August 31, 2022 Why Is the Dormition Called a “Summer Easter”? Why do Christians celebrate the Dormition? What does it have in common with Easter? Answered by Archpriest Vladimir Shutov, Rector of the Holy Royal…
August 30, 2022 Can Any Priest Be a Spiritual Father? The Origin of Spiritual Leadership in Ancient Christianity and the Modern Tradition Volumes have been written on spiritual membership, but this topic still attracts the interest of the laity and clergy. Not every ordained priest can…
August 27, 2022 About the Most Holy, Most Pure and Most Blessed Matthew 12:46–13:3 Romans 15:17–29 Once, when the Lord “was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers were standing outside, wanting to…
August 26, 2022 When Our Faith Falters, Where Do We Find Reassurance? Should we be afraid of questioning our beliefs in Christ? Should we accept our struggles as normal? And how do we overcome our uncertainties?…
August 24, 2022 Canon: the Most and the Least Known Genre among Church Hymns The canon is one genre in church hymnography with which we are perfectly familiar in practice, so this time we will talk about theory….
August 24, 2022 Two Parables and One Short Story about the Intricacies of Family Life An old woman came to a priest and asked him, “What should I do with my old man who has become totally unbearable? He…
August 19, 2022 St. Paisios the Athonite: “The Devil Enters a Person Who Has Dirt in His Heart.” Speaking of human passions and the devil, Elder Paisios used to say, “A person who deviates from God’s commandments is overcome by his passions….
August 18, 2022 Transfiguration: a Prototype of Universal Glory The Transfiguration of the Lord is one of the most important holidays in the Orthodox Church. Three semantic meanings are intertwined in it so…
August 17, 2022 When Did Christianity First Become a State Religion? Edict of Milan — what is it and what is its role in the history of Christianity? Let us talk about one of the…
August 17, 2022 Which New Testament Books Could Have Been Left Out of the Canon and Why? The ancient Church used apostolic writings and the Apocrypha, which have also co-existed with bogus texts claiming to be authentic. The Church had to…
August 11, 2022 “She Stopped at Every Grave in the Entire Cemetery, Praying for Her Fallen Lieges.” Memories of the Royal Family Daughter of the physician in ordinary E. Botkin, Tatiana Melnik (born Botkina) recalls: “Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna was weakened physically and mentally. Although she…
August 11, 2022 St. Paisios of the Holy Mountain: “The Love of Christ Was Ignited in Me so Strongly that My Bones Melted” Unspeakable Fragrance Two students visited the Elder in his cell of the Holy Cross and spoke with him for many hours on various spiritual…
