Articles Section
This section of our website has articles about Orthodoxy and our church. These articles are also currently subdivided into three categories:
- Orthodox Church, a collection of articles about the Orthodox Church. We hope the articles in this section will be helpful to both inquires of Orthodoxy, and to those who are members of the Church.
- Worship, a collection of articles about services, prayers, and worship of the Orthodox Church.
- Saints and Icons, a collection of articles about saints, their relics, or their icons. We hope to include articles, of special interest to our parish, on the saints who are depicted on our icons, or whose holy relics rest here. Articles on our feast day icons will be included here also.
Also see our Salvation History Section and our list of Videos.
The Home: A Micro Church
- Details
- Parent Category: Articles Section
- Category: Orthodox Church
- Written by HOLY SYNOD OCA
- Hits: 2850
The Home: A Micro Church
The reality of the Church in the New World is that parishes, and dioceses are not the compact units of Old World. Distance is a great problem. Our faithful work far from their homes and live far from their local church. Time is taken up with travel and preparations for it. Once the faithful are at home it is not easy to call them out again for other programs, no matter how spiritually beneficial. The home is however still the "micro/mini church" and we should focus in on that.
Thus, in making available the printed word, radio broadcasts, [web sites, podcasts,] television, and especially home videos, we are extending the Word of God into the Christian household. The media should also help to sanctify the home, drawing families together to see and hear the Good News. Micro and macro Churches thus strengthen each other.
Pastoral Letter - OCA, Autocephy
- Details
- Parent Category: Articles Section
- Category: Orthodox Church
- Written by HOLY SYNOD OCA
- Hits: 2867
A Pastoral Letter to the Clergy, Monastics and Faithful of the Orthodox Church In America on Autocephaly
The Holy Synod of Bishops issues Statement on the Orthodox Church in America's Autocephaly. 2010 marks the 40th anniversary of the granting of autocephaly to the Orthodox Church in America by the Russian Orthodox Church.Hymn to the Lesser Good
- Details
- Parent Category: Articles Section
- Category: Orthodox Church
- Written by Archbishop John (Shahovskoy)
- Hits: 2909
A Hymn to the Lesser Good
Many people believe that to live according to the faith and to fulfill the will of God is very difficult. Actually — it's very easy. One needs only attend to details, to trifles, and try to avoid evil in the slightest and most trivial things. This is the simplest and surest way to enter the world of the spirit and draw near to God. A man often thinks that the Creator demands great things of him, that the Gospel insists on complete self-sacrifice, the abolition of one's personhood, etc., as a condition of faith. A man is so frightened by this that he begins to be afraid of becoming acquainted with God, of drawing near to God, and hides himself from God, not even wishing to look into God's Word. "If I can't do anything important for God, then I'd just better stay away from things spiritual, stop thinking about eternity, and live 'in a normal way'."
Joy of All Who Sorrow - with coins
- Details
- Parent Category: Articles Section
- Category: Saints and Icons
- Written by Site Administrator
- Hits: 2897
The "Joy of All Who Sorrow" Icon of the Mother of God in the Tikhvin Chapel of the glass factory in St. Petersburg (the icon “with coins” or “with pennies.”)
Remembered by the Church on July 23.
There are several disparate accounts of how the Icon came to be in the Tikhvin Chapel. According to the first, the Icon was donated by S.I. Matveev, a merchant with a business relationship with the factory. The Icon belonged to his mother, nee Kurakina; the “Joy of All Who Sorrow” Icon came into their family after being fished out of the Neva River . According to the second version, the Icon came to rest on the river shore at the place where the Chapel had been built. According to a third account, a certain Ladoga merchant barely escaped death in a storm on the Neva , then donated the Icon to the Chapel. It is quite probable that these traditional accounts initially pertained to the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God, but later came to be attributed to the “Joy of All Who Sorrow” Icon.
The Royal Priesthood
- Details
- Parent Category: Articles Section
- Category: Orthodox Church
- Written by Site Administrator
- Hits: 2912
The Royal Priesthood
"All you baptized in Christ, you have all clothed yourselves in Christ," and have thus been made members of the "Royal Priesthood." Each has been called to witness to Christ in word and action, "some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers." It is the power of the message of God in one's life which moves each member to action in his fullest capacity and strengthens his resolve to "love God above all else," as our Father, Saint Herman of Alaska teaches us.More Articles...
Subcategories
-
Orthodox Church
Articles about the Orthodox Church
This section of our website, is a collection of articles about the Orthodox Church. We hope the articles in this section will be helpful to inquires of Orthodoxy, Catechumens, and to those who are members of the Church.
Good starting points would be:
- The Orthodox Church: An Introduction
- Meeting The Orthodox
- What is the Orthodox Church?
- Sources of Christian Doctrine
- A Pastoral Letter on the Occasion of the Third Christian Millennium (a re-telling of the Good News of God's love for us)
- Article Count:
- 94
-
Worship
Articles on services and prayers.
This section of our website has a collection a collection of articles about services, prayers, and worship of the Orthodox Church.
Good starting points would be:
- Article Count:
- 82
-
Saints and Icons
Articles on Saints and Icons
This section of our website, is a collection of articles about saints, their relics, or their icons. We hope to include articles, of special interest to our parish, on the saints who are depicted on our icons, or whose holy relics rest here. Articles on our feast day icons will be included here also.
Besides enhancing the beauty of our church, icons remind and instruct us in matters pertaining to the Christian faith. They can lift us up to the prototypes which they symbolize, to a higher level of thought and feeling, to help transform us and sanctify us. Icons can stimulate us to imitate the virtues of the holy personages depicted on them. They serve as a means of worship and veneration.Good starting points would be:
- Article Count:
- 59
-
Videos
Articles by Video
This part of our website is where we post videos for now. They may be moved into other categories on the website, whatever seems best.
(All the 7 questions 7 answers vedios are noiw in this category.)
- Article Count:
- 32
Articles