Bulgarian Orthodox Church Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize for Saving 48,000 Bulgarian Jews in World War II Sofia, January 19 (BTA) – The Bulgarian Orthodox Church has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for saving 48,000 Bulgarian Jews from the Nazi death camps in World War II, a press release published on the site
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How Zacchaeus Reclaimed Paradise and How You Can Too
Many people say that they want to know God. Sometimes people are more specific and they say that they want to know Jesus Christ. This is really the correct way to think about it. We know the Father only through the Son. The Lord Himself says “He who has seen me, has seen the Father
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MIRACLE ON ATHOS: INCORRUPT BODY OF ASCETIC FOUND
A miracle has occurred on Mt. Athos—the body of a deceased monk has been found to be without any signs of corruption and not emitting any foul smell, a month and a half after his repose. The deceased monk Fr. Stephen labored in the skete of Kavsokalyvia for forty years. Fr. Stephen led an
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DISPERSING THE DARK CLOUD OF THE PASSIONS
A discourse on the Mystery of Chrismation There is a beautiful Russian expression: “We’re all anointed with the same brush.” Although it sounds a little quaint, within it is hidden the deepest meaning. Scarcely is the newly-baptized Christian vested in white garments—a symbol of purification and the forgiveness of sins received from the Lord God,
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SHOULD I PRAY TO SEE RESULTS ?
—Your Eminence, do you have a feeling that we live in abnormal times? I understand that I sound grumpy, as people always complain that in the past the sun was brighter, the grass was greener and the people were kinder. However, today many people, not only Christians, have a general feeling of anxiety and
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BREAKING NEWS – BISHOPS ABDUCTED IN SYRIA IN 2013 ARE ALIVE – CURRENTLY IN RAQQA
According to preliminary data, Syrian bishops abducted in the vicinity of the country’s northern city of Aleppo in 2013 are alive and currently in the city of Raqqa occupied by the Daesh militant group, a mother superior at the Monastery and Convent of Saint James the Mutilated, located in the western Syrian town of Qarah,
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Icons and the Seeds and the Good Soil
In any Orthodox Church, we are surrounded by icons of the saints. These saints are described in Christ’s parable of the sower as the “good soil” on which when the seed, the Word of God, “grew, it produced a hundredfold.” As Jesus teaches, the saints “are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold
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WE PRAY BEFORE THE RELICS OF SAINTS BECAUSE THEY HAVE THE POWER OF LIFE
The primate spoke about this on the day of the Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon, August 9, reports the information-education department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry noted that the Lord endowed the Great Martyr Panteleimon with the gift of healing people’s diseases, and after death he helps all who call upon
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Spiritual Counsels of St. Nikon of Optina
We honor the memory of the Optina Monastery holy confessor Nikon. St. Nikon (in the world, Nicholai Mitrofanovich Belyaev) was a great example of patience and obedience—from his youth to the end of his life, he good-heartedly endured everything sent to him by God. Even in his childhood, there were events that were like signs
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THEOSIS – THE TRUE PURPOSE OF HUMAN LIFE – Part 5 of 10 – The Church: The Place of Man’s Theosis
Those who wish to unite with Jesus Christ, and, through Christ, with God the Father, recognize that this union is realized in the body of Christ, which is our Holy Orthodox Church. Of course, this Union is not with the Divine essence, * but with the deified human nature of Christ. But this union with
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