primary sources Archives - Orthodox History

Meletios Metaxakis’s Support for St Tikhon

The 1923 Pan-Orthodox Congress is most (in)famous for proposing the Revised Julian ("New") Calendar, which was subsequently adopted by many (but far from all) of the world's Orthodox Churches. The Congress occurred at one of the most tumultuous moments in church history (you can read all about the crazy year...

35th Anniversary of Bob Marley’s Death

In honor of the 35th anniversary of the passing of Bob Marley, who finished his life as a member of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (his baptism was just six months before his death), we're reposting this piece we posted in 2010 (with a few additions) featuring the program from...

The Battle of Pacific Street, Part 4: Did St. Raphael Try to Shoot a Policeman?

In my last article, I wrote about the "Battle of Pacific Street" -- the gunfight between Syrian Orthodox and Maronites in Brooklyn on the night of September 18, 1905. As I said before, St. Raphael Hawaweeny fled the scene and was chased (and then arrested) by a policeman, Officer Mallon....

The Battle of Pacific Street, Part 3: Gunshots

As we've been discussing in detail, in September 1905, New York's Syrian community was on the brink of war. On one side were the Orthodox, who rallied around their bishop, St. Raphael Hawaweeny. The saint himself opposed violence -- both violent acts and violent words -- but his attempts to...

The Battle of Pacific Street, Part 2: Eve of the Battle

In our last article, we left the two New York Syrian camps -- Orthodox and Maronite -- on the brink of war. Each side's partisan newspaper attacked the other, and the Maronites took particular aim at St. Raphael, the Orthodox bishop of Brooklyn, accusing him of all sorts of outlandish...

The Battle of Pacific Street, Part 1: Trouble in Syrian New York

Editor's note: This is a slightly revised version of an article that I originally published back in 2010. It's also the first of a series of articles on the "Battle of Pacific Street," and its aftermath. And just in case you're reading this and don't know who St. Raphael Hawaweeny...

Group photo from the 1910 Convention of the Russian Orthodox Catholic Mutual Aid Society

I recently received the above photo in an email from Deacon Steven Kroll, who offered the following details: Over the past several months I have been traveling up to Hartshorn, OK to serve alongside the priest who is caring for the remainder of the the faithful at Sts. Cyril &...

Amazing photo collage of Antiochian priests, circa 1920

First of all, I'm really sorry for my extended absence from this website. Beginning in December, my life went pretty crazy -- first the end of law school, then studying for the bar exam, and then moving and starting my legal career. Unfortunately, I've had no time at all for...

The Righteous Shall Be in Everlasting Remembrance: Further Reflections on Colonel Philip Ludwell III

Introduction March 14/27 this year will mark the 266th anniversary of the falling asleep in the Lord of Colonel Philip Ludwell III of Williamsburg, Virginia. As many readers of this web site will know he is the first documented convert to Orthodoxy in the Americas, following his reception into the...

St. Raphael of Brooklyn on the Episcopalians

Today being the ninety-eighth anniversary of the repose of St. Raphael of Brooklyn (+1915), here is a pastoral letter he sent out in 1912 regarding relations with the Episcopal Church, mostly likely written on his behalf by Fr. Ingram Nathaniel Irvine. Thanks to Fr. Joseph Huneycutt of Houston for posting...

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