Archimandrite Ioanichie (Balan)
Rating: 10|Votes: 6
Тhe fathers from Sihastria Monastery and the faithful from the region remember with great reverence the name of Protosinghel Joel (Gheorghiu). He was a skilled spiritual father, meek and merciful, with a heart pure before God and man. He was also a father of absolute obedience, humility, and prayer. Few from the community loved the services of the Church, the good order [of the monastic life] and silence as much as Fr. Joel did. However, in order to attain this spiritual measure, one needs over fifty years of ascetic labor, obedience, patience, and renunciation of all that is transitory. Otherwise, one is unable to acquire a peaceful conscience and the hope of salvation.
Bishop Peter of Cleveland
Rating: 7,1|Votes: 7
The author of these recollections, Bishop Peter, was a spiritual son of St. John from his childhood. Bishop Peter was born Pavel Andreyevich Lukianov in San Francisco in 1948. He was tonsured a reader in 1965 by St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco. After studies at the Holy Trinity Seminary at Jordanville, New York, he worked at the headquarters of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia in New York City for six years.
Victor Aksyuchits
Rating: 3|Votes: 4
On 1 October 2008, the Presidium of the Supreme Court of Russia did grant judicial rehabilitation to Emperor Nicholas II and his immediate family. This article was written before that decision. No other names, other than the Emperor and his immediate family, were mentioned in the decision.
Rating: 8|Votes: 15
13/26 August is the commemoration day of Holy Hieromartyr Seraphim (Zvezdinsky), Bishop of Dimitriovsk and one of the most famous saints of the Russia Orthodox Church of the twentieth century.
Rating: 6,7|Votes: 22
The histories of Moscow and of the icon of Vladimir Mother of God are eternally inseparable. How many times did the Mother of God save the capital city from enemies through the grace of her holy icon? This icon has linked Apostolic times to Byzantium, Kievan Rus’ to Vladimir Rus’, and later to Muscovy, the Third Rome; as it is said, “there will be no Fourth.” The kingdom of Moscow was formed by divine providence and embraced the mystical ties of ancient empires, historical experience and traditions of other Orthodox peoples. The miracle working Vladimir icon became a symbol of unity and succession.