Tennis superstar Novak Djokovic is through to the Australian Open final after beating an injured Roger Federer in a semi-final showdown on Rod Laver Arena last night.
The Hong Kong publisher “The China Orthodox Press” has published a Chinese translation of the service for the Nativity of Christ. With this new publication, it is now possible for Chinese Orthodox Christians to celebrate the festal service in their native language, reports Patriarchia.ru.
In cooperation with the Religious Education Committee of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the JU Special Library for the Blind and Visually Impaired of the Republika Srpska has issued audio textbooks for religious instructions for primary schools. A time of self-restraint and a time of prayer, a time of temptations and a time of joys: All of these relate to fasting—a special period in the life of every Orthodox Christian. Igumen Nektary (Morozov), the rector of the Church of the “Assuage My Sorrows” Icon of the Mother of God, speaks on the significance of the Nativity Fast and on the importance of even the very smallest ascetic podvig and the anticipation of the celebration.
—We are used to holidays being a time of joy. Why do Orthodox Christians fast before the most significant celebrations?
—A holiday in the secular understanding and in the Church understanding are completely different things. In the world, preparation for a holiday means a shopping trip, making sure the table is covered with various foods, and thinking about how to occupy and entertain your guests. Such an approach is purely earthly. A Church feast is a celebration of another, spiritual order, giving believers the opportunity, through the remembrance of this or that event of sacred history, to touch the heart to another, Heavenly reality, and experience in all its fullness the joy of this amazing, incomparable touch.
