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Discover the CollectionWe often become discouraged because the good things of this life do not remain stable. Health changes. Plans collapse. Human relationships can become fragile. Success does not always last. Even moments of happiness pass quickly. We try to hold on to what is good, but very often it slips through our hands. At first, this can seem unfair. Why does
By Giselle Soares, Ambassador Warren Clark Fellow for Churches for Middle East Peace | Originally published on Public Orthodoxy, 29 April 2026. Image Credit: iStock.com/Mehmet Hilmi Barcin In the waters of the Sea of Marmara, on the island of Heybeliada (historically known as Halki), stands a prominent theology school of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Holy Theological School of Halki
On the Third Sunday of Great Lent, a wooden cross is carried into the middle of the church and placed there for the entire week — not as decoration, but as a summons. Fr Thomas Hopko, Emeritus Dean of St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, reflects on what it truly means to venerate the cross: not merely to kiss it, incense it, or carry it in procession, but to pick it up. Drawing on Mark 8:34, the early Christian hymns of St Paul, and the missionary writings of St. Innocent of Alaska, this homily cuts to the heart of Lenten discipline — that to deny oneself and take up the cross is, in the end, simply to love. No matter what.
As part of the 2026 Orthodox Scholars Preach series, organized by the Orthodox Christian Studies Center of Fordham University, we are pleased to share this sermon delivered on the Second Sunday of Great Lent — the Sunday of St. Gregory Palamas — by the Very Rev. Dr. John Behr. This series brings together leading Orthodox scholars who offer short but
Saint Porphyrios was once asked what the greatest spiritual struggle is. People expected something dramatic. Long fasts. Harsh asceticism. Heroic feats. He said something much simpler.
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