The feast of the Circumcision of the Lord and the feast of Saint Basil
21. January 2014 - 9:48
On the 1st/14th of January 2014, the Despotiki (of the Lord) feast of Christ’s circumcision by flesh, and of the memory of St Basil, Archbishop of Caesarea and Cappadocia, the ‘one disclosing heaven’, was celebrated during a nocturnal divine Liturgy at the Holy Sepulcher in the order of a Parreshia.
The First Ever Orthodox Church building in Pakistan Completed
20. January 2014 - 14:43
The Orthodox Mission have completed the construction of first ever Church building in Pakistan. It is a great dream come true for the local Orthodox community in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
An outstanding priest and a community leader, Fr John Tanveer has toiled continuously to built a church building for the Orthodox Christians in Pakistan. He has provided incredible spiritual and pastoral care to the growing Orthodox faithful in the country.
Archbishop of Johannesburg and Pretoria celebrates at the Russian Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh in South Africa
17. January 2014 - 13:40
On January 15, 2014, the commemoration day of St. Seraphim of Sarov, Archbishop Damaskinos of Johannesburg and Pretoria (Orthodox Church of Alexandria) celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh in Johannesburg.
After the service the archpastor warmly greeted the parishioners, wishing them a happy feast and God’s help in the new year.
On behalf of the parish, the rector of the church, Father Daniel Lugovoy, presented His Eminence with an icon of Our Lady the Queen of All.
All Shrines of Maloula either destroyes or desecrated
16. January 2014 - 16:03
A radical Jabhat al-Nusra "opposition" group, which occupied the small Christian town of Ma'loula in Syria in the last months of 2013, desecrated absolutely all shrines of the town, reports al Hadas portal with the reference to materials of the al Akhbar Lebanese newspaper.
According to evidence of eyewitnesses who fled from Ma'loula during the latest warfare in the region, members of al Nusra tried to change the religious and architectural-historical look of the ancient Christian town entirely: completely destroying some churches, the militants brought down all bells from other ones. The fate of two other world-famous monuments of Ma'loula was no less tragic: extremists blew up the statue of Christ the Savior, which had stood at the entrance of St. Thecla Convent, as well as the statue of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, which had stood close to the Safir hotel, the latter of which served as the main shelter for Takfirists for many months.
Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk starts his working visit to Mexico
16. January 2014 - 12:07
On January 14, 2014, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and on the invitation of Archbishop Anthony, Metropolitan of Mexico, Central America, Venezuela and the Caribbean Islands (Patriarch of Antioch), Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external church relations, arrived in Mexico. At Benito Juarez international airport he was met by Archbishop Justinian, administrator of the Moscow Patriarchate’s parishes in the USA, Bishop Alexis of Mexico (Orthodox Church in America), Russian ambassador E. Malayan, clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church in Mexico and the USA and Russian diplomats in Mexico City.
