The Church honors St. Paul the Confessor, Archbishop of Constantinople today.
On this day, St. Claudia and Rev. Luke of Tavromeny are also honored, so in addition to Paul, Pavlina and Pavleta, Claudia and Luke can also be named for their name day, writes Offnews.bg.
St. Paul was from Thessaloniki, a highly educated defender of the Orthodox confession against the Arians.
Paul ascended to the patriarchal throne several times and was deposed from it several times, depending on whose influence prevailed in the fierce and often bloody struggle between the Arians and the Orthodox. But both in exile and on the patriarchal throne, he always showed himself to be an unwavering confessor and pillar of Orthodoxy.
This steadfastness became the cause of his martyrdom. Emperor Constantius, a supporter of the Arian doctrine, sent him into exile in the Asia Minor region of Cappadocia, in the city of Kukus. There, Paul was strangled during a divine service with his own omophorion in 350.
A year later, his relics were transferred to Constantinople, and from there to Venice, where they are still located today.