Orthodox Christianity

Tuesday, February 25/March 10, 2026. 3rd Week of Great Lent. Great Lent.

Monastic rule: xerophagy (bread, uncooked fruits and vegetables).

St. Tarasius, patriarch of Constantinople (806).

New Hieromartyr Sylvester (Olshevsky), archbishop of Omsk (1920).

Martyr Alexander, at Marcionopolis (ca. 305). Hieromartyr Reginus, bishop of the isle of Skopelos (355). St. Paphnutius of Kephala, monk (4th c.). St. Ethelbert, king of Kent (616). St. Walburga, abbess, of Heidenheim (779). New Hieromartyr Leo Korobczuk, priest, of Laskov (Chelm and Podlasie, Poland) (1944).

Repose of Blessed Pashenka of Nizhni-Novgorod (1934).

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Ukrainian Church Crisis

Of Wormholes and Memorials

Of Wormholes and Memorials Fr. Lawrence Farley Of Wormholes and Memorials Fr. Lawrence Farley How do Orthodox understand the sacrificial nature of the Eucharist? How can the sacrifice on the cross that occurred in the first century be present on our altars today?

Monday of the Third Week of Great Lent

Monday of the Third Week of Great Lent Monday of the Third Week of Great Lent The Church again calls unceasingly to repentance. The Savior calls us to faith. Let us believe, and we shall be healed.

Theology of the Prayer of the Heart

Theology of the Prayer of the Heart Hieromonk Ignaty (Shestakov) Theology of the Prayer of the Heart Sermon on the Sunday of St. Gregory Palamas Hieromonk Ignaty (Shestakov) St. Gregory taught that everyone should perform the prayer of the heart and always repeat this prayer in the depths of their hearts: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

Great Lent

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Saturday of the Second Week of Great Lent: Commemoration of the Departed

Homilies and Spiritual Instruction

Saturday of the Second Week of Great Lent: Commemoration of the Departed

Thus the foundation of the establishment of these Saturdays is love.

“It’s an Amazing, Wonderful, and Great Mystery”

The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. Part 2

Hieromonk Athanasius (Deryugin)

Orthodoxy Today

“It’s an Amazing, Wonderful, and Great Mystery”

The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. Part 2

Hieromonk Athanasius (Deryugin)

All these hymns—“Now the Powers of Heaven”, the Cherubic Hymn, and “Let all mortal flesh keep silence”—remind us that the Heavenly Powers participate in worship with us.

The Early Christians of Colossae and the Lycus Valley: Philemon and His Companions

Matthew Hartley

Saints. Asceties of Piety. Church Holy Days

The Early Christians of Colossae and the Lycus Valley: Philemon and His Companions

Matthew Hartley

The early Christian community of the Lycus Valley in Phrygian Asia Minor, centered on the cities of Colossae, Hierapolis, and Laodicea, was closely connected to the holy Apostle Paul’s missionary labors.

Friday of the Second Week of Great Lent

Homilies and Spiritual Instruction

Friday of the Second Week of Great Lent

According to the teaching of the ancient Fathers, a healthy infant does not fast only while still nourished by its mother’s milk—that is, approximately until the age of three.

Thursday of the Second Week of Great Lent

Homilies and Spiritual Instruction

Thursday of the Second Week of Great Lent

Let no one think, my Christian brethren, that only those in holy orders and monks have the duty to pray unceasingly and at all times, and not laypeople.

Wednesday of the Second Week of Great Lent

Homilies and Spiritual Instruction

Wednesday of the Second Week of Great Lent

Nothing so contributes to progress in virtue as frequent converse with God.

The Divinely-Wise Elder Theodore of Sanaxar

Alexandra Kalinovskaya

Saints. Asceties of Piety. Church Holy Days

The Divinely-Wise Elder Theodore of Sanaxar

Alexandra Kalinovskaya

The monastery rule was very strict. They read and sang slowly, and Vigil could last twelve hours. The meal was very modest, and they never ate white bread. The brethren’s prayer rule was voluminous.

“It’s an Amazing, Wonderful, and Great Mystery”

The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. Part 1

Hieromonk Athanasius (Deryugin)

Homilies and Spiritual Instruction

“It’s an Amazing, Wonderful, and Great Mystery”

The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. Part 1

Hieromonk Athanasius (Deryugin)

Lent is a special time when we abstain from something particularly solemn and related to the commemoration of the Resurrection of Christ on weekdays; that is why such a service is celebrated.

Tuesday of the Second Week of Great Lent

Homilies and Spiritual Instruction

Tuesday of the Second Week of Great Lent

St. Macarius of Egypt says, “He who practices abstinence without prayer—how shall he stand without its help?”

“Fasting is Walking on Water”

Orthodox Pastors on Great Lent

Priest Nicholai Bulgakov

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Homilies and Spiritual Instruction

Rating: 9|Votes: 9

“Fasting is Walking on Water”

Orthodox Pastors on Great Lent

Priest Nicholai Bulgakov

Fasting is a time of purification, repentance; a time that helps us leave this vain world in which we live from day to day without often thinking about what is most important. Time goes by and we are in the same place; the soul has not changed. So it would be good for us to make friends with fasting. After all, it gives us the most important thing—spiritual transformation.

Monday of the Second Week of Great Lent

Homilies and Spiritual Instruction

Monday of the Second Week of Great Lent

Fasting is a period of spiritual exertion. If we cannot give our whole life to God, let us at least dedicate to Him wholeheartedly the period of the fast—intensifying our prayer, increasing our works of mercy, restraining our passions, and reconciling ourselves with our enemies.

Instruction on the Second Week of Great Lent. The Meaning of the Fast for Man

St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov)

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Homilies and Spiritual Instruction

Rating: 9.7|Votes: 7

Instruction on the Second Week of Great Lent. The Meaning of the Fast for Man

St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov)

The podvig of fasting does not belong exclusively to the body; the podvig of fasting is beneficial and needed not only for the body; it is beneficial mainly for the mind and heart.

The Joy of a Christian

A Homily for the Triumph of Orthodoxy

St. Onuphry (Gagalyuk) of Kursk

Saints. Asceties of Piety. Church Holy Days

The Joy of a Christian

A Homily for the Triumph of Orthodoxy

St. Onuphry (Gagalyuk) of Kursk

On the Sunday of Orthodoxy, the Orthodox Church celebrates its victory over all heresies, schisms, and unbelief… What joy is there in this for us? The joy that all external and internal assaults upon the Church of God have been in vain.

Sermon on the True Faith

St. Sava of Serbia

Homilies and Spiritual Instruction

Sermon on the True Faith

St. Sava of Serbia

Brothers and friends, fathers and children called by God, bow your God-loving hearts to hear divine dogmas.

The First Saturday of Great Lent: Why Is It Special? and How Is It Connected with the Friday Service?

Marina Borisova

Saints. Asceties of Piety. Church Holy Days

The First Saturday of Great Lent: Why Is It Special? and How Is It Connected with the Friday Service?

Marina Borisova

At the end of the Liturgy, after the Prayer Behind the Ambo, a moleben canon to St. Theodore—composed by our venerable father John of Damascus—is sung, and the koliva is blessed.

“Rejoice that We Have the Fast, and Live Simply”

Archpriest Theodor Verevkin

Homilies and Spiritual Instruction

“Rejoice that We Have the Fast, and Live Simply”

Archpriest Theodor Verevkin

Breaking the fast begins when there is great fuss about what else one might eat.

How St. Kallinikos of Edessa Healed a Little Boy

Saints. Asceties of Piety. Church Holy Days

How St. Kallinikos of Edessa Healed a Little Boy

His doctors can’t believe that he is not only alive, but thriving.

A Flock Without a Roof, Yet Not Without God

On Spiritual Unity in Times of Persecution

Metropolitan Luke (Kovalenko)

Homilies and Spiritual Instruction

A Flock Without a Roof, Yet Not Without God

On Spiritual Unity in Times of Persecution

Metropolitan Luke (Kovalenko)

There exists a direct and inseparable link between those who spread this stench across the face of the earth and those who today burst into our churches.

Arouse Thyself, That Christ God May Spare Thee

A Homily for the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete

St. Philaret of Chernigov

Homilies and Spiritual Instruction

Arouse Thyself, That Christ God May Spare Thee

A Homily for the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete

St. Philaret of Chernigov

Arouse thyself, my poor soul! Rise from the bed of sin. Banish the dreams that seduce you and gather your thoughts that have been scattered by the vanity of the world. Come to your senses.

“I will always be alive for you!”

St. Seraphim (Sobolev)

Alexandra Kalinovskaya

Saints. Asceties of Piety. Church Holy Days

“I will always be alive for you!”

St. Seraphim (Sobolev)

Alexandra Kalinovskaya

His life was full of miracles, and for his great humility God bestowed on him the gift of clairvoyance as well.

Murder Without Shedding Blood: The Revival of the Spirit through Repentance

Metropolitan Luke (Kovalenko)

Homilies and Spiritual Instruction

Murder Without Shedding Blood: The Revival of the Spirit through Repentance

Metropolitan Luke (Kovalenko)

Cain committed a terrible sin, but his rage was directed outward. He killed the mortal body of his brother—a body already subject to death. But we commit something more subtle and more irreparable: We carry out a “bloodless murder” of our own immortal soul.

“I Trust in the One Who Gave Sight to the Blind Man”

Saints. Asceties of Piety. Church Holy Days

“I Trust in the One Who Gave Sight to the Blind Man”

Metropolitan Alexis’ fame as a holy man had reached the Horde, and the khan’s message said that if the almost blind Taydula was healed, the Russian prince would live peacefully, but if Metropolitan Alexis did not come, the khan would bring ruin upon his land.

Fasting Is a Means by Which We Are Enlightened by Grace

Alexandra Kalinovskaya

Homilies and Spiritual Instruction

Fasting Is a Means by Which We Are Enlightened by Grace

Alexandra Kalinovskaya

Fasting is the good guard of souls, reliable cohabitant with the body, and the school of ascetics.

Sacred Bewilderment

Metropolitan Luke (Kovalenko)

Homilies and Spiritual Instruction

Sacred Bewilderment

Metropolitan Luke (Kovalenko)

We stood in the half-light of the church, and the very first sounds of the Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete shattered our habitual self-confidence with a single question: “Where shall I begin?”

Very Honestly About Harsh Things

Priest Konstantin Korepanov

Homilies and Spiritual Instruction

Very Honestly About Harsh Things

Priest Konstantin Korepanov

A person is joyful to the extent that he remains in a state of repentance.