News

Over 3 million Iraqis have become refugees since January 2014

More than 3.09 million of Iraqi citizens have left their homes since January 2014, when ISIS militants seized a part of Ramadi and took the town of Fallujah (c. 70 kilometers, or 43 miles, west of Baghdad) under their control, reports the International Organization for Migration, or IOM, adding that two thirds of the refugees are natives of the Anbar, Nineveh and Saladin governorates, reports Sedmitza.ru.

Patron Saint-day of Serbian Gendarmery (PHOTO)

Shooting of Doc on Bulgaria's 'Living Saint' Finished

Filming of The Silent Angel, a documentary dedicated to Bulgarian centenarian Elder Dobri ("Dyado Dobri") is now ready after several moths of shooting, local media outlets report.

Bulgarian, German and US producers have said their work is now entering into a process of editing. In a matter of months it will be released in Bulgaria and elsewhere and will tell the story of a man who devoted the better part of his life to help the church.

Bulgarian cinemas are likely to screen it either at the end of the summer or early in the autumn, daily Trud wrote on Thursday.

Orthodox Music Conference concludes with record attendance and celebratory concert

Orthodox Music Conference Concludes With Record Attendance and Celebratory Concert

Presentations made by participants from twenty-three countries

Joensuu, Finland – Reflecting the diverse national traditions within the common beliefs and teachings of Orthodox Christianity, nearly fifty musicians, composers, cantors, musicologists, directors, and singers gathered for the 6^th International Conference on Orthodox Church Music which concluded on Friday, 12 June 2015. Hosted by the International Society for Orthodox Church Music (ISOCM), the conference marked the tenth anniversary of the Society, and celebrated the theme of “Creating Liturgically: Hymnography and Music.”

On the Sunday of All Saints of America

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Last week the Church celebrated the great feast of All Saints—in which every Saint, known and unknown is commemorated—and this Sunday we commemorate specifically all the Saints of Russia, while especially in America is celebrated the Feast of All Saints of North America. We have been blessed with several great Saints in our land—St. Herman who first brought Holy Orthodoxy to this continent from Russia in the 1700's, St. Tikhon, the Patriarch of Moscow who founded our St. Tikhon's Monastery, St. Nikolai Velimirovich, who taught and reposed at our Seminary, and St. John Maximovitch, the wonderworking bishop of San Francisco, among several others. But there is one person in particular that I would like to talk about today—the monk and priest Fr. Seraphim Rose.

Christian Monks, Students Refuse to Flee 4th-Century Monastery Near ISIS-Controlled Mosul; 'God Protects Us'

Three monks and six students have taken refuge in the ancient monastery of Mar Mattai in northern Iraq, just 12 miles from the Islamic State-occupied Mosul City, not willing to flee, and expressing "their faith that this is a secure place."

Erbil's Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Warda said a small unit of the Kurdish military is protecting the nine Christians but that's not why they believe they are safe in the shrine, also known as St. Matthew's Monastery.