Bishop Joanikije celebrated Liturgy in Prijepolje

His Grace Joanikije, Bishop of Budimlje-Niksic, in the capacity of an administrator of the Diocese of Mileseva, celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral Church of St. Basil of Ostrog in Prijepolje on 26 March 2017.

Priests and monks of the Diocese of Mileseva and Budimlje-Niksic concelebrated. His Grace Bishop addressed the congregation with an archpastoral sermon.

Monastic assembly from the Metropolitanate of Montenegro-Littoral

An assembly of male monasticism from the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral was held in the Cetinje monastery on 29 March 2017.

The assembly began with the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts officiated by Archbishop of Cetinje and Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral Amfilohije. Besides the monks, the Liturgy was attended by students of the Seminary of St. Peter of Cetinje.

Venerable Alexis the Man of God

Saint Alexis was born at Rome into the family of the pious and poverty-loving Euphemianus and Aglais.

The couple was childless for a long time and constantly prayed the Lord to grant them a child. And the Lord consoled the couple with the birth of their son Alexis. At six years of age the child began to read and successfully studied the mundane sciences, but it was with particular diligence that he read Holy Scripture. When he was a young man, he began to imitate his parents: he fasted strictly, distributed alms and beneath his fine clothing he secretly wore a hair shirt. Early on there burned within him the desire to leave the world and serve God. His parents, however, had arranged for Alexis to marry a beautiful and virtuous bride.

A Brief History of the Irish Orthodox Church

On this (Julian Calender) St. Patrick’s day, historical for its first official ecclesiastical commemoration by churches of the Moscow Patriachate, with the poetic “ode to Celtic saints” by Monk Nicodemos. 

1. How Did Orthodoxy Reach Ireland?

How did Orthodox Christianity come to this small green island off the shores of the European continent in the uttermost West? Unknown to many, Christianity in Ireland does have an Apostolic foundation, through the Apostles James and John, although the Apostles themselves never actually visited there.

Archpriest Andrei Tkachev: Climacus

“Oh, if only I could / At least to some degree, / Write eight lines I would / About passion’s properties. / About the / transgressions and the sins, / The running and the chasing, / The hasty inadvertences, / The elbows, my palms”¹—thus wrote Pasternak, aware that a precise, accurate word on the passions is difficult to give, and there can be few such words.

Precise words on the passions slip out of your hands, like a wet and lively fish, and the passions themselves are interwoven together, knit together one with another, forming a repugnant unity. Obviously the word “passions” in the this case is used as a synonym for “disease of the soul,” and not as romantic longing or a noble fire in the blood.

Holy Trinity hosts Pan-Orthodox Vespers and Seminar

With the blessing of His Grace Bishop Irinej, on Sunday, March 26, Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox Church on Racoon Rd hosted a Pan-Orthodox Lenten Vespers, bringing together clergy from the Serbian Eastern Diocese Cleveland Deanery and members of the Youngstown Orthodox Clergy Brotherhood. 

In front of a completely full congregation, the clergy prayerful moved from the light-colored vestments donned for Sunday’s resurrectional service and back into the royal-purple reserved for solemn Lenten prayers.  Following the dismissal, all in attendance gathered for a wonderful meal in the parish hall.