With the blessing of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel, following the request of Fr. Sergiu Vlad, rector of the Romanian Orthodox community in Istanbul, Turkey, the Romanian Patriarchate has offered a reliquary containing a fragment of the holy relics of the Holy Ruler Prince and New Martyr Constantine Brâncoveanu to this community abroad. The silver reliquary,…

A group of tech-savvy Romanians are currently testing Sotiras, a new social platform that could be an Orthodox alternative to Facebook. Their initiative has the blessing of the Romanian monks from the Annunciation Kellia of the Romanian Lakkoskete on Mount Athos. The new social networking website ‘aims at promoting beauty, normality, and Christian values’, reads…

A tour agency, insolently called “Panaghia”, Greek for the Virgin Mary, or Theotokos, the Mother of Christ, is promoting what it calls “cooperation’ with a self-styled “Russian Orthodox Church of Northern Cyprus” to attract Russian tourists and Orthodox believers from Slavic countries for pilgrimages to the Turkish-occupied parts of Cyprus. The report is posted on…

Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, His Eminence Ieronymos, will reportedly arrive at the education and religious affairs ministry on Friday for a high-profile meeting with Minister Niki Kerameos, according to information learned by the Orthodoxia news agency. Although the meeting is viewed as reciprocation for Kerameos’ visit to the Athens Archdiocese, soon after her…

On the feast day of the Holy Archdeacon and First Archdeacon Stefan in the Neupare Monastery His Grace Bishop David of Krusevac celebrated the Holy Liturgy with the concelebration of many priests, hieromonks and deacons from dioceses of Krusevac, Belgrade-Karlovac and Nis, and in a prayerful presence of monks from the Dechani Monastery. Before the…

The Museum of the Russian icon was the initiative of the businessman and art patron Mikhail Abramov. It is the only Russian private collection of Byzantine and old Russian art that has been officially converted into a public museum which is recognized by the ICOM (International Council of Museums) and the Russian Union of Museums….

Photo Gallery The Solovki archipelago has often been called the “Northern Thebaid” or the “Northern Athos”. It is a group of islands located at the entrance of Onega Bay, in the southwestern part of the White Sea—the only inland sea of the Arctic Ocean. The White Sea itself is fascinating for its unique history and…

In Memoriam: Schema-Abbess Magdalena (Dosmanova)   It was at midnight. When in the Soviet city of Sverdlovsk (formerly Ekaterinburg) all the streets had become deserted, the sound of voices died away, and light in the windows of houses went out, in a house at Tretya Zagorodnaya Street Mother Magdalena and her eighteen disciples gathered in…

Fr. Marius Gabriel Bărăscu died in a tragic car accident on August 7, the day before his 35th birthday. He leaves behind his wife Preoteasă Petronela, and four children: Anastasia, 9, Irina, 7, Sofiana, 4, and Nicolae, 18 months. As OrthoChristian has reported, the Archdiocese of Bucharest announced that it was providing $1,184 (5,000 lei)…