he Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Most Godly Beatitude Theophilos III, prayed in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher for...
Global efforts to reduce people’s exposure to the coronavirus continue on an intensive pace continued to dominate all of...
The Church today venerates the Holy Righteous Martyr Nicon and His 199 Disciples. St. Nicon was born in Naples. At...
On the 3rd Sunday of Lent, and, indeed, throughout 4th week, a time within the reverential climate of the fast which is so beneficial to the soul, the Church displays the Precious Cross of the Lord, for the support of the faithful. The appointment of the veneration of the Cross on that day, the mid-point of the fast, was also made for another, practical reason. The commemoration of the finding of the Precious Cross by Saint Helen is celebrated by the Orthodox Church on 6 March, as is clear from the corresponding date in the Feasts of the Month. That day, 6 March, almost always fall in Lent. Given that the atmosphere of those days is one of mourning, and that, ...
While pious priests in Georgia, Ukraine, and elsewhere have begun blessing their churches and surrounding streets in processions throughout their...
When we keep Christ’s commandments, we’re not offering anything to Him, because He has no need of anything and is Himself the Giver of all good things. We’re actually benefiting ourselves, by bringing eternal life upon us and enjoyment of the ineffable good things.
Holy Communion does not make people sick because the Holy Communion is truly the real Body and Blood of our...
In the powerful earthquake that struck Zagreb on March 22, 202, capital city of Croatia, the Church of the Transfiguration...
The Holy and Great Monastery of Vatopedi has donated a half a ton of frozen poultry products to the Holy...
The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, His All Holiness Bartholomew I, on Sunday expressed his fraternal support and solidarity to the...
Divine Liturgies were celebrated in Orthodox Churches around the small Adriatic country of Montenegro on Sunday, although strict conditions were...
The Sunday of the Veneration of the Holy Cross was commemorated today with millennia-old Athonite tradition at the Holy and...
His Eminence Porfirije, Serbian Metropolitan of Zagreb and Ljubljana, issued the following statement: “None temptation comes alone. At this moment,...
Many ask us what the causes of the pandemic COVID-19 are, if it is a natural phenomenon, or if there are state-level...
For us Christians who are enlightened and illumined in Christ everything in this world has meaning and value insofar as it constitutes a means and path to eternity. Because we see what isn’t apparent and gaze on the invisible. We order the whole of our life in time on the basis of what’s eternal and measure what’s human by Him Who is God and human. As long as there’s something eternal within the bounds of the temporal, we’re sustained by it. But when it’s absent, we seek it in the realm of the infinite and invisible. We look at everything through the prism of eternity. That is through the prism of Christ, since He is the eternal God and Lord.
The Third Sunday of Lent is called “The Veneration of the Cross”. At the Vigil of that day, after the Great Doxology, the Cross is brought in a solemn procession to the center of the church and remains there for the entire week – with a special rite of veneration following each service. It is noteworthy that the theme of the Cross which dominates the hymnology of that Sunday is developed in terms not of suffering but of victory and joy. More than that, the theme-songs (hirmoi) of the Sunday Canon are taken from the Paschal Service – “The Day of the Resurrection” – and the Canon is a paraphrase of the Easter Canon. The meaning of all this is clear. ...
The feast of the Veneration of the Cross is undoubtedly one of the greatest in Orthodoxy and is especially loved and honoured by members of the Church. The focus of the feast- which the faithful are invited to venerate- is the Precious Cross, upon which Christ, after He had stretched out His holy palms, ‘united what had been divided’. God died in the flesh and, with His ultimate sacrifice, His love and submission, which culminated in the mystery of divine self-emptying, He atoned for sinful people before our holy God, satisfied divine justice for the sins and guilt of the whole world, redeemed His creation from the evil of the devil and the snare of death, pledging His most holy Blood ...
HOMILY ON THE SUNDAY OF THE VENERATION OF THE HOLY CROSS (22/3/2020) The Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross is today! With a spirit of celebration and surrounded by flowers, the Precious Cross of Christ is placed in the center of the Church. All of the faithful come forward to venerate the life-bearing Cross of Christ, with profound devotion in gratitude for everything that It has already given to us, and what It continues to offer. We are now halfway through Great Lent, along with the spiritual and ascetic struggles that go with it. As today’s Synaxarion explains, the Church presents to us the life-giving Cross in order to refresh and comfort us, as we endure the hardships of fasting. The ...
Greece’s second largest city, the northern metropolis of Thessaloniki, is witnessing a three-day series of events and commemorations, beginning on...
His Eminence Archbishop Sotirios of Canada has released his Third Encyclical regarding the coronavirus outbreak. Read the full text below:...
