March 11, 2025, Saint Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, was born in Damascus around 560. From his youth he was distinguished for his piety and his love for classical studies. He was especially proficient in philosophy, and so he was known as Sophronius the Wise. The future hierarch, however, sought the true philosophy of monasticism,[…]

  Beloved brethren! We have already reached the very gates of the holy fast! They are even now about to open before us! Already, according to the typicon of the Holy Church, we hear the instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ read to us today in the Holy Gospels about the correct way to begin[…]

  February 25, 2025, Saint Tarasius, Patriarch of Constantinople was of illustrious lineage. He was born and raised in Constantinople, where he received a fine education. He was rapidly promoted at the court of the emperor Constantine VI Porphyrogenitos (780-797) and Constantine’s mother, the holy Empress Irene (August 7), and the saint attained the rank[…]

  Clean Tuesday, 2025, As you, beloved brothers and sisters, see and hear, this Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete is filled to the utmost with a spirit of profound repentance. And the great holy hierarch of the Orthodox Church, St. Andrew of Crete, condemning himself for everything, humbles himself before God, and like the[…]

February 26, 2025, Saint Porphyrius, Archbishop of Gaza, was born about the year 346 at Thessalonica. His parents were people of substance, and this allowed Saint Porphyrius to receive a fine education. Having the inclination for monastic life, he left his native region at twenty-five years of age and set off for Egypt, where he[…]

  February 21, 2025, On the Sunday of the Last Judgment, the third of the preparatory Sundays before Great Lent, the Church reads to us from the Gospel of Matthew, where God judges people on the Last Day based on the acts of love they have performed toward those in need—whom Christ identifies with Himself[…]