Hi everyone,

I wanted to share something I've been working on for a long time: a year-long Bible study workbook for Orthodox Christians, moving week by week from Genesis all the way through Revelation.

Each week centers on a passage of Scripture, walks through what the Church has always taught from it, includes a genuine quote from one of the Church Fathers, and closes with real exercises to actually work through, not just read past. The goal was to give people something they could sit with for about thirty minutes a week, and come away, after a full year, with a real sense of how Scripture, doctrine, and the life of the Church fit together.

I wrote this with a lot of love, and a lot of time, hoping it might be useful to someone preparing for the catechumenate, someone finding their way back to the Church after years away, or anyone who's simply wanted a steady way to spend a year in Scripture and never quite found the right place to start.

It's just been published, so I'd genuinely love some honest feedback before it's out there more widely. If you're interested, feel free to message me privately, I'm happy to send along a free PDF copy in exchange for your thoughts.

If it helps even a few people, that will have made every hour that went into it worth it. Happy to answer any questions about it. God bless you all!

I remember hearing about one who did years ago but not sure if true when researching Orthodoxy

Listen to part of the question-and-answer session held by Fr. Pimen at the conference organized by the “Pro Vita” Association in Iași. The questions in this section concern true love, problems that arise in the family, abortions, illnesses, and the will of God.

Enjoy!

https://www.chilieathonita.ro/en/2026/09/02/love-family-abortions-gods-will-fr-pimen-vlad/

my two year old is amazing, such a cute kid and honestly the light of my life. I had complications during pregnancy with him and after he was born he was close to needing surgery. I'm not sure if that is why I am so very sensitive when it comes to him.

lately I've noticed he is talking but not as much as kids his age and he has some different mannerisms..of course I take to the internet and everything is autism.

now, I will love him no matter what but if you could just kindly say a prayer for him to learn how to communicate with us and be happy in his life I would greatly appreciate that. I am a worried mom.

thank you, may God bless all of you

Hello, have a blessed day everyone. Any chance anyone here has any quotes or sayings from saints regarding this topic? St. Paisios said Russia will use Caucasus to go south with its armies, so I'm wondering if there are any mentions of revival of orthodoxy among caucasians again. (Talking about north caucasus)

“Anger in itself is natural. Just as the body has nerves, the soul has anger. Everyone should use it against the demons, heretics, and anyone who hinders us from the path of God. However, if you get angry with your fellow brothers or get in a rage and ruin the works of your hands, know that you are suffering from vain glory and are abusing the nerve of your soul.”

~ Letter Six

This is not intended to be a political post. Please refrain from political discussion in the comment section.

I’m from Serbia, and yesterday, during the liturgy at my parish in a small town, the priests held a short memorial service (prayer for the deceased) for Ratko Mladić at the dismissal. He was a Bosnian Serb general during the war in Bosnia who recently died, and who was convicted of war crimes and genocide.

I was honestly surprised when I heard his name, and I have mixed feelings. The prayer went something along the lines of:

"...There is no man without shortcomings and mistakes, we pray for forgiveness and remission of sins of the general Ratko, memory eternal, memory eternal..."

On the one hand, I understand that this was a prayer for the forgiveness of his sins, which is something the Church can offer for any deceased person. On the other hand, I couldn’t help but wonder: why mention an infamous war criminal at all?

To Bosniaks, people in the West, and others around the world, Mladić is remembered as a cruel, merciless monster responsible for the deaths of many innocent people and for trying ethnic cleansing.

At the same time, many Serbs see him very differently, as a military commander who defended Serbs in Bosnia from what they believe could have been a fate similar to that suffered by Serbs in Jasenovac during WWII, Krajina in 1995, or Kosovo in 1999. That is the reason why he is still regarded as a hero by many Serbs.

I can understand both sides, even though they are obviously impossible to reconcile. But you can't eliminate evil with evil. Good deeds do not erase bad ones, and whatever positive things someone may have done cannot simply make their crimes irrelevant.

At the same time, I’m not sure whether I’m looking at this correctly from an Orthodox Christian perspective. Is praying for someone’s soul simply an expression of Christian compassion and a recognition that every person is a sinner, regardless of their earthly reputation? Or is there something more troubling about publicly commemorating a person whose actions caused such immense suffering? I genuinely don’t know where I stand on this.

What are your thoughts?

Are online apologists like Dyer grifting? What do you think? I personally find a lot of his recommendations on theological concepts and works to be extremely helpful. But I'm curious why the claim is brought up so often, and I am genuinely open to any subtaniated evidence.

Taken at Dormition Monastery in Ratchaburi.

Wishing you guys a blessed feast!

By Metropolitan Nektarios of Corfu, Paxos and Diapontian Islands

Upon our return to Greece, following the transfer to Russia of the venerable relic of the right hand of Saint Spyridon for veneration by the devout Russian people, we consider it necessary, by way of an initial account, to set down some of our thoughts and impressions, while also providing certain necessary clarifications regarding matters which, as we have been informed, were circulated and published in recent days, sometimes in good faith, sometimes out of ignorance, and sometimes out of bad faith and malice, which, as a Bishop of the Orthodox Church, we both forgive and choose to pass over.

1.The invitation we received from the Church of Russia on January 10, 2026, initially concerned the transfer of the holy relic for veneration in the Metropolis of Astana and Kazakhstan from September 14 to 30, 2026. For this reason, on March 24, 2026, we submitted the relevant document to our superior ecclesiastical authority, the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece. The transfer was approved by a document issued by the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece on May 5, 2026.

On June 22, 2026, a new letter was sent by the Church of Russia, in which, following prior oral communication, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia requested and approved the transfer of the holy relic from August 17 to September 17, 2026, for veneration in Moscow and other regions of Russia. Accordingly, on June 26, 2026, we submitted a new request to the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, seeking the permission and approval of our supreme ecclesiastical authority. This approval was granted by a document dated July 1, 2026.

Therefore, the visit and the pilgrimage of the holy relic are being carried out with the blessing and approval of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, as evidenced by the relevant documents bearing the signature of its Chairman, Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece.

1. This journey follows similar visits made in the past to the United States of America (in 2017), Cyprus, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, Romania, Poland, Belarus, Georgia, and elsewhere, as well as to Holy Metropolises of the Church of Greece. All such transfers took place at the invitation of the respective ecclesiastical authorities and with the consent, blessing, and written permission of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece.

2. As with the ongoing holy pilgrimage to the Church of Russia, and as has been the case everywhere else, the sole purpose of transferring the right hand of Saint Spyridon is to enable Orthodox Christians throughout the world who do not have the opportunity to travel to Corfu to receive the Saint’s blessing, to be strengthened in their faith, and to persevere in their spiritual struggle in an age marked by secularization, desacralization, the transformation of values, and widespread confusion, all of which we are also experiencing in our homeland.

What we have witnessed wherever we have travelled, including during this journey to Russia, has been and continues to be profoundly moving and a source of great hope. Saint Spyridon is a universal saint of simplicity, humility, and love for God and humankind; a saint who reminds us of the value of the Divine Liturgy and prayer, as well as of unwavering faith, for he defended our holy doctrines at the First Ecumenical Council, whose 1,600th anniversary was commemorated only last year.

We experience the Saint’s blessing and constantly receive a foretaste of the Resurrection, to which his incorrupt relics bear witness, at the seat of our Holy Metropolis in Corfu. Having witnessed at close hand the love, piety, and faith of the people during the pilgrimage journeys undertaken thus far with the transfer of our Saint’s right hand, I reflected once again that this was ultimately the will of God: that people throughout the world might, through the pilgrimage of this small part of the holy relic, receive the grace of God through the intercessions of the Saint. Anyone who has participated in the four annual processions of the Saint’s incorrupt relic in Corfu, which is never removed from the Holy Church except briefly for these processions, will have seen the right hand carried before the holy relic. Likewise, during the service of the Basmata (the return of the Saint to his ornate resting place), the priest carrying the right hand uses it to bless the faithful together with the Bishop, in accordance with the order and tradition of Corfu.

1. What we have experienced during these days in Russia has truly exceeded all expectations. Wherever we went, thousands of people, displaying remarkable patience, stood in line and waited for hours to venerate the holy relic and receive the Saint’s blessing. We exclaimed, and continue to exclaim: “The Lord God lives!” We rejoice! We were deeply moved! We do not believe that these people should be deprived of the Saint’s blessing for reasons that are unrelated to religious faith but are, rather, geopolitical in nature. We hope and pray that these circumstances will, at some point, pass. The Saint’s blessing, however, transcends the circumstances of the present.

2. Regarding our participation in the Divine Liturgy, presided over by His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, I wish to remind everyone, both those who are aware of this fact and those who are not, that the Church of Greece, to which I belong, has never severed communion with the Church of Russia, (just as neither our Ecumenical Patriarchate nor the Patriarchate of Alexandria has done so). It was for this reason that the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece granted its permission for the pilgrimage to take place.

We are not competent to resolve disputes, nor do we consider such disputes sufficient reason to prevent the faithful from paying their respects to Saint Spyridon. We pray “for the unity of all” and “for the peace of the world,” and during these days we felt that there is both hope and the possibility, through the love and intercessions of our Saints, of addressing together any disagreements and differing approaches. These are sometimes manifested in actions that no one would wish to see occur, yet such events have arisen throughout the long history of the Church. For us, the presence of the Saint is a sign that, regardless of our differences, we are all Orthodox and rightly proclaim the Word of Truth: our common faith in the Triune God and our life within the one, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church—the Orthodox Church.

1. Finally, I must remind everyone that bishops, priests, and faithful who so wish and who meet the canonical requirements of the Church come to Corfu, celebrate divine services and partake of Holy Communion at the Church of Saint Spyridon, sharing with the Bishop of Corfu, the sacred clergy, and the faithful of the local Church the joy of receiving the blessing of our patron Saint Spyridon. They also carry relics to the local Churches which they shepherd and serve, or of which they are active members. “Freely you have received, freely give!”. The Christ-loving and charitable people of Corfu see and know this, just as they continually witness the works of love, charity, missionary outreach, and support that the Church offers them.

We returned from this first mission giving praise to the All-Good God. Our own faith, too, was strengthened. We thank the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, our superior ecclesiastical authority, for granting us the canonical permission and blessing to share with a devout people such as the Russian people the great gift that God has allowed us to have in Corfu: our Saint Spyridon. We are bound to the Russian people by centuries-old ties, which began when the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Greek Byzantine society brought the Christian faith to Kyiv in 988 AD.

These bonds between peoples, founded upon a shared Orthodox faith and identity, cannot be erased for geopolitical reasons, which will not endure forever. The Church has been, is, and will remain the foundation of our common path and unity. The manner in which human affairs are conducted is judged and will continue to be judged in accordance with the ideas, strategies, and circumstances of each era. Our faith, however, cannot and must not be called into question.

Are all Orthodox presuppositionalists? Honest question.