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BELGIUM: Brussels: the first Orthodox church in Belgium (1862), a particle of the relics of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker and a particle of the relics of Saint Seraphim of Sarov. Brussels: the Memorial Church, with holy objects connected with the Royal Passion-Bearers, Tsar Nicholas II and his family, and with the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia. It is also a place associated with the ministry of Saint John of Shanghai, San Francisco and Belgium (Maximovitch). Brussels: a particle of the relics of Saint John of Shanghai, San Francisco and Belgium (Maximovitch). Bruges: the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, a particle of the relics of Saint Basil the Great, teacher of the universal Church, and a particle of the Cross of the Lord. Pervijze: an Orthodox monastery with many relics of saints, in particular Saint Martin of Tours. Antwerp: a particle of the relics of Saint Seraphim of Sarov and a venerated icon of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker ... Mechelen: the wonderworking icon "Our Lady of Miracles" and the relics of Saint Rumbold. Tongeren - the oldest city in Belgium. Stavelot - Cugnon: the cave and monastery of Saint Remaclus. Gistel: the healing spring and the relics of the holy martyr Godelieve (11th century, commemorated on 6/19 July). Nivelles: the relics of Saint Gertrude. THE NETHERLANDS: Maastricht: the relics of Saint Servatius (+384) rest in the basilica. Dokkum: Saint Boniface (672-754, Dokkum).
Sint-Oedenrode: Saint Oda of Scotland (7th-8th centuries), commemorated on 23 October. Archimandrite Augustine Nikitin. Russian pilgrims at the shrines of Belgium. Bruges and the Holy Blood of the Lord - documentary film Saints of the Orthodox Church in Belgium and the NetherlandsHieromartyr Lambert, Bishop of Maastricht (+704), commemorated on 17/30 September. Saint Lambert was born in Maastricht to noble parents. He received his spiritual formation from Saint Landoald and later from Saint Theodard, Bishop of Maastricht, whom he succeeded at the age of twenty-one. He was favored at court, but after the death of King Childeric II his rivals drove him from his see and he withdrew to the monastery of Stavelot in the Ardennes, where he lived for seven years as an unknown ascetic. After being restored to his rank, he labored as a missionary in Frisia. He was a friend of Saint Willibrord before the latter became bishop. At the age of seventy-eight, after returning from an all-night vigil, he was martyred near Liege by members of his own family. Saint Bavo (Bavon, c. 613-659), commemorated on 1/14 October. He was a recluse from the city of Ghent. Saint Bavo, also known as Allowin, meaning "beloved by all", was a count in Flanders and lived a violent and dissolute life. Though ruled by his passions, he loved his wife tenderly, and after her death he could find no consolation in his grief. Bavo distributed his wealth and surrendered himself entirely to the will of God under the guidance of Saint Amandus. His repentance reached great ascetic depth. He even restored a man whom he had unjustly sold into slavery and, in setting him free, submitted himself to servitude in his place. He lived as a recluse near Ghent and received spiritual direction from Saint Floribert, a fellow missionary and disciple of Saint Amandus. After his death, his fame as a heavenly intercessor spread rapidly, and he became known as the patron of Haarlem in the Netherlands. His relics are still preserved in both cities. Saint Remaclus, Bishop of Maastricht. Commemorated on 3/16 September (+677). Saint Remaclus was born to noble parents and devoted himself to monastic life while still young. He was a disciple of Saint Eligius, who appointed him superior of the monastery at Solignac. He remained there only a short time, but gathered around himself many young learned ascetics and inspired them with the strict Irish monastic tradition. Saint Remaclus founded the twin monasteries of Stavelot and Malmedy in the Ardennes, ideally placed for missionary work. In 650 he was elected Bishop of Maastricht, succeeding Saint Amandus. Disregarding worldly concerns and the intrigues of the Frankish court, he retired to Stavelot in 662. Saint Remaclus had many spiritual sons and daughters, many of whom later became saints. He is known as the tamer of a wolf that had eaten one of the monastery animals. He gave the wolf the penance of taking the place of the animal it had taken, and so the wild creature was brought into obedience. Life. Saint Amandus, Bishop of Maastricht (589-679), commemorated on 6/19 February. Apostle of Flanders and Bishop of Maastricht. Leaving the world at the age of eighteen, he became a monk on an island near the coast of France, and later withdrew to live in solitude near Bourges under the spiritual guidance of the holy bishop Austregisilus and Archdeacon Sulpicius. They entrusted him with preaching the Gospel in the wild regions near Ghent in Belgium. He preached the Gospel among slaves, since he could not bring the word of Truth to the hearts of free men, and he labored to ransom captives from slavery. Once he raised a condemned thief from the dead, and through this miracle converted many, including the thief himself. As a missionary he followed the beloved Saint Martin of Tours, founding communities of monastic refuge throughout the Flemish part of the country. In 636 he was expelled by King Dagobert. On his return he was chosen against his will as Bishop of Maastricht. Among his disciples were Saint Aldegonde, Saint Gertrude and Saint Bavo. Saint Gaugericus/Gery (c. 550-626), Bishop of Cambrai, commemorated on 11/24 August. From his youth Saint Gaugericus showed great gifts and very early devoted himself to missionary work in the territory of present-day Belgium. As Bishop of Cambrai and Arras he spent many months travelling, founding churches and monasteries in the most remote places. Once he founded a chapel on the so-called "Swine Island" between two branches of the Senne. Later the chapel became a church, a small settlement grew up around it, and still later the Duke of Lotharingia made his residence there - this was the beginning of the city of Brussels. Saint Gery is considered one of the founders of the Belgian capital. Wikipedia... Saint Piatus/Plato of Tournai (+286), commemorated on 1/14 October. He was born in Italy with the name Benevento. He was sent by the Pope to preach in Chartres and in Belgian Tournai. According to tradition, he was ordained by Saint Dionysius the Areopagite. He died as a martyr under Emperor Maximian: the upper part of his head was cut off. His relics were found by Saint Eligius in the sixth century and are now in Chartres Cathedral, about eighty kilometers southwest of Paris. A particle of his relics is also preserved in Belgium, in the Orthodox monastery at Pervijze. Saint Gudula (650-712), commemorated on 8/21 January. Together with Saint Gery, she is regarded as a patroness of the city of Brussels. She was educated in the monastery of Nivelles under the guidance of Saint Gertrude. After Gertrude's death she returned to her parents' home and devoted herself to prayer and works of mercy, remaining a virgin while not considering herself worthy of the monastic rank. Nevertheless, already during her lifetime she was widely known for her ascetic struggles and for helping all in need; after her death she was glorified by many healings. Saint Hubert, Bishop of Liege (656-727), commemorated on 3/16 November. Belonging to the brilliant nobility of Aquitaine, Saint Hubert spent his youth in luxury and amusements. His conversion was sudden and miraculous: while hunting on Great Friday, he was struck by the vision of the Lord's Cross between the antlers of the stag he was pursuing, and by a thunderous voice calling him to repentance. Renouncing his dukedom and passing through monastic training under Saint Lambert, he later became Lambert's successor on the episcopal throne, which in his time was transferred to Liege. Saint Hubert became the true founder and organizer of Liege as a diocesan center and civic community. Saint Gertrude, Abbess of Nivelles, patroness of the Irish missionaries in the Netherlands. Commemorated on 17/30 March (626-659). Saint Itta, wife of Pepin of Landen, founder of the Carolingian dynasty, gave her estate at Nivelles to a monastery after her husband's death, and their twenty-year-old daughter Saint Gertrude became its first abbess. Nobly brought up and discerning, Gertrude invited the famous Irish missionaries Saints Foillan and Ultan from the castle of Burgh to found a missionary school in the women's monastery, which became a double monastery. The young abbess governed the monastery with the firmness of her Irish inspirers, while remaining kind to the young and the weak, who loved her greatly. This monastery suddenly became a center of learning and missionary activity. Because of her strict ascetic life and weak health, Saint Gertrude reposed at the early age of thirty-three. Saints Fursey, Foillan and Ultan, Irish missionaries. Their commemorations are on 16/29 November, 31 October/13 November, and 1/14 May respectively (7th century). The saints were brothers from a well-known Irish family. They began the monastic struggle under the guidance of Saint Fursey, the youngest brother, and went to England, where they carried out missionary and ascetic work in East Anglia. Later Saint Fursey came to the continent and founded a monastery at Lagny. After his death in 650, the two other brothers were invited by Saint Gertrude to preach the Gospel at Nivelles. They founded a monastic school there, teaching the nuns and young noblewomen. Saint Ultan founded a monastery at Fosses, and Saint Foillan received a martyr's death. Saint Lebuin, Anglo-Saxon missionary in Frisia. Commemorated on 16/29 November (+773). Saint Lebuin was one of the many zealous English priest-monks who came to the continent and preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ deep in the heart of pagan Frisia. He was a friend of Saint Gregory of Utrecht. Once he addressed an assembly of pagans gathered on the Weser. Like the Apostle Paul, he boldly declared himself a messenger of the unknown God. His courage won the favor of the presiding ruler, who allowed him to speak. But when he began to denounce the pagan gods, the spear-armed assembly rose against him. He then disappeared from their midst unharmed. He preached in many towns and built many churches, the best known of which is in Deventer, where he reposed in 773. His relics and the Gospel copied by him are kept there to this day. Saint Jeroen (Jerome), Anglo-Saxon missionary in Noordwijk. Commemorated on 17/30 August (+857). Saint Jeroen was one of many zealous missionaries who crossed the Channel to preach the word of God to the unbelieving Frisians, whom the people of Northumbria then counted as kindred. The center of his work was Noordwijk, a northern coastal town near the place where the Rhine reaches the North Sea. He served the Lord during the time of Viking raids. Already elderly, he was seized during a raid and imprisoned. Refusing to renounce faith in Christ, he was beheaded. Saint Willibrord/Clement, first Bishop of Utrecht (Willibrordus, c. 657-739, commemorated on 7/20 November). Archbishop of Utrecht and Apostle of the Frisians. Saint Willibrord was educated at the monastery of Ripon under the care of Saint Wilfrid. Later he became a disciple of Saint Egbert at Rath Melsigi in Ireland, where he went to receive the teaching of the Irish school. Inspired by Saint Egbert, Saint Willibrord set out with twelve missionaries and came in 690 to the fading Roman fortress of Utrecht. From there the missionary monks preached the Gospel both to the pagan Frisian peoples and to the Frankish elite, who were Christians only in name. Saint Willibrord and his fearless monastic companions founded a school for local clergy and made many missionary journeys. He worked many miracles and reposed in the monastery of Echternach. Read his Life... Saint Swidbert, missionary bishop in Frisia. Commemorated on 1/14 March (+713). Saint Swidbert was one of the twelve missionary companions of Saint Willibrord. He labored with great success in the more settled regions south of the Rhine, but he desired to preach in the unexplored territory north of the same river. After a journey to Rome in 697, Saint Swidbert returned to England already consecrated as a bishop. He befriended the pagan Bructeri people, teaching them methods of agriculture and horse breeding, and became their adviser. In 710 he founded a missionary monastery in the fading Roman fortification at Kaiserswerth on the Rhine, near present-day Dusseldorf, training monks for missionary work among the Germanic tribes. His relics remain on the site of the original monastery. Saint Cunera, holy virgin martyr of Rhenen. Commemorated on 12/25 June (451). Righteous Cunera was one of many noble virgins who went on pilgrimage to Rome. Her group was seized by the advancing Huns in Cologne and martyred. Cunera was one of the few who escaped. The Frisian king Radboud gave her refuge. As a servant she won his heart by her humility and mercy. This aroused the jealousy of his wife, who had her confined. When that did not succeed, the queen and the treasurer strangled Saint Cunera with her own scarf. This was revealed in a miraculous way. Saint Cunera was buried with that scarf, and centuries later her wonderworking grave was discovered by Saint Willibrord. He built a church on the site, where the town of Rhenen now stands. The scarf itself has been preserved; the original is kept in the Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht. Holy Martyr Dymphna, patroness of those suffering mental illness. Commemorated on 15/28 May (7th century). Saint Dymphna was the daughter of a pagan king, while her mother was a Christian in Ireland. When her mother died, her father wished to take his own daughter as his wife. Dymphna sailed to the continent with her spiritual father, the priest Gerebernus. Her father pursued them and suddenly found them. When Dymphna again refused to submit to his impure desire, he beheaded them both. Dymphna became patroness near the village of Geel in Flanders, where she is still venerated as patroness of the mentally ill. People came from far away hoping to receive healing at her tomb. Later an entire community grew around the veneration of Saint Dymphna, based on the traditional understanding of the Church as a spiritual hospital. Saint Oda the Virgin. Commemorated on 28 November/11 December (+726). Saint Oda was the blind daughter of a Scottish king. She made a pilgrimage to the relics of Saint Lambert and there received her sight. In gratitude to God for her healing, she dedicated herself to Christ and left her homeland, where her father tried to force her into marriage. Her life was filled with repentance and ascetic labors. She made a pilgrimage to Italy and later returned to the Netherlands, where she withdrew to live in solitude in Brabant, in Sint-Oedenrode. She departed to the Lord around the year 726. Read the Life... Saint Servatius, Bishop of Tongeren and Maastricht. Commemorated on 13/26 May (+384). Saint Servatius came to the Netherlands from Armenia after a vision of an angel. Already a priest, he was consecrated Bishop of Tongeren. He was a fierce opponent of the Arian heresy, attended the Council of Cologne in 346, and denounced those bishops who denied the divinity of Jesus Christ. He was a friend of Saint Athanasius the Great in Trier from 336 to 338. Later he went to Rome, where he received a revelation from the holy Apostle Peter that his city of Tongeren would be besieged by the Huns and that he should move the episcopal see to Maastricht. Already elderly, he entered Maastricht and soon reposed there. Through the intercession of the holy bishop, the city of Maastricht was miraculously preserved from the Huns, who surrounded the city several times but could not find it. His relics are still kept in the cathedral of Maastricht. A particle of Saint Servatius' relics is also kept in the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Brussels. Saint Boniface, Apostle of the Frisians and Saxons. Commemorated on 5/18 June (675-755). Saint Boniface left the monastery of Ripon in England and began his missionary work on the continent in 718, preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to pagans and to Christians who had lost the faith in Beira and Thuringia in their Saxon dialect. Later he also came to Frisia and labored together with Saint Willibrord. In 723 he was appointed missionary bishop and led an immense missionary field among many different peoples. In 732 he was raised to the rank of archbishop over the entire German mission territory. He built churches on the sites of former pagan temples and ordained priests and bishops. His missionary work remained stable and lasting despite the continuing intrigues of the Merovingian royal house. His attractive personality drew the attention of all, and he earned deep respect. His correspondence also reached England. In old age the burden of his ministry weighed upon him, and he longed to return to the free and spiritually rich work of evangelizing the Frisians. He placed his disciples in key positions in monasteries and set out again to work among the Frisians. There, in Dokkum, now in the Netherlands, he met a martyr's death with many companions. Part of his relics is kept there, as well as in Fulda. Hieromartyr Lucian the Bishop, Maxian the Presbyter, Julian the Deacon, Marcellinus and Saturnina (+c. 81-96). Commemorated on 3/16 June. The hieromartyr Lucian lived in Rome and in paganism bore the name Lucius. The Apostle Peter enlightened him with the light of faith in Christ, and he received Baptism. After the Apostle's death, Saint Lucian preached the Gospel in Italy. At that time Saint Dionysius the Areopagite, disciple of the Apostle Paul, came to Rome. At the request of Saint Clement, Pope of Rome, he agreed to go to the western countries to preach the Gospel and began choosing companions and helpers. Saint Clement consecrated Saint Lucian as bishop and sent him, together with Saints Marcellinus and Saturninus, Maxian the presbyter and Julian the deacon, with Saint Dionysius. From Italy the holy preachers sailed to Gaul. Saint Marcellinus and his companions went to Spain, Saint Saturninus to Gaul, and Saint Dionysius with the rest of the company to the region of Paris. From there Saint Lucian, with Maxian and Julian, went to Belgium. Saint Lucian's preaching was very successful. By his grace-filled word and the example of his life he converted many pagans to Christianity. Saint Lucian was a strict ascetic, eating during the whole day only a piece of bread and a little water. He was meek in manner, always joyful and bright in countenance. Soon almost the whole population of Belgium turned to faith in Christ. At that time the Roman emperor Domitian (81-96) began the second persecution of Christians after Nero and issued a decree ordering torture and execution for all who refused to sacrifice to the pagan gods. Three officials were sent to Belgium to carry out the decree. The Lord revealed to Saint Lucian the struggle that awaited him. Gathering his flock, he urged them not to fear threats, torments or death, and then gave thanks to God for granting him the possibility of joining the company of the holy martyrs. After prayer Saint Lucian, with Maxian the presbyter and Julian the deacon, withdrew to the top of a hill, where he continued teaching the people who accompanied him. There the emperor's soldiers overtook the saints and brought them to trial. Saints Maxian and Julian were ordered to renounce Christ and sacrifice to idols, but both firmly refused and were beheaded. Then the judge questioned Saint Lucian, accusing him of sorcery and disobedience to the emperor and senate. The saint answered that he was no sorcerer, but a servant of the true God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he refused to sacrifice to idols made by human hands. The saint was cruelly scourged, during which he only repeated: "I shall never cease, in heart, faith and lips, to praise Christ, the Son of God". The holy martyr was beheaded. A heavenly light shone over his body, and the voice of the Savior was heard calling the valiant sufferer to the Kingdom of Heaven to receive the martyr's crown. By the power of God the saint rose, took his severed head, crossed the river and, reaching the place he had chosen for burial, lay down on the ground and peacefully reposed. At the sight of this great miracle about five hundred pagans turned to Christ. Later a church was built over the tomb of the martyr Lucian, and the remains of the holy martyrs Maxian and Julian were transferred there. Source.
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