Moscow, April 11, 2025 Photo: narvanews.com The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church issued a statement yesterday condemning the recently adopted bill that effectively bans the Estonian Orthodox Christian Church. The legislation, passed in its third reading by Estonia’s Parliament on April 9, requires the Church and Pükhtitsa Monastery to sever their canonical…
Moscow, April 14, 2025 Photo: rbk.ru Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia sent an appeal to multiple religious and political leaders last week concerning the Estonian Parliament’s adoption of a law banning the Estonian Orthodox Christian Church. Legislators adopted amendments to the Law on Churches and Congregations Parliament adopts law on banning Estonian…
Bucharest, April 14, 2025 Photo: basilica.ro Around 13,000 pilgrims and numerous clergy from Bucharest and Ilfov filled the streets of Bucharest on Saturday for the annual procession in honor of the great feast of Palm Sunday. The pilgrimage began in the capital with the celebration of Vespers at the Radu Vodă Monastery. At the…
Tallinn, April 11, 2025 Pükhtitsa Monastery. Photo: puhtitsa.ee Representatives of the Estonian Orthodox Christian Church and the Holy Dormition-Pükhtitsa Monastery submitted an official appeal to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) yesterday, calling for a response to the religious persecution being carried out by the state. Estonian Parliament adopted amendments to the…
Mt. Athos, April 14, 2025 Photo: romfea.gr Zographou, the Bulgarian-tradition monastery on Mt. Athos, has elected its new abbot. The former abbot, Schema-Archimandrite Ambrose, who had lived and labored on the Holy Mountain since 1981 and served as abbot since 1997, reposed in the Lord on Abbot of Zographou, Bulgarian Athonite monastery, reposes in…
Photo: troitskiy-hram.moseparh.ru Now in the morning as He returned into the city, He hungered. And when He saw a fig tree in the way, He came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away…
Photo: n-do.by [They] took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet Him, and cried, Hosanna:Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord (Jn. 12:13). The holy Church commemorates this day the The Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem—Palm Sunday”We magnify Thee, O Christ the Giver of…
The Resurrection of Lazarus, icon, 12th c. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! On this day, before us is opened a new sphere—the phase of Great Lent known as Holy WeekTherefore, no matter what we experience, or no matter how little we experience, let us attend…
On RepentanceFather Kyrik was an experienced practitioner of the prayer of the heart and edified his spiritual children primarily through his own example. “>Part 1On ConfessionWe must firmly believe in our Lord Jesus Christ’s labor on the Cross before His Heavenly Father, and that He tore up our sins on the Cross and gave us…
Photo: ru.dalailama.com During Great Lent of 2017, I happened to come to the Cathedral of the Protection of the Mother of God in Sevastopol for the Holy Wednesday. The service of Holy UnctionIt is a tradition in the Orthodox Church for all the faithful to receive Holy Unction during Great Lent. In many churches,…
