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Source: Pravoslavie.ru The Muslim community in a Bulgarian village have raised funds and contributed their labour to restore a century-old Orthodox Christian church. For the first time in decades, the bell of the small church in the village of Kozlets, in the southern Bulgarian province of Haskovo which borders Greece and Turkey, will peal again. The restoration of the bell tower cost 2000 leva (about 1000 euro). “It was possible that it would fall and bring down the roof with it. This very much worried the Christians in the village. So we decided to raise money,” village mayor Kadir Beynur…

Source: Christian Today Mark Woods  | CHRISTIAN TODAY CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Anglicans seeking a faculty from their diocese to replace the pews or move the font sometimes groan at the levels of bureaucracy they have to battle through to get anything done. Multiply this a thousand-fold to get some idea of how Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre functions and what an extraordinary agreement has just been reached. Work is to start on repairing the shrine at the heart of the complex, called the Aedicule, in which is supposedly located the tomb of Jesus. The renovation will cost $3.4 million and will see the…

Source: Greek Quest Services by Christie Nicolles I would posit, those who dive in intensive study of this Master, Saint Paisios of Mount Athos awakens to a phantasmagorical fact: this saint has rocked their world! Meeting this legend, via his dozen books, has been endearing and amusing – his humorous antics made for endless laughs. Pilgrims from the ends of the earth came to see this poor hermit and he’d often say, “People come looking to find refreshment in a big watermelon, but instead find a big gourd.” But his ascetic crucifixion of self-made for deep reflection and an inner shame…

Source: The Press Project Pope Francis will visit Lesvos, the Greek island which has been in the spotlight because of the refugee crisis on April 15. The Church of Greece on Tuesday confirmed that it had accepted the Pontiff΄s proposal to visit and had also extended an invitation to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the Orthodox Church, to also pay a visit to the island at the same time. The point of the meeting at Lesvos is to draw international attention on the plight of refugees. In recent weeks, the Pope has repeatedly tried to raise awareness regarding…

Source: The Wall Street Journal By JAMES MARTIN When was the last time you felt stressed out by Easter? So much Easter shopping to do, so many Easter cards to write, so many Easter gatherings to attend. Not to mention the endless stream of Easter commercials on television and online, the nearly unavoidable Easter-themed movies and all those tacky Easter sweaters that you’re forced to wear every spring. And don’t forget the travails of setting up the annual Easter tree and stringing Easter lights on your house. Every year you lament how overly commercialized Easter has become. Can the holiday get…

Source: Amen.gr (Vatican Radio)  The Orthodox Metropolitan of Belgium, Athenagoras (Ecumenical Patriarchate) has called for all religious leaders of Belgium to unite their voices and forces against terrorism. Commenting on the attacks of Tuesday morning in Brussels, Athenagoras, President of the Orthodox Episcopal Assembly of Belgium, appealed to every person of good will around the world, Christians and non, to become a shield against terrorism as well as messengers of peace. “Terrorists today have not struck Brussels. Terrorists today struck throughout Europe. Terrorists today struck once again the whole world” he underlined in his comment. “We call upon the whole…

Source: Journey to Orthodoxy Originally posted on May 26, 2010 I would like to share with you a brief letter that was published some time ago in an Italian Orthodox parish newsletter. Its author, Archpriest Gregorio Cognetti, is the Dean of the Italian parishes under the Moscow Patriarchate. This letter was generally liked by the Italian Orthodox converts, and also received a high degree of appreciation among some cradle-born Orthodox (it was, for instance, translated into Romanian); I hope it may be prove an interesting reading and a source of inspiration for all of you. Chapel Hill (U.S.), March 1982…

Source: OrthodoxOutpost.com More good, more often. Orthodox Christian writers are often called upon to author articles that focus on positive aspects of life in the Church.  Mission trips, fasting recipes, and ethnic customs are all topics that make for a friendly encounter with Orthodox Christianity. But what if the calling to do more good, more often was much more difficult? What if doing more good, more often meant being unpopular? What if doing more good, more often meant being cast out by those around us? The movie Spotlight recently won the Oscar for Best Picture. It tells the story of…

Source: Christianity Daily The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association is hosting an international summit on religious persecution in Moscow in collaboration with the Russian Orthodox Church. The summit, called ‘The World Summit in Defense of Persecuted Christians,’ will be taking place from October 28-30, 2016. Franklin Graham announced on his Facebook page on Wednesday morning that ‘The World Summit in Defense of Persecuted Christians’ is called in view of rapidly increasing persecution of Christians around the world in recent years, as also documented by last year’s study on persecution by Open Doors, which found that 2015 was the worst year of Christian persecution.…

Source: Balkan Insight Bulgaria’s staunchly pro-Russian Patriarch has received an award in Moscow along with the Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic and the head of the Russian Duma Sergey Naryshkin. by Mariya Cheresheva  |  BIRN  |  Bulgaria The head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Neophyte, received the 2015 annual award of the International Foundation for the Unity of the Orthodox Peoples in Moscow on Wednesday. The Patriarch was awarded for “his contribution to the unity of Orthodox peoples and the promotion of Christian moral values in society”, along with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic and the president of the Russian Duma, Sergey…

Source: Pravoslavie.ru Vladimir Grigorenko was the iconographer of St. Seraphim’s Orthodox cathedral in Dallas and a close friend of Archbishop Dmitri’s. He was present both at his funeral and the five days until his burial, and at his exhumation and reinterment on Friday. * * * Yesterday we put Archbishop Dmitri in his final resting place in St. Seraphim Cathedral in Dallas. I was blessed to be a part of a team, which uncovered Vladika’s earthly remains and transferred them into new coffin to be buried in the crypt of the Resurrection Chapel and probably should offer some comments about…

Source: Orthodox Academy of Crete OCL: The Council meets in God’s Space, Place and Time.  The Holy Spirit is present everywhere and fills all Creation.  What an awesome experience for the hierarchs who will assemble in this holy place.  Our prayers are that they will work in synergy with the Holy Spirit.  Together, we shall overcome! CLICK HERE to visit the website of the Orthodox Academy of Crete and learn more about this Orthodox Center.