• Articles,  Other Articles

    300,000 Priests Were Given a Choice – They All Chose Death

    They could have rejected their priesthood and saved their lives. But they didn’t under Bolshevik persecution… 300,000 priests were killed during the Communist era. They actually had an easy way out. They could have just rejected their priesthood and been set free. They could have kept praying in secret, even singing in church choirs, as long as they rejected their calling. Yet so many of them chose death.  What people are ready to die for reveals with startling clarity what is actually valuable in life. I mean, can you imagine being ready to die just because something frustrated you, for example, if you didn’t get your newspaper in the morning? No, people are…

  • Articles,  Lives,  Martyrs

    The Cedar of Lebanon: St Jacob the Martyr

    As a cedar of Lebanon groweth without fear of martyrdom or death. Thou didst become a victor O Father Jacob. Thou didst conquer death in thy body when by humility thou didst control the passions and when thou wast burnt like incense as a sacrifice. Intercede with Christ to grant us great mercy. +Apolytikion in the Third Mode Above the Kadeesha River sits a pearl of ascetic struggle unworthy of the world. Burrowed in the caves of Mount Hamatoura exists the Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos, overlooking a land that once flourished with monastic fervor. Until the late 90’s this monastery was in ruins, uninhabited, and forgotten since times…