The first contacts, which became the basis of the friendship between our Churches, go back to antiquity, in the tenth–eleventh centuries, when the recluse Procopius, like St. Sergius of Radonezh, founded a monastery in the forest wilderness not far from the Sázava river, which later became a large, famous monastery.
"Sometimes, devils often follow the footsteps of God to undo his work," a local Christian whispered to me, referring to the period in the 1940s when the Communists forced their way in there, and Mao Zedong's atheist ideology clashed violently with the Christian faith.
Albert G. Bondach
Rating: 6|Votes: 1
The news that the Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople is convening a Synod of the Eastern Patriarchs on September 1, 2011, in Istanbul, with the participation of the Archbishop of Cyprus has generated contradictory assumptions concerning the forthcoming event as an attempt to reconstitute the Pentarchy. In the light of these developments, Albert Bondach believes it timely to analyze the history and possible relevance of the Pentarchy institute and to consider the place of the Moscow Patriarchate in it.
Nun Nectaria (McLees), Hieromonk Deiniol
Rating: 8.5|Votes: 26
At that point I felt that the ghost of Thomas Cromwell was striding rampantly through Wales. Thomas Cromwell was Henry VIII’s henchman and operator who closed all the monasteries throughout Britain, wrecked the shrines and relics, and destroyed the altars. I thought, “Well, they are still unwilling to invoke the saints,” and was about to write a fax that evening to say words to this effect, but at the moment I was about to send this letter, another fax arrived saying that the prayer was alright. So this prayer was used and the response was used.
Rating: 1.5|Votes: 2
When dealing with the heresies Irenaeus not only exposed and overthrew their teaching but also sought the orthodox interpretation and teaching as well. In spite of Irenaeus' interest in guarding his flock from the many heresies, his main preoccupation was the individual and his salvation. He was concerned with humankind's progress in order that he may achieve "the vision and enjoyment of God."
