Christian world
Number of Christian in Africa has grown 70 times in last 100 years
2. May 2011 - 11:14
According to the research of Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, in last 111 years he religious landscape of sub-Saharan Africa has changed dramatically. As of 1900, both Muslims and Christians were relatively small minorities in the region. The vast majority of people practiced traditional African religions, while adherents of Christianity and Islam combined made up less than a quarter of the population.
Venerable St. Mary of Egypt
Venerable St. Mary of Egypt was born in 344 somewhere in Egypt and at the age of twelve ran away to the city of Alexandria where she lived an extremely dissolute life. According to her words, she was driven only"by an insatiable and an irrepressible passion". After seventeen years of this lifestyle, she travelled to Jerusalem by boat for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. She undertook the journey not for the religious reasons, but stating that she hoped to find in the pilgrim crowds at Jerusalem even more partners in her lust. She paid for her passage by offering her body to other pilgrims, and she continued her habitual lifestyle for a short time in Jerusalem.
Many confess, but few repent
12. April 2011 - 11:34
Confession is a God-given commandment, and it is one of the Sacraments of our Church. Confession is not a formal, habitual ("to be on the safe side", or, "in view of upcoming feast-days"), forced and unprepared act, springing from an isolated duty or obligation and for psychological relief only. Confession should always be combined with repentance. A Holy Mountain Elder used to say: "Many confess, but few repent!" (Elder Aemilianos of the Simonopetra Monastery, Mt. Athos)
Paris skyline to be remodelled by Russian Orthodox church
12. April 2011 - 11:26Cathedral with five onion domes to be erected next to Eiffel Tower will include cultural centre and public garden
It is one of the most recognisable skylines in the world, featuring one of the most famous monuments.
On the banks of the river Seine, Gustave Eiffel's iron tower, the symbol of France, juts high above the 19th-century Haussmann buildings and the trees of the Champ de Mars park that surround it.
But all this is about to change if the Russians have their way.
