102 Orthodox Saints

Ss. Priscilla and Aquila

When my kids were little I always kept a church bag with religious books, soft toys, and coloring pages with a few crayons. The kids were only allowed to read some of those books at church, which helped them looked forward to them. It was a nice way to keep them quiet and busy during Liturgy. My kids are all too old for coloring pages and toys now, but my 9 year old will still read a book during Orthros or at other times during the Liturgy. Recently, she's been reading the Action Bible, but I've had my eye out for some Orthodox books that might be more appropriate for her age. So I was thrilled to receive a review copy of 102 Orthodox Saints! 

St. Hermione

I study saints and history in my academic work, so this book has tons of elements that I love. It's laid out alphabetically, with a key on the side of the page which includes an icon, name, date and location, as well as vocation and feast day. Besides Nicholas Malara's beautiful illustrations, each entry also includes maps and photographs or illustrations of historical artifacts. I love seeing St. Hermione's medical instruments, St. Saba's monastery, or the Byzantine map of Constantinople from the time of Pulcheria. These details root the saints in the physical world, reminding us that these are more than fairy tales. These are real people, from every corner of the earth, whose show us a myriad of ways to live out the Christian life. Definitely a good pick for history lovers!

When I was putting together this blog post, I realized the pictures I snapped reflect my interest in the early Christian and early Byzantine periods - but the books includes modern saints, too. My kids always enjoy those. Its fun to see real photographs of modern saints and remember that God continues to be glorious in his saints!

St. Matrona

My 9 year old daughter enjoyed the pictures and liked reading the stories. She said she would enjoy using it during church and other times. My 17 year old daughter was also enamored with it! She loved the reference features, being able to look saints up by date or alphabetical order, and the color coding on the side that indicates what time period the saint came from. She was wondering which saints are in 101 Saints, and so I'm thinking we'll have to add that book for Christmas. (Or when it's back in print?!)

Ss. Perpetua and Felicity

There are definitely some wonderful saints in this volume. I love Ss. Perpetua and Felicity, and this illustrations of them as mothers is so beautiful! Holy Saints, pray to God for us!

St. Saba

Church bag