Turkey’s powerful Directorate of Religious Affairs, better known as Diyanet, will organize what it bills as an international symposium early next month, provocatively entitled “The Hagia Sophia Mosque”. A relevant announcement by the state-controlled entity says the event aims to “shed light on the history of the Hagia Sophia mosque, and the changes it witnessed,…

The Church today venerates the memory of Euphemia the Great Martyr. St. Euphemia was from Chalcedon and lived in virginity. She suffered martyrdom during the reign of the Emperor Diocletian in the first decade of the 4th century. Her sacred relics are preserved at the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.     An archieratical Divine Liturgy…

On Sept 16, 2020, the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia announced that the Jvari Monastery preservation project was selected by Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP). The ongoing preservation works also funded by the U.S. Government will now extend to cover the entire outer sandstone masonry of the building, including all four facades and all…

On Tuesday morning, September 2/15, His Beatitude our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos visited the Holy Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in Ramallah, accompanied by His Eminence Archbishop Aristarchos of Constantina and Archdeacon Mark, and were welcomed by the Hegoumen Archimandrite Galaktion and the Caretakers of the Community. His Beatitude inspected the…

On 12th Sepetember 2020, His Beatitude Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, accompanied by His Grace Nicodemus Bishop of Nitria and Exarch of the patriarchate of Alexandria in Cyprus, visited the Venerable Metropolitan George of Paphos, in the presence of his Beatitude Chrysosotomos Archbishop of Cyprus at the Diocese of the…

On Monday, Patriarch Daniel attended the Divine Liturgy celebrated at the Chapel of the Romanian People’s Salvation Cathedral. In his homily, he spoke about the significance of the veneration of the Holy Cross in Orthodoxy, making a brief history of the events that led to the establishment of the feast of the Exaltation of the…

  Once again, our limitations become our greatest resource. Early in 2020, the Department of Sacred Music relaunched our Facebook group and email services in preparation for providing you with more content. We started in July with our Virtual Sacred Music Institute, followed in August with our advanced chant session on the Doxastikon for the…

Although the Ionian Village Summer Program was cancelled due to COVID-19, many former participants (campers, staff members, former administration, medical volunteers and clergy) were given the opportunity to gather online. Weekly “virtual” reunions were held from mid-July through mid-August. These reunions were organized into decades (1970’s, 80’s,90’s, 2000’s, 2010’s) and were hosted by Fr. Gary…

Our History Bears Witness In the apse of the Saint Apollinaire (1) Cathedral in Ravenna is depicted a huge cross that dates from the 6th century (549 CE). This cross bears witness to the faith awareness concerning the Theology of the cross and its relation to divine light. It figures the transfiguration, where the Lord…