Orthodox Christianity

PRAVOSLAVIE.RU Saint-Petersburg, May 22, 2006

The copy of the miracle working icon of Theotokos of Valaam returned to its home monastery at the Ladozhskoye lake. According to the press secretary of the Valaam monastery Mikhail Shishkov, the revered icon was met at the main cathedral on the island, where it would be kept from now on.

Oil-painted copy of the miracle working Valaam icon was delivered to the space station with the blessing of the great Northern monastery in September 2005. It was carried by a freight spaceship Progress M54, and, according to the astronauts, has purified the space station. Accompanying Sergey Krikalev and John Phillips it flew around the Earth more than a thousand times.

The original version of the Theotokos of Valaam was created at the end of the nineteenth century by the monk of the Valaam monastery Alipy (Konstantinov). The Mother of God is pictured full height, walking on clouds with Her Son in Her arms. The space station’s copy was painted by the brothers of the Valaam monastery. Visitors from the orbital space center arrived at the monastery last summer, and Bishop Pankraty (Zherdev) of Troitsk offered them the shrine to forward to the space station.

Interfax May 3, 2006

VIENNA. The Russian Orthodox Church believes that Europe’s abandonment of its Christian roots could ultimately lead European society to shocks comparable to those that Russia experienced under the Bolsheviks, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad has said.

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Interfax (on Orthodox News) April 29, 2006

Solzhenitsyn shares the Church’s opinion: human rights concept should be built on Russia’s traditional values

Moscow, April 28, Interfax – Renowned writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn shares the Russian Orthodox Church’s view of the human rights concept.

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The Miracle of the Holy Fire in Jerusalem

Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem where the miracle of the Holy Fire takes place.

Or, in Dutch: Christus is opgestaan! Hij is waarlijk opgestaan!

It’s a bit early (six more hours to go here on the East Coast) but, in anticipation…

The Resurrection of the Lord at the Church of Christ of Chora, Constantinople (14 c).

Maria C. Khoury

“Come ye and receive light from the unwaning Light, and glorify Christ, Who a rose from the dead.”

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Bishop Robert F. Waggener will trade his bishop’s mitre for a priest’s biretta in the Western Rite.

Bishop Waggener, who until recently served as bishop of the Diocese of the Holy Cross, has become the first Continuing Anglican bishop to convert to the Antiochian Orthodox Church’s Western Rite Vicariate.

Fr. Michael Keiser will receive Bp. Waggener and his parishioners at Christ Church of Lynchburg, VA, as catechumens on March 5. Deo volente, Bp. Robert Waggener will then be ordained to the priesthood within the Orthodox Church.

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