Excellent article from pravoslavie.ru… The Obnora Road. A Historical EssayOld Russian monasticism was a clear manifestation of the morality of Russian secular society: the yearning for departure from the secular world was growing along with the rise of moral standards and not because of increasing calamities. It means that Russian monasticism was renouncing the world for the sake of ideals too high for it, and not for the sake of principles hostile to it. —V. Klyuchevsky
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Congratulations, Brothers and Sisters, on the feast of All Saints of Russia, on which we commemorate all those saints who have shone forth in the Russian land. We know from sacred history that Russia was not always a land united in its love for God and for the Holy Orthodox Church. Ancient Russia was a pagan land, devoid of the light of the Gospel. It…
Ivan Michailovich Kontzevitch was born in 1893 in Poltava, Ukraine. He was the eldest of five children. His father, Michael Ivanovich, graduated from the Department of Natural Sciences in Warsaw University and became a tax inspector. Ivan’s mother, Alexandra Ivanovna Lisenevskaya was a Carpatho-Russian and the daughter of a judge. Alexandra finished secondary school and then married at a young age. She is described as a “born teacher” and she knew how to bring up her children without…
Source: fatheralexander.org God is a holy Trinity. A Trinity consubstantial and indivisible. Consubstantial, that is, one essence, one nature. A Trinity indivisible: the Son has never been divided from the Father, nor the Holy Spirit from the Father or the Son, and never will be divided. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not three gods, but one God, since They have one nature. But not only because of this. People also have one nature, one essence. But with people…
A very interesting interview with Archpriest Alexey Ohotin, the rector of Holy Annunciation Church in Flushing, NY (ROCOR). I found it especially interesting that his great uncle was the Spiritual Father and Confessor of St. Elizabeth (Feodorovna) the New Martyr and Grand Duchess of Russia. Natalia Volkova, Archpriest Alexey OkhotinThe Light Always With UsIn the Mystery of confession, a person opens his soul, and God forgives him through the priest. Sometimes even after absolution from a sin, a person is…
The linked Word Finder can be printed out for use in Church School. In this edition, find the 14 Optina Elders:
By: Elder Joseph of Vatopedi Source: orthodoxinfo.com The question is always being asked, “Is it possible for those living in the world to occupy themselves with noetic prayer?” To those who ask we answer quite affirmatively, “Yes.” In order to make this exhortation of ours comprehensible to those interested, but at the same time to make aware those who are unaware, we will briefly explain this, so that no one will be placed in a quandary by the various interpretations and…
By: St. Ignaty Brianchaninov Source: Orthodox Life, vol. 28, no. 5, Sept.-Oct. 1978, pp. 9-14. The correct practice of the Jesus Prayer proceeds naturally from correct notions about God, about the most holy name of the Lord Jesus, and about man’s relationship to God. God is an infinitely great and all-perfect being. God is the Creator and Renewer of men, Sovereign Master over men, angels, demons and all created things, both visible and invisible. Such a notion of God teaches…
“It is audacious and sinful before God to be depressed in this beautiful and wondrous world, which the Lord created for us and through which He leads us to an even more beautiful and wondrous world—the Kingdom of Heaven.” In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! “I am with you, and no one can be against you,” says the Lord to everyone who believes in Him. No sorrows, no temptation, not even the most terrifying catastrophes should…
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Christ is Risen! Today is the final Sunday before Ascension, the Sunday of the Blind Man. In the Gospel today, the disciples inquire of the Saviour asking on whose account this man was born blind… was it because the man himself sinned or because his parents sinned? The Saviour responds saying: “Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God…