St. Catherine came from a noble family of Alexandria, and martyred in the early 4th century AD. She was very intelligent and knowledgeable. Already at the age of eighteen he possessed the knowledge of Greek, Roman and Latin literature and philosophy. He was also well trained in the doctrines of the Christian faith.
When Christians were persecuted under Emperor Maximinus, Catherine boldly proclaimed that Jesus Christ was the only True God.
According to the legends (tradition) and the Synaxaries of St. Catherine, when Emperor Maximinus was informed of what was being spread about her ideas and the way of life of the Saint, he commissioned fifty or according to others one hundred and fifty famous orators, (the number characterizes the rhetorical ability of the Saint), to discuss with her in order to prove to her the unfounded and distorted of her ideas (beliefs). The result, however, was the opposite. Catherine with the elegance of her speech and arguments "she glorified the elegant of the ungodly, she was stabbed in the spirit»
In the face of this end, she was ordered to be tortured severely in the hope that the saint would bend over and deny Christ. But Catherine remained steadfast in her faith. He was finally beheaded, following an order from the prefect.
The day of the martyrdom of St. Catherine is considered the 24 November, of the finding of her remains the 25 November However, except for all the Slavs who especially honor to this day the day of the martyrdom of the Saint, all other Christians on the recommendation of the monks of Sinai celebrated in one or both festivals and set November 25 as a day in honor of her sacred memory.
Stylianos was the son of wealthy parents and was taught early on by them to be restrained and to consider money as a means of relieving and caring for the poor and sick.
When his parents died, he distributed all his inheritance and went as an ascetic in the desert. The fame of his wonderful ascetic life reached the cities, and many rushed to find him to ask him for his spiritual guidance.
Saint Stylianos, despite his deserted life, nurtured affection and sympathy for children. "If, he said, humility is the foundation of virtues, childhood by nature is more virtuous than the greatest of philosophers." Many times the parents brought their children to him, and then the joy of the saint was very great. God, endowing this sacred feeling of his, endowed the saint with the gift of healing sick children and making childless childless women. From the paraphrase of his name it is believed that he pillars, that is, enhances the health of children. That is why during his holiday the mothers of babies and other children abstain from any activity. So in Ikaria the houses have the image of the saint and when a child became ill, they operated on the image and crucified the child with it. In Crete the parents of the children who die, name the newborn after the death of the child, Styliano ή Styliani. The Orthodox Church commemorates him on November 26.