August 3, 2022 223 0 Saint Paisios on How Two Words Once Saved his Troop from Death and Why a Monk’s Way to Help People Is Prayer A nun once asked the Venerable Paisios of the Holy Mountain, “Geronda, what does prayer mean for you personally?” The holy elder gave an…
July 18, 2022 190 0 Touched by the Holy Hand: Stories Told by the Artefacts Kept in the House-museum of St. Elisabeth Feodorovna in Moscow One can learn about the life of a saint by reading a book or watching a documentary. However, nothing helps to get to know…
July 16, 2022 319 0 Episodes from the lives of the Royal martyrs A lesson in humility The royal couple was taking a walk in a park when a box fell off a carriage carrying mail. Immediately,…
July 8, 2022 180 1 Saint John of Shanghai, as Remembered by His Spiritual Children. Part 2 Part 1 The first letter arrived in 1949, on the Feat Day day of St James. Archbishop John wrote: “Dear Zhora and Sima! I…
July 6, 2022 173 0 Saint John of Shanghai, as Remembered by His Spiritual Children. Part 1 With his God-pleasing life, St. John of Shanghai served as a universal model of patristic Orthodoxy. From China to Western Europe and the United…
July 2, 2022 823 0 Elder Tikhon, a Great Forgotten Ascetic On the second Sunday after Pentecost, the Church celebrates the feast of all Russian saints and commemorates the Athonite ascetics. Both church holidays converge…
June 29, 2022 239 0 St. Paisios: God Wants Us to Receive Help from Others — Geronda, when I am in difficulty and pray to find a solution, how will I know God’s will? — You cannot know the…
June 17, 2022 141 0 When Prayer Trumps Reason: the Salvific Prayers of Saint Monica When we are in difficulty, and someone tells us to pray, we may brush his advice aside as a platitude. But this reaction might…
June 9, 2022 556 1 Whatever You Do, Work Heartily, as for the Lord: Saints among Cooks In the Orthodox tradition, almost every profession has a patron saint, someone who served God, glorified Him, and perhaps suffered for His sake in…
April 10, 2022 362 0 Genuine Repentance — What Feelings Does It Awaken in Us, and What Else Does the Great Canon Teach Us on the Feast Day of St Mary of Egypt Two unusual features in the biography of Mary of Egypt have always puzzled me. First, how did a twelve-year-old girl who had given herself…