Rating: 5,3|Votes: 4
Six months before his appearing to the most holy Virgin Mary in Nazareth, the great Gabriel, archangel of the Lord, appeared to Zacharias the High Priest in the Temple in Jerusalem. Before he revealed the miraculous conception by a virgin who had not known a man, the archangel revealed the wondrous conceiving by an old and barren woman.
Archbishop Andrei (Rymarenko)
Rating: 8,2|Votes: 5
Brothers and sisters, today the Holy Church opens before us our native heaven—all the Saints who shone in Russia. They shine as bright stars before us. And the first among them is St. Vladimir. He was a gifted military leader, statesman, a man of penetrating mind and strong will. The political situation among the Russian Slavs required just such a man. Many Slavic tribes were living at that time on the shores of the Dnieper River, and all of them had already been influenced by the Christian message—the dawn of a new life was approaching.
Rating: 10|Votes: 4
The fast of the holy Apostles is very ancient, dating back to the first centuries of Christianity. We have the testimony of St. Athanasius the Great, St. Ambrose of Milan, St. Leo the Great and Theodoret of Cyrrhus regarding it. The oldest testimony regarding the Apostles Fast is given to us by St. Athanasius the Great.
“All the faithful, that is the laity and the monks, are obliged to fast seven days and more, and whoever refuses to do so, let him be excommunicated from the Christian community.” - Theodore Balsamon, Patriarch of Antioch, regarding the Apostle’s Fast.
Rating: 5,5|Votes: 2
Fasting is wonderful, because it tramples our sins like a dirty weed, while it cultivates and raises truth like a flower.
