Who has a name day today, December 18, 2024. Congratulations!

Saint Modestus was the Patriarch of Jerusalem. Name days are celebrated by: Modestus, Modius and Modeus.

Saint Modestus was born in Sebasteia Cappadocia (in Asia Minor, on the border with Armenia) into a Christian family and from an early age felt an attraction to the strict monastic life.

He took monastic tonsure and later was abbot of the monastery founded in the 4th century by the Venerable Theodosius the Great - the founder of dormitory monasticism in Palestine.

At this time (614) the Persian king Chosroes united with the Jews to exterminate the Christians and launched a devastating invasion of Syria and Palestine. Tens of thousands of Christians were killed, Christian churches were destroyed, Patriarch Zachary of Jerusalem and many other Christians were taken captive along with the Holy Cross of the Lord.

In this troubled time, St. Modestus was entrusted with temporarily governing the Jerusalem Church as the vicar of the patriarchal see. He carefully collected the remains of the murdered monks from the monastery of St. Sava the Sanctified and buried them with honor. With the help of St. John the Merciful, Patriarch of Alexandria, he stopped the destruction of the Jerusalem Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Temple in Bethlehem, and other Christian shrines.

Fourteen years later, Patriarch Zachary returned from captivity with the Cross of the Lord. After his death, St. Modestus was appointed Patriarch of Jerusalem (632).

St. Modest died on December 18, 634, at the age of 97.

The holiday is dedicated to the health of domestic animals. Saint Modest is known as the patron saint of farmers and shepherds. The name of Saint Modest is rarely seen and heard throughout the Bulgarian ethnic territory, but in the Strandzha region he is especially popular. He is revered as the protector of livestock and is probably why he is revered in Strandzha, where cattle breeding is a major occupation.

The holiday is celebrated with colorful ritual practices. On this day, draft animals - buffaloes, horses, oxen - should not be harnessed. Women knead and distribute special ritual breads and cakes, necessarily smeared with a lot of oil, "so that the neck of the cattle is greasy".

If in a house the cattle often die, the housewives place on that day in front of the icon of the saint a small yoke or antlers made of aluminum, and sometimes silver.

Pogachi and boiled wheat are distributed.