Orthodox Christianity / OrthoChristian.Com

Friday, September 9/22, 2017. 16th Week after Pentecost. Fast Day.

Wine and oil allowed.

Afterfeast of the Nativity of the Theotokos. Holy and Righteous Ancestors of God Joachim and Anna. Martyr Severian of Sebaste (320). St. Joseph, founder of Volokolamsk (Volotsk) Monastery (1515). Uncovering and translation of the relics of St. Theodosius, archbishop of Chernigov (1896).

St. Theophanes, confessor and faster, of Mt. Diabenos (299). Commemoration of the Third Ecumenical Council (431). Blessed Nicetas the Hidden, of Constantinople (12th c.). St. Onuphrius of Vorona, Moldavia (1789).

New Hieromartyr Zachariah (Lobov), archbishop of Voronezh (1937). New Hieromartyr Andronicus (Surikov), hieromonk, of Moscow (1938)

St. Kieran (Ciaran) of Clonmacnois (Ireland) (ca. 545). St. Omer, bishop of Therouanne (670). St. Joachim, founder of Opochka Monastery (Pskov) (ca. 1550). St. Joachim, monk of the St. Nicholas- Shartomsk Monastery in Suzdal (1625). St. Cyriacus of Tazlau Monastery, Moldavia (1660).

Repose of Elder Joachim of St. Anne’s Skete, Mt. Athos (1950).

See the full calendar

Struggling With Sexual Passion

Struggling With Sexual Passion Fr. Ted Bobosh Struggling With Sexual Passion Fr. Ted Bobosh Chrysostom knew nothing of modern scientific theories on evolution and genetics, but he did think humans have a spiritual dimension given by God which humans needed to exercise in order to attain full human potential.

Schemamonk George from the Old Russikon, a Disciple of Elder Joseph the Hesychast

Schemamonk George from the Old Russikon, a Disciple of Elder Joseph the Hesychast Ilya Kabanov Schemamonk George from the Old Russikon, a Disciple of Elder Joseph the Hesychast Ilya Kabanov “Who can describe the joy of union with God? It is joy unspeakable, it is ‘Christ is Risen’ for our entire lives…” Fr. George said.

“Today Mary is Born!”

“Today Mary is Born!” A Laudation for the Nativity of the Theotokos “Today Mary is Born!” A Laudation for the Nativity of the Theotokos Archimandrite Iakinf (Unchulyak) Those repenting of their sins, remembering death, desiring by the path of Confession to lay a beginning of a new life—all of you come, venture, proceed: our Savior loves you. Come, repent, forgive one another, confess, rejoice: The Mother of God awaits you, whose birth we now celebrate. Come, cast aside the old, adorn yourself in new clothes: The saints in Heaven await you, the Church awaits, priests wait for you to come to them for help—just come.

The Nativity of the Mother of God

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Publications

To Jerusalem on a Demon

Paradoxes and Historical Facts in the Life of the Holy Hierarch John of Novgorod

Valeria Mikhailova

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Saints. Asceties of Piety. Church Holy Days

Rating: 9,9|Votes: 17

To Jerusalem on a Demon

Paradoxes and Historical Facts in the Life of the Holy Hierarch John of Novgorod

Valeria Mikhailova

As God did not desire to leave this man unknown in the fifteenth century, so in our times: Today St. John of Novgorod, longing for but one thing from his childhood—to be with Christ, is remembered and glorified in the Orthodox world.

“It was the Forerunner”

Abbess Methodia On Her Path to the Naousa Monastery and On Holy People

Olga Rozhneva, Olga Zatushevskaya

3 2

Churches and Monasteries

Rating: 8,8|Votes: 18

“It was the Forerunner”

Abbess Methodia On Her Path to the Naousa Monastery and On Holy People

Olga Rozhneva, Olga Zatushevskaya

Abbess Methodia of the Convent of the Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord John near the Greek city of Naousa, under the spiritual direction of Elder Ephraim, spoke to us about the monastery and about her path there by the prayers of the holy people God had blessed her to meet.

Christians and Entertainment

Fr. John Whiteford

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Homilies and Spiritual Instruction

Rating: 9,4|Votes: 17

Christians and Entertainment

Fr. John Whiteford

But in more practical terms, how should an Orthodox Christian in our times discern what entertainment is acceptable, and what should be avoided? Also, how do you deal with raising children in the context of the internet and ubiquitous access to it via various mobile devices?

On Spiritual Fathers, Sins, Prayer and Salvation

Archimandrite Arsenie (Papacioc), Maria Borlovyanu

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Homilies and Spiritual Instruction

Rating: 10|Votes: 17

On Spiritual Fathers, Sins, Prayer and Salvation

Archimandrite Arsenie (Papacioc), Maria Borlovyanu

Every time I find myself in the Monastery of St. Mary in Techirghiol, I am filled with trepidation at the thought of the multitude of my sins, known and unknown. And my first desire is to go to the cell of the great spiritual father Arsenie (Papacioc), to at least take his blessing. And when you are honored with the great privilege of speaking with him, time begins to take on some kind of special dimension.

Bad Company Corrupts Good Morals

When Lot Pitched His Tent Toward Sodom

Fr. John Whiteford

2 4

Homilies and Spiritual Instruction

Rating: 9,9|Votes: 48

Bad Company Corrupts Good Morals

When Lot Pitched His Tent Toward Sodom

Fr. John Whiteford

Fr. John shares from Genesis 13, providing a comparison between the corruption of Lot and the social mentality of the 21st century.

According to “The Domestic Rule”

On Edinoverie Family Life in Our Days

Vladimir Basenkov

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Rating: 9,3|Votes: 24

According to “The Domestic Rule”

On Edinoverie Family Life in Our Days

Vladimir Basenkov

The value of tradition as the best experience of our ancestors, accumulated, refined, and transmitted, has been devalued in our days. The modern Orthodox family is compelled to seek new ways to orient their everyday life. Over the course of the many centuries of Christian history, the Russian people created a universal system of family values, which, having moral categories, is always clearly manifested externally: in expressions, relations, and organization of space.

A Strange Icon

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Saints. Asceties of Piety. Church Holy Days

Rating: 9,3|Votes: 44

A Strange Icon

The nuns of the St. Prohor Pcinjski Convent, situated in the south of Serbia a few miles from the Macedonian border, told us this story.

A Patristic Checkmate on the Game of Thrones

Nun Cornelia (Rees)

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Homilies and Spiritual Instruction

Rating: 9,9|Votes: 60

A Patristic Checkmate on the Game of Thrones

Nun Cornelia (Rees)

This subject—Christians and media entertainment—needs to be revisited again and again, especially now that violent and blatantly pornographic content is being so artfully, even hypnotically presented to the mainstream.

Solitude Is an Abyss of Soul Designed For God

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Homilies and Spiritual Instruction

Rating: 9,7|Votes: 19

Solitude Is an Abyss of Soul Designed For God

Solitude shows us who we are and gives us an opportunity to fill the “yawning abyss” of the human soul. Whether this vacuum is to be filled by God, or the “babble and rattle” of TV, or the escape from ourselves into the labyrinths of social media—the choice is in our hands. Our history knows examples that help us make a right decision.

St. Simeon Stylites, the Elder

Commemorated on September 1/14

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Saints. Asceties of Piety. Church Holy Days

Rating: 8,7|Votes: 7

St. Simeon Stylites, the Elder

Commemorated on September 1/14

Shunning worldly glory and striving again to find his lost solitude, the monk chose a previously unknown mode of asceticism. He went up a pillar six to eight feet high, and settled upon it in a little cell, devoting himself to intense prayer and fasting.

Church New Year

Commemorated on September 1

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Saints. Asceties of Piety. Church Holy Days

Rating: 5,5|Votes: 2

Church New Year

Commemorated on September 1

The first day of the Church New Year is also called the beginning of the Indiction. The term Indiction comes from a Latin word meaning, “to impose.”

The Long Way Home

Marina Alexeyeva

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Coming to Orthodoxy

Rating: 9,7|Votes: 10

The Long Way Home

Marina Alexeyeva

He awoke at the grinding sound of the door opening. The guards had come. Releasing Tolya from the handcuffs, they led him upstairs. “Well, this is it,” he thought, “now they are going to kill me and my wasted life is going to end.” They took him outside. Anatoly winced, thinking it’s the end.

Two Saints of Devon: Rumon of Tavistock and Urith of Chittlehampton

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Saints. Asceties of Piety. Church Holy Days

Rating: 9,6|Votes: 7

Two Saints of Devon: Rumon of Tavistock and Urith of Chittlehampton

Saintly men and women—preachers, teachers, hermits, bishops, abbots and abbesses, holy rulers, princes and princesses—carried out their spiritual labors in Devon and today churches, holy wells and monastic ruins bear witness to their presence.

Medicine for Modernism

Priest George Maximov, Archimandrite Raphael (Karelin)

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Homilies and Spiritual Instruction

Rating: 10|Votes: 18

Medicine for Modernism

Priest George Maximov, Archimandrite Raphael (Karelin)

Now modernism acts more cautiously, systematically, and consistently, without loud slogans and excesses, but the scope of its struggle has become significantly wider. Modernism digs a deep mine under Orthodox dogmatics, while claiming that its only goal is to purify the later accretions to traditional beliefs.

Can Women Be Saved Without Childbearing?

Archpriest Andrei Ovchinnikov

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Saints. Asceties of Piety. Church Holy Days

Rating: 7,4|Votes: 12

Can Women Be Saved Without Childbearing?

Archpriest Andrei Ovchinnikov

Today I would like to speak to the ladies. I will try to give practical advice on the theme: “woman and children”. I will warn you from the very beginning that it is not for all. I expect criticism and disagreement. But perhaps some will listen to me and try to look at their lives in the light of reflection on the suggested subject.

Remembering 9/11

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Orthodoxy Today

Rating: 5,5|Votes: 4

Remembering 9/11

I have not been moved to hatred or thoughts of revenge. My reaction has been a total sorrow that we in the world are in such condition that hatred takes over our lives and that we humans can do such horrendous acts of murder.

“Father, I Want to Start a Family!”

Archimandrite Andreas (Konanos)

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Homilies and Spiritual Instruction

Rating: 10|Votes: 16

“Father, I Want to Start a Family!”

Archimandrite Andreas (Konanos)

I pray to God that you all might find this path and meet the love of your life on it, and that you might walk hand-in-hand with them, and not that one be pulled here, and another there, but that you were both pulled to the East, that is, to Christ! I always pray to God, that you would experience the very greatest miracle—the feeling of God’s presence and love in our hearts and lives!

Hieromonk Philaret (in Schema Theodore), Elder of Novospassky Monastery

Archimandrite Job (Gumerov)

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Saints. Asceties of Piety. Church Holy Days

Rating: 10|Votes: 2

Hieromonk Philaret (in Schema Theodore), Elder of Novospassky Monastery

Archimandrite Job (Gumerov)

Indebted to the Novospassky elder for his conversion to Orthodoxy was the remarkable philosopher Ivan Kireyevsky. Educated on the ideas of German philosophy, he was far from Church life.

The Wedding Garment

An excerpt from Parables of the Gospel by Pope Saint Gregory the Dialogist

St. Gregory the Dialogist

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Homilies and Spiritual Instruction

Rating: 6,7|Votes: 3

The Wedding Garment

An excerpt from Parables of the Gospel by Pope Saint Gregory the Dialogist

St. Gregory the Dialogist

What is meant, brethren, by this wedding garment? It cannot signify either Baptism or faith, because who can enter this marriage feast without Baptism or without faith? Because undoubtedly the mere fact of not believing excludes one from the Church.

The Holy Fathers on Illness

Bishop Alexander (Mileant)

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Homilies and Spiritual Instruction

Rating: 10|Votes: 11

The Holy Fathers on Illness

Bishop Alexander (Mileant)

Everyone, whether or not he is a Christian, must expect a certain amount of sickness and discomfort to enter his life. Physical pain is universal; no one escapes it. Therefore, how much we suffer from illness, or how intensely, does not matter so much as how we understand these infirmities. The understanding is all.

Mutual Trust

The most important element for bringing the souls of the sisters close to their abbess

Abbess Theoxeni

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Homilies and Spiritual Instruction

Rating: 9,8|Votes: 5

Mutual Trust

The most important element for bringing the souls of the sisters close to their abbess

Abbess Theoxeni

With God’s help, the abbess finds ways to overcome difficulties and to heal spiritual illnesses. In order to achieve this the abbess is called to love each sister with a spiritual love, to instruct with love, and to endure the infirmities of her spiritual children, just as the Lord endures our sins.

“Should We Just Sit and Do Nothing?”

Priest Vasily Kutsenko

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Homilies and Spiritual Instruction

Rating: 9,6|Votes: 8

“Should We Just Sit and Do Nothing?”

Priest Vasily Kutsenko

A text message comes from his favorite clothing store informing that huge discounts are at hand and he feels he needs to renew his wardrobe. In a word, he has a whole lot of problems to solve promptly, preferably without headache and complications. And there is no getting away from it: he has to worry about his future, not least about tomorrow, all the time.

“Pray For Me, Mama”

0 4

Homilies and Spiritual Instruction

Rating: 9,9|Votes: 34

“Pray For Me, Mama”

The Lord gives life everlasting! And to all those who have gone through this, I say: All the pain in your life is from unrepentant sin. Make haste to God and repent, and He will heal your soul. Everything can change, as long as we’re alive.”

Our Holy and God-Bearing Fathers

Fr. John Whiteford

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Saints. Asceties of Piety. Church Holy Days

Rating: 9,9|Votes: 9

Our Holy and God-Bearing Fathers

Fr. John Whiteford

In our services we often speak of “our holy and God-bearing fathers, and all the saints...” I understand that the reference is made to the Church’s founding fathers, but who is meant specifically? All the Apostles? Or just Peter and Paul?

Practical Aspects of Observing Monastic Vows in an Urban Monastery

Abbess Maria (Sidiropoulos)

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Orthodoxy Today

Rating: 8,9|Votes: 11

Practical Aspects of Observing Monastic Vows in an Urban Monastery

Abbess Maria (Sidiropoulos)

St. Ephraim the Syrian said “It is not tonsure and garb that makes the monk, but a heavenly desire and Divine living, because in this lies perfection in life.”God’s commandments are the same for both monastics and laypersons.