Having lived some sixty years and left behind many remarkable writings, he reposed about the year 395. The acts of the Seventh Ecumenical Council call him "Father of Fathers." (Great Horologion)

source:http://www.abbamoses.com