-Dimitry Urushev Bishop Paul of Kolomna is one of the most significant figures in Russian spiritual history of the 17th century. Unfortunately, he has not been fortunate in attracting scholarly attention. His name has been overshadowed by more famous contemporaries—Tsar…
-Bishop Mikhail (Semyonov) There is a holy silence. But there is an even holier Christian blessed silence. The ability to guard one’s lips from sin, to respect the gift of speech. The word is a great gift from heaven. “What…
Nothing in the human body has sparked such heated debates, divisions, and even bloodshed as the beard. Take, for example, the hand. No one demanded that hands be cut off every infant, no one wrote multi-volume treatises defending hands, no…
By Bishop Innokenty (Usov) What if all people knew about every thought, word, and deed you have ever conceived or performed? What shame, fear, and suffering you would have to endure! The mere thought of this is unsettling and dreadful.…
By Gleb Chistyakov “Кто курит табак, тот хуже собак” “Whoever smokes tobacco, is worse than dogs” The fight against tobacco smoking and its devastating health consequences, which has unfolded in recent decades in the USA, Europe, and more recently in…
By the Example of the Holy One Who Called You, Be Holy Yourselves (1 Peter 1:15). Are the lessons of this day meant for us? Be holy. Be transformed into the “image of Christ.” Change your sinful life to one…
As is known, Old Believers refer to the “nominal” finger arrangement used by Nikonite priests during blessings as “Malaksa.” This practice is named after Nikola Malaksa, a native of the city of Nafplion on the Peloponnese peninsula. Nikola was born…
This year, according to the civil calendar, marks 1,000 years since the martyric death of the holy passion-bearers Princes Boris and Gleb. A thousand years is an immense span of time that erases both the bad and the good from…
“May the Lord bring together those who are divided, so that in love for one another we may confess and glorify with one mouth and one heart the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Consubstantial and Indivisible Trinity.”…
The question of faith—whom to believe in, how to pray correctly, and how to glorify God—was one of the central issues following the schism in the Russian Church in the 17th century. While the ritual differences between Old Believers and…