Rating: 9,8|Votes: 19

The Succession of Elders: From Valaam Monastery to the Pskov Caves Monastery

Nadezhda Shelepova

At the Pskov Caves Monastery, Elder Hippolytus absorbed the monastic tradition of both the Valaam and the Pskov Caves elders. They guided and taught by the example of their good deeds, which is much more effective than just verbal instructions.

Rating: 9,2|Votes: 43

How the Phanar Decieved the Ukrainians

Priest George Maximov

It kind of makes sense now why Constantinople did it and why they wouldn’t listen to any pleas from other Churches not to do it. It was a low-hanging fruit, so “pleasing to the eye” and so easy for picking.

Rating: 9,6|Votes: 18

St. Genevieve of Paris

Commemorated January 3/16

The next morning the holy Bishop presented her with a medallion engraved with a cross and asked her never to wear another ornament but the Ornament of God's Grace through the Holy Spirit.

Rating: 10|Votes: 7

“Every Good and Perfect Gift is from Above….”

Reflections on the 200th anniversary of the Martyrdom of New Monk-Martyr Gideon of Karakallou and the Feast of the Christ’s Nativity.

Monk Nicodemus (Jones)

His saints and the other world are closer than we realize, and His direct and personal action towards us is both continual and filled with His loving care.

Rating: 7,2|Votes: 37

Synodality and Primacy in the Orthodox Church

From the Keynote Address by Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware of Diokleia) at the IOTA Inaugural Conference, 9-12 January 2019 in Iasi, Romania

Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware)

What is the aim of every council? It is, through the exercise of collective discernment, to attain a common mind. Yet this common mind is not simply the sum total of the convictions of the various participants.

Rating: 9,6|Votes: 28

The War, the Cow, and Father Seraphim. A True Story

Natalia Melnikova

Ivan, Manya’s brother-in-law, didn’t fight in the war. He worked as an accountant in a forest company, was a well-to-do man (for that time) and owned a horse. Manya made up her mind to go cap in hand to Ivan. After all, he was her relative.

Rating: 10|Votes: 12

The Blessed Feast of the Nativity of Christ in Pakistan

Fr. Joseph Farooq

I most humbly extend my heartfelt thanks to all our kind donors who have generously contributed with pure heart for the Christmas gifts, ration for widows and warm clothes and gifts for the children. May God bless their humble donation and charity for the poor.

Rating: 10|Votes: 29

On Cutting Off Temptations

A Sermon on the Circumcision of the Lord

Hieromonk Irenei (Pikovsky)

Dainty foods and naked bodies have become idols of our days, and gluttony and viewing erotic images can be compared to idol-worship. How can we deprive ourselves of temptations?

Rating: 9,3|Votes: 26

Political Freedom or Spiritual Freedom?

Anna Stickles

Political or cultural independence is not bad in itself, but we can tell that something has become an idol in the Christian’s heart when Christian virtue, love, obedience and harmony are sacrificed in order to obtain whatever is desired.

Rating: 10|Votes: 14

St. Basil the Great

January 1/14

Bishop Alexander (Mileant)

Hierarch Basil the Great is one of the Church’s most remarkable theologians. His influence on the fortunes of the Church spread far beyond the borders of his homeland and is still felt in our days.

Rating: 7,5|Votes: 6

The Infant Christ

Fr. Ted Bobosh

And we realize one of the most profound mysteries of the birth of Jesus – God enters the world as a child and puts Himself at the mercy of the world. God entrusts himself to the care of a young girl and an old carpenter, penniless and powerless.

Rating: 9,3|Votes: 10

Could Christ Have Not Been Born?

Priest Valery Dukhanin

Genuine love cannot not be incarnated, but is incarnate.

Rating: 8,8|Votes: 15

What If We Are Worse Than Herod?

Fr. James Guirguis

So how might we be like this mad tyrant Herod?

Rating: 8,3|Votes: 9

Nativity Epistle 2019

Bishop Irenei (Steenberg)

The Nativity of our Saviour is the reality that grounds our profound hope as Christian people.

Rating: 9,6|Votes: 27

Christmas in Karoulia

Metropolitan Nikolaos of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki

I wish everyone to feel that it’s the greatest thing that faith gives—a meeting with God—His presence in our lives—and nothing else in the world!

Rating: 7|Votes: 5

The Christmas Intrusion

Fr. Ted Bobosh

God intruding in all our lives through the birth of His Son, interrupting all the other things we might want to do this evening and this week with our families and friends, in our homes or at work.

Rating: 10|Votes: 25

The Nativity of Christ is the same Yesterday, Today, and Forever

An autobiographical interview with Schema-Archimandrite Iliy (Nozdrin)

Schema-Archimandrite Iliy (Nozdrin)

The following is a story of the Nativity celebrated throughout a difficult, yet joyful life, through which shines the more than two thousand year old history of this event most important for mankind.

Rating: 7,7|Votes: 27

Pro-Life Means More than Anti-Abortion

Fr. Ted Bobosh

This is part of the Nativity story we don’t have in our Christmas cards or carols and prefer to ignore because we like a sentimental winter story rather than one which exposes the reality of the world.

Rating: 9,6|Votes: 10

The Christmas When Everybody Was There

Fr. Stephen Freeman

The nostalgia, I think, was for the commonality, an experience that banished loneliness and gave meaning to even the smallest actions. The prosperity that followed was hollow. For what purpose do we now shop?

Rating: 9,1|Votes: 23

The Tomos for Ukraine: What’s Typical and What’s Specific

Vladimir Burega

We will try to sort out what in the Ukrainian tomos is typical and what is, so to speak, specific.

Rating: 9,8|Votes: 37

“Chaos Awaits Us”

On Patriarch Bartholomew’s Granting of Autocephaly to the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine”

Metropolitan Sawa of Warsaw and All Poland

More and more I think this matter is in God’s hands alone. Otherwise, we’ll never get out of this situation created by satan.

Rating: 10|Votes: 10

“The Nativity of Christ is the feast of reconciliation between heaven and earth”

An Interview with Metropolitan Onuphry (Berezovsky)

Sergei Geruk, Metropolitan Onuphry (Berezovsky)

If we love God, we love everyone—our father and mother, our neighbor and fatherland, as well as other peoples. If we do not love God, we will never be able to love anyone; we will always be prone to committing a sin.

Rating: 8,7|Votes: 63

Solovki—A Christmas Feast for the Eyes and Spirit

Photo Gallery

Nadezhda Terekhova

Always a place of singular beauty, Solovki is especially illumined by the grace and joy of the Lord’s Nativity. Feast your eyes on this unearthly yet cozy beauty!

Rating: 10|Votes: 16

Shocking, Holy, and Humble Love for the Whole World: Homily for the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ (Christmas) in the Orthodox Church

Fr. Philip LeMasters

In order to celebrate Christmas properly, we must refuse to make God in our own image.

Rating: 9,6|Votes: 11

The Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos

On how we should view afflictions

Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov)

Jesus’s flight into Egypt at the instructions of an angel of the Lord to preserve Him from the death that Herod had devised for Him gives us also an example to follow on the paths of our own lives. We can also encounter in various forms something similar to what happened with our Savior—that is, danger and persecution.