Category: Saints

A Life of St. Herman from 1919

  Vera Vladimirovna Johnston was born in the Russian Empire, married an Englishman, and eventually moved to New York. Her own story is extremely fascinating, and we will discuss it in detail in the future. Today, however, I am reprinting an article she wrote in 1919, entitled, "Herman -- Russian...

100 Years Ago Today: January 8, 1910

If you were living in New York City exactly one hundred years ago, you could have read the following article in the Tribune, one of New York's many newspapers: GREEK CHRISTMAS Prayers Offered for Czar at Cathedral of St. Nicholas. Christmas was celebrated in New York yesterday by ten thousand...

Fr. Jacob Korchinsky: Missionary and Martyr

Recently, on our Facebook page, someone left a comment requesting information on Fr. Jacob Korchinsky, who is apparently being considered for canonization. I was vaguely familiar with Korchinsky; I'd read his name before, but knew next to nothing about him. Obviously, I wanted to learn more. Over the past couple...

The Trial of St. Raphael, Part 1

It's a funny thing -- slander, that is. Once it's out there, you can't take it back. Good men -- saints -- have been accused of the most heinous crimes imaginable, and been completely innocent. At the same time, bad men have been accused of the same crimes, and been...

St. Alexander Hotovitzky on the New Year

In the January 1902 supplement to the Vestnik (of which he was editor), St. Alexander Hotovitzky wrote a reflection on New Year's Day. It is reprinted in full below. Again I stand on the threshold of a New Year. Again I stand on the crest of a mountain, where I...

Language in American Orthodoxy, 1916 (reposted from 8/21/09)

To our New Calendar readers: Christ is born! The following article was originally published on August 21, 2009. If you're interested, you might check out the comments to that original posting. We'll be back with brand-new material on Monday, December 28. As you might expect, most American Orthodox parishes in...

St. Raphael’s Consecration (reposted from 7/10/09)

  In recent weeks, traffic to our website has increased exponentially. I'm continually amazed by the numbers of people interested in American Orthodox history. Normally, we publish new material here virtually every weekday. However, today and tomorrow are busy days -- Christmas Eve and Christmas Day -- for those of us...

Reconstructing the life of St. Andrew

This has nothing to do with American Orthodox history, but given what I know of our readership here, I think many of you will greatly enjoy this article. It's an interview with Greek author George Alexandrou, published in the journal Road to Emmaus. Alexandrou wrote a thousand-page book on St....

1905: The busiest year in American Orthodox history

2009 has been an eventful year for American Orthodoxy -- perhaps the most eventful in our history. But it's got competition. The year 1905 may well have been even crazier. Here is a list of the major happenings of 1905, in no particular order: The headquarters of the Russian Mission...

The Feast Day of St. Raphael

Tomorrow, the first Saturday in November, is one of St. Raphael's two feast days. The other, February 27, is the OCA's feast day for him, and takes place on the day of his death. This November feast is celebrated in the Antiochian Archdiocese, and takes place on roughly the day...