The Joy of All Who Sorrow Orthodox Christian Church in Indianapolis recently celebrated its Feast Day. We appreciated very much the following encouraging letter from Metropolitan Joseph, otherwise known as our Bishop: Beloved Fr. John, Fathers, Brothers and Sisters in the Lord, I greet you for your decision to celebrate our Church Name Day Joy […]

The Holy Elders Of Optina – Commemoration October 11/24 Prayer of the Optina Elders – suitable for all “O Lord, give me strength to face with serenity everything that this day will bring. Grant me to entrust myself fully to Your holy will. Every hour of this day teach me and support me. Whatever news […]

Saint Xenia was a woman who gave away everything – her house, her money, her possessions, and even her name – who wandered homeless, and who has helped people resolve desperate situations ever since. She lived during the eighteenth century. The wife of Colonel Andrei Feodorovich Petrov, who served as a court chorister, Xenia fell […]

Overcoming Bitterness by Father George Morelli Ph.D. As we go on in life unfortunate things happen to us. Psychologist Albert Ellis (1962) described our reaction to such events this way: “we think. . . it is awful and catastrophic when things are not the way one would very much like them to be.” Frequently individuals […]

In response to our survey earlier this year, someone wrote that we should address “marriage faith afflictions.” We’re not sure what this means and therefore we didn’t know how to address it. Recently though, we found a series of articles on marriage written by Fr. George Morelli, a seasoned professional in the areas of Clinical […]

The Feast of the Dormition of the All-Holy and Blessed Virgin Mary, the Theotokos by Fr. George Dion Dragas The Place of the Theotokos in the Church: The Blessed Virgin Mary, the Theotokos (Mother of God) occupies next to Christ the most important place in Orthodox Christianity. This is most obvious in the Orthodox liturgical […]

By Ryan LaFerney Recently, the  Orthodox Church commemorated one of my favorite saints, Saint Maria Skobtsova of Paris a twentieth century saint who devoted her life to serving the poor and the marginalized. She was one of the great saints of the last century and her life story is very inspirational for modern Christians. Not […]

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”. 1 Corinthians 3:18-19, New King James One form of the ascetic […]

In America the Fast of the Apostles is probably the least well known, but is among the oldest of Christian traditions. It is mentioned by St. Athanasius in the fourth century, and there are other testimonies to its existence very early in the history of the Church. The fast ends with the observance of the […]

Every fast we try to provide new recipes to increase the variety in your diet with healthy dishes. The following were found on the internet and each source is noted. Healthy Pasta Bake by Justine Pattison – A recipe found on the BBC “A fuss-free and healthy pasta bake that you can make in one dish. […]