The Nativity Fast sanctifies the last part of the year and is established so that by the day of the Nativity of Christ we will purify ourselves by repentance, prayer and abstinence. As a result, we could piously meet the Son of God who came…
On November 21 (8 in the new calendar), the Church commemorates the Synaxis of the Archangel Michael and the other Bodiless Powers. This feast was established after the fourth century Council of Laodicea
The non-Orthodox Christians often hear the Orthodox talk about their Name Day which they celebrate each year just like they do their birthday. Is Name Day just another word for birthday or is it something else? Let's find out.
Demetrius parental Saturday is a day of special commemoration of the dead in the Russian Orthodox Church. This is a memorial Saturday before the remembrance day of the Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessaloniki (8 November/26 October).
Here are five narratives from the lives of God's saints and His children that show how God provides for our spiritual and earthly needs in the fulness of His love for us.
In our reports from the Balkans column, we talk about the monasteries, churches, and Orthodoxy in that region through personal stories of monks, priests, abbots and famous Orthodox Christians of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and…
The image of the Mother of God takes pride of place in every Christian's heart. The Mother of God is a symbol of purity, selflessness and fullness of love, standing before God and interceding for the entire human race.
On the 18th of November, we commemorate the restoration of patriarchy in the Russian Orthodox Church, a significant moment during the tumultuous days of 1917. At the helm of this crucial time stood St. Tikhon (Bellavin).
Our lay sister Tatiana Zhedik met the relatives of the Hieromartyr Simeon Kaminsky a long ago in 2003 in Cincinnati, Ohio. This meeting reveals to us the story of the life of a little-known Belarusian saint.
On September 8th, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates the feast of the Meeting of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. This wonderworking icon is one of the most venerated in Russia and, according to tradition, dates from the dawn of Christianity.
On 28 August the Church commemorates the Dormition of the Theotokos. The Holy Mountain, the realm of the Mother of God, celebrates this feast with special joy. Here are five examples of the Holy Virgin's intercession for different people.
The Dormition Fast starts on 14 August and ends two weeks later, on 28 August (for the parishes and communities use the old calendar (Julian)). The dates of the Dormition Fast are not variable, and the year 2024 is not an exception.
An Athonite ascetic said, "Lord, I pray twenty-four hours a day, and I cannot pray enough!" You have to experience the sweetness of God to say these words.
Many non-Orthodox Christians often wonder what is the Apostles Fast in the Orthodox Church. Each year the Fast starts and ends on different dates and even in different months.
When you trust, you only ask a question once. The Lord asked Peter three times if he loved him, each time in a different way. Why?
The joyous Easter season or Paschaltide is finally here! In the Orthodox Church, this season starts on Easter Sunday (May 5th) and continues for forty days until the eve of the feast of Ascension, which falls on June 13th this year.
On Great and Holy Friday, we commemorate the end of this mission on earth and its highest point: His death on the Cross. He surrendered His soul to the Lord with the words, "It is finished".
Thousands of years after Judas’ betrayal, we are still confronted by the same choice: are we going to direct our love to God, and restore our community with Him, or betray him, to live for the world and ourselves?
His disciples were unnerved: “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.” (Matthew 26: 8—9).
Christ cautions us not to liken ourselves to the five unwise virgins whose lamps faded when the Bridegroom Christ came: "keep watch because you do not know the day or the hour." (Matthew 25: 13).
