Every year on May 17, the Georgian Orthodox Church celebrates Family Purity Day, traditionally with a large procession through the streets of Tbilisi. However, this year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the procession was held only by priests in a column of automobiles, without public participation, reports agenda.ge. Holding icons and Georgian flags, the priests…

The Orthodox Metropolis of Korea has issued an encyclical regarding the participation of believers in the upcoming Vigil for the Apodosis of Pascha. The encyclical note reads:   Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord, Christ is Risen! In the announcement of April 3, we noted that: “God willing, we hope that we will all…

Turkey is once again on a U.S. State Department’s “Special Watch List” in the 2020 Annual Report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). Turkey was the only country in NATO to be on the “Special Watch List” because “in 2019, religious freedom conditions in Turkey remained worrisome, with the perpetuation of…

Hundreds of Greek Australian parishioners flocked to church on Sunday after weeks of staying away, as a ban on mass gatherings to curb the spread of coronavirus was eased. Whilst only ten people at a time were allowed inside churches, it was still a special moment for many as they heard the melodious chants of…

Pemptousia, Orthodoxia News Agency stress need to unite our voices, strengthen presence of Orthodox world amid pandemic The editors and staff of both the online magazine Pemptousia, which focuses on Orthodoxy, scholarly research and culture, as well as the Orthodoxia News Agency have become aware of the crucial need for all of us to unite…

Today’s Gospel extract refers to the dialogue Jesus Christ had with a Samaritan woman, who was in fact considered by the Jews to be a fallen, sinful woman, who had denied and betrayed her national Jewish identity. This is why John the Evangelist stresses that it was not common for the Jews to have any…

Beirut’s Metropolitan Greek Orthodox Archbishop, Elias Aoude, presided over Sunday Mass service at St. George’s Cathedral in Central Beirut this morning, during which he affirmed that the Greek Orthodox Sect has always called for justice and equality, respect for the constitution and the application of laws, as well as the adoption of accountability, reward and…

The public must avoid crowding in churches which could result in spreading the coronavirus, Archbishop Chrysostomos said on Sunday. In his speech during the liturgy in Ayia Varvara church in Kaimakli, Nicosia, he outlined all clerics were given instructions so as to ensure churches could allow more faithful through their doors, while maintaining social distancing….

His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros Homily for the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman May 17, 2020 Saints Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church West Nyack, New York   Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Χριστὸς Ἀνέστη! [and in response: Ἀληθῶς Ἀνέστη!] Christ is Risen! [and in response: Truly He is Risen!] Today, we come together virtually once again, to celebrate…