International

In pictures: Sunday of Saint Gregory Palamas marked in Thessaloniki

The Sunday of Saint Gregory Palamas was celebrated with great pomp in Thessaloniki, where he pastored as archbishop for twelve years (1347-1359). Metropolitan Anthimos of Thessaloniki celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the city’s Metropolitan Cathedral, followed by a procession on the streets of Thessaloniki with the honourable relics of St. Gregory. The reliquary was carried…

Mar 22, 2022Aurelian Iftimiu

Veneration of holy shrines is attributed to Christ, the Mother of God and the Saints: Patriarch Theophilos

“Veneration of the holy shrines is attributed to Christ, the Theotokos and the Saints,” explained Patriarch Theophilos on the Sunday of Orthodoxy. The Patriarch of Jerusalem officiated the Great Vespers and celebrated the Divine Liturgy for the Sunday of Orthodoxy at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. He was joined in the divine services by…

Mar 14, 2022Ștefana Totorcea

This is how the Orthodox Church in Finland reacted to the war in Ukraine

Right after Russia attacked Ukraine, the organizations of priests and chanters of the Orthodox Church of Finland, along with the Orthodox Youth Association of Finland and lay organizations, made a joint appeal to the worshippers of the Church to collect funds for Ukrainian refugees through Filantropia ry, the international aid organization of the Orthodox Church…

Mar 9, 2022Aurelian Iftimiu

Ecumenical Patriarch: Great Lent is an invitation to discover the Church as a place and way of sanctification

“Holy and Great Lent is an invitation for us to discover the Church as a place and way of sanctification and sanctity, as a foretaste and image of the splendid radiance, of the fullness of life and of the complete joy in the eschatological Kingdom,” Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople highlighted in his catechetical homily…

Mar 4, 2022Aurelian Iftimiu

Patriarch of Antioch: Great Lent is the Spring of souls yearning for the radiance of Christ

“Great Lent is the Spring of souls yearning for the radiance of Christ,” transmitted Patriarch John X of Antioch on Sunday in a message for the start of the Great Lent. “It is a Spring in which every soul blossoms as flowers do in nature. It is when the bitter coldness of sin is taken…

Mar 2, 2022Ștefana Totorcea

Archbishop Juraj of Michalovce and Košice leads patronal feast of Romanian monastery in Calabria

His Eminence Archbishop Juraj de Michalovce and Košice (Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia) celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Romanian Monastery in Bivongi, Calabria, Italy, on Sunday. His Grace Assistant Bishop Atanasie of Bogdania (Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Italy) was concelebrant for the Divine Liturgy. Last Sunday was an anticipatory celebration of…

Feb 23, 2022Aurelian Iftimiu

Archbishop of Australia to students: Love prayer more than the internet

On Thursday, February 17, Archbishop of Australia Makarios performed a Doxology at the Church of St. Nicholas in Sydney, on the occasion of the beginning of the new academic year of the Theological School of the Apostle Andrew, Orthodox Times reports. At the end of the Doxology, the Archbishop Makarios addressed the students with cordial paternal…

Feb 20, 2022Iulian Dumitraşcu

Orthodox youth from around the world to meet this year in Poland

Orthodox youth from around the world will meet this year in Wrocław, Poland, between July 18 and 23. The Wrocław 2022 meeting is hosted by the Orthodox Church of Poland and the Fellowship of Orthodox Youth in Poland, with the blessing of His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa. The event is inspired by the exhortation “…go and…

Feb 2, 2022Ștefana Totorcea

Romania feels like second home for Kenyan priest: “It really is a holy place with loving, friendly and welcoming people”

Priest Habil Lipesa Omukuba from Kenya says Romania has become his second home. In an interview for a local publication in Sibiu, Turnul Sfatului (Council Tower), the Kenyan priest confessed that he saw snow for the first time during his visit to Romania. He also learned to cook sarmale (cabbage rolls). He also talked about…

Feb 1, 2022Aurelian Iftimiu

New abbot installed at Finland Valaam Monastery: Archim. Mikael speaks 10 foreign languages

Metropolitan Arseni of Kuopio and Karelia installed on Sunday the new abbot at Finland’s Valaam Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Lord. Archim. Mikael Nummela has studied Economics and Theology and speaks, in addition to Finnish, 10 other languages. The new Abbott, Archim. Mikael Nummela, was elected by the monastery synaxis on January 4, after…

Jan 28, 2022Ștefana Totorcea

In pictures: Helsinki Uspenski Cathedral hosts episcopal consecration for first time in over 50 years

The former abbot of Valaam Monastery, Archimandrite Sergei Rayapolvi, became the first bishop ordained at Helsinki’s Dormition of the Theotokos Cathedral since 1969. The Divine Liturgy and the ordination were celebrated on Sunday, January 16, 2022, by Archbishop Leo of Helsinki and All Finland, Metropolitan Arseni of Kuopio and Karelia, and Metropolitan Elia of Oulu.…

Jan 26, 2022Aurelian Iftimiu