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Russian Monasticism After Communism Interview With Orthodox Monk on Old and New Challenges By Antonio Gaspari ROME, NOV. 5, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Having survived Soviet Communism, Russian Orthodox monasticism now faces the new threat of secularization as it passes through a period of testing that only time can heal. Father Petr Mescerinov expressed these ideas as he discussed with ZENIT the new and enduring challenges of Russian monasticism. The hegumen (a title similar to abbot) of the St. Daniil Monastery of Moscow was in Italy for a conference on Eastern and Western monasticism. Father Mescerinov is vice-director of the Center for...

Writings of the Fathers of the Church  Alexander of Alexandria (Saint)   - Epistles on the Arian Heresy and the Deposition of Arius Alexander of Lycopolis   - Of the Manicheans Ambrose (340-397) (Saint) (Doctor)   - On the Christian Faith (De fide)   - On the Holy Spirit   - On the Mysteries   - On Repentance   - On the Duties of the Clergy   - Concerning Virgins   - Concerning Widows   - On the Death of Satyrus   - Memorial of Symmachus   - Sermon against Auxentius   - Letters Aphrahat/Aphraates (c. 280-367)   - Demonstrations Archelaus   - Acts of the Disputation with the Heresiarch Manes Aristides the Philosopher   - The Apology Arnobius   - Against the Heathen Athanasius (Saint) (Doctor)   - Against the Heathen   - On the Incarnation...

In my homilies to you over the years, I’ve often spoke of our Catholic Faith, and sometimes of our Byzantine Tradition; but I have rarely spoken of the particular Church to which we belong, and of it’s history in Eastern Europe. Our Metropolitan Church is located entirely in the United States; and, the further you travel outside of Pennsylvania, the less you see of any ethnic identity among the members of our parishes; but, as you know, the ancestors of our Church’s original members came from an Orthodox Church which came into union with Rome in 1646 at the Union...

A Trunk or Treat is a Halloween event that is often church or community-sponsored. People gather and park their cars in a large parking lot. They open their trunks or the backs of their vehicles and decorate them. Then they pass out candy from their trunks. The event provides a safe family environment for trick or treaters.... (see pictures!)

The hits just keep on coming, while you wait in line, Gitmo detainees will have their vaccines delivered,...these are the fools running our country...(Story here)

Bishop John Broadhurst London, England, Oct 26, 2009 / 05:13 pm (CNA).-  Members of the traditionalist Anglican group Forward in Faith recently concluded their annual gathering, which was dedicated to discussing Pope Benedict's overture to Anglicans. The general impression left by the conference was the “Anglican experiment is over,” a mood that was reinforced by Bishop John Hind officially announcing he is ready to become Catholic.The 2009 National Assembly of Forward in Faith was held in the Emmanuel Centre, Westminster, London, October 23-24. The Assembly was originally scheduled before the Vatican announced its unprecedented move, but the issue dominated...

The Jewel of Celibacy by Dr. Jeff Mirus, October 23, 2009 Phil Lawler is undoubtedly correct that the rule of celibacy will not be relaxed for Catholics of the Roman Rite when married Anglican priests begin to appear under a new Catholic ordinariate. He may also be correct that Eastern Rite churches will gradually permit more of their married clergy to serve in the West as we become accustomed to married clergy through a growing familiarity with our Anglo-Catholic brethren. (See The Anglicans and the Eastern Churches.) But the official policies of the Roman Rite and the Eastern Rite churches...

April 20, 2005 newly elected Pope Benedict XVI gave his message at the end of a Mass he had concelebrated with the members of the College of Cardinals. He signaled his mission: “Nourished and sustained by the Eucharist, Catholics cannot but feel encouraged to strive for the full unity for which Christ expressed so ardent a hope in the Upper Room. The Successor of Peter knows that he must make himself especially responsible for his Divine Master's supreme aspiration. Indeed, he is entrusted with the task of strengthening his brethren (cf. Luke 22: 32). With full awareness, therefore, at the...

Pope Benedict has sure gotten the ball rolling and it seems others want to get into the ecumenical action! Thanks to A Catholic Knight on this one: A Bulgarian Orthodox prelate told Benedict XVI of his desire for unity, and his commitment to accelerate communion with the Catholic Church. At the end of Wednesday's general audience, Bishop Tichon, head of the diocese for Central and Western Europe of the Patriarchate of Bulgaria, stated to the Pope, "We must find unity as soon as possible and finally celebrate together," L'Osservatore Romano reported. "People don't understand our divisions and our discussions," the...

Tbilisi, October 13, Interfax - Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II of All Georgia deplored the secession of Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia. At a meeting in Tbilisi with the primate of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), Metropolitan Jonah of All America and Canada, Ilia insisted that Georgia's territorial integrity be restored. There is no peace in the Caucasus, the Georgian Patriarch said. The Georgian Patriarchate told Interfax an OCA delegation had come to Georgia with Jonah, who is on a six-days visit to the Caucasus nation. Ilia briefed Jonah and his delegation on the situation in Abkhazia and South Ossetia....

Beijing, October 14, Interfax - An Orthodox church was consecrated on the territory of the Russian embassy in Beijing, People’s Republic of China, on 13 October 2009. It is dedicated to the Assumption of the Most Holy Mother of God. With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, the consecration was celebrated by Bishop Mark of Yegoryevsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate Secretariat for Russian Orthodox Church institutions abroad. According to a report from the Parish of the Assumption to the DECR communication service, the celebration was attended by the embassy official and staff as...

There is a storm brewing and this storm shall not stop or deviate from its path and the name of this storm is " Righteousness " " for my name's sake " ! My name is on my priests as a placard upon their foreheads and I shall not be defamed ! Therefore now I shall work my outstretched arm over the nations to perform this " My Will ", for The Father has said "This is my Son in whom I am well pleased !" . So watch now as I " well up " in my children yeah...

Prison Terms Upheld for Two Christians in Ethiopia Judge rejects appeal of evangelists said to be falsely accused of offering money, gifts. NAIROBI, Kenya, September 25 (CDN) — An Ethiopian court on Monday (Sept. 21) threw out an appeal by two evangelists said to be falsely accused of offering money and gifts to people to convert to Christianity, thus upholding their six-month prison sentences. Temesgen Alemayehu and Tigist Welde Amanuel of Wengel Lealem church in Addis Ababa went to Debiretabor, Amhara state, to plant a church in July. After a week in the area, according to area Christian sources, their...

In an unusual move, a group of influential Orthodox Jewish leaders wrote a letter urging American rabbis to speak during this year’s High Holidays on the importance of ethical living, in response to some recent high-profile arrests of Jews, including two New Jersey rabbis in July. In the letter sent to about 2,000 rabbis nationwide, the leaders of Yeshiva University, the Orthodox Union and the Rabbinical Council of America cited "the recent scenes of religious Jews being led off in handcuffs, charged with corruption, money laundering, and even organ trafficking.”

August 5, 2008 SOLZHENITSYN…HE TRIED TO WARN US By: Pastor Bill Randles ”“Wisdom cries out loud in the streets, she raises her voice in the squares…" Proverbs 1:20 Harvard’s motto is “Veritas”. Many of you have already found out, and others will find out in the course of their lives, that truth eludes us if we do not concentrate our attention totally on its pursuit. But even while it eludes us, the illusion of knowing it still lingers and leads to many misunderstandings. (From Solzhenitsyn’s 1978 Harvard address “A World Split Apart”) Alexander Solzhenitsyn, a Nobel Prize winning author, Soviet...

The text of the film “The fall of an empire—the Lesson of Byzantium” Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov) Russian winter landscape. A church. A snowstorm. Narrator. Hello. In 1453, the Byzantine Empire fell. Let us now take a look at how this happened. Islamic chant weaves into the gusts of freezing wind. Instanbul. The muezzin continues his prayer, amplified by a loudspeaker. The noise of a market place in a Middle Eastern city. Turkish conversation. Narrator. This city was once called Constantinople; six centuries ago it was the capital city of what was without exaggeration one of the greatest civilizations in world...

St. Augustine of Hippo Rome, Italy, Sep 4, 2009 / 10:08 am (CNA).- In a letter he sent Thursday to Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity,  Pope Benedict XVI has underscored that the teachings of St. Augustine are a path seeking unity with the Orthodox. The message from the Pope was sent to Cardinal Kasper as the 11th Inter-Christian Symposium gathered in Rome. The meeting was organized by the Franciscan Institute of Spirituality of the Pontifical University Antonianum and the Aristotle Orthodox Theological Faculty of Thessalonica.In his message, the Holy Father expressed his gratitude...

2009-08-19 200 Years Since Sweden Loses Finland2009 ManeuversExactly 200 years have passed since the last military battle was fought on Swedish soil - bloody clashes between Sweden and Russia. The outcome? A defeated Sweden cut in two – loosing its Finnish eastern half, and fearing attacks from European rivals wiping Sweden off the map. The battles were fierce and numerous -– with field artillery and ship's cannons booming from the shorelines and islands of the southern archipelago up through Finland and to the Swedish northeastern coast - above Umeå – to the small northern towns of Ratar and Sävar where...

I was taken by the desire to share some further brief thoughts from the Christian East, picking up from our consideration of last week on the holy Icon and the depth of theological meaning to be found there in its various regards. I turned to a set of books published as part of the Cistercian Studies series, The Spirituality of the Christian East by Tomas Spidlik, SJ. I began with a consideration of various paragraphs and sections, but I determined to simply instead present a few very brief quotations from those books, that might serve as a point of some...

The ongoing de-Christianization of Kosovo continues and unlike the past frenzy of the anti-Serbian mass media in the West, we mainly have a deadly silence about the reality of Kosovo and the continuing Albanianization of this land. However, how is it “just” and “moral” to persecute minorities and to alienate them from mainstream society; and then to illegally recognize this land without the full consensus of the international community? How ironic it is that the same United States of America and the United Kingdom, two nations who were in the forefront of covertly manipulating the mass media; remain mainly silent...

The Monthly » December 2006 - January 2007, No. 19 » The Nation Reviewed | Dec 2006 - Jan 2007 Contra Mundum Kate Holden A paean in an arcane language derived from ancient Egyptian and Greek; a ceremonial procession of men in Byzantine beards and robes; a supper table laid with platters of pizza and fried rice; a sermon aided by PowerPoint slides above a Madonna icon outlined in blue sequins; the spiritual wisdom of the Desert Fathers. Welcome to a Friday night Coptic service in a northern Melbourne suburb. There is something splendidly venerable about an institution such as...

Review: How the Byzantines Saved Europe Posted by JOHN COURETAS on MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2009 The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. Edited by Elizabeth Jeffreys, John Haldon, Robin Cormack. Oxford University Press (2008)Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire by Judith Herrin. Princeton University Press (2008) Ask the average college student to identify the 1,100 year old empire that was, at various points in its history, the political, commercial, artistic and ecclesiastical center of Europe and, indeed, was responsible for the very survival and flourishing of what we know today as Europe and you’re not likely to get the...

Good morning! My Son-In-Law called me last night and told me a neat story about (him) losing his work ID ( a fireable offense), praying for the first time in 2 years because of that, seeing a brief glimpse of something about the Moravian church, then finding his badge. Of course there's more to it but I'm sparing you. :) He also reported feeling completely re-energized and touched by the Hand of God -this would be a GREAT time for an 'AMEN!"- and "on fire and alive" despite having a rough weekend almost no sleep. Anyway, he asked about the...

Kirill's Visit Exposes Dangers in Moscow-Kiev Ties By SOPHIA KISHKOVSKY Published: August 6, 2009 MOSCOW — Wittingly or not, a just-completed 10-day visit to Ukraine by Kirill I, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, has exposed the dangers lurking in relations between Russia and Ukraine, the two most populous nations to emerge from the breakup of the Soviet Union. It was Kirill’s first trip to Ukraine since he was elected patriarch in January. The visit opened on July 27 with an affirmation of Russian-Ukrainian brotherhood in Kiev, regarded as the cradle of Russian Orthodoxy. Prince Vladimir adopted Orthodoxy from...

Only One Queen in Poland: Protest Madonna Written by TFP.org    Tuesday, August 4, 2009 When it was announced that American pop-singer Madonna would be performing in Warsaw’s Bemowo Airport on August 15, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the American TFP joined the firestorm of protest sweeping Poland. Madonna "Sticky & Sweet" tour is causing a stir because August 15 is not just any Catholic feast day or Polish national holiday. It is the day when hundreds of thousands of pilgrims arrive at the foot of Our Lady of Czestochowa shrine at Jasna Gora...

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE CONCERNING THE MOST HOLY SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST THUS FAR, I have tried, as perhaps you have observed, to furnish you with four kinds of spiritual weapons, and the methods by which they may be profitably employed; it remains to present to you the invaluable aids to be derived from the Holy Eucharist in subduing the enemies of perfection and salvation. As this sublime Sacrament towers above the others in dignity and efficacy, it is the most terrible of all weapons to the infernal powers. The methods previously treated have no force but through the merits of Jesus...

July 27 Spiritual Bouquet: If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. St. John 14:23 SAINT PANTALEON of NICOMEDIAPhysician and Martyr(†303) Saint Pantaleon was born in Nicomedia of a pagan father and a Christian mother, who died while her son was still a child. He was among the court physicians of the Emperor Galerius Maximianus. Deceived by hearing the false maxims of the world applauded, he was without religion when God decided to rescue his soul from its unhappy darkness....

I ran across this real cool video series on YouTube showing the return of the relics of the two great Saints, John Chrysostom and Gregory the Theologian back to Constantinople. There is also some good historical info in them as well, although it is admittedly in favor of the Orthodox position. I put all four parts in order so you don't have to go searching for each part. Each video is like 7 minutes so it is not too long. For some reason the videos are cut off on it. But you can hit the full screen button to view...

A Few Texts From Saint Cyril of Jerusalem on the Eucharist I ran across these texts by St Cyril of Jerusalem in his Catechetical Lectures regarding the Eucharist. Recently some "Reformed" Protestants have used his writings to try and support their heresy of Sola Scriptura. In reading the texts in full context, I found no evidence of this whatsoever. In doing this research I ran across these texts pertaining to the Eucharist. Let me ask this simple question. Without applying any sophistry to the texts, who does St. Cyril appear to be in line with concerning Eucharistic doctrine? The...

Mary Magdalen Mary Magdalen was so called either from Magdala near Tiberias, on the west shore of Galilee, or possibly from a Talmudic expression meaning "curling women's hair," which the Talmud explains as of an adulteress. In the New Testament she is mentioned among the women who accompanied Christ and ministered to Him (Luke 8:2-3), where it is also said that seven devils had been cast out of her (Mark 16:9). She is next named as standing at the foot of the cross (Mark 15:40; Matthew 27:56; John 19:25; Luke 23:49). She saw Christ laid in the tomb, and she...

MOSCOW, July 7 (RIA Novosti) - U.S. President Barack Obama met the head of the Russian Orthodox Church on Tuesday, the second day of his three-day visit to the Russian capital. "Dialogue between our countries' Christians is very important, as the two nations should be friends," Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia told Obama. "Both the American and Russian nations have the same Christian system of values. We are the most religious countries," he said. The Russian patriarch also wished Obama success in his post, saying that many people in Russia linked him with the development of Russian-U.S. relations....

Religious Jews have rioted in Jerusalem on the Jewish Sabbath for the second straight week. Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews took to the streets of Jerusalem, throwing stones and scuffling with police. The demonstrators were protesting the opening of a parking lot on the Sabbath to accommodate an influx of Israeli visitors from around the country to Jerusalem's Old City. Jewish religious law forbids driving on the Sabbath and the Orthodox accuse the secular government and public at large of desecrating the biblical holy day of rest. Some demonstrators chanted that "Sabbath desecrators will die." Riots first erupted last month when...

7 hours ago VATICAN CITY (AP) � Russia's president says Moscow plans to improve its ties with the Vatican. Tensions between the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches over property disputes and other issues have so far made it impossible for any pope to visit Moscow. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told Italian reporters in an interview ahead of the G-8 summit in Italy this week that relations between his country and the Vatican will "in all likelihood be developed further." He also said the possibility of diplomatic ties is under discussion. He declined to say if Pope Benedict XVI will...

Jakarta, Indonesia- Metropolitan Hilarion (Kapral) of Eastern America and New York, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) Archbishop of Australia and New Zealand arrived in Indonesia today and served a liturgy in Jakarta were he ordained 2 Indonesians deacons to the Priesthood. During the course of his visit to Indonesia His Eminence will ordain 4 priests and 1 deacon. In the ROCOR mission of Indonesia there are already over 2500 Indonesian Orthodox parishioners. The Dean of the Indonesian Orthodox mission Archimandrite Daniel Byantoro held a press-conference with www.pravoslavie.ru to describe the difficult situation in the rapidly...

Warrnambool, Australia – On the Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the 1st Eccumenical council, the Russian Orthodox community in the Australian city of Warrnambool celebrated their Parish feast day and a 10 year jubilee since the day the parish was converted from a historical Anglican Church to a thriving Russian Orthodox Parish. In mark of this event, Protopriest Michael Protopopov gives an interview to www.pravoslavie.ru to discuss the reasons why Catholics, Protestants and Anglicans are deserting their churches.

ANAXIOS! A brief outline of some of the grievances regarding Metropolitan PHILIP of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America: * Documents forged by +Philip have been presented as official to the faithful. By many verifiable accounts, this is not the first time this has happened. These forgeries have served one purpose only - to preserve the power of a man who has no qualms creating division and discord in order to achieve his own ends. * +Philip has demanded obedience from others; he has demanded those bishops he paid to be designated "auxiliary" to be obedient to a...

The patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Ethiopia says he will announce to the world Friday the unveiling of the Ark of the Covenant, perhaps the world's most prized archaeological and spiritual artifact, which he says has been hidden away in a church in his country for millennia, according to the Italian news agency Adnkronos. Abuna Pauolos, in Italy for a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI this week, told the news agency, "Soon the world will be able to admire the Ark of the Covenant described in the Bible as the container of the tablets of the law that God...

Speaking on Wednesday morning to the ACNA Assembly, His Beatitude, Jonah, Metropolitan of All America and Canada and leader of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), called for a "full... intercommunion" with the Anglican Church in North America. "What will it take," he asked, "for a true ecumenical reconciliation? That is what I am seeking by being with you today." This marks the potential resumption of an Orthodox/Anglican dialogue that began a hundred years ago between two missionary bishops, St. Tikhon of Moscow and Bishop Grafton of Fond du Lac, only to be broken off in the 1970s with the...

A period of twelve long years since 1983 was filled with thrills and challenges. Our spiritual journey, along with arduous research and painful struggles, was nonetheless edifying. The plight led us providentially to the Great Church of Jesus Christ. Our prayers and petition were heard. Our group leader received sacerdotal formation from His Grace Bishop Sotirios of Seoul and, in God’s time, Rev. Father Philemon was canonically ordained to the priesthood by His Eminence Metropolitan Dionysios of New Zealand at St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral on April 2, 1995. On the following Sunday during the Patriarchal Liturgy, Fr. Philemon received a...

It sounds like your bubbie's egg noodle casserole, but Koogle - a clever combination of Google and kugel - could play a large part in integrating Orthodox Jews into cyberspace. And it could provide a model of how religious groups from all backgrounds, and secular people looking for a cleaner version of the Internet, could one day view web sites without worrying about R-rated, or even PG-13 material. Koogle, (koogle.co.il) the brainchild of Israeli Yossi Altman, aims to give religious Jews a chance to surf the Internet. Altman estimates that about 10-to-15 percent of Israelis are strictly observant Jews who,...

MOSCOW, June 14 (RIA Novosti, Ivan Korzun) - Russia is celebrating the Feast of All Saints on June 14, with liturgies in Orthodox churches throughout the country commemorating all known and unknown saints. The feast, also called All Saints' Sunday, is marked on the first Sunday after Pentecost. It became prominent in the ninth century during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the Wise (886-911). His wife Theophano was known for her piety, giving alms to the poor and monasteries, caring for widows and orphans, and consoling the sorrowful. After her death Leo built a church, and forbidden from...

Fathers for Good, a website for men operated by the Knights of Columbus, is offering a host of resources to address the growing availability of and addiction to pornography. Click HERE to listen to a podcast of Deacon Ralph Poyo talk about his former addiction to pornography and how other men can avoid falling into the same trap. Click HERE for an article by Gerald Korson on computer porn and the ways it can destroy a marriage and a family. Korson's article also includes a link at the end that will take you to other resources, such as counseling and...

MOSCOW, June 7 (Itar-Tass) - On the fiftieth day after the Easter, known as Pascha in the Eastern Orthodox World, the Orthodox Christian community is marking the Day of the Holy Trinity -- the Pentecost. In Russia, Trinity Day is one of the major religious and popular festivals. Canons of the Orthodox Church suggest that the feast of the Pentecost is the last event in the annual liturgical circle that is linked to the Pascha. The Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Kirill visits the world-famous The Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra (Troitse-Sergieva Lavra) northeast off Moscow where he serves a...

The ancient mystery shrouding Lalibela, Ethiopia's revered medieval rock-hewn churches, could be lifted by a group of French researchers given the go-ahead for the first comprehensive study of this world heritage site legend says was "built by angels". The team will have full access to the network of 10 Orthodox chapels chiseled out of volcanic rock -- some standing 15 metres (42 feet) high -- in the mountainous heart of Ethiopia. Local lore holds they were built in less than 25 years by their namesake, the 13th-century King Lalibela, with the help of angels after God ordered him to erect...

Jewish Yad Avshalom revealed as a Christian shrine from Byzantine era By Amiram Barkat The historic Yad Avshalom monument in Jerusalem's Kidron Valley, revered for centuries as a Jewish shrine, was also a Christian holy place in the fourth century, new evidence has revealed. A fourth-century inscription on one of the walls near the monument, recently uncovered by chance, marks the site as the burial place of the Temple priest Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist who baptized Jesus. Scholars believe the monument was built in the first century, making it possible that figures holy to Christians could be...

ST GREGORY NAZIANZEN, B. C., DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH—328-389 A D. Feast: January 2 [May 9: Old Calender] From his own works, and other monuments of that age. See Gregory of Caesarea, who writ his life in 940; Hermant, Tillemont, t. ix., Ceillier, t. vii.; also the life of this saint, compiled from his works by Baronius, published by Alberici, in an appendix to the life and letters of that cardinal, in 1759, t. ii.] St Gregory who, from his profound skill in sacred learning, is surnamed the Theologian, was a native of Arianzum, an obscure village in the...

www.catholicnewsagency.com ST. ATHANASIUS, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH SATURDAY, MAY 02, 2009 Athanasius was born in 295 in Alexandria, Egypt, and served there most of his whole life. He was ordained bishop of Alexandria in 328.Three years earlier, he attended the Council of Nicea, where he defended the faith and the divinity of Jesus against Arianism, which was rampant at the time. He taught that Jesus was truly God and fully man, defining the Holy Spirit also as God. The Council was crucial to determining the orthodox teachings of the Church on the nature of Christ.He also fought for the...

I bow in reverence before the age old achievements of the Great Church of Constantinople, and before her present cross which is neither small nor easy, which according to the nature of things, is the cross of the entire Church - for, as the Apostle says, "When one member suffers, the whole body suffers." Moreover, I acknowledge the canonical rank and first place in honor of Constantinople among the local Orthodox Churches, which are equal in honor and rights".Archimandrite Justin PopovichAs news reports indicate, Mr. Barack Obama insulted the Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome, and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I by...

Two Internet radio stations are making Orthodox programming readily available The Rev. Tom Soroka, pastor of St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in McKees Rocks, reaches the Orthodox throughout the country and the world through an Internet radio station called Ancient Faith Radio. While most Americans slept, Orthodox Christians gathered outside their churches last night carrying icons and candles for a midnight procession in which they would restore light to the darkened interiors, celebrating Jesus' Resurrection from death. Easter -- Pascha in Orthodox parlance -- is the joyous highlight of their liturgical year. But most of their neighbors are oblivious to it...

GRAÄŒANICA -- Orthodox Serb Christians are celebrating Easter in the north of Kosovo and in their enclaves throughout the province. In the monastery of Gracanica, close to the enclave, the Holy Midnight Liturgy was served last night to celebrate the beginning of the most joyous Christian Holiday. Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) Bishop Artemije led the Liturgy, attended by several hundred locals and Serbs who arrived from various towns in central Serbia. In Kosovsko Pomoravlje, worshippers flocked to the SPC churches and temples to attend Easter celebrations. Some 100 Serbs, escorted by Kosovo police, KPS, visited the St. Sava temple in...