On the first day of the week of Magnificent Easter Seven, the Georgian Orthodox Church marks the date of blessing of graves. Church services for commemoration of souls of the dead people are held this day at all acting churches across Georgia. Orthodox believers prepare special food to carry to the cemeteries and congratulate the…

As Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze stated after the Paschal Liturgy, the Patriarch, in his epistle, emphasized patriotism, mutual forgiveness – everything that the Georgian nation needs so much. The Head of Government wished the country’s population, especially compatriots abroad, a Happy Feast of the Glorious Resurrection of Christ. “I wish every Christian, every Orthodox…

Ukrainian President-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy and head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Epiphany of Kyiv and all Ukraine, met at St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery in the Ukrainian capital. “Ukrainian President-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy and the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine Metropolitan Epiphany are meeting at St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery of Kyiv,” the Orthodox…

Scientists that participated in the closely watched “The Shroud of Turin Research Project” announced back in 1981 the first results from the years of research into the Shroud. Those results caused an emotional outpouring among believers, but also generated a new round of debate into whether or not the cloth cover the dead body of…

A Turkish newspaper, Yeni Safak, this week reported that a group of Turkish archaeologists have located and excavated the historic cell where the Apostle Paul once stayed during his travels in Asia Minor. It was in Asia Minor where the Apostle preached the Gospel and attracted his first large group of Christian believers.ς κατά According to Turkish…

The afternoon Agape vespers service was held on Easter Sunday at the St. Savva Metropolitan Cathedral in Belgrade, with the Patriarch of Serbia, His Holiness Irinej, presiding. In Romania, the Bishop of Ploesti, His Grace Varlaam, presided over the Easter Saturday Resurrection service at the Bucharest Cathedral, where he underlined that the “The Gospel readings…

Perfect weather conditions this year greatly assisted in the holding of the tradition of the “headscarves” at the disused monastery of St. George Mandilas, near the central Greece village of Kastraki, in the Kalabaka district. The Monastery is built into the sheer rock face. Monday was the Feast Day of the Great Martyr St. George,…

A litany was held this week at the Holy Monastery of Chiliandari, on the semi-autonomous monastic community of Mt. Athos. The monastery hosts the miraculous icon of the Panaghia Tricherousa, to which iconoclast St. John Damascene prayed, while holding his severed hand. His hand was miraculously reattached after he had fallen asleep before the icon. The…

The Greek Orthodox Church today venerates the new martyrs Raphael, Nicholaos and Irini, who lived in the 15th century and were martyred on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos (Lesbos) during a 1496 raid by Muslim Ottomans. The trio was canonized by the Greek Church in 1970.