Rating: 10|Votes: 1

St. Procopius, the Fool-for-Christ of Ustiug

July 21 (July 8)

Saint Procopius was a German Catholic. He was running a merchant business in Novgorod when he became enraptured by the beauty of the Orthodox services. He converted into Orthodoxy, gave his wealth and possessions to the indigent and became a monk at the Saint Varlaam-of-Khutyn monastery outside Novgorod.

Rating: 5|Votes: 1

Memory Eternal to Fr. Arsenie (Papocioc)

Patriarch Daniel of Romania

It was with great sadness that we learned of the passing away of Rev. Archimandrite Arsenie (Papacioc), one of the great father confessors of the Romanian people. A symbol of Romanian monasticism of the late twentieth, early twenty-first centuries, Fr. Arsenie was a great counselor through his exemplary life, and through his profitable teachings.

Rating: 7,2|Votes: 6

Coming Home to Church Greek

The Mystery of Holy Language

Nun Nectaria (McLees)

I grew up in Australia and am an English teacher myself, so I’ve thought quite a lot about Church translation. If you take, for example, the phrase, “The Lord is with us,” in Greek it is O Theos Methimon. It resonates with such grandeur that you feel as if you are offering something beautiful to God, that this language is worthy of the Lord.

Rating: 9,9|Votes: 14

Athlete of Virtues—St. Sergius of Radonezh

Commerated July 5/18; September 25/October 8

So remarkable is the life Of this wondrous Saint, so full of miracles, that we tend to overlook those points which, with prayer, can be applied to our own circumstances. Even his childhood gives a picture of an exemplary Christian life. How many contemporary mothers are so solicitous over the spiritual needs of their children even while they are still in the womb? How many of us turn first to God in time of need and teach our children to do likewise?

Rating: 4,8|Votes: 5

"Bloody Sunday"—A Tragedy that Became a Sign

There is a diabolic texture penetrating throughout this “lamentation”. We can feel the same texture also in the description of Gapon’s speech, supposing as he was (like in a dream!) to personally enter the palace and hand the Tsar a special copy of the petition, printed on the best paper. “Well, I will hand the Tsar the petition, and what will I do if the Tsar accepts it? Then I will take out a white handkerchief and wave it, which will mean that we have a Tsar.