| Tweet Нравится Miracle at Docheiariou Monastery: man mute from birth begins speaking before wonderworking icon Holy Mount Athos, December 15, 2016 A miracle that occurred early in December at Docheiariou Monastery on Mt. Athos has been recounted by a monk who witnessed that event. This story was also recounted during a public Church event in Thessaloniki. “In Her [the Virgin Mary’s] home, at Docheiariou Monastery on Holy Mount Athos, where the monastery abbot, the venerable elder Gregorios, together with the brethren daily sing psalms, celebrate supplicatory services, and pray for the health and repose of hundreds of people, one of our brothers in Christ prayed in the chapel and received abundant grace from the ‘Quick to Hear’ icon of the Mother of God, who quickly and willingly pours out Her mercy upon all who invoke Her with reverence and faith,” reports the Greek website Vimaorthodoxias.gr . According to an eyewitness, an eighteen-year-old man from the town of Strumica, who suffered from a bad stutter, visited Docheiariou Monastery to venerate the miracle-working icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear.” When the young man, who had never spoken before and could only make unintelligible sounds, entered the monastery and stood next to the “Quick to Hear” wonderworking icon, he suddenly cried out in his native language: “Mother Mary, give me my health.” All who were with him and knew the young man’s life were amazed. After the prayer, which a monk calmly continued to read, the young Macedonian addressed all present who had prayed and said: “Thank you everybody, now I feel very well.” This is yet another example of the miraculous power of the All-Pure Virgin who through Her “Quick to Hear” icon pours out Her grace upon many believers every day in Greece and abroad. People pray and call upon her, exclaiming: “Rejoice thou who art quick to hear, fulfilling our petitions for our benefit!” Translated by Dmitry Lapa Orthodox Life 21 декабря 2016 г. Подпишитесь на рассылку Православие.Ru Рассылка выходит два раза в неделю: |
| Orthodox priest killed in Pskov admin 05 August 2013 August 5, 2013 Pskov, August 5, Interfax – The man suspected of killing Orthodox priest Pavel Adelgeim has been arrested, the press office of the regional Interior Ministry Department told Interfax. The priest’s body with stab wounds was discovered at approximately 8 p.m. on Monday in the Church of Konstantin and Yelena on Krasnogorsky Lane. Officers of the patrol guard service detained the suspect. According to witnesses, the man, who attacked Father Pavel, screamed that devil told him to kill the priest. The suspect stabbed himself in the chest during the arrest and was brought to a hospital. A Moscow resident is the murder suspect, the press office of the regional Interior Ministry Department told Interfax. According to preliminary information, the crime was committed by a young man born in 1986. The man stabbed himself twice after committing the murder and has been admitted to a hospital. Adelgeim, who turned 75 on August 1, became a priest during the Soviet era. In 1969 he was arrested for circulating self-published religious literature and in 1970 sentenced to three years in the labor camps for “slander of the Soviet order.” Adelgeim lost his right leg in 1971 due to unrest in a labor facility and was released with a disability in 1972. Adelgeim became cleric of the Pskov Diocese. Father Pavel harshly criticized the state of the Russian Orthodox Church and its leaders in recent years. Source: Interfax-Religion Tweet Donate Share Code for blog Orthodox priest killed in Pskov admin August 5, 2013 Pskov, August 5, Interfax - The man suspected of killing Orthodox priest Pavel Adelgeim has been arrested, the press office of the regional Interior Ministry Department told Interfax. The priest's body with stab wounds was discovered at approximately 8 p.m. on Monday in the ... Since you are here… …we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong. |
| The Treatment for Suffering is Love Source: Notes on Arab Orthodoxy Fr. Georges Massouh 21 October 2018 Man’s inevitable fate is, sooner or later, bodily death. Young and old stand equal before death. Death does not distinguish between children and the elderly. Is there a solution for this inevitable fate that is death? No, even if medical science and new drugs could prolong human life and reduce suffering, they will not reach the point of ending the inevitability of bodily death. If bodily death is inevitable, then what about suffering? Why does man suffer? Is suffering part of human nature or is it something alien to it? There are many questions that both believers and unbelievers have about the suffering that all humans experience without exception. To start with, it must be said that suffering does not only result from illness, but rather it results from many factors, so the source of suffering is not single but multiple. There is suffering that afflicts those who are physically healthy but who suffer from emotional, psychological, financial or intellectual (not achieving desired intellectual ambitions), or spiritual disappointments… Man does not live without suffering: this is the golden rule. According to the Christian faith, death and suffering are alien to human nature. God, the source of every good thing, created man eternal. That is, not dying and not suffering… but man, in his rebellion against God– that is, in his rejecting the source of life and departing from Him– sentenced himself to death, suffering and torment. The coming of Christ, His submitting to death on the cross and His resurrection restored the relationship between God and man. But suffering and death remained the two-edged sword at the throat of all mankind. Metropolitan Georges Khodr states that God is not the cause of everything that happens to us on the face of this earth. Khodr says in his conversation with Samir Farhat , “There are factors in nature and in the essence of humanity. If God liberated us from the responsibility of suffering, then it would be possible for us to be liberated from the dark image of this god, the god who delights in tormenting humankind. The natural inclination, particularly in the East, is that the good and the bad in life comes from God. In the New Testament, after Jesus bears mankind’s suffering, God is no longer the cause of human suffering. We are transported from a purely philosophical, theoretical position to a position of participating in Christ (This World is not Enough, Ta’awuniyyat al-Nur al-Orthodoxiyya lil-Nashr wal-Tawzi’, p. 207). |
| Venerable Onopre of Gareji, the Wonderworker (18th century) Memory 29 September (12 October) Saint Onopre of Gareji (Otar Machutadze in the world) lived and labored in the 18th century. He was a Kartlian aristocrat famed for his wealth, hospitality, and charity. Longing for the ascetic life, Otar wore a hair shirt under his distinguished raiment and unceasingly prayed to God for the strength to lead the monastic life.He revealed his will to his wife: “I thirst to turn fromthis world and draw nearer to Christ,” he said. “Therefore, I beg your forgiveness for all my transgressions, both voluntary and involuntary.” His faithful wife consented and permitted him to go in peace. Otar traveled with his two eldest sons to Tbilisi, blessed them, and bade them farewell for the last time. Then he set off for the Davit- Gareji Monastery, which at that time was led by the kindhearted superior Archimandrite German. Archimandrite German received Otar with great joy, and after a short time he tonsured him a monk with the name Onopre. Blessed Onopre was a peaceful, humble and obedient man and a tireless ascetic. He would keep vigil through the night, and after the morning prayers he would go down to the ravine and continue to chant psalms, shedding tears over his past transgressions. He ate just one meal a day of bread and water, after the hour of Vespers. Once the Dagestanis attacked the Davit-Gareji Monastery, plundered the church, and took captive several monks including Onopre, the priests Maxime and Ioakime, and four deacons. Onopre was the oldest among them. The unbelievers planned to stab him to death, but the Lord protected him from their evil scheme. According to the will of the All-mercifulGod, Onopre was freed and returned to the monastery. The brotherhood was impoverished after the invasion, so Archimandrite German sent St. Onopre on a mission to solicit alms. It was difficult for St. Onopre to depart from the monastery, but he unquestioningly obeyed the will of his superior: the former aristocrat began to walk from door to door, begging for charity. At Tskhinvali in Samachablo St. Onopre attracted the attention of a crowd of people leading a young, demon-possessed man. The saint approached them and discovered that they were bringing the young man to a fortuneteller for help. |
| Bishop: Christians Should Take up Arms in Syria admin 09 December 2013 TEHRAN (FNA)- A senior Orthodox Church official urged Christians to take up arms in Syria and defend themselves against extremists, condemning the international community for not stopping flow of arms to Syria militants. Speaking to the Iraqi newspaper Az-Zaman, Bishop Luca al-Khoury said “we have many young men who are asking us (to take action), and there are those demanding that we take immediate action.” “I call on every young man who can take up arms to come forward,” Khoury said, adding that the initiative was meant to allow the community’s members to engage in self-defense and protect Christian holy places, which have come under attack recently, Al-Alam reported. “Our young people are ready; their fingers are on the trigger and they’re ready to fight for the sake of Syria and for the sake of self-defense,” said Khoury, the patriarchal assistant at the Antioch Diocese, based in Damascus. Asked about the 13 nuns and several orphanage workers who were seized last week by Al-Qaeda-linked militants and taken away from Maaloula to the nearby town of Yabroud, Khoury indicated they were unable to discuss their situation freely. The women appeared in video footage broadcast Friday by Al-Jazeera television and said they were being treated well after being forced to leave Maaloula due to heavy shelling. The militants who have taken the nuns away say they haven’t ‘kidnapped’ them. Khoury said that some 40 churches had been damaged during the war in Syria and blamed the international community for accepting the opposition’s version of events, like “the government is killing its people – they are seeing things with only one eye”. Khoury urged leading countries to instead make efforts to stop the flow of weapons into the country. In Lebanon, caretaker Energy Minister Gebran Bassil said the events in Maaloula, where the Syrian army has been trying to secure against Al-Qaeda-linked attacks, have been locked in a fierce campaign for the last several weeks, were having an impact on Christians in Lebanon and the rest of the world. |
| On 1 May 2016, the Feast of the Radiant Resurrection of Christ, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia met with pilgrims from China, descendents of the Albazinians. Photo: http://mospat.ru As is widely known, the history of Orthodoxy in China dates back some 330 years. It began when the captive Cossacks, including a priest, defenders of the Albazin Fort on the border with China, were brought to Peking. From April 29 to May 9, the group of the Orthodox Albazinians is visiting Russia as guests of the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church. Among the pilgrims are descendants of the first head of the Chinese Autonomous Orthodox Church, Bishop Vasily of Beijing, as well as relatives of the clerics of the Chinese Church – of archpriest Vladimir Dubinin, archpriest Vasily Dubinin, archpriest Mikhail Romanov, archpriest Daniil Khabarov, priest Vasily Romanov and priest Pinna Dubinin, as well as young Chinese Orthodox faithful from Beijing and Harbin. Photo: http://mospat.ru The trip was organized by the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations with the assistance of Mr. Ivan Polyakov, Director General of the Interstate Corporation for Development, and the Russian-Chinese Business Council. The pilgrims from China will visit Moscow, Tver, Novgorod and St. Petersburg, as well as the Valday region, will take part in Easter services and celebrations and visit some Orthodox churches and monasteries. Among those who took part in the meeting with the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour were also archpriest Nikolai Balashov, DECR vice-chairman, and Mr. Dmitry Petrovsky, DECR staff member. Greeting the pilgrims, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church said in particular, “You are bearers of historical memory about Orthodoxy in China, and by God’s mercy we have lived to see the time when people in China can not only preserve the memory, but also live in accordance with their religious beliefs.” As His Holiness noted, he recalls with satisfaction his visit to China in 2013, during which he met with Mr. Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China. “As a result of that meeting, some very positive changes took place,” the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church said, “As you know, we had an opportunity to ordain a Chinese young man. Now we can say that the priesthood in China has been restored. The new priest is celebrating services in Harbin. I hope that more Chinese young men will be ordained priests and that church activities in China will gradually develop.” |
| Archimandrtie Tikhon (Shevkunov): “Seeing young Chinese Christian seekers is the most astounding experience I’ve had in a long time.” Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov) , Anton Pospelov This autumn, the Sretensky Monastery choir made a twenty-day tour, visiting Orthodox parishes of the United States. The tour ended… in China—where it had been invited to give two concerts. Although every step these Russians took around the city reminded them of themselves, this land nevertheless remains mysterious and somewhat incomprehensible, wonderful and amazing. . The abbot of Sretensky Monastery, Archimandrite Tikhon, shares with us his impressions of China. With this interview we are initiating the regular, weekly publication of articles by Fr. Tikhon, the editor-in-chief of the website, Pravoslavie.ru. Peking. The Forbidden City. —Fr. Tikhon, you and the Sretensky Monastery Choir were in China this year. How did that come about, considering the complex relationship between the Chinese government and the Orthodox Church? —The monastery’s choir was, unexpectedly to us, invited to China by Maestro Long Yu, a man who is very famous in that country. He is the director of the International Peking Music Festival, in which the most acclaimed symphony orchestras, choirs, and soloists participate. During the preliminary negotiations we placed special emphasis on the fact that the Sretensky Choir is first and foremost an Orthodox Christian, church choir. The activities of the Orthodox Church in China have been officially limited for many decades, and therefore I have to admit that we were quite surprised when a man so close to the higher echelons of Chinese government, who knew full well that we are Orthodox Christian, invited us and not someone else. But the festivals commission confirmed it: yes, the choir of a Russian Orthodox monastery is invited. We warned them that we are not going to remove the religious songs from the program. In reply the commission proposed that we give one concert of church hymns, the other of secular choral art. We agreed. |
| New Martyrs of Our Times—Evgeny Rodionov the Warrior 1977–1996 On the Saturday before the Orthodox Church commemorates Great Martyr Dimitry of Thessalonika (October 26/November 8), the Russian Orthodox Church has a tradition of serving a special service for the dead called the parastasis on Friday evening, and the a Liturgy for the reposed with a pannikhida (requiem) on Saturday morning. This tradition arose as a day to commemorate those soldiers who fell at the battle of Kulikvo in 1380. We thought it appropriate on this day to present the story of the soldier Evgeny Rodionov, who died a martyr's death in service of his country, and in defense of his Orthodox Christian faith. Moscow priest Fr. Alexander Shargunov said during the service in Evgeny Rodionov’s memory, “We know that he had to go through horrible, long-lasting sufferings that could be compared to the ones of great martyrs in ancient times. They were beheaded, dismembered, but they nevertheless remained devoted to Jesus Christ.” Shoulders back, chest out, the young soldier stands as if on parade in his camouflage fatigues—his boots polished his rifle at his shoulder, a halo around his head. His face is the blank mask of a man for whom duty is life. It is not easy being a soldier. Portraits of this young man, Evgeny (Eugene in English) Rodionov, are spreading around Russia—sometimes in uniform, sometimes in a robe, sometimes armed, sometimes holding a cross, but always with his halo. The portraits are iconographic, venerated in homes and churches where Private Evgeny Rodionov has become the focus of popular veneration in post-Soviet Russia and beyond. He is Russia's new unofficial saint, a casualty of the war in Chechnya and of Christianity’s continued defence against the Muslims, who has been glorified not by the Russian Orthodox Church but by a groundswell of popular devotion. Evgeny Rodionov was born on the 23 rd of May 1977. He was baptised as a child—not because of any strong faith on the part of his parents, but because his mother was afraid for his health. A common superstition was to have a child baptised to ensure good health. His parents were typical Soviet citizens and thought rarely about God. |
| Orthodoxy and Same Sex Attraction These are a few stories from homosexuals I have counseled over the past 35 years, first as a Protestant Christian and now as an Orthodox Christian. The Orthodox Church’s spirituality both affirmed and challenged my thinking about homosexuality over the years. This article is based on these experiences. As part of my exploration of how Orthodoxy has actually affected the lives of people living with same-sex attraction issues, several converts to Orthodoxy agreed to participate anonymously in interviews about their struggles with same-sex attraction (SSA) for this article. Source: Pithless Thoughts I Am Not My Sin Becky had become a born-again Christian only months before at an emotionally charged youth rally. She sat at my dining room table and poured out her past. Gay bars, her “butch” persona, her last relationship that she broke off. Now, like Lot’s wife, she was looking back longingly to that past, because she wasn’t finding emotional fulfillment and support in the church’s fellowship. Paul was popular, a fraternity leader, a seminarian. He was found with another young man in his dorm room. He poured out his heart as the college’s administration met to decide what to do with him. He felt his life was over; he was contemplating suicide. William was a leader in the youth group. He and another young man in the youth group were discovered in bed together at a retreat. As the associate pastor in charge of youth, I chaired the meeting with the parents and their kids to discuss the issue. I hired Joe as a drywall helper and we quickly became best friends. He began to confide in me about his past of horrific sexual abuse by his adoptive family, and his life in Hollywood as a male prostitute for drug money. I eventually baptized him in my former Protestant church. Three years later he died of a drug overdose. These are a few stories from homosexuals I have counseled over the past 35 years, first as a Protestant Christian and now as an Orthodox Christian. The Orthodox Church’s spirituality both affirmed and challenged my thinking about homosexuality over the years. This article is based on these experiences. As part of my exploration of how Orthodoxy has actually affected the lives of people living with same-sex attraction issues, several converts to Orthodoxy agreed to participate anonymously in interviews about their struggles with same-sex attraction (SSA) for this article. |
| Patriarch Kirill Expresses His Condolences on the Tragic Florida School Shooting Natalya Mihailova 18 February 2018 His Holiness, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, offered the president of the USA his condolences on the tragic school shooting in Parkland, Florida. A heavily armed young man barged into his former high school on February 14, 2018, opening fire on terrified students and teachers and leaving a death toll of 17 and 14 students heavily injured. “To His Excellency the President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, Your Excellency, dear Mr. President, It gave me extreme pain to hear about the terrible crime occurred in Florida, which resulted in the death and injury of children. I express my sincere condolences to you, parents that lost their children, and to all relatives and close ones of the victims. On these sorrowful days I pray to the Lord so He may strengthen those who were affected by this disaster, and give them courage and strength to survive this terrible ordeal. My deep condolences, +Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.” This article was translated from Russian . Tweet Donate Share Code for blog Patriarch Kirill Expresses His Condolences on the Tragic Florida School Shooting Natalya Mihailova His Holiness, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, offered the president of the USA his condolences on the tragic school shooting in Parkland, Florida. A heavily armed young man barged into his former high school on February 14, 2018, opening fire on terrified students and teachers and ... Since you are here… …we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong. Having said that, Pravmir provides daily articles from an autonomous news service, weekly wall newspaper for churches, lectorium, photos, videos, hosting and servers. Editors and translators work together towards one goal: to make our four websites possible - Pravmir.ru, Neinvalid.ru, Matrony.ru and Pravmir.com. Therefore our request for help is understandable. |
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