Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
A widow cast her precious icon into the sea rather than see it dishonoured by government agents, but that wasn’t the end of the story.
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© Riannacone, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.
A very unusual monastery with some very unusual protectors.
© Ωριγένης, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Following an appalling atrocity in fourth-century Thessalonica, two strong and determined men refused to back down.
The ten-year-old got away from a royal castle disguised as a bundle of hay.
From Wikimedia Commons.
Edmond Halley will forever be associated with the comet named after him, but his greatest achievement was getting Sir Isaac Newton to publish ‘Principia Mathematica’.
© François Bernardin, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.
In 6th century France, a faithful kitchen servant sold himself into slavery to rescue a kidnapped boy.