A Daily Calendar of Saints: A Synaxarion for Today's North American Church

by Lawrence R. Farley

Popular biblical commentator and church historian Fr. Lawrence Farley turns his hand to hagiography in this collection of lives of saints, one or more for each day of the calendar year. His accessible prose and contemporary approach make these ancient lives easy for modern Christians to relate to and understand.

Genres: Religion, Spirituality, Nonfiction, Christianity

306 pages, Paperback

First published September 6, 1999

About the author

Father Lawrence, born in 1954, completed his M. Div. at Wycliffe College, Toronto School of Theology in 1979. After 6 years in pastoral ministry with the Anglican Church of Canada, he entered the Orthodox Church and completed a Certificate program at St. Tikhon’s Seminary in Pennsylvania and was ordained to the priesthood in 1986. Since 1987 he has served as the pastor St. Herman of Alaska Church in Langley BC, a missionary parish of the OCA (Archdiocese of Canada) founded by local laity, which has since grown to attain regular parish status and purchased its own building. Several priests, deacons, and lay members of new missions have emerged from the membership of St. Herman’s. Fr. Lawrence is the author of the Orthodox Bible Study Companion Series from Conciliar Press, and of a number of other books and articles, and appears in regular weekday podcasts on Ancient Faith Radio. He lives in Surrey B.C. with his family.

Reviews

[Donald · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the life of a saint from this book every morning and have for the last four years. I would like to find another single-volume synaxarion to alternate with but haven't found one. Suggestions welcome.

[Jeremy]

“Which is older—the mind or the book? And which is the source of the other? So, to the man whose mind is sound, there is no need for books to attain wisdom.” St. Anthony the Great (January 17)

[Marianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a great book if you want to start reading the lives of the saints daily. A book you can reread throughout each year. The lives of the saints are based off of the new calendar in the Orthodox Church in this book.

[Sarah Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great compilation of the lives of the saints. Each day is short and concise while giving great information. I will continue to read this daily.

[Courtney Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite collection of saints, tbh.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each day the Church remembers a long list of saints. We may wonder why each day has so many otherwise forgotten names attached to the Church calendar. These are the names of some of those who gave their all for Christ. A Daily Calendar of Saints, by Lawrence R. Farley is a new publication by Ancient Faith Publishing that provides an introduction to the saints of the ages for the modern reader.

As an ardent fan of Jane Austen’s fiction I compare A Daily Calendar of Saints to “visiting the upper rooms.” This book provides us with an introduction to those whom we will love. We are not meeting the social elite we are meeting those for whom love of Christ Jesus is foremost. There are no bores or self-absorbed scoundrels here. We don’t learn all that much about most of these people, but we do meet remarkable heroes who actually deserve the title.

A wide variety of martyrs and saints from every age and geographical area are included. The brief account of lives lived fully for Christ is the beginning of our knowledge of and admiration for the “great cloud of wittiness” that St. Paul reminded us are encouraging us. The professed purpose of the book is to enable us to cultivate the “friendship of the saints who are now in patria, in our heavenly homeland.”

This book is broken down as a calendar with a short paragraph or two for each day. We are briefly introduced to the key features of each saint’s life. We may not know them—yet—but they are some of the friends who are awaiting us with God. If our hope is heaven, then these are some of those with whom we hope to share our future.

The lives of these great men, women and children will surprise and inspire you. Hopefully you will want to learn more about some of these heroes of the faith. Find out more about their lives. Particularly be inspired to check out the books that they wrote. Reading their lives and letters, sermons and musings can profoundly influence us. Most of what the ancient fathers of the Church wrote is available free or at very low cost in digital format. That can be a good place to start. Once you find a saint who really engages you, buy a book or request one from your local library. Reading the words that have moved nations and changed lives for centuries is a powerful experience. I would also urge you to be on the look out for saints of more recent times. You may discover the writings of one who can speak God’s word directly into your heart and move you in ways you could not previously imagine.

The wonderful thing about this book is that every reader will be intrigued by the lives of different saints. By offering us an introduction to each of these people we have the chance to become acquainted with the lives of those who are most worthy of our attention. As you go through the year let yourself discover astounding people from every time and place. Adding this book to your daily reading is an amazingly simple way of meeting incredible men and women. Rather than viewing the long list of names attached to each day as challenge, recognize in them a glorious opportunity for you to become aquatinted with some of the most astounding people who have ever lived. These are those who can uplift and inspire us.

I am grateful to have received a copy of this book from the publisher for review.

[Chelsie Rosner · Rating 4 out of 5]

When my family and I decided to journey into Orthodoxy, I was so excited to be able to more openly learn about and talk about saints as they have played a huge role in my Christian walk. Much to my surprise(coming from a more Roman Catholic background then into Protestantism/Anglicanism), I was shocked that the Roman Catholics and Orthodox have different saints. It felt like a huge stumbling block for me, and was incredibly confusing. I honestly didn't even know where to begin.
I knew I wanted to incorporate saints into our homeschool routine, but was so lost I gave up trying.
This book, A Daily Calendar of Saints, was exactly what we needed. There is one (or more) Saints per day and they are broken down into very brief and quick paragraphs. I find this format is perfect and not to overwhelming for our homeschool mornings. I love the clear breakdown of months and days and this will be an excellent resource for our family. I do wish there were some pictures in it, just so we could recognize a few of the Saints a bit better, but understandably there is a lot covered in this book which might have made that difficult. While I can see my husband needing a more thorough and comprehensive book of saints this is perfect for homeschooling and quick daily readings about the saints. I am very glad we have this book as a resource in our home now.
*This book was provided to me for free by Ancient Faith Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the principal of our school, I was very excited to have the opportunity by Ancient Faith Publishing to read and review this book Every morning, as a school, we gather for morning prayers. I have been looking for a way to incorporate short readings of the saint of the day into our morning prayers and kept coming across either very lengthy readings of saints lives or the readings incorporated language that is way over the heads of our youngest children (our Montessori preschool begins at age three). This book is the perfect balance of length and difficulty for even our youngest students. In fact, I may have our 5th graders eventually read the life of the saint to the children during our morning prayer time. As we use this book everyday, my prayer is that over the years, the children will remember these lives of the saints (not just the well known saints, but even the lesser known saints).

I highly recommend this book for families with children at all age levels. It is easy to read and comprehend. Most of the daily lives of the saints are a short paragraph while the more well know saints are a bit longer.

I was gifted a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.