2024 has been proclaimed as the Romanian Orthodox Church’s homage year for the pastoral care of the sick and the commemoration of all the silverless healing saints. To contemporary eyes, this might seem rather strange, since the divorce between science and theology, in this case medical science, is paradigmatic, and the whole question of organized …
Continue reading Serving Church: a brief foray into the history and culture of caring for neighbor
John was a contemporary of influential people. A glorious constellation of geniuses was the light during those years that St. John preached in Constantinople. In the West were Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine. In the east were three Cappadocian Saints: Basil, Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa, educated, magnetic and fascinating. They were men that St. …
Continue reading Who was Saint John Chrysostom?
Dormition Fast begins each year on August 1st and lasts two weeks (1-15 August). It is also known as Holy Great Lent or Saintmary’s Fast. It prepares Christians for two major celebrations in August: Transfiguration (6 August) and Assumption (15 August). The origin of this fast was fixed in the fifth century, when developed cult …
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One question that was constantly put to Fr. Arsenius was whether, given the rich experience of his life, with its heavy years of imprisonment and periods of retreat in the wilderness, a miracle had been worked on him. Father deftly avoided a direct answer, judging the question to be more of curiosity than of use. …
Continue reading Father Arsenie Papacioc, kindness and compassion personified
