The 20-year-old Greek sailor who was kidnapped by pirates in Togo for 40 days, Dimitris Giatis stated in a tv interview that his faith in God and constant prayers is what kept him alive during the ordeal. Giatis and three other crew members were kidnapped from a Greek-owned oil tanker ‘Elka Aristotle’ off the coast…

With great sadness, the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Canada became aware of the recent tragic event of the UIA 752 crash that took place on January 8, 2020 near Tehran, carrying 176 passengers out of which 63 were Canadian citizens from the provinces: British-Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia. Among the victims were…

Melbourne’s Greek Orthodox bishop has condemned the actions of three men who broke the rules to grab the coveted wooden cross during the Blessing of the Waters swim. Bishop Ezekiel of Dervis said he was very upset, and the act was disrespectful and uncivilised. The annual swim, the high point of the Theofania, or Epiphany…

The honorary Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), Filaret, has recalled his signature under a resolution by the Kyiv Patriarchate’s UOC local council, dated Dec. 15, 2018, to liquidate this church. “This resolution is invoked by Ukrainian Culture Ministry officials who have denied state registration to a resolution by the local council of the…

Temples are a good place for personal acquaintances, which can later turn into love,” chairman of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) said in the Church and Peace program on Russia-24 TV channel. “Of course, the temple is the Lord’s house, and it would be strange to come to a church…

“Calmness is the state when the Holy Spirit comes upon a person. Peacefulness is necessary for us,” Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II said at Sunday sermon earlier today.   “Peacefulness is necessary for us. We lack peace because we are confused in modern life. We take a lot into our own hands, we have…

Orthodoxy is alive and well in a distant African township The churchgoers’ response to Fr George Glafcoss is immediate and their singing is spontaneous and continuous. The sound of the many voices rises above the rafters and seems to lift the bare corrugated roof. This service in St Augustine’s in a township of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s…

His Eminence Archbishop Makarios, Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church of Australia sends his heartfelt gratitude to everyone for their support towards the bushfire relief. He asks us to keep going and not to give up prayer and hope in God. Watch the video here:

Karyes has been the seat of the self-governing body of Mount Athos and the seat of the ‘protos’ since the 10th century. At that time the settlement comprised some small older monasteries and the residences of representatives of distant ones. Assemblies of the monks were usually held on 15th August, the Virgin’s feast-day, in the…