Culture

The Fast of the Dormition of the Holy Theotokos

For the first fourteen days of August during each year, the Holy Orthodox Church enters into a strict fast period in honor of the Mother of God, the Virgin Mary. The eminent Orthodox theologian, Father Sergei Bulgakov, beautifully expresses the high regard which the Orthodox Christians have for the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, for her special role in the salvation of mankind, when he affirms, “The warm veneration of the Theotokos is the soul of Orthodox Piety.” St. John of Damascus, one of the great Orthodox fathers, pointed out that when the Blessed Virgin Mary became the Mother of God and gave birth to Christ, the Redeemer of Mankind, she became the mother of mankind. We call the Virgin Mary “Theotokos”, from the Greek, which means “The Birth-Giver or the Bearer of God.” This is the highest title that can be bestowed upon any member of the human race.

Feast of the Great Martyr and Healer Saint Panteleimon

This Saint, who had Nicomedia as his homeland, was the son of Eustorgius and Eubula. His father was an idolater, but his mother was a Christian from her ancestors. It was through her that he was instructed in piety, and still later, he was catechized in the Faith of Christ by Saint Hermolaus (see July 26) and baptized by him. Being proficient in the physician's vocation, he practiced it in a philanthropic manner, healing every illness more by the grace of Christ than by medicines. Thus, although his parents had named him Pantoleon ("in all things a lion"), because of the compassion he showed for the souls and bodies of all, he was worthily renamed Panteleimon, meaning "all-merciful."

Feodor Dostoevsky – Orthodox Christian Convert

On February 9, 1881, Feodor Dostoevsky parted this world as his family read to him the Gospel parable of the prodigal son. This article in Orthodox America from the 100th anniversary year of Doestoevsky’s death commemorates the great writer, and shows his significance to the Orthodox Church. his work is exceptionally timely for us here in the United States today.

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January 28/February 9 of this year (1981) marked the hundredth anniversary of the death of Fyodor M. Dostoevsky, the great Russian writer who was probably the most powerful Orthodox voice in the world literature of recent centuries. In marking this anniversary with an Ukase decreeing the celebration of memorial Services for him in all dioceses, as well as recommending gatherings and lectures devoted to him, the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Church Outside of Russia noted that

Archaeolgoists Find Medieval Procession Cross, Bulgarian, Ottoman Coin Treasures at Black Sea Fortress Kastritsi

The archaeologists excavating the Late Antiquity and medieval Byzantine and Bulgarian fortress Kastritsi, which is located in the Euxinograd Residence of the Bulgarian government near the Black Sea city of Varna, have discovered medieval Christian artifacts as well as a treasure of Bulgarian and Ottoman coins.

\The newly found Christian artifacts from Kastritsi are a church procession cross and a medallion with the image of the Holy Mother of God, i.e. the Virgin Mary, Prof. Valentin Pletnyov, Director of the Varna Museum of Archaeology (Varna Regional Museum of History) has told Radio Focus Varna.

Belgrade: In memory of the Imperial Family of the Romanovs

The Solemn Liturgy in the Saint Sava Memorial Cathedral. An exhibition “Four Centuries of the Imperial House of the Romanovs – Awakening of Memories”.

The Serbian Orthodox Church honoured with the solemn Divine Liturgy in the Memorial Cathedral of Saint Sava on 17 July 2015, the sufferers for Christ and Russia, the Passion-bearers, Tsar Nicholas II and his family. His Holiness Irinej, Serbian Patriarch, officiated the Holy Hierarchal Liturgy with the concelebration of Their Graces Bishops Lavrentije of Sabac, Nikanor of Banat, Pahomije of Vranje, Teodosije of Raska-Prizren, David of Krusevac, Arsenije of Toplica and Jeronim of Jegar. Bishop Milutin of Valjevo was also present at this solemn Eucharistic gathering.

Holy Synod of the Russian Church establishes a day of special prayer for the God's creation

The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church at its meeting on July 13, 2015, in St. Petersburg established (Minutes no. 41) a day of special prayer for the God’s creation, reports Patriarchia.ru.

The Holy Synod members have approved the text of a special prayer for protection of the God’s creation (prepared by the Synodal Liturgical Commission) which will be held annually in all churches of the Russian Orthodox Church on the first Sunday of September.