February 15, 2023 Church Under Soviet Totalitarianism: Suppression, Resistance and Compliance The Soviet Union was a state seeking to destroy religion and create a completely secular society. However, the relationship between the state and the…
February 9, 2023 Four Goals for a Seriously Ill Person. What Is the Meaning of Suffering? The author of these lines, Dutch by origin, was born in Indonesia. She moved to London when she was young. She converted to Orthodoxy…
January 31, 2023 The Practice of Exorcism in the Orthodox Church: History and the Present-Day Controversies In popular culture, exorcism is commonly associated with the Roman Catholic Church. In reality, this practice dates back thousands of years. In the undivided…
January 27, 2023 Prayer in Our Own Words: What the Christian Shepherds Say Question: If a believer finds that prayer in his own words allows him to achieve greater humility and repentance than a prayer from the…
December 16, 2022 Prayer Rule of the Most Holy Theotokos: When and How to Read It? What is the rule of the Theotokos? How and when to use it? Do I need to take a priest’s blessing to read these…
December 1, 2022 Nativity Fast: Why Fast More than the Early Christians? On November 28, we entered the Nativity Fast. Although it is somewhat less strict and less intense than Great Lent, its duration is the…
November 8, 2022 Who Sang at the Ancient Divine Services and How? History of the Eight Ecclesiastical Modes The history of liturgical singing begins in the Heavenly world, where the angelic ranks sing praise to God. Their song originates from before the…
October 25, 2022 The Locus of the Image of God in Man: the Body, the Soul, or Both? The Scripture teaches us that God created man in His image: “in the image of God He created him” (Genesis 1:27). But what constitutes…
October 11, 2022 The Story Behind the Jesus Prayer The Jesus Prayer is a treasure of the Holy Tradition of the Orthodox Church. It reaffirms in succinct form the two central tenets of…
October 10, 2022 My Miracle of Healing by the Prayers of Saint Sergius of Radonezh It happened to me in August 2006. I was on holiday at my summerhouse near Sergiev Posad, working on my novel “Last Link.” Unexpectedly,…