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New Orthodox Church Opens in Pakistan Climacus Conference to Examine the Legacy of Byzantium Talks held in Moscow between Russian Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church in Lithuania on teaching religion in secular school St. Gregory the Theologian Charity establishes 5 scholarships for students from far abroad Engin Ardic Criticizes Fall of Constantinople Festivities in Turkish Newspaper Sabah

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[Saints. Asceties of Piety. Church Holy Days ]

Holy Hieromartyr Dositeos of Tbilisi (†1795)

Archpriest Zakaria Machitadze

Thirty-five thousand Persian soldiers marched toward Georgia in the year 1795. The Georgian king Erekle II (1762–1798) and his two thousand soldiers declared war on the invaders as they were approaching Tbilisi. The Georgians won the first skirmish, but many perished in the fighting. The enemy was shaken and was preparing to flee the battleground, when several traitors reported to Aqa Muhammed Khan that King Erekle had lost nearly his entire army.

[Sretensky Monastery]

Full-Blooded Russian Voices

Thomas Busse

Every so often, a Russian performing group rides through town and brings out what seems to be the entire Russian emigre community, filling one of the largest halls to capacity. Its program typically offers a serious or traditional first half followed by arrangements of favorite tunes from the war years or Soviet cinema. As the tunes grow more familiar, culminating in ever-popular bonbons such as Moscow Nights or Ochi Chornaya, the audience becomes ever more enthusiastic.

[Sretensky Monastery]

Moscow choir excites

T.L. Ponick

Mostly in their 20s and 30s, the extraordinary young singers of the monastery’s new choir demonstrate a deep reverence for and mastery of ancient liturgical traditions that had been, at the very least, strongly discouraged when they were children.Their current three-continent tour is multifaceted. Bearing a revered, "miracle-working" icon of the Blessed Virgin, the Mother of God — rediscovered in the late 1980s — they are singing for traditional liturgies at Russian churches (such as Washington’s Cathedral of St. John the Baptist on 17th Street Northwest) to celebrate the reunification of the Russian Orthodox Church, which formally occurred May 17. They also are presenting concerts like this one that include a broader repertoire.

[Sretensky Monastery]

Sretensky Monastery Choir: The Power of Russian Music

Cecelia Porter

Working from both sacred and secular texts, Moscow Sretensky Monastery Choir filled the Library of Congress’s Coolidge Auditorium on Wednesday night with a vocal luster that extended as far as the expression of reverence and human passion can reach. And the auditorium was filled to the rafters with listeners, the audience including many religious dignitaries in colorful ritual dress.

[Saints. Asceties of Piety. Church Holy Days ]

Venerable Svimeon the Wonderworker (†1773)

Archpriest Zakaria Machitadze

Saint Svimeon was raised at Davit-Gareji Monastery. He labored as a simple monk until he reached an advanced age, and was chosen to be abbot. Outstanding in virtue and humility, St. Svimeon was endowed by the Lord with the ability to work miracles.

[Sretensky Monastery]

And the raven shall scatter your bones …

Luke Harding

“There is a sacred aspect to Russian folk songs – they are often about death and suffering,” Father Tikhon explains, over a pot of tea in his comfortable residence. “One piece, The Black Raven, is a sort of dialogue with death. It’s about a Cossack soldier going off to battle knowing he is going to die. He speaks of how a bullet will pierce his chest, how his comrades will leave him, and how his wife will marry his best friend. His bones will be scattered across the steppe by wolves and ravens.”

[Sretensky Monastery]

Old Russia, young voices

Barrymore Laurence Scherer

The group’s youth and freshness belie the age of its home base. Founded in 1395, Sretensky is among the most ancient of Russian monasteries – the original wooden buildings were already nearly 300 years old when they were replaced by the present stone ones in the 17th century. During the Bolshevik era, Sretensky’s monastic community was arrested and either murdered or exiled to prison camps. At a time when many Russian churches were being used as skating rinks or swimming pools, Sretensky’s buildings – in the middle of downtown Moscow – were employed by the KGB as offices and torture chambers.

[Sretensky Monastery]

Sacred Sound And Sheer Beauty

Fred Kirshnit

On the occasion of the reunification of the Orthodox Church within Russia to the greater Russian Orthodox Church, the 41-member choir is touring the world, singing primarily in sacred spaces but also taking some time out for public concerts. On Tuesday evening at Avery Fisher Hall, there was no room left for procrastinators, and the management had to provide seats on the stage to accommodate the overflow crowd.

[Sretensky Monastery]

Voices of Russian History, From Churches and Battlefields

Steve Smith

The 41 singers, however young they appeared, had clearly mastered the dense, nasal tone and luminous blend characteristic of Russian choral tradition. “God Is With Us,” ascribed to a Father Vasiliev, established a bold, assertive tone in lines of surprising rhythmic bounce. “Stichera on the Dormition of Theotokos,” an anonymous chant, demonstrated the severe 17th-century Znamenny style that predated an incursion of Western musical values.

[Homilies and Spiritual Instruction]

Preaching the Gospel of Christ in the Modern World

Hieromonk Damascene (Christensen)

In discussing what it means to bear witness to our Faith, we should emphasize that, in all situations, we must act and speak with love. Christ told His disciples: By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another (John 13:35). We have the fullness of Truth, yes, but this Truth must be spoken and given in love, lest it be corrupted in the very manner in which it is presented. People will look for God in us, and if they see no love there, they will not recognize the presence of God, even if we know all the Orthodox dogmas and can recite Scripture verses and the Nicene Creed by heart.

[Saints. Asceties of Piety. Church Holy Days ]

Venerable Serapion the Wonderworker of St. John the Baptist Monastery (†1774)

Archpriest Zakaria Machitadze

Saint Serapion was abbot of the Monastery of St. John the Baptist in the Davit-Gareji Wilderness. He was endowed by God with the ability to work miracles.Once St. Serapion set off for the city, following at a short distance behind several of the monastery’s brothers.

[Saints. Asceties of Piety. Church Holy Days ]

Holy Catholicos Sarmean (†774)

Archpriest Zakaria Machitadze

The chronicles listing the generations of chief shepherds of Georgia reveal that St. Sarmean was leader of the Georgian Apostolic Church from the year 767 (or 760, according to some sources) until the year 774. These were years of Arab-Muslim rule in Georgia. The Arabs persecuted the Christians, oppressed those who served in the Church, and tried in every way to convert the country to Islam. Despite the frightful abuses that the faithful endured and the transformation of the city into a residence for the emir, many Tbilisi churches continued to function.

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