Watch our news bulletin in English with Charilaos Tzannis: 

A rare photograph of the newly-canonized St. Kallinikos of Edessa has been published online by the Orthodoxia News Agency. The photo was provided to the Agency by journalist Dimitrios Stroumbakοs, and shows St. Kallinikos as a three-year-old child in 1922 in his hometown of Sitaralona, 175 miles northwest of Athens. The great 20th-century hierarch, who…

The online radio Pemptousia.fm and the Orthodoxia News Αgency on Wednesday evening live streamed the Christmas Eve All-night Vigil – as based on the Julian calendar – from the Catholicos, or main cathedral, of the Holy and Great Monastery of Vatopedi. People from more than 60 countries around the world viewed the online broadcast. The…

The president of Albania, Ilir Meta, on Wednesday attended the great Divine Liturgy of the Theophany at the St. Spyridon Orthodox Church in the central Albanian city of Berat. He also attended the subsequent Sanctification of the Waters service and procession of icons on the bank of the Osum River Meta expressed his heartfelt congratulations…

The president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, arrived on the semi-autonomous monastic community of Mount Athos on Wednesday, Christmas Eve — based on the Julian calendar that the Serbian Patriarchate follows. The Serbian president was hosted at the Hilandar monastery, which he called magnificent, and from where he conveyed Christmas wishes to Orthodox believers around the…

The Russian Orthodox Church held its main midnight Christmas service at Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow on Wednesday evening, officiated by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, His Holiness Kirill. The Russian Patriarchate’s ecclesiastical year is based on the Julian calendar. Among others, His Holiness called on the faithful to pray for the…

Yesterday’s feast day of the Theophany, or the Epiphany, was celebrated with open churches and chapels in Greece, as Church-going strictly complied with restrictions and measure stipulated in a Dec. 15 joint ministerial decision — issued by the Greek government to prevent exposure to the Covid-19 virus. Nevertheless, the Holy Synod of the Autocephalous Orthodox…

The Church today commemorates the Synaxis, or assembly, of John the Holy Glorious Prophet, Baptist and Forerunner. Today Christians celebrate the Synaxis in honor of the most sacred Forerunner, as he ministered at the mystery of the Divine Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ.   Apolytikion of Synaxis of John the Forerunner Second Tone The…

Thousands of Orthodox Christian worshippers in Bulgaria on Wednesday ignored warnings issued by health authorities to abstain from mass gatherings due to the coronavirus pandemic and kept instead to their centuries-old Epiphany traditions. Young men plunged into the icy waters of rivers and lakes across Bulgaria to retrieve crucifixes tossed by priests in ceremonies commemorating…