Thy Martyrs, O Lord, in their courageous contest for Thee received the prize of the crowns of incorruption and life from Thee, our immortal God.

Holy Martyr Shalva was distinguished by his many Christian virtues. For his bravery and valour, Queen Tamara honored him with the rank of commander-in-chief of the Georgian army.

Our Venerable Father Moses (Putilov) was a starets and schema archimandrite among the group of monastics known as the Optina Elders.

To His Brother Living in the World

The following is a translation by Priest Anatole Lyovin of an article that appeared in the Russian magazine Rubezh (Borderland), published in Harbin, Manchuria, on 20 February, 1937.

Today we commemerate the Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos "It is Truly Meet" ("Axion Estin") (10th c.)

The most famous and celebrated icon of the Theotokos on the Holy Mountain is without a doubt the icon known as "Axion Estin".

The present article is based principally on the biographies of 172 Greek Orthodox Neo-Martyrs.

St Cyril bishop of Alexandria from 412 until his death in 444, is remembered above all for his role in the Christological disputes stirred up by the teachings of Nestorius

This essay was originally published in the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate in 1993, just after the Soviet regime had fallen, but Church life had not been fully restored.

Mount Athos, known in Greek as Agio Oros (Holy Mountain), is a peninsula in Northern Greece. This sacred area contains twenty monasteries. Although the peninsula of Athos is part of Greece, it enjoys autonomy.

The Holy Mountain during its history of more than a thousand years has always been a busy workshop of wisdom and virtue which has produced monks distinguished for their learning and sanctity.

From How to Live a Holy Life, by Metropolitan Gregory of St. Petersburg (1784-1860), pp. 9-20. Published by the Printshop of St. Job of Pochaev, Holy Trinity Monastery, 2005.

On this day, the Sunday after Pentecost, we celebrate the feast of all the Saints from throughout the inhabited world

He spent his life finding his chief pleasure in being always occupied in learning, teaching, or writing, and was zealous in the performance of monastic duties.

Augustine, a monk at the monastery of St Andrew in Rome, was chosen by Pope Gregory I to lead a mission to England which at that time was almost entirely pagan, though Christianity thrived in the Celtic lands of Ireland, Wales and parts of Scotland.

"But let our speech and petition when we pray be under discipline, observing quietness and modesty. Let us consider that we are standing in God’s sight. We must please the divine eyes both with the habit of body and with the measure of voice."

But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me (Jn. 15:26)

from the Synaxaria of Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos

On the Saturday before Pentecost we commemorate all departed pious Christians, with the idea that the occasion of the coming of the Holy Spirit not only consists of the economy of the salvation of man, but that the departed also participate in this salvation.

St. Euphrosyne’s name in the world, before she received the monastic tonsure, was Eudocia, which means in Greek, “good will.” She was the daughter of the pious and learned prince Dimitry of Suzdal.