There are several religious and social occasions where one can meet the few thousand Rums who remain today in Istanbul. Their historical churches spread all over the city and the Princes’ Islands were busy preparing their flocks with daily masses for the apex of the Greek Orthodox faith, Easter Sunday, occurring this year on April 24.
Norris J. Chumley, Ph.D.
Rating: 2|Votes: 1
One truth is certain: Recitation of the Jesus Prayer ("Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner") is very powerful, even for just a few minutes at a time. Whether you're in a cave or monastery, or in the cell of your apartment or suburban bedroom, you don't have to leave everything behind and become a monastic in order to find God in silent prayer.
Donald Heinz
Rating: 10|Votes: 7
The history of Hagia Sophia is well known. From its dedication in 360 until 1453, this Byzantine landmark was the Orthodox cathedral of Constantinople. It became a mosque from 1453 until 1934, when it was secularized, and re-opened as a museum in 1935. What was Mustafa Kemal Atatürk thinking when he secularized Hagia Sophia?
Deacon Giorgi Maximov
Rating: 7,2|Votes: 16
Last time in the Russian-language Internet, a whole campaign was conducted to discredit the miracle of the Holy Fire. The fundamental idea of these “exposés” is that purportedly there are Orthodox who themselves deny the genuineness of this miracle but at the same time continue to “dupe simple, ingenuous people.” What arguments are offered to support this idea of duping and conscious deceit?
Fr. John Bakas
Rating: 10|Votes: 1
Forty–five years after he signed the visas, Sugihara was asked why he did it. He liked to give two reasons: “They were human beings and they needed help,” he said. The other reason he gave and he was always fond of saying it, “I may have to disobey my government but I can’t disobey God.” He told the journalist interviewing him that he was an Orthodox Christian.
