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The Church Building
 Orthodox
churches generally take one of several shapes that have a particular mystical
significance. The most common shape is an oblong or rectangular shape,
imitating the form of a ship. As a ship, under the guidance of a master
helmsman conveys men through the stormy seas to a calm harbor, so the
Church, guided by Christ, carries men unharmed across the stormy seas
of sin and strife to the peaceful haven of the Kingdom of Heaven.
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An Icon as an Image
 Icons
cannot be referred to as works of art using the common meaning of the
word. Icons are not paintings. Artists use lines and colour to represent
people and events belonging to material life. Since the Renaissance, life
and nature have been depicted in paintings by reproducing three-dimensional
space on a plane; people, animals, landscapes and things. |
Great Feasts
On Saturday, the day after
the crucifixion of the Lord, His disciples and followers were filled with
gloom, for they had seen their Lord and Master die, crucified on a cross.
As Holy Scripture tells us, there was a man named Joseph from the Jewish
town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous
man, who had not consented to their purpose and deed, and he was looking
for the kingdom of God (Luke 23:50-52). |
Holy Sacraments
 The
Sacraments of the Orthodox Church, like the Church Herself, can be said
to possess a double character, for they are at the same time inward and
outward, visible and invisible. They combine in themselves both an outward
visible sign with an inward spiritual grace. For example, in the Holy
Eucharist, we eat the Body and Blood of Christ, although visibly they
appear to be bread and wine. |
Orthodox Worship
The life of an Orthodox Christian
can be seen as being composed of five cycles. There is, first of all,
the great cycle of life, which embraces the whole life of a man from birth
to death, and which consists in liturgical actions which are not repeated,
occuring only once in a person's lifetime. These are Holy Baptism, Holy
Chrismation, and the Burial Service. |
History of the Orthodox Church
Of major importance in the history and development of Orthodoxy was the
conversion of the Slavs and the shifting of the focus of the Church to
the northern regions of Bulgaria, Serbia, Moravia, Romania, and then Russia.
In the middle of the 9th Century, Patriarch Photius initiated large scale
missionary labors in these regions by sending out the two brothers Constantine
(in monasticism Cyril - 869) and Methodius (885 - both are commemorated
May 11). |
Monkhood
The monastic life points
the way to perfection. However, the whole Church is called to perfection.
All the faithful, both laymen and monks, are called to become perfect
following the divine example: "You, therefore, must be perfect, as
your heavenly Father is perfect". But while the monk affirms the
radical nature of the Christian life, the layman is content to regard
it conventionally. |
Russian Saints
St. Sergius, the founder of the Holy Trinity Lavra, was born of wealthy
Rostov boyars on May 3, 1314. On the fortieth day the local priest baptized
the child, naming him Bartholomew. From his childhood he grew accustomed
to solitude and sought his salvation through prayer, fasting and work.
In 1337, at the age of 23, after his parents' death, he decided to leave
for the desert together with his elder brother Stephen. |
Saints and Martyrs of XX century
In 1917 Metropolitan
Macarius of Moscow saw in a vision the Saviour speaking to Tsar Nicholas:
"You see," said the Lord, "two cups in my hands: one is
bitter for your people, and the other is sweet for you." In the vision
the Tsar begged for the bitter cup. The Saviour then took a large glowing
coal from the cup and put it in the Tsar's hands. |
Orthodox Church Today
The Russian Orthodox Church is a multi-ethnic Local Autocephalous Church
maintaining communion in prayer and canon law with other Local Orthodox
Churches. Her jurisdiction extends to people of Orthodox confession living
in the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church including Russia,
Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Latvia,
Lithuania, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Estonia. |
The Miraculous Icons
The worship of the miraculous
icons of the Virgin, taken shape in Early Byzantine culture, emerged in
Rus' as a part of the Orthodox legacy. Gradually developed in the first
centuries after the Christianization, it reached its peak in the Late
Madieval period of Russian history, especially in the 16th and 17th centuries,
when the worship of the miraculous became a kind of extremely important
characteristic for the Russian national tradition. |
 Liturgical
Music
The Divine Liturgy of Saint
John Chrysostom
Selected hymns from the Vigil Srvice and Divine Liturgy
Selected hymns from the Great Lent and Pascha |
