Kiev, March 31, 2025 Photo: was.media On Friday, a state commission was sent to the Holy Dormition-Kiev Caves Lavra to “inspect” the incorrupt relics that lie in the Near and Far Caves. The group cut off the locks to the Caves and installed their own in order to block the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church…
Faisalabad, Punjab Province, Pakistan, March 31, 2025 Orthodox Church in Pakistan More than three dozen new Orthodox Christians were baptized and chrismated in Pakistan recently. A mass Baptismal service took place in Faisalabad, Punjab Province, celebrated by visiting priest from Stavropol, Russia, Fr. Anthony Skrinnikov. Local priest Fr. Paul Sushil was also present. Altogether,…
Slovyansk, Donetsk Province, Ukraine, March 31, 2025 Photo: rbk.ru Ukrainian courts have extended the detention of His Eminence Metropolitan Arseny of Svyatogorsk of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church yet again. With this latest extension, through the end of May, Met. Arseny, who is also the abbot of the Holy Dormition-Svyatogorsk Lavra, will be in…
Athens, March 31, 2025 Photo: orthodoxwitness.org At its session earlier this month, the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece unanimously accepted the proposal to canonize a beloved 20th-century married saint. The request to canonize Papa-Demetrios Gagastathis was submitted by Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Trikki, Gardiki, and Pyli. Having been accepted by the Greek Synod, it…
Repentance is our reconciliation with God —St. John Climacus Lent is a time of repentance—a time when our stony hearts should be transformed by the power of God from insensible to sensitive, from cold and hardened to warm and open—open to others and to God Himself. Lent is a time of renewal, when as…
Self-portrait, by Y.A. Orlov. 2018. Oil on canvas. 110×80 cm. From the author’s private collection The Russian Academy of Fine Arts recently featured an exhibition of work by Yuri Orlov, People’s Artist of the Russian Federation. His art is defined by a desire to portray the realities of contemporary life with both precision and depth—yet…
This article could be jokingly entitled, “A Friend Among Strangers, a Stranger Among Friends, or a Tale about How an Orthodox Woman Was Looking for a Church Among Mosques.” My trip to the capital of the mountains and the heart of the Caucasus has found a special place in my heart, leaving many unforgettable impressions…
On March 29, the Russian Orthodox Church honors the memory of St. Serapion, Archbishop of Novgorod. St. Serapion was born in the fifteenth century in the village of Pekhorka1 near Moscow into a family of ordinary villagers. His religious parents nurtured their son’s love of the Lord from infancy and taught him to read and…
Bucharest, March 28, 2025 Photo: basilica.ro The Romanian Orthodox Church has begun the process of canonizing several holy women saints. The Holy Synod of the Romanian Church gathered yesterday in Bucharest under the chairmanship of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel, reports the Basilica News Agency. Among its decisions, the governing body: approved the initiation of…
Wayne, West Virginia, March 28, 2025 Photo: holycross.org The brotherhood of Holy Cross Monastery in Wayne, West Virginia (Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia) is requesting prayers for its beloved abbot Archimandrite Seraphim. Fr. Seraphim, who has been a member of Holy Cross Monastery for 32 years and abbot for 10, has been experiencing various…
