October 10, 2021 General Abandonment of Reading Is a Path to Loss of Mental and Physical Health As we celebrate the National Library Day in empty libraries, we have to acknowledge that we read books less and less these days, not…
October 8, 2021 Come with Me to Mount Athos. Part 24 Part 23 It Is Truly Meet I have no talent for languages. Like many, I learned them unsystematically. In school I had no motivation…
October 5, 2021 Come with Me to Mount Athos. Part 23 Part 22 Holy Relics Everyone lined up in a certain order and followed Archimandrite Ephraim out of the refectory. At the exit the abbot…
October 1, 2021 Come with Me to Mount Athos. Part 22 Part 21 Liturgy After venerating the icons I asked one of the singers where I could stand. I’m not sure how I did that. …
September 29, 2021 Come with Me to Mount Athos. Part 21 Part 20 Service in the Vatopedi Monastery My first night (or rather a few hours of sleep) on Athos was dreamless. At about three…
September 28, 2021 The True Cross: History of Loss and Acquisition. Part 2 Part 1 What Happened to the Cross after the Crucifixion? A long staircase leads today’s pilgrims down to the Church of the Holy Queen…
September 27, 2021 The True Cross: History of Loss and Acquisition Why is the church where the relic was uncovered located deep underground? How were the nails from the crucifixion site discovered? How was the…
September 25, 2021 Come with Me to Mount Athos. Part 20 Part 19 A Night at the Holy Monastery The stone slabs underneath our feet and the high walls surrounding us made our shelter look…
September 22, 2021 Come with Me to Mount Athos. Part 19 Part 18 The Path of Self-will The sun was cauterizing us, and there was no place to hide. My heart was beating in long…
September 19, 2021 Come with Me to Mount Athos. Part 18 Part 17 Pantocrator Monastery So we set off for Pantocrator Monastery. The walk was neither difficult nor tiring. The narrow rocky trail meandered in…
September 17, 2021 Fragments of Orthodoxy in English Popular Tradition “They were old men with no scholarship. They told me of their thoughts: the things they said within themselves as they sailed with the…
September 16, 2021 Trampling Over Death: Views of the Monks of the Holy Mount on Death and Resurrection On Mount Athos, reminders of death are ubiquitous, yet their perception is unusual. There have been no births here for over a millennium, yet…
