Orthodox Churches

Primate of Orthodox Church in America leads celebrations at Patriarchal cathedral in New York to mark 700th anniversary of the birth of St. Sergius of Radonezh

24. July 2014 - 12:06

On 20 July 2014, a solemn Divine Service was celebrated at St. Nicholas Cathedral in New York. Thus the Patriarchal parishes in the USA concluded the celebrations marking the 700th anniversary of the birth of St. Sergius of Radonezh. Upon the blessing and at the invitation of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, Metropolitan Tikhon of All America and Canada officiated at the Divine Liturgy. Concelebrating with His Beatitude were Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York, First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad; Archbishop Justinian of Naro-Fominsk, Administrator of the Patriarchal parishes in the USA; and the assembly of clergymen of the Moscow Patriarchate, the Russian Church Abroad, and the Orthodox Church in America.

|

Holy Royal martyrs commemorated in Yekaterinburg on their feast-day

18. July 2014 - 14:44

 The night of July 16/17 is a tragic date in the history of Russia. On this day in Yekaterinburg, the Russian Tsar Nicolas II, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna, their children as well as their faithful servants were brutally murdered.

The Church “on the Blood” in honour of All Saints who have Shone Forth in the Russian Land, has now been built on the site of the crime. And the tragic night annually gathers thousands of pilgrims to this site from all over Russia and other countries for prayer, reports the News Agency of the Yekaterinburg Diocese.   

|

Patriarch Kirill Led a Procession from Khotkovo to Sergiev Posad

17. July 2014 - 12:01

Let us pray today and in all the days to come to St. Sergius, that he might raise our prayers to the Throne of the Almighty: for our people, for our entire historical Fatherland, for the Russian land, and for our Church, that he might preserve it in oneness and keep it from enemy forces.

On July 16 a procession with thousands of people went from the Stavropegial Monastery of the Protection in Khotkovo, a suburb of Moscow, where the relics of Sts. Cyril and Maria– the parents of St. Sergius – reside to the Annunciation field in Sergiev Posad.

|

120,000 people visited the grave of elder Paisios the Athonite on the 20th anniversary of his repose

16. July 2014 - 9:52

 20 years ago (on July 12, 1994) the Athonite elder Paisios (Eznipidis) reposed. On July 12-13, 2014, a very large number of people came to commemorate the great ascetic of our times and to pray at his grave, reports AgionOros.ru.    

Thousands of pilgrims queued for hours in huge lines waiting for their opportunity to come up to the elder’s grave, to lay flowers and pray. At the Convent of Sts. John the Theologian and Arsenios of Cappadocia, where elder Paisios of Mount Athos is buried, at the anniversary of his repose a service for the dead and a Vigil were celebrated, followed by the Divine Liturgy early in the morning.

|

Moscow church destroyed by Napoleon to be restored

15. July 2014 - 13:04

The Church of Beheading of St. John the Baptist, destroyed by the French at their retreat from Moscow in 1812, will be reconstructed near the walls of the Novodevichy Convent, reports Interfax-Religion with the reference to Vladimir Resin, State Duma deputy and adviser of Patriarch Kirill.

“The approximate, cost of the building will be 50 million rubles,” he said on Tuesday at a press conference in Moscow. The chronicles date the foundation of this church to the year 1525 – the time of construction of the Novodevichy Convent. In September 1812, the convent was temporarily occupied by the French, who, could not destroy the whole convent as the left, but did destroy the Church of Beheading of St. John the Baptist. As contemporary to the convent, this church was an integral part of its ensemble. One of the convent towers is called “Predtechenskaya” (“of the Forerunner”) to this day. 

|

Unique cave monastery complex of 12th-13th centuries in Georgia to be conserved

15. July 2014 - 10:22

 Vardzia is the cave monastery complex of the 12th-13th centuries in the valley of the Kura river, situated about 70 kilometers south of the town of Borjomi. This is an outstanding monument of medieval Georgian architecture.

The three-day international seminar, dedicated to the development of plans for conservating the Vardzia cave monastery complex in the Samche-Javaheti region, began on July 9 at the nature reserve. The seminar is organized by the National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia and the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia. “The primary aim of the National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia is to stop the rockslides in the unique cave complex and prolong the life of the historical site. In order to save Vardzia, Georgian specialists should unite and work out the (still non-existent) document on preservation of Vardzia. This document will serve as a start of preparation of the plan for control of the cave monastery complex,” reports the Ministry of Culture. The special guest of the seminar was president of the Scientific Advisory Council of the Italian Ministry for the Environment, UNESCO consultant, assistant to the president of the International consortium on landslides Claudio Margottini.

|