Matthew Hartley
Great courage and perseverance were called for in the evangelization of those lands, and God raised up saints more than equal to the challenge.
For many centuries after the time of Christ and the establishment of His Church, and even after the Christianization of much of Western Europe, the Scandinavian lands remained inveterately pagan.
The photo shows St. Nektarios during his time as Bishop of Pentapolis in the Patriarchate of Alexandria, standing next to Patriarch Sophronios IV:
The feast day this year was significant as the parishioners welcomed the holy relics of their patron, St. Paraskeva of Rome.
Hieromonk Seraphim (Amelchenkov)
The apotheosis of the time of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God Hodigitria with the Russian army was the carrying of it by order of Commander-in-Chief M.I. Kutuzov throughout the army on the eve of the Battle of Borodino, on August 25/September 7, 1812.