Our Faith : Sacraments
A Conversation with Metropolitan Kallistos Ware on the Sacramental Life
I long for the day when all Christians can receive Communion together. It causes me deep sorrow that I cannot offer the Holy Communion to non-Orthodox. At the same time I believe that the Orthodox discipline here rests on important theological principles. When we come to Holy Communion, this is not simply an isolated act – me personally coming to my Saviour – I come to Communion as a member of the Church – as a member of the family of believers, not alone but with others.
Aug 29, 2008, 13:03

Our Faith : Sacraments
"NO THANKS, DOC" Rejecting spiritual medicine
Many fathers testify that the words they speak in Holy Confession are not the words they intend to say to their spiritual child; many even leave hours of Confession wondering where the words come from! Of course, we know the real answer: the real physician is the Great Physician, Who leaves the priesthood dependant not on itself, on its seminary education, on psychology courses or counseling training, but on His Grace.

Aug 4, 2008, 10:12

Our Faith : Sacraments
Historical and liturgical aspects of the sacraments of Baptism and Chrismation in the Byzantine traditio
This paper has as its aim, the tracing of the historical development of the principal elements of the liturgical order of the sacraments of Baptism and Chrismation.
Nov 27, 2007, 09:07

Our Faith : Sacraments
The sacrament of Penance and the Eucharist
I remember how I — at that time a subdeacon — once went to common Confession in the lower church of St Daniel ’s monastery. When, after all the canons and prayers, I approached the priest, he — a severe hieromonk — asked me: ‘Did you fast yesterday?’ I answered: ‘Yesterday I was in an airplane’. The severe hieromonk asked: ‘Where are you from?’ I said: ‘From Paris ’. His answer was: ‘It’s not Paris here. It’s Moscow . I cannot allow you to take Communion!’
Nov 22, 2007, 23:23

Our Faith : Sacraments
....An Image of the Trinity
These crowns have two meanings. First, they reveal that the man and woman, in their union with Christ, participate in His Kingship. Second, as in the ancient Church, crowns are a symbol of martyrdom. The word "martyr" means witness. The common life of the bride and groom is to bear witness to the Presence of Christ in their lives and in the world.
Apr 28, 2007, 10:29

Our Faith : Sacraments
"I Confess to You All the Secrets of my Heart..."
What we need….is, first of all, the real rediscovery in the Church and by her faithful members of the true meaning of the Eucharist as the Sacrament of the Church, as that essential act in which she always becomes what she is: the Body of Christ, the Temple of the Holy Spirit, the gift of the new life, the manifestation of the Kingdom of God, the knowledge of God and communion with him.
Apr 24, 2007, 09:11

Our Faith : Sacraments
Holy Matrimony
The Image of the Most-holy Trinity, and, except in certain special cases (such as monasticism, for example), he is not intended by God to live alone, but in a family situation. Just as God blessed the first humans, Adam and Eve, to live as a family, to be fruitful and multiply, so too the Church blesses the union of a man and a woman.
Oct 20, 2005, 23:53

Our Faith : Sacraments
Holy Eucharist
The central place among the Sacraments of the Orthodox Church is held by the Holy Eucharist - the precious Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Oct 20, 2005, 00:16

Our Faith : Sacraments
Holy Chrismation
The Sacrament of Chrismation awakens in the soul that inner, spiritual thirst which does not let one grow satisfied solely with the earthly and material, but always summons us to the Heavenly, to the eternal and the perfect.
Oct 20, 2005, 00:04

Our Faith : Sacraments
Holy Baptism
First place among the Sacraments of the Orthodox Church is occupied by Holy Baptism, by which a man, who has come to believe in Christ, by being immersed three times in water in the Name of the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), is cleansed through Divine Grace of all sins (Original Sin and personal sins) and is reborn into a new holy, and spiritual life.
Jun 11, 2005, 00:40

Our Faith : Sacraments
A Siberian Grandmother on Confession
My childhood was spent in the Urals, in present-day Ekaterinburg. Like most children during the war years I was in kindergarten much of the time1 and went to school with a muddled heart and a distracted mind. Sometimes, though rarely, Granny came to see us and took me to church, to Holy Communion. There were always a lot of people in church, so many that it was difficult to make the sign of the cross over yourself, nor were the priests able to hear individual confessions from such large crowds of people.
Apr 5, 2005, 01:22