August 24, 2017 Why Should Reading in the Orthodox Church be Unemotional? I remember the words of Alexander Griboyedov from his play “Woe from Wit”: “Read it not like an altar server, but with passion”. For…
August 22, 2017 The Hesychast Spirituality of the Russian Monastic Tradition Professor Archimandrite Job Getcha traces the origins and development of Russian monasticism, showing how both its roots and its spirituality are firmly based…
August 21, 2017 The Miracluous Appearance of the Icon of the Mother of God of Tolga The Tolga Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos appeared on August 8, 1314 to the Rostov hierarch Prochorus (Tryphon in schema). Going about his…
August 21, 2017 What Is on the Other Side of the Vladimir Icon? The Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God is one of the most famous and beloved icons in Orthodoxy and particularly within Russia. It…
August 19, 2017 Historical Iconography of the Feast of Transfiguration The Transfiguration is one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church, celebrated on the 6th of August. Described in the first three…
August 17, 2017 How the Icon of the Mother of God of Penza Saved the City from Invasion Czar Alexis of Russia (1645–1676) gave an icon of the Mother of God of Kazan as a founding blessing gift to the city of…
August 16, 2017 Path to Orthodoxy: Rescued from Death Row “…I saw the Convent, entered the Convent’s yard, and talked with some people there. I thought, “I could stay here for some time…” …
August 15, 2017 A Few Notes Concerning Color in Orthodox Iconography Vincent van Gogh said of the Mediterranean: “[It] has the colour of mackerel, changeable I mean. You don’t always know if it is green…
August 15, 2017 Why Are Orthodox Christian Priests Allowed to be Married? Apparently there is some confusion between the requirements for priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church, and the requirements in the Eastern Orthodox Church. In…
August 14, 2017 History of the Dormition Fast The Dormition fast was established as preceding the great feasts of the Transfiguration of the Lord and of the Dormition of the Mother…
August 12, 2017 Why do Orthodox Christians kiss the hand of a bishop or priest? A few of our new inquirers have asked about the practice of kissing the priest’s hand. For people outside of the Orthodox Tradition (and…
August 10, 2017 A List of Orthodox Christians in Various Countries By Population The number of Orthodox Christians in the world, according to different accounts is somewhere between 125 and 180 million. It is often difficult to…
