THE GATES OF PARADISE Yuri Klitsenko
In the Holy Scripture the temple of God is compared with paradise. In the vision of prophet Ezekiel the garden of Eden grows on the banks of the river that flows from the temple: "Waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar…And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine"(Eze 47:1-12). continue...

"THE LORD OF THE RINGS" AND CHRISTIANITY Yuri Maximov
		"The Lord of the Rings" turned out to be a considerable cultural event of 2nd half of 20th century both with its artistic value and influence on the minds of not a single young generation. It has not escaped the notice of the orthodox readers. Even when the book appeared disputes about its religious meaning arose, opinions were different, even opposite, and after the screenplay after the trilogy was released (1st part was released last spring and 2nd part - in January this year) these disputes came anew. continue...

THE CHURCH OF NEW MARTYRS Olga Vasilieva
		The year of the "Great Purge" and the following year 1938 were the hardest for the clergy and laymen - 200 000 repressed and 100 000 executed. Each second priest was shot. But the Orthodox Church put up a strong resistance to the totalitarian regime. And if it comes to glorifying all Russian martyrs of the 20th century, the Russian Orthodox Church will become the Church of the Russian New Martyrs. continue...

CREATION OF THE WORLD, MAKING OF THE TABERNACLE AND THE RITE OF CHURCH CONSECRATION Yuri Klitsenko
		The following sacred rites performed by the bishop during church consecration correspond to the seven stages of the world creation: 1) laying of the corner stone in the foundation of the church; 2) assembly of the altar; 3) sprinkling of the altar with water and wine; 4) anointing with Holy Myrrh and clothing of the altar; 5) censing; 6) deposition of holy relics under the altar and in the antimension; 7) Divine Liturgy. continue...

OUR NATIONAL TRAGEDY Interview with deacon Alexander Shumsky
In October I prepared an interview for the site with a cliric of St. Nicolas church in Khamovniki district deacon Alexander Shumsky. A teacher with 25-year professional experience, the principal of Khamovniki St. Nicolas Gymnasium, father of eight children, a talented columnist, he can teach the readers a lot. On October 21 I gave him the text for approval. We agreed to get in touch on the phone a couple of days later. But in two days seizure of hostages in Nord-Ost in Moscow happened. Among the hostages there turned out to be Fr.Alexander’s son-in-law Anton Kobozev... continue...

A MATHEMATICIAN’S VIEW ON CHRISTIANITY AND SCIENCE FROM A HISTORIC PERSPECTIVE (A SURVEY OF THE PAPERS BY V.N.TROSTNIKOV) Gennadiy Kalyabin
		Viktor Nikolaevich Trostnikov - an alumnus of Moscow Physico-Technical Institute of 1954. He is a well-known specialist in the field of experimental physics and computational mathematics. Over 10 years ago he began a profound study of the issues in natural apologetics, and of general relation between science and religion in their historical aspect. His articles "Is the "scientific picture of the world" scientific?", "The science is becoming religious"; a series of other papers on this theme are published in various journals and almanachs. continue...

TEXT AND CONTEXT Margaret Barker
		We present an article of Margaret Barker, an English non-orthodox researcher of Bible. Margaret Barker produces convincing evidences of ancient Christian and muslim theologians as well as contemporary textologists, which confirm that in the II century so called stabilization of texts of Old Testament was made by judaists, and as a result a lot of important Messianic passages disappeared. These conclusions and indications of importance of both Septuagint and Slavonic Bible undoubtedly is of interest for orthodox readers. We should refer with more reserved appraisal to hypotheses of Margaret Barker about certain peculiarities of Old Testament dogmata and beliefs during the period of the First Temple. continue...

THE SECOND CONFERENCE "HISTORY OF THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH IN THE XX CENTURY" (1930-1948)

November 13 to 16, 2002, in the Synodal library of Moscow Patriarchate (St.Andrey Monastery, Moscow) a conference on the issues of history of the Russian Orthodox Church in the XX century was held. With the blessing of their holy authorities clerics of the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) and the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, as well as representatives of academic historical science took part in the conference. At the conference 25 reports and addresses were presented by researchers from Russia, Latvia, Germany, the USA. continue...

"VALERIA" MEANS "ROBUST, STRONG" Interview with nun Valeria
		She calls her poems "lyric". Their naivety, childish style, some clumsiness and extreme sincerity are amazing. Most likely, young ladies of the XIX century wrote in albums something similar. Any event that has touched her soul, sensitive even at the old age, is reflected in her poems. Probably, it was a childhood habit preserved for the whole life. The poems written at a mature age do not differ much from those, which she wrote when a girl. They have not changed, but they have changed her life. If it were not for her lyrics the story of her life might have been different, but now it sounds like a legend. continue...

ARCHBISHOP ANATOLY’S THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF CONSECRATION
		I want to say to say a few words, both in English and then in Russian. Thirty years ago God has done for Vladyka Anatoly the greatest thing that God can do to a person. He has trusted him in such a total way as to allow him to become His priest; to become an icon and to become a servant. Today we keep this thirtieth anniversary; and we here, together with those to whom he has been a pastor in the past, thank God for the trust He has put in him, and express our gratitude both to God and to Vladyka Anatoly. continue...

STATEMENT ON IRAQ Metropolitan Philip Saliba, Primate of Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America
		While our country is on the brink of war with Iraq, it is the opinion of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America that our esteemed President and governmental leaders rethink their position and the logic behind this impending conflict. Such an attack will destabilize the entire region, cause untold harm to countless children and other civilians as well as bring political and social unrest to an already troubled area of the world. continue...

IN TIME OF TROUBLES ONE SHOULD STAKE ON THE IDEA An interview with the writer Leonid Borodin
		Writer Leonid Borodin became Solzhenitsyn’s prize-winner of 2002. The prize was awarded for "works in which troubles of the Russian life are shown with rare moral purity and sense of tragedy, for consecutiveness and steadiness in search of truth". These words can be attributed not only to the works of Leonid Borodin but also to his personality. continue...

HOW DO THE HEAVENLY BODIES INFLUENCE THE EARTHLY MATTERS Gennadiy Kalyabin
		The question about the influence of celestial luminaries on the human fortunes excited the scientists in deep anciency as well as in the "dark" Middle Ages and keeps exciting until nowadays. In the history of various nations we often find the idolatry of luminaries: of the Sun - in Egypt, Peru and Persia; of the Moon - in China; of the stars and planets - in Babylon and Rome etc. The astrology (the fortune-telling by the stars and planets) exists already for several thousand years and now again is becoming popular in the countries of the "civilized world" and unfortunately in Russia too. continue...

THE AGE OF THE EARTH Gennadiy Kalyabin
		Many of us hold that science cognizing the world doesn’t find in it the place for God the Creator. It often repulses Orthodox Christians from science because they fear that their faith can be shaken by touching on the scientific knowledge. But in fact the true faith can only strengthen "through examining of the creatures" and it is quite not accidental that many scientists were deeply believing persons. continue...

QUESTIONS TO A PRIEST
Answers Archimandrite Zacchaeus (Wood): Why does the English version of the Nicene Creed say that we believe in one Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church? Do you not say that Catholics are heretics? Also, why are there so many Orthodox churches (Russian, Greek, Armenian, Ukranian, etc)? Is smooking a sin? Please explain the name of this "Sretenskiy monastery" and after which feast of the Church it is named thus? Read answers to these and many other questions here... and ask your own!

ORTHODOXY IN ENGLAND: SYMBOLS OF BISHOP’S MINISTRY ON THE BYZANTINE SILK FROM THE TOMB OF ST. CUTHBERT Yuri Klitsenko
		The Earth and Ocean Byzantine silk was found with the other textiles in the tomb of St. Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne, when it was opened in May 1827. It shows the personified Earth emerging from the waters with ducks and fishes. The Earth holds in its hands a sash filled with fruits. The rounded frame contains various fruits including grapes and pears. continue...

SERMON FOR THE SUNDAY OF ALL SAINTS Archimandrite Zacchaeus (Wood)
		Beloved in the Lord, on this day the Holy Church celebrates the feast of All-Saints, both those known to us and those only known to God. This feast is celebrated on the Sunday immediately following the Feast of Pentecost and the Decent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and Disciples, and indeed upon all who have been baptized into Christ. continue...

THE AMERICAN NEWS MEDIA AND YUGOSLAVIA His Eminence Metropolitan Isaiah of Proikonisos Presiding Hierarch of the Greek Orthodox Diocese of Denver
Three years ago, on March 24, 1999, the United States government, along with England, Canada, and a few other nations, began a bombing campaign against Yugoslavia on a consecutive twenty-four hour basis for a total of seventy-eight days and nights without pause. It was made to look like a NATO campaign; but it was primarily the United States and England which provided most of the air power and the bombs. continue...

HOMELESS CHILDREN IN THE CONVENT OF MERCY Margarita Timofeeva
In our country the problem of homeless children is not arising for the first time. Orphans were left after the revolution and after the Great Patriotic War. Cataclysms happening in the society strike first and foremost the most vulnerable social strata, the least adjusted to life - children, disabled and aged people. Since in our country problems of orphanage arose before there should be experience of their overcoming. But the big-wigs only sit thinking their own thoughts doing nothing. Men are sitting thinking and women are acting. "There are women in Russia". One of them is matushka Elizaveta, the head of Sts. Martha and Mary Convent who sheltered seventeen children. continue...

PASCHAL HOMILY OF ST JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
		The Paschal sermon of St John Chrysostom is read aloud in every Orthodox parish on the morning of the Great and Holy Pascha of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. continue...

OUR SHARE IN THE PASSION OF CHRIST C.S. Lewis
Some people feel guilty about their anxieties and regard them as a defect of faith. I don’t agree at all. They are afflictions, not sins. Like all afflictions, they are, if we can so take them, our share in the Passion of Christ. For the beginning of the Passion - the first move, so to speak - is in Gethsemane. In Gethsemane a very strange and significant thing seems to have happened... continue...

"FORGIVE THEM FATHER, FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO" An interview with hieromonk Sava Janjic, Decani Monastery
		We are witness to the increasing development in Kosovo and Metohija of an anti-Christian campaign directed against the centuries old values of Christian and European civilization. While new mosques built by wealthy Arab magnates through their "humanitarian and religious" organizations crop up throughout Kosovo and Metohija, Christian churches continue to be destroyed and everything bearing the sign of the Holy Cross is rapidly disappearing from the Kosovo landscape. continue...

JUBILEE BISHOPS’ COUNCIL: MEMORIES OF THE PARTICIPANT
		After the Bishops’ Council made the decision to canonize the Royal Family, we interviewed Bishop of Vologda and Veliky Ustyug Maximilian. The Bishop told us what he thought of the Council and shared his opinion on some problems set before the Bishops. continue...

ENCYCLICAL FOR SUNDAY OF ORTHODOXY (March 24, 2002) The Hierarchs of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas
		We greet you on this Sunday of Orthodoxy in unity of faith, in oneness of Spirit, and in harmonious affirmation of the truth that has been revealed to us by God. We also are addressing you on this first Sunday of Great Lent, having recently marked six months since the tragic events of September 11th... On this Sunday of Orthodoxy we announce with one voice the tremendous power of our Orthodox Faith in overcoming any ordeals, difficulties, persecution, and even death. continue...

SERMON FOR FORGIVENESS SUNDAY (March 17, 2002) Igumen Zacchaeus (Wood)

Great Lent is indeed a holy time for us Christians and should be met with respect, love, and also very importantly with joy. Tonight at the vespers service we will pray the stikhera on "Lord, I call", "Let us begin the fast with joy!" This is crucial. Joy must be the mark of us as Christians. Today we heard in the Gospel reading, that if we forgive our brother his trespasses, our Heavenly Father would forgive us. Truly this phrase should bring joy to all of us, because if we think about it seriously we see that is indeed easy for us to be forgiven. continue...

A GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH HONORS MARTYRS OF THE BOXER REBELLION Mary Adamski
		The gilded icons and jewel-like stained-glass windows depict saints, inspirational art familiar to worshippers at Saints Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church. But it was a small bright-colored print that she found in the gift shop of the Punchbowl church that "absolutely thrilled" Alice Malick. Like hers, the faces of the grouped saints are Chinese. continue...

WHEN THOU SHALT SIT TO JUDGE THE WORLD, O JUDGE OF ALL, COUNT ME WORTHY OF THY SUMMONS TO THY RIGHT HAND Synaxarion: Meatfare Sunday
On this day we commemorate the inescapable second coming of Christ, ordained by the most divine Fathers to be observed after the second parable of the Prodigal, so that no one who has learned of the love of God for mankind from it will live in laziness saying, "God loves mankind, and when I am separated from Him by sin, all is prepared for my restoration." continue...

IF ANYONE BE A PRODIGAL AS I, TAKE COURAGE AND TURN BACK; FOR THE GATES OF GOD’S MERCIES ARE OPENED TO ALL Synaxarion: Sunday of the Prodigal Son

On this day we celebrate the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, dedicated as the second service of the Triodion by the divine Fathers for the following reason. There are some who recognize much in themselves that is unbecoming, who live a life of great dissipation from their youth, whose lives are full of drunkenness and immorality, who having fallen thus into the depths of evil, become despondent, giving birth to pride, from whence they have no desire to advance to any of the virtues, preferring their bondage to evil and falling ever deeper into evil. continue...

GOD BE WITH ME Anonymous 9th century Irish monastic poem
		God be with me against all trouble, noble Trinity which is one, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit... continue...

FYODOR MIKHAILOVICH DOSTOYEVSKY: "DON’T FORBID ME..."
There is a simply marvelous story about the last days in the life of the famous Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky by his faithful and loving wife Anna Grigorievna. On the night of January 25th 1881, Dostoyevsky experienced pulmonary bleeding. Around 5 p.m. that day the bleeding started over again. Anna Grigorievna anxiously sent for the doctor. When the doctor began to listen to and tap the sick man’s chest, the bleeding began again and this time so strongly that Dostoyevsky lost consciousness. continue...

"WHO CAN EVER SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD"
		This CD is a humble contribution of the choir and brotherhood of Sretensky monastery to the memory of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia. The list of hymns includes motets of the All-Night Vigil sung during the week of Russian Saints, on the Day of Commemoration of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, as well as on the Day of the Holy Martyr Ilarion. continue...

ORTHODOX CHRISTMAS IN THE HOLY LAND Maria C. Khoury
This week might have been January 7th for the rest of the world but for Orthodox Christians in the Holy Land it was December 25th according to the old Julian Calendar and we have just celebrated the Birth of Christ. "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:11). It was truly a beautiful White Christmas in the Holy Land that rarely sees snow. The flakes began falling early in the morning and continued throughout the day until the hills and countryside had a spectacular white coat. continue...

FOR HE SO LOVED THE WORLD...
		... The little boy ... walked up to a policeman and said, "Mister, you wouldn’t happen to know where a poor boy could find a warm place to sleep tonight would you? You see, I sleep in a box up around the corner there and down the alley and it’s awful cold in there for tonight. Sure would be nice to have a warm place to stay". The policeman looked down at the little boy an said, "You go down the street to that big white house and you knock on the door. When they come out the door you just say John 3:16, and they will let you in". continue...

THE LIFE OF ST HERMAN OF ALASKA
		A spiritual mission was organized in 1793 from the monks of the Valaam Monastery. It was sent to preach the Word of God to the native inhabitants of northwestern America, who but ten years before had begun to come under the sovereignty of Russia. The Monk Herman was among the members of this Mission... continue...

FIRST SERMON AFTER SEPTEMBER 11TH An Orthodox Response to the Terrorist Attacks of September 11th, 2001 Father Mark Hodges
It was utterly appropriate (Providentially directed) for the President to declare Friday, Holy Cross Day, to be a national day of prayer and remembrance. My hope is that this day, September 14th, be an annual national day, facilitating in some small way America’s conversion to holy Orthodoxy. continue...

AMERICANS: JUDGES OF THE EARTH? Metropolitan George Khodr
Perhaps, the American behavior in the world is inspired by the second verse of the 26th chapter of Isaiah, as inscribed on the entrance of Harvard University: "Open the gates, that the righteous nation... may enter in", but the full verse continues: "which keeps the truth". America is convinced that it holds the "truth", or what it claims to be its truth, enabling it to enter the gates of knowledge to rule the world. It is obvious that the founding fathers [of America] believed that the New World, which they immigrated to, is their second Promised Land, a land of blessings; and most Americans today still believe that financial riches are divine blessings. It is not evident that American rulers have read the gospel, which strictly cautions against mammon and foremost against dominion. continue...

"APOSTLE’S VISIT" - ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACK Victor Fomin
The main result of the Pope’s visit was the successful washing off Leonid Kuchma from dirty stories and the beginning of the Ukraine’s integration into the community of civilized European countries. We may forecast with a fair amount of truth an extreme tearing off the Catholic Church even from liberally disposed Orthodox believers. This process may be compared to powerful anti-American sentiments that had become stronger in Russian society after the beginning of Yugoslavia bombing. Defeat of spread of Catholicism over the Ukraine and all over the world became for Vatican the second, and much more deplorable step back. This is due to those methods, that Catholic Church didn’t disdain to use in order to reach its purposes. continue...

"WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE RUSSIAN CHURCH" An interview with Protopresbyter Thomas Hopko, Dean of St. Vladimir Orthodox Seminary, Crestwood, New York
		I am 62 years old, and I can not remember a day that I didn’t feel protected. I can’t think of one day that someone ever tried to harm me. To be persecuted or to be killed, or to have so many new-martyrs, for me is amazing. So we look to the Russian Church, as we always had, because we are the children of the Russian Church. Sometimes I worry that what Marxism and all those prison camps could not accomplish, American investments and materialism, and so on, may be a greater harm for the human soul. Because persecution produces martyrs, but what does freedom and money, sex and narcotics produce? continue...

YOUNG SERBS ARE BECOMING MONKS AND NUNS Why Serbia’s elite are willing to give up everything for God Eve-Ann Prentice
Five or ten years ago Serbian Orthodox churches were usually full only at Easter and other key dates in the Orthodox calendar. Now it is estimated that three times as many people attend church regularly, most of them young, urban and educated. They can be seen on weekdays as well as Sundays emerging from the ornate churches of Belgrade having attended long Orthodox services where the congregation stands throughout... continue...

LET’S KEEP OUR DISTANCE For Orthodox leaders to engage in dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church is both futile and dangerous Frank Schaeffer
Until the Orthodox get good answers to two questions we have no reason to even consider reunion with Rome. These questions are: What authority will the pope have within a newly "unified" church? And what would our worship be like after reunion? Our Orthodox day-to-day relationship with the Roman Catholic community should be the same as it is with all other people of goodwill, one of love and shared common human aspirations. But this love and these shared goals must be rooted in an honest recognition of the very real differences we have. I do not believe Christian love needs to be expressed by formal declarations of reunion. We have the right to ask, reunion with what? continue...

CHALLENGE OF THE LORD’S PRAYER
		I cannot say OUR if I live only for myself. I cannot say FATHER if I do not endeavor each day to act like His child. continue...

LETTER OF BISHOP ARTEMIJE (on participation of Kosovo Serbs in the upcoming parliamentary elections) Bishop Artemije
In the past several months, every one of our contacts and all your communications with us have been reducible to just one thing: an invitation to the Kosovo Serbs to participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for November 17 of this year. To all these invitations, recommendations and supporting arguments, we, that is, the Serb National Council of Kosovo and Metohija, respond in the name of the Kosovo and Metohija Serbs (both those remaining in Kosovo and those expelled from Kosovo as follows: Ladies and gentlemen, you do not need to INVITE the Serbs to participate in elections; you need to make it POSSIBLE for the Serbs to participate in elections. continue...

THE CRY OF SERBS FROM KOSOVO AND METOHIJA Bishop Atanasije Jevtic
Together with our Patriarch and our father we are saying these words today in Kosovo and Metohija: "Day and night running away with our pauperised people from one place to another as a little boat tossed upon the high seas of a wide ocean... there is no one out there to protect us or deliver us from afflictions. So our suffering was increased threefold and we pleaded: How long, O Lord wilt Thou utterly forget us, how long wilt Thou arm thyself against Thine inheritance? Rise up, why sleepest Thou, O Lord, wherefore turnest Thou Thy face away? ...and yet help seems as far away as ever. Because O Lord from on High, and Allseeing there is not a single Duke or leader that could be found among us, nor a genuine honest Serbian man with a sacrifice pure and unspoiled or an offering from a pure heart which has not become hardened. All of us strayed from Thy way, and distanced ourselves from Thee, and left Thee..." continue...

CHEMICALS RELEASED AFTER NATO BOMBING INFECT SERBIAN CITY Paul Brown
		When the Nato bombs started to fall on Pancevo’s petro-chemical factory, 10 miles east of Belgrade next to the Danube in Serbia, the locals thought it must be a mistake. Surely, even in war, no one would risk releasing deadly chemicals less than two miles from a city. But, as the attacks continued, it was clear that they were being aimed at storage tanks that contained the raw materials for PVC. continue...

PENTECOST (8TH SUNDAY AFTER PASCHA) S. V. Bulgakov
		On the tenth day after the Ascension of Jesus Christ during the Jewish feast of Pentecost, at the third hour, but according to our reckoning at nine o’clock in the morning, when people usually go to the temple both for offering up a sacrifice and prayer all the disciples were assembled in Jerusalem, in the upper room (Acts 1:13), which was "on Mount Zion", "and suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind..." continue...

THE LIFE OF ST. RAPHAEL, BISHOP OF BROOKLYN
		From his youth, Saint Raphael’s greatest joy was to serve the Church. When he came to America, he found his people scattered abroad, and he called them to unity. He never neglected his flock, but traveled throughout America, Canada, and Mexico in search of them so that he might care for them. He kept them from straying into strange pastures, and he protected them from spiritual harm. During twenty years of faithful ministry he nurtured them and helped them to grow. At the time of his death, the Syro-Arab Mission had thirty parishes with 25,000 faithful. continue...

POPE’S VISIT COINCIDES WITH THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF HITLER’S INVASION Vladimir Stolyarenko
The present visit of the Roman Pope to the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church is not merely an unfriendly act, but a provocative and perfidious move. The open letter of the Ukrainian bishops asking the Pope to postpone the arrival in the country was to persuade the Vatican to change its intention. The fact that this request was ignored was tactless from an ethic point of view; a provocation from a diplomatic point of view and an attempt of expansionism in terms of state policy. continue...

TO BE LIKE THE LORD: THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT Fr Vladimir Berzonsky
		The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control ... and those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:22). When the gifts of the Holy Spirit become our own, we are filled with the very spiritual attributes of our Lord Jesus Christ. We who have been chrismated are sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit; we are encouraged and challenged with the sacred labor of affirming and manifesting the evidence of what is part of our very lives. continue...

ALCOHOLISM / CHEMICAL DEPENDENCY Fr Bogdan Djurdjulov
		When you hear the word "drugs", what do you think of? Take a moment before you read on and think about it. List the drugs you are familiar with or have heard about; both legal and illegal. What did you come up with? Was alcohol on your list? If it wasn’t, add it. It is estimated that the very familiar, readily available and legal drug, alcohol, causes about 90 percent of all the drug problems in the United States, either alone or in combination with other drugs. continue...

"THOSE WHO REFUSE TO COMMEMORATE THEIR PATRIARCH PUT THEMSELVES OUTSIDE OF THE CHURCH" Bishop Afanasiy (Sakharov)
		Translator’s note: Afanasiy (Sakharov), bishop of Kovrov, (1887-1962) was ordained by Patriarch Tikhon. He was canonized at the last Hierarchical Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in August 2000 as a new martyr and confessor of Orthodox Faith. Here is a translation of one of bishop Afanasiy’s letters to his spiritual children that he sent to the different parts of Russia after his return from imprisonment in 1955. Today the problem that had been addressed by bishop Afanasiy in this letter takes on special significance and becomes very topical again, particularly for the Orthodox faithful of ROCA and other separated groups. continue...

RUSSIAN FOREIGN POLICY AT THE THRESHOLD OF THE THIRD MILLENNIUM Natalia A. Narochnitskaya

The concrete foreign policy of states and their alliances have always been the closest structure, although not always the most evident, that is linked to profound phenomena in world history involving the state of rises and falls in spiritual, and not exclusively material, driving forces of the global process. In this sense, Russia is a brilliant example. Located at the junction of world civilizations on the global island of the Eurasian continent, it has fulfilled a unique geopolitical mission during the centuries in being the bearer of global balance between the Christian and non-Christian worlds. continue...

LOVING AND LIKING C.S. Lewis
Try to understand exactly what loving your neighbour as yourself means. I have to love him as I love myself. Well, how exactly do I love myself? Now that I come to think of it, I have not exactly got a feeling of fondness or affection for myself, and I do not even always enjoy my own society... continue...

THE SUNDAY OF THE VENERATION OF THE PRECIOUS AND LIFE-GIVING CROSS
		As we have "crucified the flesh with its passions and desires" (Gal. 5:24), and will have mortified ourselves during these forty days of the Fast, the precious and Life-giving Cross is now placed before us to refresh our souls and encourage us who may be filled with a sense of bitterness, resentment, and depression. continue...

WHO’LL TAKE THE SON?
		A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art. They had everything in their collection, from Picasso to Raphael. They would often sit together and admire the great works of art. When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went to war. He was very courageous, and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified, and grieved deeply for his only son... continue...

TEMPERANCE C.S. Lewis
One great piece of mischief has been done by the modem restriction of the word Temperance to the question of drink. It helps people to forget that you can be just as intemperate about lots of other things. A man who makes his golf or his motor bicycle the centre of his life, or a woman who devotes all her thoughts to clothes or bridge or her dog, is being just as "intemperate" as someone who gets drunk every evening... continue...

RUSSIA AND THE "EASTERN ISSUE" Natalia A. Narochnitskaya
		The strategy of solving the Europe-Russia contradiction through making her member of European coalitions and part of Europe is false and doomed to a failure. A larger part cannot be integrated by a smaller - it should be first made smaller. (Witness the fate of the Soviet Union, Yalta, and Potsdam as the price Russia had to pay for a place in the Gorbachev-Sakharov common European home.) This is explained by a millennium-old rejection by the West of Orthodox Russia in all her hypostases that is reflected in the Worldwide Eastern Question. Russia is the vehicle of Byzantine legacy the West hates so much. At the same time, as a geopolitical force and a historical personality looking for her own universal meaning of world existence Russia is equal to the West. continue...

A LETTER FROM A "TYPICAL AMERICAN"

Like most Americans, I have viewed most issues from the center being influenced by the seemingly opposing points of view of the right and left in our culture. Your web site has re-awakened in me a curiosity about eastern points of view. It has sent me on a great search of both a spiritual and intellectual nature, has helped me gain a perspective as to the cultural influences of the Orthodox Church on Russian History, which many treatments in history books from a "Western" point of view have failed to point out. continue...

SERBS AND THE WEST: THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA IN DEFINING POLICY TOWARDS SERBIA AND THE SERBS Prof. Dr. John Burns
Few serious journalists would admit to deliberate bias, however in the Yugoslav context and with regard to matters Serbian, normal good journalistic practice evaporates and stories are transmitted without verification and characterization of sides is simplified to an unacceptable degree. This, in turn, does have an effect upon the formulation of foreign policies of western governments, in a direction that many would not choose, but feel pressured to do so. continue...

GROUNDS FOR CANONIZATION OF THE TSAR FAMILY Excerpts from the report of Metropolitan of Krutitsa and Kolomna Juvenaly
		In the sorrows endured by the Tsar Family in the confinement with meekness, patience and humility, in the martyred end to their life the light of the Christian faith that overcomes evil was revealed, as it has shone in the life and death of millions of Orthodox Christians, who were persecuted for Christ in the XXth century. In the comprehension of this feat of the Tsar Family the Commission unanimously and with the approval of the Holy Synod finds it possible to glorify among New Martyrs and Confessors of faith in Russia Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra, Tsarevich Alexy, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia as Saint Strastoterptsy. continue...

IS LIFE A GIFT OR A RACKET? Answers deacon Andrey Kurayev
		How come life is called ’gift’? Gift is something which is taken freely and which you may refuse, isn’t it? Life is not gift, but rather high-interest credit: you get sorrow, malady, toil, and must give away entertainment, pleasure, communication with the opposite sex. Or rather - it is racket, an "offer you can’t refuse". Everything could be like Seychelles, simply and peacefully, and in reality it is like DOOM computer game. continue...

TRUE REPENTANCE IS A GREAT MIRACLE An interview with archdeacon ZaЯchaeus (Wood)
Archdeacon ZaЯchaeus (secular name - Seraphim Wood) belongs to the Orthodox Church in America. The Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate made it Autocephalous in 1970, but it is still not recognized by the Constantinople Patriarchate. Father ZaЯchaeus had been the cellarer of the OCA’s Primate, Metropolitan Theodosius, for two years, and at present he is the secretary of Bishop of Chicago Job. continue...

THE CAVEMEN Vladislav Tomachinsky
		In the hot summer of 1995 Boris Yeltsyn visited the famous Caves Monastery of the Dormition near Pskov. Looking around the caves there, the Head of the State was surprised that there was no smell of decay, though the coffins are not buried there, but rather are left visible, so that you can even touch them. They explained to the President : ’’This is a miracle of God.’ The excursion continues, and after some time Boris Nickolayevich asks the same question in perplexity. ’So God has done it like this,’- he is told. In several minutes, when they are leaving the caves, the President whispers to Father Archimandrite : ’Let me in on the secret - what do you spread them with?’ ’Boris Nickolayevich,-says Archimandrite - is there anyone who smells badly in your circles?’ ’Of course not.’ ’So why do you think that someone may smell badly around Heavenly King?’ continue...

CLEAR SOLUTION TO THE DIFFICULT PROBLEM

The interview with the Father Superior of the Sretensky monastery, Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov) was published in the ’NG-Religii’ #7. The subject of the conversation is the removal of the suspension from Fr. Georgy Kochetkov. "The quest for various forms of the parish life shouldn’t develop into violation of our Church order and traditions", says Fr. Tikhon. continue...

THE MESSAGE OF THE RUSSIAN CLERICS OF ROCOR TO THE BISHOPS’ COUNCIL OF ROCOR. THE COMMENTARY
The main aim of the so-called ’Message of the clerics of ROCOR to the Bishops’ Council of ROCOR’ is obvious - by fair means or foul not to let the unification of the artificially separated Church take place, despite the fact that the time is ripe for it. The church people look forward to it with impatience. This situation taken into account, the provocative nature of the ’Message’ is absolutely obvious. continue...

THE INTERVIEW OF ARCHIMANDRITE TIKHON TO ’PROFILE’ MAGAZINE
		The interview which was recently given by the Father Superior of Sretensky monastery Archimandrite Tikhon to ’Profile" magazine receives much heavily biased comments in the mass media, and the meaning of his utterances is often rudely distorted. We publish the full text of the interview from the ’Profile’ No. 35. continue...

SPIRITUAL AND GEOPOLITICAL RIVALRY AT THE BRINK OF THE XXI CENTURY Natalia A. Narochnitskaya
		The concrete foreign policy of states and their alliances have always been the closest structure, although not always the most evident, that is linked to profound phenomena in world history involving the state of rises and falls in spiritual, and not exclusively material, driving forces of the global process. In this sense, Russia is a brilliant example. Located at the junction of world civilizations on the global island of the Eurasian continent, it has fulfilled a unique geopolitical mission during the centuries in being the bearer of global balance between the Christian and non-Christian worlds. continue...

SRETENSKY STAVROPEGHIAL MONASTERY
Sretensky monastery is one of the most ancient monasteries, being founded in 1397 to commemorate the miraculous event of the meeting of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. The history of the Russian state with its wars, revolutions, fervent prayers and furious godlessness is clearly reflected in the history of the monastery. continue...

CHRISTIANITY OR THE CHURCH? Archbishop Hilarion (Troitsky)
		Usually, people prefer to remain silent concerning a matter which they know nothing about and do not understand. This, of course, is completely sensible. Let us imagine, for example, a person who knows nothing about chemistry but who, nevertheless, constantly insists upon interfering in the affairs of chemists. He corrects their scientific formulae which have been obtained with great difficulty, changing their order or replacing one with another. We would agree that such a person is acting with the highest degree of imprudence and that we can only have pity for him. There is one field, however, in which too many people consider themselves to be complete masters, in fact, almost legislators; that is the area concerning the Christian faith and the Church. continue...

HIMALAYAN ASCENT TO CHRIST R. Monk Adrian
When we come to know God as Person, we begin to see His hand at work not only in the circumstances of our daily lives, but also in the events of our past which have led us to the present moment. We see how from partial truths He has led us to the fullness of Truth, and how He continues to lead us into a. more profound realization of that Truth. As Fr. Seraphim wrote, when we come to Christ "no real truth we have ever known will ever be lost." continue...

BRITONS, MY LOST LOVE Victor N. Trostnikov
Treason kills love, and my beloved Britons turned traitors. They have betrayed not me, of course, -- who am I, after all? -- but their own land, and I will not forgive that. "...The things I knew was proper you wouldn’t thank me to give, And the things I knew was rotten you said was the way to live". continue...

ETERNAL JOY For the Seventieth Anniversary of the Death of the Holy Martyr Archbishop Hilarion (Troitsky)
		From his early childhood, the Church was the main source of his joy - as a tiny child he would stand next to the choir. He received a deep understanding of the Church as an organism uniting God and man, where people are joined together in love. Most of his theological works are devoted to the Church, as the only source of genuine joy. Their central idea - ’God is not Father to him for whom the Church is not Mother’. continue...

THE RELIGIOUS-PHILOSOPHICAL DIMENSIONS OF CULTURE Latin West and Orthodox East: different history of corruption - one dramatic challenge on the threshold of the IIIrd Millennium of Christ. Natalia A. Narochnitskaya
It was the blood and sweat of St. Francis of Assisi and the tears of St. Augustine that disciplined and raised the West European spirit to the heights able to produce its great culture. "The Prometheus Individual" corrupted that spirit by pride, and after Renaissance he comes to obvious Decadence... in the one world of universal human values. The focus on outer freedom inevitably emphasised and romanticised the material tangible needs of an individual, while inducing a scepticism towards the highest values - religious, national, honour, love, sacrifice - all of which become relative leading to the relativism of good and evil - what Dostoyevsky called the loss of responsibility for the destiny of the world. The alienation emerged to become a subject for the Western philosophy and eventually the main dimension of the European culture. continue...