Tag: Russia


Heresy on the Holy Mountain


In 1907, the Russian Schemamonk Ilarion Domrachev wrote a book about the Jesus Prayer, which was published by the Convent of Saints Martha and Mary, whose abbess was the Grand Duchess and future New Martyr Elizabeth. In the book, Ilarion stated that “the Name of God is God Himself.” The...

St John of Kronstadt’s Surprising Respect for Anglicanism


W.J. Birkbeck was a living bridge between Orthodoxy and Anglicanism at the turn of the last century. An Englishman, he fell in love with Russia and spent huge amounts of time there, developing contacts with pretty much every major figure in the Russian Orthodox Church. He visited monasteries and village...

Patriarch Nikon’s Reforms and the Spoon Controversy


On June 8, the OCA website published "A Letter of a Parish Priest to His Flock." This letter has been shared widely on social media, by people of many different Orthodox jurisdictions. It was written by an unnamed OCA priest in the Diocese of the South and was made public...

1970 Letter from Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras on Autocephaly


Editor's note: In 1970, the Patriarchate of Moscow issued a Tomos of Autocephaly to its former archdiocese in North America, which was commonly known as the "Russian Metropolia" and is now the "Orthodox Church in America." Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras protested against this act in multiple letters to the leaders of the...

W.J. Birkbeck on St. John of Kronstadt


W.J. Birkbeck was a living bridge between Orthodoxy and Anglicanism at the turn of the last century. An Englishman, he fell in love with Russia and spent huge amounts of time there, developing contacts with pretty much every major figure in the Russian Orthodox Church. He visited monasteries and village...

Churches on wheels: then and now


On April 27, MSNBC published photos of a medical train in Russia that includes a full-blown Orthodox chapel (thanks to the excellent Byzantine, TX blog for the link). The train/clinic, named after the great surgeon-bishop St. Luke of Simferopol, travels to the far reaches of Siberia and has "a carriage...