Rating: 8,4|Votes: 5

John of Kronstadt: Saint of Communion, Saint of Confession

Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware)

It is very clear that when St. John in his Epistle and our Savior in the Gospel speak about love they do not just mean something sentimental, something emotional, they mean something far more profound. The kind of love that they envisage, a universal all-embracing love, a love without limits, can only be a result of prayer, of ascetic effort.

Rating: 9,9|Votes: 24

Blessed Alypia, Fool-for-Christ of Kiev

Sergei Geruk

Further on in her life we read how she was miraculously freed from prison, and how the Apostle Peter appeared to her. In light of this fact and her later life of prayer, it becomes clear why she prayed so many years directly in front of the large icon of the Apostles Peter and Paul located in the right side-altar of the Demeyevsky Church in Kiev.

Rating: 7,9|Votes: 12

The Iveron Mother of God, and the Myrrh-Streaming Icons of Hawaii

In June of 2008, the “Hawaiian” Myrrh-streaming Iveron Icon was officially recognized by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia as miraculous and worthy of veneration, and was given the blessing to travel to the various churches and monasteries of Holy Orthodoxy. The original “owner” of the Icon, Reader Nectarios, was charged by the Russian Orthodox Church to be Her guardian, and provide for the safety and care of this Wonderworking Icon of Christ’s Holy Church.

Rating: 8|Votes: 4

Synaxis of the Saints of Optina

Commemorated October 11/24

Although the beginning of monastic life in Optina monastery dates to at least as early as the sixteenth century, it is most known for its tradition of spiritual eldership in the tradition of St. Paisius (Velichkovsky) of Moldavia, which flourished there in the nineteenth century—particularly in the monastery’s Skete of St. John the Forerunner. This pleiad of spiritual luminaries bears a significance to Russian Orthodox spirituality that cannot be overestimated.

Rating: 9,8|Votes: 10

The Life of St. Ambrose of Optina

Commemorated October 10/23

God’s abundant benevolence that resided in him, was the source of those spiritual blessings that allowed him to serve those that visited him, comforting the grieving, strengthening the faith in those that were wavering and directing everybody toward the path of salvation.