25 May / 7 June

The Third Finding of the Head of St John the Baptist

In the eighth century, during a period of fierce iconoclasm, the head of St John the Baptist was taken to Comana, the place of St John Chrysostom's exile. When the iconoclast persecution ended in 850, in the time of the Emperor Michael and Patriarch Ignatius, the honoured head of St John was taken to Constantinople and placed in the church at the imperial court. The Hieromartyr Therapon, Bishop of Cyprus.

St. Aldhelm, bishop of Sherbourne. - 639-709

Born in Wessex in England, he became a monk at Malmesbury and taught there. In 675 he became abbot and in 705 first Bishop of Sherbourne. Aldhelm was the first Englishman to attain distinction as a scholar.

On the same day: The Holy Martyrs Pasicrates, Valentian, Julius and others