Free Republic

The Bulgarian government has allocated more than $1.5 million to repair, restore, and complete churches and monasteries throughout the country. Out of the $1,546,130 (2.5 million Bulgarian lev), funds were earmarked for restoration work at the Bachkovo and Troyan Monasteries and for the renovation of St. John the Baptist Monastery in the village of Zhablyano, St. Petka Church in Ruse, and the Church of the Holy Spirit in the village of Benkovski, reports Dobrotoliubie. Prime Minister Boyko Borisov earlier announced in June during a visit to Rila Monastery that the government would allocate funds to the Bachkovo and Troyan Monasteries....

After being locked out of Church services during the Paschal season, the Orthodox faithful of Cyprus will not be able to celebrate the Great Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ in church either, as new, stricter anti-COVID measures were adopted at a recent extraordinary session of the Council of Ministers under the chairmanship of President Nikos Anastasiadis, reports Romfea. In particular, among other things, the Council decided that religious services will be held without the presence of the faithful. The new measures will go into effect tomorrow and continue until December 31, meaning the faithful will not...

The services in the temples of the Coptic Church in Cairo and Alexandria will be held without the presence of believers, until at least January 6, when Egypt celebrates Christmas (according to the old calendar). According to the same decision of the Coptic Church, all its religious seminars and educational programs are suspended for the same period. This decision was made after the detection of cases of coronavirus between the clergy and the faithful. However, in the Coptic churches it will be possible to officiate one service per week with the presence of only one priest and five deacons. The...

Minya (Agenzia Fides) - The village of al Barsha, in the Egyptian governorate of Minya, was again, on Thursday 26 November, the scene of sectarian attacks perpetrated against members of the local Coptic Orthodox community. Groups close to Islamist groups, attacked the church and some Coptic houses and shops with stones and molotov cocktails. Some of the shops attacked were also ransacked. An elderly Coptic woman was hospitalized for burns suffered in the fire in her home. The attacks allegedly began after a young Coptic posted an article on his Facebook account considered offensive to Islam and the Prophet Mohammad....

Readers of this blog will recall that I have written frequently on the eventful life of Saint Ambrose, bishop of Milan and Doctor of the Church, including his acclamation as bishop even before he was baptized, his discovery of the remains of Saints Protase and Gervase, his conflicts with the Empress Justina, and his confrontation with Theodosius the Great. On this feast day of Ambrose, let us examine some of the strange and portentous events which attended his death in AD 397, as attested by his secretary, Paulinus, who was witness to these things and wrote at the behest of...

Why do Orthodox memorial litanies melodically reiterate “memory eternal” with such feeling and such energy? And why did Orthodoxy’s greatest novelist end his last great work so triumphantly with these same words? By going very deeply into a single passage in Dostoevsky’s masterpiece, “The Brothers Karamazov,” Donald Sheehan leads us not only into the the center of the novel, but into the heart of the Orthodox faith as well. Rarely does an essay combine theological reflection, literary interpretation, and personal narrative so powerfully and so seamlessly. And rarely does an essay move the reader so profoundly while providing such original...

On December 2, Christians commemorate Saint Bibiana, a Roman martyr of the 4th century AD. Unfortunately, the facts about Bibiana's martyrdom are few as the surviving account of her passion is considered unreliable, recorded as it was centuries after her death. We know for sure that Bibiana was an early martyr as a shrine was built for her in Rome which exists to this day. Sadly, the present-day Church of St. Bibiana sits adjacent to the Termini train station in a shabby section of Rome, complete with graffiti, even on the exterior walls of the Church itself. We know that...

Minya (Agenzia Fides) – In order to combat discrimination and sectarianism that tears apart the Egyptian social fabric, it is advisable to remove information about one's own religious affiliation from identity documents. This is the proposal relaunched by a group of Christians and Muslims gathered in the Egyptian city of Minya with the intention of formulating useful proposals to support peaceful civil coexistence and defuse fanaticism and extremism fueled by propaganda that exploit religious contents and languages. The meeting was also attended by some Coptic priests of Minya, together with representatives of the local Islamic communities. In Egypt, the controversy...

In customary greeting to Patriarch Bartholomew for feast of St. Andrew, pope says his hope is in common faith in Jesus, sent to gather all into one body.As is tradition, Pope Francis sent a letter on this November 30 feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, to Patriarch Bartholomew, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. As the first apostle to be called by Christ, and the brother of St. Peter, Andrew is the patron saint of the Eastern Orthodox Church. There is a customary exchange of greetings between the pope and patriarch, with the Bishop of Rome sending greetings on November 30,...

President Klaus Iohannis promulgated the law by which the city of Dragomireşti in Maramureş County was declared a “martyr city” of the anti-communist struggle, the presidency announced on Nov. 13. The Senate adopted the bill, as the first forum notified, on April 23, the Chamber of Deputies voted decisively on October 20. “As a sign of homage to the members of the anti-communist resistance group in Ţibleş Mountains and as a relief for the descendants of those who fought against the atheist communist regime, the city of Dragomireşti, Maramureş County, is declared a Martyr City of the anti-communist struggle.” The...

Another large-scale mosaic of a seraphim has been uncovered on the ceiling of Agia Sophia in Istanbul. The 6-winged angel of God was revealed when scaffolding set up 7 years ago to assist in restoration was finally dismantled, reports the Orthodoxia News Agency. Another of the four mosaics was uncovered in 2009. It had been hidden under plaster and metal for 160 years. The last person to see the mosaic was Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid and Swiss architects Guiseppe and Gaspare Fossati, who directed renovations at Agia Sophia from 1847 to 1849.

The Russian Orthodox Church has again raised its voice against the inclusion of abortion in the services that are covered by the taxpayer-funded state insurance program. In particular, Maria Studenikina, the head of the Synodal Charity and Social Service Department’s pro-life division and director of the Orthodox “Mercy” service’s “Home for Mothers,” spoke in favor of the proposal put forth by Oleg Apolikhin, the Russian Ministry of Health’s chief reproductologist, to remove abortions from the health insurance system. At present, the state guarantees that it will cover abortions costs using taxpayer money. “We support Oleg’s desire to jump-start these urgent...

Chapter 1. The Salutation. Praise of the Corinthians Before the Breaking Forth of Schism Among Them.The church of God which sojourns at Rome, to the church of God sojourning at Corinth, to them that are called and sanctified by the will of God, through our Lord Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, from Almighty God through Jesus Christ, be multiplied.Owing, dear brethren, to the sudden and successive calamitous events which have happened to ourselves, we feel that we have been somewhat tardy in turning our attention to the points respecting which you consulted us; and especially to that shameful...

Dear Brothers and Sisters, In these past months we have meditated on the figures of the individual Apostles and on the first witnesses of the Christian faith who are mentioned in the New Testament writings. Let us now devote our attention to the Apostolic Fathers, that is, to the first and second generations in the Church subsequent to the Apostles. And thus, we can see where the Church's journey begins in history. St Clement, Bishop of Rome in the last years of the first century, was the third Successor of Peter, after Linus and Anacletus. The most important testimony concerning...

A Statement from George Alexander, Secretary of Orthodoxy Cognate PAGE (Pan-Orthodox Christain Society) on the demise of His Holiness Irinej, the Patriarch of Serbia. Global: “The heavenly abode of His Holiness Irinej, the Patriarch of Serbia is an enormous loss to the Orthodox Christian world” stated George Alexander, Secretary of Orthodoxy Cognate PAGE, Pan-Orthodox Christian Society. The late Patriarch was a soft-spoken and gentle human being. He provided adequate support to the Serbs in the Diaspora apart from catering to issues in the country. He also fostered a robust relationship between the Church and the State. Patriarch Irinej was gravely...

Most of my early Church memories center around Sunday School (I think that we did not “stay for preaching” very often). The small Baptist church that we attended was about a mile from our house and was conveniently connected by a railroad track, generally inactive on Sundays. My older brother and I often walked along the track on Sunday mornings when the weather was pleasant. The earliest Bible verses I can recall were learned in those classrooms. One of those was Psalm 122:1: “I was glad when they said unto me, ‘Let us go into the House of the Lord.’”...

Moscow, November 16, Interfax - Metropolitan Hilarion, the head of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations, said he regrets that U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has views that contradict the teaching of the Catholic Church, to which he belongs. "It is very important that his civil position should be in line with the position of the religion to which he belongs. We know the teaching of the Catholic Church on the value of human life, on abortion, on sex change operations. Mr Biden has repeatedly stated views that contradict this teaching," the metropolitan said on the program Church...

Hurricane Iota becomes Cat 5 as it approaches Central America. It is the latest Cat 5 on record in terms of latest in season. It is going to impact almost the same area as Hurricane Eta and only a few weeks after Hurricane Eta. Please pray for the poor people of Central America.

The Moscow Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church has 20 specially trained priests who are available around the clock to go visit coronavirus patients in the hospital. This special ministry was recently discussed at the 14th Assembly of the Russian World, which generally discussed online religious social projects in the context of the coronavirus pandemic and self-isolation, reports the Russian Church’s Department for Church Charity and Social Work. The usual style of hospital chaplaincy, which the Church has been developing for years, was swept away all in one week back in March, explained Natalia Shakuro, the coordinator of the...

The Church of St. John the Evangelist in the village of Sidorovichi, the Ivankov district of the Kiev region.The village of Sidorovichi is situated close to the Exclusion Zone, an area with a 19-mile radius surrounding the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, where the radioactive contamination from nuclear fallout is highest and inhabitation is illegal due to the ecological catastrophe resulting from the disaster of April 26, 1986. Even the large part of the population in the villages surrounding the disaster zone has moved elsewhere. Sidorovichi, once a prosperous village of the Ivankov district in the Kiev region with a flourishing...