May 27, 2022 Come with Me to Mount Athos. Part 56 Part 55 Back to Russia The ferry came, and the once deserted Dafni pier became lively again. Outside the local customs office, a small…
May 25, 2022 Christian Insights on Life in Times of War It is not in our power to stop a war. Yet we do have the power to remain human, and most importantly, Christians –…
May 18, 2022 Come with Me to Mount Athos. Part 55 Part 54 Shopping for souvenirs The bus departed, and the Daphne pier was empty again. Silouan, an elderly monk, returned with his face glowing….
May 18, 2022 Married or Celibate? The Evolution of the Views on the Celibacy Rule for Orthodox Bishops In the Russian Church tradition, bishops have historically been drawn from monastics, and rarely from the Ryasophore monks*. Conversely, in the Greek tradition, Ryasophore…
May 13, 2022 Why Would an Archbishop ever Ride a Donkey? In the past, newly ordained Orthodox bishops used to ride into town on a donkey. This ritual evoked the Entry of the Lord into…
May 12, 2022 Can a Monastic Person Turn Down His Obedience? The word “obedience” has a number of meanings. One of them refers to a way of living in ancient monasteries, where novices voluntarily renounced…
May 12, 2022 Come with Me to Mount Athos. Part 54 Part 53 A Sobering Conversation over Coffee At last, a ferry appeared in our view. It was coming to take us across time. We…
May 11, 2022 Three Nuns, Three War Heroes The end of World War II on 9 May remains a big holiday in this part of the world. It reminds us how much…
May 10, 2022 Come with Me to Mount Athos. Part 53 Part 52 Farewell to the Gregoriou Monastery We went to the arkhondarik to get ready for the journey. None of us was happy to…
May 4, 2022 Why Did Herod Have Jesus Clothed in the Attire of a Roman Civil Servant? Some fragments of the Gospel cannot be fully understood without an explanation. The end of the narration about Tetrarch Herod’s trial of Christ is one…
