On the feast of the Epiphany in the cycle of conversations “Man before God”, bishop of the Orthodox Church in America His Grace Seraphim (Sigrist) visited the Christian club “The Meeting” with a lecture on “Orthodoxy in America. The Сhurch as a community”, and answered questions from the audience. Three principles of Orthodoxy in the West His Grace began his lecture with memories of the... 

Bishop Benjamin of San Francisco and the West was able to give “PravMir” some of his time, which is lucky for us, because his huge territory covers eight states in the United States: Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. It is one of the largest dioceses in the world, so Bishop Benjamin travels about 180, 000 miles a year by plane and some more by car.... 

Saints come in many sizes and varieties, ranging from kings to beggars, surgeons to street sweepers, scholars to the illiterate, the extraordinary to the unnoticed. Some never marry, some are the parents of large families. Some die in bed in their old age, others die early in life at the hands of executioners. There are millions of saints — heaven is crowded — but relatively few of heaven’s... 

Dear “John”, I understand that you are on the way to becoming Orthodox. I know nothing about you, beyond the fact that you are English. Before we go any further, there is one point I should make clear. I have not been told why you are about to convert, but I assure you there is no point whatsoever if it is for negative reasons. You will find as much “wrong” (if not more) in Orthodoxy as in... 

There is at least one icon from Mt. Sinai that even people far from the Church know: the famous Christ Pantocrator, one of the most ancient iconographic depictions of Christ, painted in Constantinople in the mid-sixth century and given to the monastery at Mt. Sinai. What is generally representative of icons from Mt. Sinai? The art scholar Galina Kolpakova, in one of her books, notes: “In the icons... 

I love working with youths. They tend to pose difficult questions. At a recent weekend retreat, my favorite feature was something called “Fire on Father.” It was my first time at this particular camp, so I was somewhat apprehensive about the title. Far from being hit with any projectiles, however, I walked into a verbal barrage. The kids were invited to write questions on note cards and... 

If you haven’t heard of “tebowing” by now, it would be surprising. Denver Broncos young quarterback, Tim Tebow, is making a name for himself…and not just for football. Tebow has been in the news because of his openness about his faith off and on the field. A new term has been coined because of his practice of bowing and praying different times during a game. It’s called “tebowing.” According... 

This article was written in 2010, the year which marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Archimandrite John (Krestiankin), the great and revered Elder who changed the lives of many, many people. Life is short, as the saying goes. This is indeed normally the case. Yet there is another well-known law: every law has its exceptions. One such exceptional case was the life of Archimandrite John (Krestiankin). Fr.... 

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church numbers among the Oriental Orthodox Churches; along with the Coptic, Syrian, and Armenian Orthodox Churches, it confesses a Monophysite Christology, not accepting the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon (451), and recognizing only the first three Ecumenical Councils. The flowering of the Ethiopian school of iconography took place between the periods of the High and Late... 

In church circles, whenever the topic of discussion is workload and responsibilities, nearly everyone immediately thinks of the Patriarch. One hears the following in many conversations: “I have never seen such an ability to work every minute.” “I am learning from him how to be truly focused and not to waste a single moment.” February 1 marks the anniversary of Patriarch Kirill’s enthronement....