A Ray of Light is one of several works compiled by Archimandrite Panteleimon (Niznik), the founder and first abbot of Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, NY. Here, Fr. Panteleimon's focus is a perennial topic of fascination and concern for all Christians – the End Times. Also included are essays on the veneration of Holy Icons and the power of Holy Relics, and on the Church./>/>This classic text of "Old Jordanville" has been freshly typeset and lightly edited and includes a short biography of the author in order to preserve and spread Fr. Panteleimon's legacy "unto generation and generation."

In this concise volume, Bishop Irenei renews his exploration of the patristic genre of centuries - 100 short paragraphs that can be read individually but are connected by a common theme. Here, His Grace offers five centuries that impart, in a mode comprehensible to the contemporary reader, eternal truths expressed by the Holy Fathers on Love, on the Church, and more.

Over the last hundred years, the Eastern Orthodox Church has been rediscovering Her western heritage, spurred on by large migrations from traditionally Orthodox countries to regions divided from the Church since the Great Schism. One key to this ressourcement has been the compilation and addition into the church’s menologion (liturgical calendar) of western saints of the first millennium. In the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, this effort was spearheaded by a contemporary saint in his own right – St John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco. The land of Helvetia, modern-day Switzerland, can herself boast of a great legacy of zealous followers of Christ. At St John’s urging, ROCOR added ancient Helvetian saints like Columbanus, Gall, Fridolin, and Clotilde to its official calendar. Over time, the Church has added to this list with the aim of encouraging wider appreciation and veneration of local saints. Here, we present brief lives of these early saints as an aid for pilgrims, travelers, and all who wish to deepen their understanding of the Church as truly Universal.Also included are a liturgical Service to the Synaxis of the Saints of Switzerland and an akathist to these saints.

How is our Christian faith properly lived? Is Christianity a series of abstract teachings to which we, as individuals, give our mental or emotional assent? Or, as Russian Archbishop and New Martyr Ilarion (Troitsky) argues, is the true aim of Christian life the transformation of our whole being as members of the Body of Christ, His Church? This classic translation is refreshed for the first time with fresh typesetting and interior design, as well as questions for either group discussion or personal reflection.

This pocket-size hieratikon contains all the texts necessary for a deacon or priest in serving the daily hours of the Orthodox Church - Vespers, Compline, Midnight Office, Matins and the hours. Church Slavonic and English texts are provided in parallel, on facing pages. Also included are instructions and additional prayers for the All-Night Vigil and the services of Great Lent, the festal and Sunday prokeimena, and festal megolynaria. The cloth binding is sewn for durability and supplemented with a marking ribbon.Please click here to download the Menologion and Daily Dismissal sections of the service book.

Orthodox theology is intimately linked to spiritual experience:it has a very different meaning to the present usage of this word coming from academia. The scientific methods developed in the West since the seventeenth century can of of benefit in many regards, but without strong roots in the Orthodox tradition theology risks being "eaten up" by the human sciences.These roots are in the mystical tradition of the Church as passed down from the the beginning and expressed in the lives of saints, iconography etc. Thus this work has both a theoretical and a practical scope, of relevance to all Christians.

At a time when tensions between Russia and “the West '' are increasing, this book is very timely, even though, its contents were first broadcast over fifty years ago. It offers a history of Russian culture and its particular trends and tendencies, which are shown to be frequently contradictory and even mutually exclusive. Schmemann argues for the supremacy of culture over political life in determining questions such as the apparent lack of political freedoms, law and order and civil rights in a Russian context.

The Orthodox Church is alive and growing on the North American continent thanks in no small part to the prayers and labors of holy men who have served here, some who have been formally glorified as saints and others who may yet be. This book is much more than a simple historical account or retelling of their lives and particular service in America: It is a spiritual manual, which strives to inspire and encourage it’s readers in their own struggle for the attainment of the holiness that adorns the lives of those recounted here and to emulate their deeds. Chronologically the lives described herein span the years from 1854 to 2019 and focus on the time each man spent laboring in North America: primarily the United States, but also Canada and Mexico. None of them spent all their life on this continent but they left a legacy on these shores that endures to this day and will surely continue. The extensive collection of both black and white photographs and pen and ink drawings that intersperse the text, together with a final section of rich color photography at the end of the work, contribute greatly to bringing the reality of their life and times to us.

Death is a great sacrament. It is the birth of a person from this earthly, temporary life, into eternity.In this third volume of St Ignatius’s collected works, published here in English for the first time, the saint examines the mystical boundaries that govern the life of a Christian: the one, between life and death; and the other, between the visible, physical realm and the invisible to most, but no less real, spiritual realm. Included in this volume is St Ignatius’s “Homily on Death,” one of his most popular works in his native Russia and often published separately. The reader will also encounter St Ignatius’s teachings on the nature of the soul and the essence of the incorporeal beings, the latter theologoumena being a point of contention between the author and his contemporary, St Theophan the Recluse. The text is complemented by a comprehensive scripture index and a short biography of the author.

This comprehensive work represents a complete but accessible survey of everything related to the Orthodox Church's divine services and is helpfully illustrated throughout. The author begins with a discussion of the nature and origin of Divine worship. He describes the church building, the clergy who perform divine services and their vestments, and the cycles of public worship. The services of Great Vespers, Matins, and the Divine Liturgy are reviewed in detail, as are festal services, and different services of need: Baptism and Chrismation, Confession, Ordination, Matrimony, Unction, Prayer Services, Monastic Tonsure and Burial, and the Consecration of a Church. The reader will also find a rare discussion of the rite of the Coronation and Anointing of the Tsar.This manual was originally translated and printed before the Russian Revolution. It is suitable both as an introduction to Orthodox worship for the inquirer and as a convenient handbook for those already familiar with the intricacies of Orthodox services.

The Church is commonly spoken of as an institutional reality, but much less frequently recognized as a spiritual and heavenly reality called by God “to make disciples of all nations.” (Mt. 28:19) This modest work furthers the development of a structured and integrated Christian Orthodox political thought, whereby the Church is neither sidelined as having no relevance to this present life, nor dominated by temporal questions or popular movements at the expense of its eternal salvific mission. The author seeks to ground the mission of the Church in the present world both on an understanding of God as Trinity and in Her mission to baptize diverse cultures. To do this effectively the Church must recognize and adapt to local and contemporary political and social trends and patterns. It must exemplify the Gospel as a way of communal and social life, not allowing itself to be reduced to an impersonal ideology manifest within the sphere of either imagination, ideology, or a private individualistic existence. Drawing upon this philosophy he offers proposals for how the Church could view questions of both domestic politics and international relations with a view to bringing the world into the Kingdom of God. He also suggests specific steps that could be taken to heal and strengthen inter-Orthodox relations, addressing in particular the canonical challenges of the Orthodox diaspora and tensions between the Greek and Slavic components of the Church.Though these specific proposals will by no means enjoy universal acceptance, they will serve as a springboard for further dialogue as the Orthodox world seeks to apply these principles in all nations, no matter their current political circumstances. Extracts from The Bases of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church are also included as an appendix to aid in further reflection on the questions raised by this book.

The service of Compline is the last liturgical hour of the day and seeks God's forgiveness for our sins during the past day and blessing for the coming night. For most of the year, this service takes the form of Small Compline, an abbreviated and re-arranged form of the Great Compline served during Great Lent. Following the usage of Holy Trinity Monastery (Jordanville, NY), the order incorporates prayers before sleep from the Jordanville Prayer Book and a litany of saints chanted while venerating icons at the completion of the service. Suitable for use at home or in church.

This convenient pocket size book contains the necessary texts for the celebration of the liturgy of St John Chrysostom by the priest and deacon, interpolated with comprehensive rubrical directions. Texts sung by the choir are also shown. The parallel format gives the Church Slavonic texts on the left page and the English on the right. The book includes the proskomedia, daily and festal dismissals, thanksgiving prayers, petitions for the sick, for travellers, etc. Printed with red and black ink. Includes two marking ribbons.

The Orthodox Church understands the Holy Scriptures to be the fountainhead of Tradition. The stories read in the Bible are commonly explored and elaborated in greater depth in liturgical hymns, homilies, and patristic writings. Such is the case with the account found in St Luke’s gospel of a sinful woman who anoints Christ with precious oil shortly before his Passion and Crucifixion. The woman’s story is taken up in the liturgical tradition of the Orthodox Church in Holy Week, where she is held up as an example of repentance and unconstrained love. In this in-depth but readable study the biblical accounts are elaborated through both the liturgical and oratorical tradition of the Church, as found primarily in Greek and Syriac manuscripts, with particular attention given to the former texts, too often overshadowed by the latter. Previously inaccessible texts of late antiquity, such as homilies by Amphilochius of Iconium and Ephrem Graecus, are found here in English for the first time, together with fresh English renderings of other sermons. This sharply honed and well-constructed work will engage all who encounter the story of the sinful woman in the living tradition of worship in the Orthodox Church, as well as those who are introduced to her through Scripture, liturgical poetry, or scholarly consideration. The present work unveils the intricate nature of the tradition of the Church, which gives greater scope and application to the biblical record through its hymnography and oratory.

The Holy Mountain of Athos is a self governing monastic republic on a peninsula in Northern Greece. Standing on the shores of the Aegean Sea is one of the twenty ruling monasteries that comprise the republic, that of St Panteleimon, known in Greek as the Rossikon. It's building, fully restored in recent years, can accommodate up to 5,000 men, reflecting the scale of the settlement at its apogee in the nineteenth century and prior to the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 it has experienced a strong revival and is now one of the most numerous of the twenty. But the vast buildings that can be seen today are really only a reflection of the history of the past two centuries. Much less well known is the fact that the history of a Russian presence on Athos goes back more than one thousand years. This is the first comprehensive account of this in the English language. The author has been able to draw from previously inaccessible archival materials in gathering the wealth of information he shares in this work. The history of the community is not described in geographical isolation but shown as interacting with the much wider worlds of the Byzantine and Ottoman empires and the modern nation state of Greece, together with that of the Russian homeland whose political character is constantly evolving. There are shown to be three distinct phases in this history: From the tenth to the twelfth centuries when Russian Athonites inhabited the ancient Russian Lavra of the Mother of God, also known as Xylourgou. Then the six hundred years from the mid-twelth to the mid-eighteenth century when the ancient Monastery of St Panteleimon was the Russian house on Athos, more commonly referred to as Nagorny or Stary Rusik. Finally the most recent 250 years, that are naturally covered in greater depth thanks to the wider availability of sources.Amongst the themes explored in the book are ethnic relations, the Pan-Orthodox ideal, the role of money and political pressure, sanctity and heroism in adversity, and the importance of historical memory and precedent. The author seeks to arbitrate fairly between often strongly opposing ethnic viewpoints. It examines in detail the fluctuating fortunes of the monastic community of St Panteleimon during the past 250 years when its ethnic identity was frequently questioned. It is a history that has been blighted by Greek-Russian quarrels, mass deportation of dissenting brethren, troubles in the Caucasus, and even tangential implication in the present-day dispute between the Ecumenical and Moscow Patriarchates over Ukraine.This text will be invaluable to both academic historians and the general educated reader who does not possess specialist knowledge. It is complimented by a timeline, glossary, comprehensive bibliography, index, full colour illustrations and photographs.

The history of the Russian Orthodox Church in Australia is diligently chronicled within the wider context of the place of Russians in the dominantly anglophone society of what was at first a British colony and then an independent state. It begins with the first contact of Russian naval ships with the Australian continent in the early nineteenth century and progresses through to the establishment of the first parish of Orthodox believers in Melbourne in the 1890s and ultimately the creation of a diocese. The catalyst for this was the arrival of thousands of Russians fleeing their homeland via Siberia after the Bolshevik revolution of 1917. For these disposed refugees Australia was a haven of safety and the Russian Orthodox Church a symbol of the Motherland they had lost. They were later joined by successive waves of fellow Russian after World War II and then the fall of communism in 1991. Together they created a unified organism, retained a sense of heritage and purpose and taking their rightful place in Australia's multi-cultural society. In writing this work the author has drawn on extensive archival sources spread over several continents together with his own life experience, having arrived as a small boy in Australia over six decades ago. First published in 2006 this new edition includes an added chapter recounting the ongoing story from the beginning of the twenty-first century through 2020.