Many scholars agree the Akathist was composed by St. Romanos the Melodist, who reposed in the year 556.

from The Truth of Our Faith, by Elder Cleopa

Archbishop Averky of Syracuse and Holy Trinity Monastery (+1976) on The Ladder of Divine Ascent

Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Great Lent by St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov)

By Metropolitan Philaret
From "The Ladder of Divine Ascent," (Boston: Holy Transfiguration Monastery, 1978)

From The Explanation of the Gospel of St. Mark
by Blessed Theophylact, Archbishop of Ochrid and Bulgaria

St. John Climacus is honored by the Church as a great ascetic and as the author of a remarkable work entitled, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, and therefore he has been named “Climacus,” or “of the Ladder.”

Under apartheid, ROCOR was dissuaded by the state officials to accept African converts

By Reader Vitaly Efimenkov, a graduate of Holy Trinity Seminary, the Slavonic Language Choir Director at the Holy Virgin Mary Cathedral in Los Angeles, CA.

By Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlachos) of Nafpaktos

“O Invincible and incomprehensible and divine power of the precious and life-giving Cross, forsake not us sinners.”
by Professor I. M. Andreyev

By St. Gregory of Neo-Caesarea

Homily on the Third Sunday of Great Lent by St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov)

by St. John Chrysostom

Mark 8:34 - 9:1
From The Explanation of the Gospel of St. Mark
by Blessed Theophylact

Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco

St. Anthony said, "Man's great labor consists in taking all his transgressions upon himself before the face of God, and expecting temptation to his last breath."

Reasons Why Our Intentions to Lead a Better and Holy Life Do Not Produce Results
From the Conversations of Metropolitan Gregory of Novgorod

On Wednesday, April 3, the Lenten Retreat for clergy of the southern deaneries of the Eastern American Diocese concluded with the celebration of the Divine Liturgy of Presanctified Gifts

The Life of St. Gregory Palamas

St. Cyril (315-386) was a distinguished theologian and archbishop of Jerusalem in the early Church.

by Archbishop Chrysostomos of Etna

Near Caves                Far Caves

by Archimandrite Ephraim of Vatopedi

From The Explanation of the Gospel of St. Mark
by Blessed Theophylact

Synaxarion of the Lenten Triodion and Pentecostarion
Sunday of Orthodoxy - Saint John of Shanghai & San Francisco
What is Orthodoxy? - Archbishop Averky
Sunday of Orthodoxy - Tikhon, Metropolitan of Moscow 1903
Sunday of Orthodoxy - Archbishop Averky 1971

An icon celebrating the veneration of icons is the festal icon for the first Sunday of Great Lent.

A Liturgist and Defender of the Faith
by by Archpriest Vladimir Dolgikh

Johann von Gardner (+1984)

John 1: 43-51
From The Explanation of the Gospel of St. John
by Blessed Theophylact

"God sent us the soviet government as punishment, to bring us to our senses; but to some, as a future reward for suffering"

Confession through martyrdom
by Elder Joseph of Vatopaidi

As the result of the Russo-Japanese War, thousands of Russians fled south from Siberia and Manchuria and found temporary refuge in Australia

On the Saturday of the first week of Great Lent, we commemorate an event which occurred in the year 356—a miracle of Great Martyr Theodore the Tyro ("the Recruit").

"O merciful Lord, who art the source and fountain of purity, preserve us in the Fast"

If the soul of a Christian longs for purity and seeks spiritual health, it should strive with all its might to make use of this time so advantageous for the soul.