As evidenced by the earliest surviving liturgical texts from throughout the world, the Church consistently and universally entreated the martyrs--often recent martyrs from the local region--for their intercessions (prayers) on behalf of those Christians still racing toward the finish. In particular, the memory of the martyrs was kept on the date of their martyrdom, when the Church gathered to celebrate their birth into eternal life. We have direct testimony of this practice from the middle of the second century in an eyewitness account of the martyrdom of Saint Polycarpos (Polycarp), Bishop of Smyrna, an 86 years old disciple of the holy Apostle John. After his remains were burned by the centurion, we hear the following from the account:

"Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lord, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints" (Revelation 5:8).

Saint Hilarion our holy Father, a native of the village of Thawatha, some five miles south of Gaza in Palestine, was born around 293 A.D. This great miracle of the wilderness is to be compared to a rose amid thorns, because he was the offshoot of pagan Greek parents. His parents were desirous that their son should one day become a wise philosopher, so they sent him to study in a grammar school in Alexandria. This was, indeed, God's providence, so that the youth might learn of the True Faith of the Master Christ and thereby deny the idols.

Matrona, our holy and wonderworking Mother, was from Volissos, located on the northwest coast of the island of Chios. Her parents, Anna and Leon Sepsinias, were devout Christians, adorned with every Christian ethic and good work. Moreover, they were quite wealthy and distinguished. They had seven daughters, and Mary (later named Matrona) was one of them. Mary had been named in honor of the Ever-Virgin and Theotokos, the blameless Bride of Christ.

Martin Luther whose express mission was to get back to the Holy Scripture, was the first to espouse and define a doctrine of justification by faith alone. As he himself attests, "This one and firm rock, which we all the doctrine of justification, is the chief article of the whole Christian doctrine."