Pilgrimage to Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk Monastery opens May 22

The 105th annual pilgrimage to Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk Monastery in South Canaan, will formally open on Friday, May 22nd, with the greeting of the Sitka Icon at the Archway at 3:30 p.m. followed by a procession to celebrate the blessing of the well. The Vigil will be celebrated at 4 p.m.

Europe will fail to meet Islamic challenges, unless it revives Christianity, a known Jewish theologian believes

Islamization of Europe might become irreversible, if the Christian Church fails to strengthen its positions, a known researcher of Judaism Pinchas Polonsky believes. "A demographic intervention of Islam presents great challenges to Europe which Europe, to my mind, fails to meet, unless it recovers a certain Christian paradigm," Polonsky said at a meeting of the Russian Jewish Congress business club in Moscow.

The Russian Church urges EU leadership to understand spiritual reasons behind the recession

The Moscow Patriarchate reminded EU leadership of spiritual roots of the current downfall. "With any crisis, we need primarily to look for spiritual reasons. This is also true for the current economic recession," head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Bishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk said at a meeting of the President of the European Commission José Manuel Durão Barroso and the President of the European Parliament Hans-Gert Pöttering with representatives of European traditional religions held in Brussels.

EU leadership intends to face today's challenges together with the continent's religious leaders

The EU leadership stated its intention to establish a strong cooperation with the continent's religious leaders. "Together we will have to meet the challenges faced by our society. This is our common responsibility," the President of the European Commission José Manuel Durão Barroso said at a meeting with representatives of Europe's traditional religions held in Brussels, the official website of the Moscow Patriarchate reports Wednesday.

St. Vladimir's Seminary Men's Choir on the road

Alla Generalow, Director of Liturgical Music at St. Vladimir's Seminary (SVS), conducted the seminary's touring men's choir at two parishes in Maryland on February 21 and 22, 2009. The choir sang at St. Mark Church in Bethesda, MD, a parish within the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), for Vespers, and Ss. Peter and Paul Church in Potomac, MD, a parish within the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America (AOCANA), for Divine Liturgy. The V. Rev. Gregory Safchuk (SVS '82), rector of St. Mark, and the V. Rev. George Rados (SVS '61), rector of SS. Peter and Paul, both are alumni of St. Vladimir's.