"Saint Cosmas came from Bulgaria where his devout parents provided him with a good education in Slavonic and Greek. They wanted him to marry but he was drawn by the love of Christ and, unknown to them, made his way to the Holy Mountain of Athos to become a monk at the Bulgarian monastery of Zographou. On the feast of the Annunciation at the Monastery of Vatopedi, he saw a woman among those serving in the Church and in the refectory, and he was grieved at first to observe this breach of the monastic rule, but overjoyed when he realized that it was the Mother of God who had appeared to him in this way.   "He was clothed in the holy angelic Habit and, after some time, was ordained priest. One day, as he was praying before the icon of the Mother of God, asking her with tears how to achieve his salvation, he heard a voice saying, 'Let my servant withdraw to the desert outside the monastery.' He was obedient to the will of God and, with the blessing of his Abbot, lived in silence from then on. Some years later, he was found worthy of the grace of discernment of thoughts and of beholding things happening elsewhere, as well as of other spiritual gifts. In the course of many years, he was the spiritual helper of a great number of monks. At the end of his life, Christ appeared to him saying that he would shortly have a great trial to endure from the Devil. Indeed, the prince of demons made his appearance next day with a host of his servants bewailing and bemoaning their inability to annihilate their great enemy Cosmas, who had held them in check for so long and gained possession, by his virtue, of the throne in Heaven that had once been Lucifer's. Taking a heavy stick, the demon beat the Saint so violently that he left him half-dead. As God allowed, Saint Cosmas died in peace two days later, on 22 September 1323. When the fathers came from the monastery to bury him, the wild animals gathered round. They kept silent until the end of the service, but howled unusually loud as his body was covered with earth. Then having paid their respects, they made off into the wilderness. Forty days later, the monks came to take up the body of Saint Cosmas and translate it to the monastery, but it was no longer in the grave. Where it now is God alone knows." (Synaxarion)

Matthew begins the story of the first great American convert priest. Learn more HERE.

Matthew continues the story of the first great American convert priest. Learn more HERE.

Matthew interviews Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick, Associate Director of the Society for Orthodox Christian History in the Americas, about another of the past attempts at Orthodox administrative unity. Learn more HERE.

Matthew recounts the first of many scandals that have rocked the St. Alexander Nevsky Russian Orthodox Cathedral in San Francisco and then explains why knowledge of such scandals is important. Learn more HERE.

A severe weather alert in southern Spain leads to the opening tie of the Billie Jean King Cup between Spain and Poland being postponed.

The decades long battle between a small Scottish community and Donald Trump's golf dream

BBC Sport Scotland speaks to some of the nation's top athletes to get their views on Glasgow hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

Lloyd Martin could not be torn away from music he passed on the route, says his mum Ceri.

Lloyd Martin, who has Down's syndrome, runs the New York Marathon after a record-breaking London run.

LME has acquired the Loch Ness Marathon and Festival of Running and Etape Loch Ness.

Ms Watkins was the first continuity announcer to appear on screen on Telefís Éireann.

John Deery, who is alive due to a series of events and some strangers, is backing a defibrillator campaign.

For several months, Katie Simpson’s death in 2020 was treated by detectives as a suicide.

A man in his 30s is being questioned after a man in his 60s was found dead in a County Laois hotel.

Maeva McDermott, who was conceived after her mother was sterilised, was born with a severe condition that blocked her airways.

Concerns are raised about damage to plantations and boundary fencing in the Manx uplands by riders.

Brian Whitelock told neighbours he did not know why he stabbed Wendy Buckney, a court hears.

A seven-year sentence is handed out to a man whose four-wheel drive car ploughed into a group of friends.

Coroner Joseph Turner says the man's medical cause of death could not be ascertained.

Ian Staves was found dead at his home in Cherry Lane, Wootton, in September 2022.

A police force formally rejects 72 complaints against officers by patients' relatives.

Neil Crossley from Barnsley forgot his daughter Amy when walking down the aisle

A jury is dismissed, recording the death as accidental, but a coroner has yet to make a conclusion.

The 87-year-old woman died hours after being knocked over by the downwash of the landing helicopter.

Sale and England forward Jonny Hill is given a 10-week suspension for an incident involving a fan after their Premiership semi-final loss to Bath.

Bath lock Ewan Richards is growing "everything" about his game, says coach Andy Robinson after their second Premiership Rugby Cup win.

Owners can watch a movie with their dogs at The Little Theatre Cinema in Bath.

She’s one of 22 female drivers taking part in a Formula E test event in Valencia.

Cameron Bell was seen wearing her work uniform as a group walked through Tamworth town centre.

Farmers say the National Trust has damaged heathland on the Long Mynd.

A review identifies aspects of poor care and issues with the neonatal service.

Civic leaders led tributes in scores of ceremonies to mark the occasion across north-west England.

Michael Hall shares his journey since son's death, Georgia Stone reports.

However, a coroner says she was unable to conclude Amir Safi had intended to end his life.

Five-year-old Saleh Aslam was climbing a radiator which fell on top of him near Watford.

The Reverend Canon Will Gibbs explains how the story of Saint Alban became an inspiration

John Stockley never knew the identity of his father - a black GI, stationed in Dorset.

Bedworth has marked 11 November on the actual day every year for more than 100 years.

A Planning Inspectorate finds the path was "once a highway" so can therefore "always" be a highway.

Like many people who live in America I have donated to US political candidates and campaigns. And like many people who live in America I have subsequently found my entire life suddenly and completely overwhelmed by text-messages and e-mail spam and phone calls and any number of other venal, stressy, desperate campaign messages. Now of […]

Bath centre Louie Hennessey signs a new "long-term" contract with the Premiership club.

Judy Orme won the 2024 World Triathlon Championships in her 70-74 age group category in Spain.

Parts of Roman Watling Street discovered near New Cross.

It gives me great pleasure to post extremely belated (he completed in December last year!) congratulations to Dr. Dasarath Weeratunge on his completing his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana (where I got my Ph.D. too). Dasarath's Ph.D. was in compiler optimization (don't have the exact topic) and was co-advised by Suresh Jagannathan and Xiangyu Zhang. Dasarath is now working in Intel Labs.

I advised Dasarath's final year project when he was an undergrad at Univ. of Moratuwa - he worked on what became Apache Kandula, a WS-Atomic Transactions implementation for Apache Axis. Later he also contributed to Apache Axis2 and worked on making Kandula work with Axis2. He joined Purdue in August 2005 IIRC.