What Is Ecumenism? Traps, Methods, and Orthodox Positions Is Ecumenism a Heresy? What Do the Fathers and Saints Say? INTRODUCTION The 20th and 21st centuries are marked by great changes in the Christian world: dialogues between confessions, movements for “unity,” the development of interreligious relations, and a general perception that theological differences are “secondary.” These tendencies have taken institutional form through the movement of Ecumenism. The problem, howev

Introduction In the life of the Orthodox Church, no action, no prayer, no feast, and no celebration surpasses the Divine Liturgy. It is the “sacrament of sacraments,” the “holy work,” the very revelation of the Kingdom of God breaking into the world. When we speak about thanksgiving—whether in the American civil sense of “Thanksgiving Day” or in the Christian theological sense—we must begin and end with the Eucharist. The word Eucharist (εὐχαριστία) itself means “thanksgiving

The Nativity Fast — the well-known Forty Days — is one of the most beautiful yet often misunderstood gifts the Church offers to the faithful. It is the second great and long fasting period after Great Lent. It also lasts forty days, but with a milder canonical strictness, and with a unique character of joyful sorrow: a preparation through repentance, yet also a sweet and calm anticipation of the birth of Christ. Below follows an extended study (theological, patristic, and his