| Church of Sts Sergius and Bacchus in Ma " loula destroyed by militants Ma " loula, September 29, 2013 Militants have destroyed the ancient Christian Church of Holy Martyrs Sergius and Bacchus in Ma " loula and have stolen or demolished its world-famous icons. A correspondent of ITAR-TASS agency saw it for himself on September 29. This construction, which was the oldest in the Middle East, had been built in the early 4th century. There was a convent here lately; but after the coming of the terrorists and militants of Al-Nusra Front a month ago the sisters found refuge in the Convent of St. Thecla, Equal-to-the-Apostles, where at the present time they are taking shelter from the militants together with 40 orphaned children. It is still impossible to come up to this convent because of the heavy fire of snipers who do not even spare journalists. The Church of Sts Sergius and Bacchus became " guilty " because of the building of the " Safir " hotel near it, where earlier numerous Christian pilgrims and tourists used to stay, but then Muslim extremists took their positions there. The Syrian army has almost leveled the hotel to the ground but the militants are still taking cover in its cellars and in neighboring grottos, converted into cells. Where monks used to live in ancient times, now there is sustained artillery fire. A unique icon of Sts. Sergius and Bacchus painted in the 13th century, which was situated just at the entrance, has been lost forever. The iconostasis and its central icon, painted in the 13th century, have been destroyed together with the icons of the Mother of God and Christ " the Archpastor " . The latter always evoked the surprise of researchers because it depicted Christ in a long robe of silk with golden threads which is more typical to Damascus of the 18th century than to the period of the beginnings of Christianity. There is no altar of Sts. Sergius and Bacchus any more. It was semicircular with a low edge—the legacy of pagan altars. Now only debris remains of it. |
| Archive Nativity of Christ is celebrated at the Representation of the Russian Orthodox Church in Damascus 7 January 2019 year 14:59 On 7 January 2019, the feast day of the Nativity of Christ, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated at the Church of St. Ignatius the God-Bearer at the Representation of the Russian Orthodox Church in Damascus. Bishop Moises of Darayia officiated with the blessing of His Beatitude Patriarch John X of Antioch and All the East. Archpriest Matta Haddad, a cleric of the Cathedral of the Antiochian Orthodox Church in Damascus, and Hegumen Arseny (Sokolov), representative of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia to the Patriarch of Antioch concelebrated. Praying during the divine service were Mr. Eldar Kurbanov, charge d’affaires a.i. of the Russian Federation to the Syrian Arab Republic; hegumeness Pelagia, mother superior of St. Thecla convent in Maaloula; composer Andrei Kormukhin, coordinator of the Russian ‘Sorok Sorokov’ lay movement; Ms. Valentina Lantseva, president of the St. Paul charity foundation; staff members of the Russian Embassy in Syria and members of the Russian Orthodox Church living in the capital of Syria. After the divine service Bishop Moises greeted the worshippers with the Nativity of Christ. Hegumen Arseny thanked the archpastor for celebrating at the church of the Representation of the Russian Orthodox Church in Damascus and presented him with an icon of St. Seraphim of Sarov with a particle of the relics of the saint. DECR Communication Service /Patriarchia.ru Календарь ← 7 April 2024 year |
| Archive Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk visits holy places of the Orthodox Church of Antioch 22 October 2020 year 12:03 On October 21, 2020, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external church relations, during his working visit to Syria with a blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, visited old Christian holy places in the country. At the town of Maaloula he visited the church of the Holy Martyrs Sergius and Bacchus to see one of the oldest Christian altars arranged from an antique pagan altar. After that Metropolitan Hilarion visited the Orthodox Convent of the St. Thecla, an early Christian martyr, in which he venerated her relics and had a talk with the spiritual father and sisters of the convent. In 2013 the town was captured by Islamist militants; the convent was looted and the sisters were kidnapped. After the liberation the convent was restored with the help of Russian benefactors. In the Our Lady of Saydnayya Convent, Metropolitan Hilarion venerated the miracle-working Icon of Our Lady of Seydnayya. The mother superior of the convent, Abbess Febronia related to His Eminence the history and the present life of the convent. On the same day, Metropolitan Hilarion visited places associated with the life of St. Paul. During his trip, the DECR chairman was accompanied by Hegumen Arseny (Sokolov), representative of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia to the See of Antioch, Archpriest Igor Yakimchuk, DECR secretary for inter-Orthodox relations, and Sub-deacon Vyacheslav Li. DECR Communication Service /Patriarchia.ru Календарь ← 7 April 2024 year |
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| Red is an earth color, blue a heavenly color. Both colors are used in the garments of Mary and Jesus at the front of the nave (where the congregation sits) on the Iconostasis. Mary " s dress is blue, a heavenly color, because she held Jesus in her womb. Her head covering is the earth color, red, because of her humanity. Jesus " colors are inverted, his outer garment is blue and his inner is red, symbolizing his heavenly presence on Earth. Gary Stump, bottom, of Springettsbury Township and a member of the church, keeps fresh sponges at the ready as the canvas is attached to the wall last week. Now retired, Stump helped with earlier iconography installations at the church and is now able to devote much more of time for this installation. Retired from Verizon, where climbing utility poles was part of the job, Stump said he wasn " t afraid of heights. Elias Katsaros, top, began painting iconography at St. John Chrysostom Antiochian Orthodox Church in Springettsbury Township in 1996. Voluntary icons There are some icons that are always in an Orthodox church, always in the same places. For example, Mary is always on the left of the Iconostasis and next to her is the patron saint of the church. Christ is always in the dome and the Virgin Mary is always in the front on the East wall. Then, around Christ in the dome, there will always either be prophets or archangels telling the story of the coming of Christ. Aside from those mandatory icons, each church can choose the other icons they want displayed as well as how many they want. St. John Chrysostom Antiochian Orthodox Church in York chose St. Thecla as one of their icons because she is a woman saint. Pier says there are far too few women saints in churches and honored in the Antiochian denomination. They also chose St. Nicholas (Santa Claus) because he is one of the most popular saints in the Orthodox church, two hymnographers to be displayed where the choir stands, St. Peter and St. Paul because they are traditional and are the most important apostles and St. Mary of Egypt, one of the most beloved in the church. |
Не удалось извлечь искомое из базы ((( |
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| " The ideologues of communism latched onto that polemical postulate, and speedily announced that faith has lived itself out. Of course, from these positions it is very easy to call Tolstoy the " mirror of the Russian revolution, " especially after reading his later works. Nevertheless, only a rare soviet reader would have had access to, for example, Tolstoy " s diaries, also written in his later years, but which reveal an entirely different personality in the great author. " The writer was continually plagued with doubts and spiritual searches every moment of his life. In the morning, for example, he could write down a thought, but by evening he would have found thousands of arguments against it. Emotional sleepiness and complacency were things utterly alien to him, while they are so often are a part of our own lives, " Fr. George said. The priest stated that a modern public could no longer be divided into two camps about whether or not Tolstoy left the Church. Unfortunately, the reason is that, " in this post-modern, post-Christian era, man has lost interest in religious problems. Those eternal questions the writer posed on the pages of his books, his spiritual searches, are precisely what could arouse the reader " s soul. And that reader would seek answers to these questions in the Gospels and Church tradition. " All those who participated in the debate were unanimous on the point that study of Leo Tolstoy " s great literary legacy should in no way be stricken from elementary and high school educational programs. The well-known journalist and Tolstoy " s direct descendant, Thecla Tolstaya, emphasized that, " Many officials think that the writers " texts are too complicated for study at the elementary level. " In her opinion, some modern schoolchildren are simply not in any condition even to acquaint themselves with these works due to the way they are presented—long " Tolstoyan " sentences are not assimilated by children raised on sms text messages. Representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church see such a state of affairs as a direct threat to the nation " s spirituality. |
| Every year on the eve of the feast of the memory of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, who are honoured in the Church of Antioch as its founders, His Beatitude the Antiochian Patriarch of the Great City of Antioch and all the East, in the company of many hierarchs, clergy and in the presence of thousands of pilgrims from Syria, Lebanon and other countries, celebrates Vespers there. It was gratifying to see a larger number of pilgrims this year than in the previous year. I hope that in the near future pilgrims from Russia will also be able to take part in that service. It could be a good option for one of the possible pilgrimage routes - following in the footsteps of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul. I cannot fail to mention the most ancient Orthodox monasteries in Syria that pilgrims can visit: the Our Lady of Saidnaya Monastery with the miracle-working icon of the Mother of God " Saidnaya " ; the rocky Convent of Saint Thecla (in Maaloula), wh ere the language of Christ - Aramaic - is still spoken; the monastery of St. George of Al-Humaira; the Cherubim Monastery. - What do you see as promising routes for pilgrimage to Lebanon? - Pilgrimage trips to Lebanon are particularly attractive. In the Holy Gospel we hear: " Christ came to the countries of Tyre and Sidon " . It was those cities, located now in the south of the Lebanese state, that the Saviour visited during His earthly life. According to an ancient local legend, while visiting the cities of Tyre and Sidon Christ was accompanied by the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to the requirement of the Old Testament law, a believing woman was not allowed to enter a pagan city. Therefore, during the preaching of Her Divine Son in the pagan city of Sidon, the Blessed Virgin stayed waiting for Him in a cave near the village of Maghdouché. This cave has been preserved to this day and is accessible to the public. In the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament we repeatedly find references to the cedar of Lebanon, for example, in Psalm 104 (103) of the prophet David: " The trees of the Lord are full of sap, The cedars of Lebanon which He planted. " Several such centuries-old cedar groves in the Lebanese mountains have survived to this day. |
| Orthodoxy in Africa is known as, “the faith where they fast on Wednesday and Friday.” If people know that you are Orthodox, they automatically say, “it’s Wednesday, he’s not eating.” But if you eat meat or fish on Wednesday or Friday, the non- Orthodox will say, “He’s not Orthodox, he’s a liar.” Over time, my entire family became Orthodox, except for two elder brothers who had already left home. Eight children and my parents became Orthodox. The first missionary in Kolwezi was Fr. Amphilochios Tsouhos, who is still alive in Rhodos. He is about seventy and is a holy man. In 1986, two Greek nurses who were helping us in Africa took my sister, Thecla, to the Greek island of Kalymnos, to a monastery, where she stayed for sixteen years, and became the first African Orthodox nun. At that time I worked with Fr. Cosmas of Grigoriou Monastery, and knew the Greek bishop who was the head of the seminary in Zaire. Although I was still young, I was allowed to attend, to listen to classes. I didn’t speak in class, but when the seminarians had to pass their final exams, the instructors said, “If you like, you can also sit for the exam.” I did and passed. The others who were older became priests, but because I was still young, the Bishop asked me to go to Greece to study. After finishing high school in Zaire, I went first to Mt. Athos, to Simonos Petros, then to the diocese of Pirgos in the Peloponnese, where I learned Greek. Later, I came to study theology at the University of Athens. I had thought of becoming a monk, but before my parents passed away, they said, “You should get married.” I had never worried my parents, and now I thought, “If I’m not obedient to them, they will die in sorrow.” So I said, “Alright, pick out a girl you like and send her to me. But the girl should know that I’m going to be a priest.” So she came, and we were married. I’m sure my parents passed away satisfied. B y God’s will I ended up here in Athens and I’m the priest now of the church of St. Thomas the Apostle. |
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