Wikipedia
Equal-to-apostles
An equal-to-the-apostles (, isapóstolos; ; , motsikultastsori; ; , ravnoapostol'nyj; Bulgarian and Serbian: , ravnoapostolni) is a special title given to some saints in Eastern Orthodoxy as well as in Byzantine Catholicism. The title is bestowed as a recognition of these saints' outstanding service in the spreading and assertion of Christianity, comparable to that of the original apostles.
Below is a partial list of saints who are called equal-to-the-apostles:
- Mary Magdalene (1st century)
- Photine, the Samaritan woman at the well (1st century)
- Thekla (1st century)
- Abercius of Hieropolis (2nd century)
- Helena of Constantinople (ca. 250 – ca. 330)
- Constantine the Great (ca. 272 – 337)
- Nino (ca. 296 – ca. 338 or 340), baptizer of the Georgians
- Mirian III of Iberia (died 361), first Christian Georgian monarch
- Patrick of Ireland (5th century)
- Photios I of Constantinople
- Cyril (827 – 869)
- Methodius (815 – 885)
- Boris I of Bulgaria (died 907)
- Olga of Kiev (ca. 890 – 969)
- Vladimir the Great (ca. 958 – 1015)
- Stephen I of Hungary (969 – 1038)
- Sava I of Serbia (1175 – 1235)
- Cosmas of Aetolia (1714 – 1779)
- Innocent of Alaska (1797 – 1879)
- Nicholas of Japan (1836 – 1912)