Science

The Icon of the Savior "Not Made by Hands"

The Icon of the Savior, Image Not-Made-By-Hands, also Acheiropoieta (Byzantine Greek: αχειροποίητα, "made without hand") is one of the earliest icons witnessed to by the Church. The Feast of this icon is celebrated on August 16, during the afterfeast period of the feast of the Dormition, and is called the Third Feast-of-the-Savior in August.

The Dormition Fast

The Dormition fast was established as preceding the great feasts of the Transfiguration of the Lord and of the Dormition of the Mother of God. It lasts two weeks—from August 1/14–August 14/27 (old style/new style).

The Dormition fast comes down to us from the early days of Christianity.We find a clear reference to the Dormition fast in a conversation of Leo the Great from around the year 450 A.D. “The Church fasts are situated in the year in such a way that a special abstinence is prescribed for each time. Thus, for spring there is the spring fast ]—the Forty Days[Great Lent; for summer there is the summer fast… [the Apostles’ fast]; for autumn there is the autumn fast, in the seventh month [Dormition fast]; for winter there is the winter fast [Nativity fast].”

Kremlin to Restore Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Memorial Cross

Russian President Vladimir Putin has given his approval for the restoration of the memorial cross erected on the site where the former Governor-General of Moscow Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich was assassinated in the Kremlin in February, 1905. The cross was established in 1908, but was later destroyed by the Bolsheviks.

Historical Survey of Ancient Versions

1. Earliest Versions of the Hebrew Bible.

The deportation of the Jewish people to Mesopotamiadeprived them of their temple worship and they were thrown back upon scripture for a principle of coherence of religious and national identity. Thus the returning exiles in the following century, although they restored the worship of the temple, adhered to the Law and its public reading, as the books of Ezra

Icon of the Mother of God of Three Hands

Commemorated on June 28

In the ninth century during the time of the Iconoclasts, St. John of Damascus was zealous in his veneration of the holy icons. Because of this, he was slandered by the emperor and iconoclast Leo III who informed the Damascus caliph that St. John was committing treasonous acts. The caliph gave orders to cut off the hand of the monk and take it to the marketplace. That evening St. John, having asked the caliph for the cut-off hand, put it to its joint and fell to the ground before the icon of the Mother of God. The monk begged Our Lady to heal his hand, which had written in defense of Orthodoxy. After praying he fell asleep and saw in a dream that the All-Pure Mother of God had turned to him promising him quick healing.

Scientific Conference in Podgorica: Saint John Vladimir and his place in Serbian history, culture and spirituality

In the laura of Saint Symeon the Myrrhgusher in Nemanja’s town Podgorica a scientific conference with the theme “Saint John Vladimir and his place in Serbian history, culture and spirituality” was held on 2 July 2016.

The conference on the occasion of the 1000^th anniversary of the Martyr’s death was organized by the newly founded Institute for Serbian Culture from Niksic. His Eminence Metropolitan Amfilohije spoke on the topic “Saint John Vladimir above East and West”.