Many non-Orthodox Christians often wonder what is the Apostles Fast in the Orthodox Church. Each year the Fast starts and ends on different dates and even in different months.
When you trust, you only ask a question once. The Lord asked Peter three times if he loved him, each time in a different way. Why?
The joyous Easter season or Paschaltide is finally here! In the Orthodox Church, this season starts on Easter Sunday (May 5th) and continues for forty days until the eve of the feast of Ascension, which falls on June 13th this year.
On Great and Holy Friday, we commemorate the end of this mission on earth and its highest point: His death on the Cross. He surrendered His soul to the Lord with the words, "It is finished".
Thousands of years after Judas’ betrayal, we are still confronted by the same choice: are we going to direct our love to God, and restore our community with Him, or betray him, to live for the world and ourselves?
His disciples were unnerved: “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.” (Matthew 26: 8—9).
Christ cautions us not to liken ourselves to the five unwise virgins whose lamps faded when the Bridegroom Christ came: "keep watch because you do not know the day or the hour." (Matthew 25: 13).
As we make our way through the Great and Holy Week, and relive the betrayal of Christ and His death on the Cross, we are called to do everything in our power to live our lives in the spirit and bear fruit.
The Great Lent is the longest fasting season of the year for the Orthodox. We all know about the importance of prayer, almsgiving and fasting. But what are the rules of fasting? Are there some things, we should not do during the Lent?
The Orthodox Church approaches the Great Lent which will start on March 18th according to the Julian calendar. In order to prepare for the Lenten journey, the Church gives us four pre-lenten weeks to help us understand why we fast.
Let us take a deeper look at the history and meaning behind one of the most important texts in Orthodox Christianity.
The calendar of the Church humbles our proud minds. It returns us to the truth of God the Creator of all things, including time, and thus its rightful master.
Demetrius parental Saturday is a day of special commemoration of the dead in the Russian Orthodox Church. This is a memorial Saturday before the remembrance day of the Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessaloniki (October 26 / November 8).
On 28 August the Church commemorates the Dormition of the Theotokos. The Holy Mountain, the realm of the Mother of God, celebrates this feast with special joy. Here are five examples of the Holy Virgin's intercession for different people.
Hannu Pöyhönen professor, doctor of theology and a founding member of the Panagia Monastic Centre in Lammi, Finland, addresses the anxieties, doubts and fears affecting mankind in our troubled times.
Obedience is the food of all saints; raised in the spirit of obedience, they rise to perfection through its practice.
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.” Here are three stories from Mount Athos that illustrate the truth of this biblical verse.
To repent is more than naming one's sins to a priest. It is naïve to think that someone who has sinned all his life and done nothing but evil can always repent at the last moment. One needs to have a change of heart to be forgiven, but examples…
At Baptism, we are forgiven all our past sins, and in a confession the sins that we confessed. But when we hear the chant "in remission of the sins" at Communion, to which sins does it refer? Archpriest Vladimir Dolgikh explains.
One cannot become pure just by saying Jesus' Prayer. One must exercise humility and appropriate exertion. A prayer without humility or exertion, your prayer is useless.