St. Modesto's Day

St. Modesto's Day

December 18St. Modesto is the patron saint of farmers in Greece. His feast day is celebrated with various rituals in honor of farm animals. Sometimes a special mass is said for the cattle. In Lemnos, kollyva (cooked wheat berries) and holy water are mixed with their fodder, while in Lesbos, the holy water is sprinkled on the fields to ward off locusts and disease. For horses and oxen, December 18 is a day of rest.
The Eastern Orthodox Church reserves this day to commemorate St. Modestus, who was patriarch of Jerusalem from 631 to 634. He had been abbot of St. Theodosius's Monastery in the desert of Judah, and was administrator of Jerusalem during the captivity of St. Zacharias in Persia. Modestus is known for a sermon he preached on the bodily Assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven.
SOURCES:
FolkWrldHol-1999, p. 706
OxYear-1999, p. 503