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The Archpastoral Message of His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon on the Great and Holy Pascha 2015

Metropolitan Tikhon: The Resurrection opens for us a path of joyful repentance

Metropolitan Tikhon: The Resurrection opens for us a path of joyful repentance

To the Very Reverend and Reverend Clergy, Monastics, and Faithful of the Orthodox Church in America:

It is the day of Resurrection!  Let us be illumined, O ye people!  Pascha!  The Pascha of the Lord from death to life and from earth to heaven has Christ our God led us, as we sing a song of victory.  (Paschal Canon, Ode)

CHRIST IS RISEN! INDEED HE IS RISEN!

Today, on this radiant Feast of feasts, let us all rejoice as newly illumined souls, basking in the brightness and joy that is the Resurrection of our Lord! Christ’s triumph over corruption and death is a victory for all people; there is none vanquished but death and wickedness, for it is a victory that has made salvation possible to all.  We offer our expressions of joy and exhilaration today; joining the countless Orthodox Christian faithful who, for more than two millennia throughout the world, have bore witness to the Pascha of Our Lord. Continuă să citești →

How Should We Spend Holy Week?

How Should We Spend Holy Week?

 

Great Lent is over and Holy Week, the most important days of the church year, has begun. Pravmir asked four respected clergymen in Russia – Fr. Valerian Krechetov, Fr. Vladimir Shaforostov, Fr. Maxim Pervozvansky, and Fr. Kirill Kaleda – for advice on how best to spend these days.

Archpriest Valerian Krechetov

The time of the fast, which was given to man to achieve repentance, ends on Friday of the sixth week. The entire meaning of the struggle of repentance accomplished during Great Lent lies, as the Holy Fathers say, in purifying the heart.

Both John the Forerunner and the Lord Himself began their preaching with the words: Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand [cf., Matthew 3:2; 4:17]. And when, as it says in the Canon of Andrew of Crete, “the prophets have already lost their power” [cf., Ode 9 for Monday], the Church prepares the feast of Christ’s Resurrection, showing the last days of His life, when the Lord suffered for our sins. As God, He knew about everything that would take place, but as man He asked for compassion: Then saith He unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with Me (Matthew 26:38). Continuă să citești →

PRAVMIR: Vatican ex-advisor converts to Orthodoxy

Vatican ex-advisor converts to Orthodoxy and becomes a monk in Moscow monastery

Moscow, March 31, Interfax – Rector of the High Monastery of St. Peter in Moscow Hegumen Peter (Yeremeyev) headed the ceremony of taking monastic vows of priest Constantine Simon.
Vatican ex-advisor converts to Orthodoxy and becomes a monk in Moscow monastery
 

He adopted Orthodoxy in 2014, after 34 years of priestly ministry in the Roman Catholic Church. With Patriarch Kirill’s blessing Father Constantine joined the fraternity of the High Monastery of St. Peter and before taking monastic vows he worked in churches of the convent, the monastery press service told Interfax-Religion on Tuesday.
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Archpriest Pavel Velikanov: Thoughts on Great Lent

Thoughts on Great Lent

Fr Pavel Velikanov shares his reflections on fasting and the road to Paschal joy. What guarantees can we have that our fasting will pay off?
Thoughts on Great Lent
 

I hope it is not too bold to suppose that the most dangerous mistake that can be made by a person when preparing for the endeavour of Great Lent is to look for guarantees of spiritual success. For us this is natural: who would want to “invest” without guarantees, without “investment insurance”? And really – why not arrive at Easter with your soul scrubbed white and simply and directly say to Christ: “Lord! Look at me, I am ready, come to me. You saw that I fasted, prayed, suffered, I have done everything on my part, I am quite ready for Your Glorious Resurrection!” And if you really simplify it, it might sound something like: “Lord! What about our spiritual dividends?” And as soon as a person begins fasting with such thoughts, he thus destroys that very spiritual fruit that should result from undergoing this spiritual exercise in a full and correct manner. Continuă să citești →

Dr. Rowan Williams: How Christianity’s Eastern History Has Been Forgotten

How Christianity’s Eastern History Has Been Forgotten

 
(BBC) — Christianity has a history that most of us know little about. A history that spreads eastward as well as westward, writes former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams for BBC Newsnight.
How Christianity’s Eastern History Has Been Forgotten

We would probably take it for granted that someone reading a religious text in Arabic would be a Muslim – but the truth is that you will find plenty of Christians reading their Bibles and books of prayers in the language.

It is a sharp reminder of the diversity that once marked the Arabic-speaking world.

It is a reminder, too, of aspects of Christianity’s history the majority of us have little idea about: a period when there were probably as many Christians in Asia as in Europe.

The familiar story is of the Christian faith moving west, towards Rome – spreading out from there to more remote areas, as far as Britain and Scandinavia, then being spread again outside Europe by missionaries. Continuă să citești →

Patriarch Kirill: Pan-Orthodox Council is called to show the unity Of Orthodoxy to the world

Patriarch Kirill: Pan-Orthodox Council is called to show the unity Of Orthodoxy to the world

On February 2, 2015, addressing the Bishops’ Conference, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, spoke about the process of preparations for a Pan-Orthodox Council to take place in 2016 in Constantinople.
Patriarch Kirill: Pan-Orthodox Council is called to show the unity Of Orthodoxy to the world
 
 

He reminded the bishops of the stance expressed by the Russian Orthodox Church at the 2013 Bishops’ Council that all the Pan-Orthodox Council should make all its decisions ‘exclusively by consensus of all the Local Churches, not by a majority of votes’ (Par. 60, Decisions). Continuă să citești →

Christmas Message of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus Kirill

Christmas Message of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus Kirill

Christmas Message of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus Kirill to the Archpastors, Pastors, Monastics and All the Faithful Children of the Russian Orthodox Church
Christmas Message of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus Kirill
 
  • Patriarch Irinej Calls For Peace, Love And Unity
  • Christmas Epistle of His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York, First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad

Your Graces the archpastors, venerable fathers, all-honourable monks and nuns, dear brothers and sisters! Continuă să citești →

Patriarch John X of Antioch and All The East: The Nativity of Christ is the feast of the incarnation of ultimate love, charity and almsgiving

The Nativity of Christ is the feast of the incarnation of ultimate love, charity and almsgiving

Patriarch John X of Antioch and All The East 
“The Nativity of Christ is the feast of the incarnation of ultimate love, charity and almsgiving”
 
 

By the mercy of God

Patriarch John X

The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and all the East

To

My brother pastors of the Antiochian Holy Church

And my children throughout the Holy See

“Heaven and Earth are made one today, for Christ is born. Today God is come upon the earth, and man is gone up into the Heavens. Today He Who by nature is invisible, for man’s sake is seen in the flesh.  For this cause, let us also give glory and cry out to Him: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, which Thy coming hath bestowed upon us; O our Savior, glory be to Thee.”

This is what our church chants on this glorious day, the day of the Creator’s presence in the flesh: the Nativity of Jesus Christ. His presence glows with peace.

O Christ, how much we need Thy peaceful presence on earth, from which Thy glad tidings have gone forth unto the whole universe!  O Treasure of Mercy, O Sun of Righteousness, how greatly do we need Thy presence, in a land which has grown weary of the drums of war, of dismemberment, and of abduction!  The land that welcomed the apostles two thousand years ago lies wounded and hemorrhages!  It is wounded, as its people are inflicted by terrorism, abduction, and unprecedented takfirism. This land and its marvelous people, however, have passed through enormous difficulties throughout history. Today they carry to the Child of the cave all their concerns, placing before His divine Cradle all their burdens, and igniting before His holy manger all the lamps of their souls. They ignite them with robust hope and the power of being made one again.

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Patriarch Bartholomew: We witness with great surprise the constantly repeated “drama of Bethlehem”

Patriarch Bartholomew: We witness with great surprise the constantly repeated “drama of Bethlehem”

Patriarch Bartholomew: We witness with great surprise the constantly repeated “drama of Bethlehem”
 
 

Beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord,

 

“Christ is descending from the heavens;
let us meet Him!”

God has appeared on earth and, at the same time, we have seen the perfect man together with the inconceivable value of the human person. Today especially, we experience the condition of humanity after the fall, as we daily affirm with the Psalmist that “all have gone stray, they are all alike corrupt; there is none that does good – no, not one!” (Psalm 13.3; Rom. 3.12-13)

Before the incarnation of Christ, humanity could never imagine the inconceivable value of the human person, which was weakened and distorted after the fall. Only the most illumined people could perceive, even before the time of Christ, the value of the human person and the response to the Psalmist’s question: “What is man that God would remember him?” (Psalm 8.5), which they proclaimed in the Psalmist’s words: “You have made man a little lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor.” (Psalm 8.6) Continuă să citești →

New Head of Antiochian Church in America Enthroned; Antiochian Patriarch to Meet with Officials on Issues in Syria

New Head of Antiochian Church in America Enthroned; Antiochian Patriarch to Meet with Officials on Issues in Syria

The second largest Orthodox Christian Church in North America has a new leader, enthroned by the head of one of the oldest churches on earth.

On  Sat. Dec. 6, the Patriarch of Antioch and All of the East, Patriarch John X of Damascus, Syria, enthroned Metropolitan Joseph as new head of the Antiochian Orthodox Church in North America at that Church’s national St. Nicholas Cathedral in Brooklyn, New York.

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Archbishop Demetrios: Thanksgiving Day is a time when families can offer a witness of the Gospel

Archbishop Demetrios: Thanksgiving Day is a time when families can offer a witness of the Gospel

To the Most Reverend Hierarchs, the Reverend Priests and Deacons, the Monks and Nuns, the Presidents and Members of the Parish Councils of the Greek Orthodox Communities, the Distinguished Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Day, Afternoon, and Church Schools, the Philoptochos Sisterhoods, the Youth, the Hellenic Organizations, and the entire Greek Orthodox Family in America

 

Archbishop Demetrios: Thanksgiving Day is a time when families can offer a witness of the Gospel
 
 

We give thanks to You, Lord God Almighty! Continuă să citești →

Patriarch John X: Athos is a prayer-rope for the entire world

Patriarch John X: Athos is a prayer-rope for the entire world

„At night when human voices, movements and tumult are clothed in stillness, enlighten every movement of my soul with Yourself, O Jesus, Light of the Righteous. At the hour when you give rest to the weary, O my Lord, let our thoughts of you be intoxicated with the sweetest dream, O sweetness of the saints. At the time of going to sleep, when the drunk repose through temporary artifice, awaken in us, O Lord, that eternal knowledge. At the start of the day, when all are concerned with earthly things, make us worthy, O our Lord, to enjoy following the heavenly path. At the hour when all remove their nightclothes, remove from our heart, O Lord, remembrance of the world that is passing. At daybreak when sailors set out upon the sea of this world, give rest, my Lord, to souls in your haven. In your mysteries, we embrace you every day and receive you in our body. Make us worthy to feel in our souls the hope that we have in the resurrection. Be, O Lord, wings for our mind, so that it will fly in the gentle breeze until by these wings we reach our true nest.”
Patriarch John X: Athos is a prayer-rope for the entire world
 
 

Brothers and beloved,

I could not have found more beautiful words than these by Saint Isaac the Syrian with which to begin my speech here. I have found none better than them, a sincere prayer that encapsulates the spiritual experience of Athos and describes the state of the human soul caught up in divine love.

These words of Isaac the Syrian, are embodied by people I have known and among whom I have lived, unworthily, as a monk on Athos.

Athos embodies the experience of the Church praying and worshiping before the cross of her Lord, in constant prayer for the entire world. Continuă să citești →

Confession Has to Be Repentance, and not a Story about Your Life

“Confession Has to Be Repentance, and not a Story about Your Life”

Often people write down too much in their notes. They go into excessive detail about something or other, which is not quite proper. There is another, also improper, extreme, in which someone simply recites his sins in single terms.
“Confession Has to Be Repentance, and not a Story about Your Life”

Sometimes, people coming to Confession begin to tell me approximately the following: “Yesterday I came home and was met by my husband, who as usual was drunk. I criticized him and he began to shout at me. I became angry and slapped his face. I of course was wrong to do so, but what else could I have done?…” That is not a confession. Confession has to be [a statement of] repentance, and not a story about your life, much less an attempt to justify your sins.

Although there are people who, in their simplicity, do not know how to repent in any other way – and of course their spiritual director will accept that kind of Confession from them – it would nonetheless be more proper to put it this way: “I am evil and very irritable, and when my husband acted improperly, I became angry, and struck him in the face. I very much regret doing so, and repent of it. I asked his forgiveness, and I promise God that I will never act in this manner in the future.” That, in my opinion, is what a proper confession would sound like.
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Orthodoxy is not simply a Church of the past – Patriarch Bartholomew

Orthodoxy is not simply a Church of the past – Patriarch Bartholomew

Orthodoxy is not simply a Church of the past – Patriarch Bartholomew
 
 

Your Eminence and beloved brother Metropolitan Sotirios,
Honorable organizers and participants,
Dear friends and faithful,

It is with sincere paternal joy that we greet you from the sacred Center of the Orthodox Church. We are pleased to extend our paternal blessing as you commence the presentations and discussions of your conference on the Ecumenical Patriarchate, organized by our Metropolis of Toronto and Canada, entitled “Reflecting on the Past; Looking toward the Future.” We assure you that we are with you in spirit and in prayer.

Today, you will be exploring aspects of an ancient and apostolic institution, the Church of Constantinople. Through the centuries, the Ecumenical Patriarchate has maintained a unique ministry of embracing the world and presiding in love over the various churches, guiding and supporting them in times of difficulty and expansion. Today, it continues to serve in its pastoral and maternal capacity, supporting the various churches that face crisis (for example, previously in the Balkans, but also recently in the Middle East) and coordinating the unity that we all share as the one, catholic and apostolic church. Continuă să citești →

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh: Sunday Schools and the Beginning of the Church Year

Sunday Schools and the Beginning of the Church Year

Source: Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh Archive
I know from experience that in tragic moments of my life the people to whom I could turn were those who had been together with me in the Sunday School or in our youth organisations — people who had been taught the same things, who had learned, encouraged, and had a sense of solidarity and a readiness to help at any cost.
Sunday Schools and the Beginning of the Church Year
 

SERMON GIVEN on Sunday 13th September 1998 before the Moleben for the beginning of the school year

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

We are starting today a new year in which we endeavour to convey to the children of our parish and indeed to any children whose parents care to send them to us, our faith. A Sunday school is not a place where one teaches facts. It’s a place where people who believe try to convey to children their own faith and their experience of God. And I call upon all the parents to send their children to this school — not for them to gain knowledge which the state school can convey, which they can receive from books, but to encounter people whose life has been changed by the Gospel by meeting face to face the Lord Jesus Christ, by the experience of receiving Communion for the first time, and who can therefore speak with certainty of things that may reach the children.

I remember years back when I was the only teacher in our Sunday school — it was about fifty years ago — I tried as best I could to convey what was in my heart — not the darkness, not the sinfulness, but the recollection of hope and the veneration of of God. And I remember one of the children saying to me many years later, ‘Father Anthony, you have not taught us much; but you have kindled in us a flame that has not died out.’ And I think this is what you may wish for your children to receive from the Saturday School.

Also, they receive a preparation for meeting God in the sacraments; and this is also something important. It is not enough to know what the teaching of the Church is concerning the Body and Blood of Christ. It is to meet people for whom it was an encounter.
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