The Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II, this week advised young people on the importance of forgiveness and repentance , on the occasion of the opening of Great Lent. Finally, the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Daniel, also referred to the concept of repentance, citing the Great Canon…

A new Orthodox Church is expected to open in Colchester, Essex, in Britain. According to local press reports, a fundraiser by the St. Helen’s Orthodox Church has already collected 112,000 pounds. The funds are being collected to purchase the disused St. Martin’s Church in the area, and to renovate the building for use as a…

  Orthodoxy is again faced with crucial challenges in the coming period, as the coming Feast of Orthodoxy, celebrated on the first Sunday after the opening of the Great Lent, will witness the first time that the Russian Orthodox Church, and its affiliated Churches, will not commemorate the name of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople,…

His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine has called upon the Ukrainian faithful and blessed them to undertake a special prayer rule throughout Lent, to call on God for peace in Ukraine. This is the fifth year in a row that His Beatitude has made the calls for increased prayer for peace during…

The Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, His Holiness Irinej, over the weekend received Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, days after an assembly in breakaway Kosovo approved a “platform of dialogue” with Belgrade. The Serbian head of state also briefed the Serbian Patriarch over the situation in the province, whose secession is not recognized by Serbia….

A three-day period that begins on Monday, known as Clean Monday in the Eastern Orthodox Church, which opens the period before Great Lent until Easter, holds a particular significance for the semi-autonomous Mt. Athos monastic community in northern Greece. Monks of Mt. Athos’ Orthodox monasteries retreat to their cells after the afternoon liturgy on Sunday,…

The opening of Great Lent this year witnesses a period of major challenges in relations between the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Greece and the Greek state, as well as for Orthodoxy in general. The next two weeks are judged as crucial. A second vote in Greece’s Parliament to ratify a revision in Article 3 of…

The Holy Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre, also known as the “Hagiotaphite Brotherhood”, was founded in the 4th Century AD as the “Order of the Spoudaeoi” – which can be translated into English as the “studious”, “zealous”, “industrious” or “serious”. Members comprise a 1,700-year fraternity of Orthodox clerics and monks of the Greek Orthodox Church of…

The issue of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s autocephaly generated an exchange of letters over the past week between the Ecumenical Patriarch, His All Holiness Bartholomew I, and the Archbishop of Tirana, Durres and All Albania, His Beatitude Anastasios. On Saturday, the Ecumenical Patriarch’s response to a previous correspondence by the Primate of the Autocephalous Orthodox…