Rating: 9,8|Votes: 20

Destroying

Fr. Ted Bobosh

Let us pray that God will find the way to use all who would persecute us Christians!

Rating: 9,7|Votes: 6

The Nativity of Christ: How Can We Feel the Joy of the Feast?

Nicholai Bulchuk, Archpriest Valerian Krechetov

A few days before the great feast of the Nativity of Christ we talked with Archpriest Valerian Krechetov, a famous confessor and preacher, and rector of the Church of the Protection of the Mother of God in the Akulovo village near Moscow. The subject of our talk was: How can we prepare ourselves to experience the great Christian feasts more attentively?

Rating: 10|Votes: 9

The Days Before the Nativity of Christ: Whom Do We Await?

Fr. Andrei Kanev

We have said that some celebrate Christmas without Christ, but sometimes Christians identify Christmas just with the Lord’s birthday. So what do we await on this feast: the appearance of God into the world, so as to endlessly feed 5,000 people? No—His appearance so as to go to the Cross, for us and for the possibility of our salvation.

Rating: 9,3|Votes: 12

Between New Year and Christmas

A mother’s notes

Anna Satrykina

And now very soon, today, it’s Christmas! We lie down to sleep to rest before the night service. We read together the “children’s” prayers before Communion, and put the little ones to bed. They quietly fall asleep, while the parents continue their prayers aloud by candlelight, reading the canon for the Nativity. The adults also get to rest—after all, the work has all been done.

Rating: 9,9|Votes: 14

“To Sura? I'll walk there!”

A talk with the Abbess of the St. John of Kronstadt Monastery in Sura

Peter Davydov

They asked me if I would go to Sura, in Archangelsk Province, in the Far North. I replied, “I won’t just go there—I’ll walk there!” And I’ll admit that throughout the whole time I’ve been here, never once—not one hour, not one minute—have I regretted that I ended up here.

Rating: 9,5|Votes: 21

Some New Year’s Resolutions

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Mark (1:1-8)

Fr. James Guirguis

In today’s reading, given to us on this the eve of the New Year, we hear these words “Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.” If that is not a worthwhile New Year’s resolution, I am not sure what would be. Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. But what does that actually mean for us? What is this path that we need to make straight? What is the way of the Lord, and how do we prepare it?

Rating: 9,6|Votes: 19

At Christmas We Forget God

Metropolitan Nikolaos of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki

Usually the Nativity of Christ is a special day, a special time of year, when we forget God.

Rating: 10|Votes: 20

Sretensky Monastery Wishes our Readers a Happy 2018

We wish you all the best in the coming year: peace, happiness, prosperity, and spiritual growth in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Rating: 10|Votes: 21

Gerontissa Theodosia: “The Abbess Should be a Real Mother For the Sisters”

A Conversation With the Abbess of Holy Trinity-St. Nektarios of Aegina Monastery

Elena Galkina, Gerontissa Theodosia

One of the issues of the journal Monastery Herald is dedicated to the monasteries of the island of the Aegean Sea. With the kind permission of the publisher, material from this issue—a conversation with the abbess of the Holy Trinity Convent on the island of Aegina, Gerontissa Theodosia—was published on Pravoslavie.ru.

Rating: 9,5|Votes: 10

Old Testament Images of Christ’s Birth

Fr. Ted Bobosh

There were three hymns that caught my attention with beautiful imagery.

Rating: 9,4|Votes: 19

A Church, or a Museum?

How should comtemporary Russians remember Soviet-era political repressions?

Vasiliy Shchipkov

In this article, Vasiliy Shchipkov, who holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Moscow State Institute of International Relations, discusses the Christian approach to remembering the terrible time of Soviet repressions vs. a mentality of retribution.

Rating: 9,8|Votes: 9

A Conflict with Christmas

Anna Romashko

Could it really be that Christianity requires a departure from the world even unto contempt for national holidays?

Rating: 10|Votes: 27

“If You Want to Serve The Lord, Then He Will Set You On The Right Path Himself”

A talk with Archimandrite Leonty (Zolotarev) on Divine providence, and miracles of the Zverinets Monastery’s relics

Olga Rozhneva, Archimandrite Leonty (Zolotarev)

The deputy abbot of the Zverinets Monastery of the Holy Archangel Michael in Kiev Archimandrite Leonty (Zolotarev) speaks about the role of Divine Providence in choosing one’s life’s path, and recalls his meetings with grace-filled ascetics and the wonderful miracles of God performed through the intercessions of the venerable fathers of Zverinets Monastery.

Rating: 9,9|Votes: 38

“The Blind Receive Their Sight…”

In the evening, having arrived at my dacha, I picked up an Orthodox calendar, but I couldn’t find my glasses. And lo and behold! Suddenly, I clearly and distinctly saw the lines and letters of the text, which became easy to read. I couldn’t believe it. I started grabbing other books with various fonts. I could read them all freely and easily, without glasses, with normal lighting.

Rating: 9,2|Votes: 17

What Does “For Righteousness Sake” Mean?

Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol

When Christ talks about righteousness, He does not mean worldly righteousness.

Rating: 10|Votes: 23

The Daily Life of the Family of the Last Emperor Under Arrest in Tsarskoe Selo

Anastasia Savchuk

When the tsar left Petrograd on February 22, 1917, there was no suspicion that his return would be connected with such tragic events. The family was reunited on March 9, although it was no longer the family of the autocrat of the great Russian Empire, before whom all were in awe, but the family of a prisoner.

Rating: 8,8|Votes: 40

The Dark Powers Don’t Let One Go So Easily

The monastery as a hospital to heal the illnesses of the 20th century. Part 1

Lolita Naranovich

All the names of the people I talked with have been changed. They agreed to tell me about their greatest secrets in the hope that these stories will help people understand that no matter how dark the night, there is always a path to the light.

Rating: 10|Votes: 26

The Light of St. Herman

So, whenever we feel that the darkness is compassing us all about and there is no healing for our flesh, let us always remember the Lord’s light-bearing promises to us; let us also remember our holy father St. Herman of Alaska, whose very soul was light, and let these thoughts be as a flood of radiant, gladsome light in our own souls.

Rating: 9,8|Votes: 4

“You Must Come Here” (+Video)

Abbess Seraphima (Chitanava): Reminiscences of St. Gabriel (Urgebadze)

Constantine Tsertsvadze, Abbess Seraphima (Chitanava)

We talked with Abbess Seraphima (Chitanava) about Elder Gabriel’s abundant love, his personality and holiness.

Rating: 9,2|Votes: 14

A Fast and a Feast

Archimandrite Gregorios Estephan

He who truly fasts, with repentance and tears, awaits the feast, to celebrate it with vigils, prayers and praises. Thus, true Christians are worthy to celebrate their feasts and to enter into the mystery of Christ’s economy of their salvation.

Rating: 9,5|Votes: 10

Who Are the Holy Forefathers, and Why do We Commemorate Them Before the Nativity of Christ?

Priest Andrei Chizhenko

We honor all the righteous of the Old Testament, including those who became the Savior’s ancestors according to the flesh, because these people burned like candles of God in the darkness of paganism, and lived in the hope of the coming of the Messiah and mankind’s deliverance from slavery to the devil, sin, and death.

Rating: 9,5|Votes: 27

Put the Dickens Back in Christmas

Fr. Stephen Freeman

American Christmas demonstrates the amazing influence of literature on a culture.

Rating: 9,3|Votes: 54

Is It Easy, Embroidering Heaven?

Photogallery

What inspires the sisters in this work? The thought that these things are a reflection of other-worldly, spiritual beauty.

Rating: 8,8|Votes: 18

European Renewal?

Analysis of the Paris Statement by European intellectuals

Anna Yakovleva

On October 7, 2017, several prominent European intellectuals published a Paris Statement titled “A Europe We Believe In”, which consists of 36 points postulating the loss of European identity due to the prevailing political, economic and cultural codes adopted and enforced by the EU, and pointing out ways to address this challenge.

Rating: 10|Votes: 25

“And You, My Child, Will Become Holy”

On Elder Iakovos (Tsalikis) of Evia

Archimandrite Kirill (Gerandoni)

Fr. Iakovos, laboring in the Monastery of St. David of Evia, was widely known already during his lifetime among the Orthodox as a man of prayer, a clairvoyant, and a healer of spiritual and bodily ailments, and not just in Greece.