In the spring of 2026, Ukraine commemorated one of the most tragic pages in its history: the anniversary of the Babyn Yar tragedy in Kyiv. This place is a symbol of the horrific crimes committed by the Nazi occupation regime against the Jewish, Ukrainian, and other peoples, and at the same time a sacred place of remembrance for all of us…
Section: Annals of History
The Experience of Confession in East Slavic Orthodox Christianity and Its Implications
For many “cradle” Orthodox Christians in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, experiencing one’s first confession at around the age of seven marked the transition from infancy to childhood. Regarding seven as the age of reason, or of “discretion”, was something they shared with their Roman Catholic neighbors, as was the way in which their families prepared them for their first experience of confession…
Resurrecting Gold from the Dunghill:Historical and Theological Considerations of Confession Practices in the East
A survey of confession and reconciliation practices in the contemporary Orthodox East presupposes a hearty trek through the ancient Church’s experience. From the apostolic age, one encounters two distinct perspectives on the theme of reconciliation in St. Paul’s epistles…
The Spirit of the Grand Inquisitor: On the Ukaz of Metropolitan Sergius Condemning the Theological Views of Father Sergius Bulgakov
On September 7, 1935, the Moscow Patriarchate delivered an ukaz against the sophiology of Father Sergii Bulgakov. On October 30, a similar condemnation was published by the Russian Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR), headquartered in Serbia, except this time Bulgakov’s teaching was labeled not simply “foreign” to Orthodoxy but outright heretical.
Divine Wisdom on Trial: The Sophia Affair and Theological Freedom
The classic case of intellectual freedom in modern Orthodox theology is the mid-1930s controversy provoked by Father Sergii Bulgakov’s theology of Sophia or Divine Wisdom (sophiology). Bulgakov’s sophiology was put “on trial” by three instances of the Russian Orthodox Church; two denounced it, and the third determined that Bulgakov should not teach the doctrine at[…..]
Nicu Steinhardt and the Mystery of Freedom
When writer Nicu Steinhardt was released from the vicious Communist gulag alongside thousands of other political prisoners during the general amnesty of 1964, four years into his initial thirteen-year conviction, he didn’t exactly walk out into freedom. As his father had warned him when urging him to choose prison over the communists’ demand that he[…..]
Empire and Autocephaly: A Brief Historical Sketch
Many churchgoing Orthodox Christians are oblivious to the canonical disarray and infighting between churches that are, in many ways, a direct result of the historical interplay between Church and empire. The faithful are, understandably, happy to get to a functioning parish with a good priest on the weekend. However, for those who have serious interest[…..]
“God’s Special Care”: Monarchy and the Orthodox Church
A constitutional monarch of the United Kingdom, who must by law be a faithful Protestant, carries the titles “Defender of the Faith” and “Supreme Governor of the Church of England.” The oil used for the sacramental anointing of King Charles III was consecrated at the Anastasis, the Church of the Resurrection, by the Orthodox Patriarch[…..]
British Monarchy through the Centuries
On a recent trip to England and Scotland, I reflected on the long history of the monarchy and the Church in the land of my forebears, stretching from the sixth century to the present day. The struggle to find the proper relationship between the two has been fraught.
The Rebirth of Religion in Russia
The Holy Kremlin of Moscow has become a Bolshevik fortress. From the 9th to the 16th of November, 1917, for more than seven days under a hurricane of fire, the city was stormed and finally carried by the Bolsheviks in terrible fratricidal war. Since then the sacred citadel has been playing a new and ignominious[…..]
Iakovos in Selma
Fifty-three years have passed since a band of men, women, and children walked from Selma, Alabama to the state capital of Montgomery as witnesses to the black Americans’ right to vote. This march, memorable for all Americans, has special significance for Orthodox Christians in this country.
Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, the Nation-State, and the Specter of Byzantium
While it is customary for Orthodox Christians to look to canonical legislation when they seek to evaluate the challenges of the contemporary world, it is rarely the case that inquirers properly account for the full context or Sitz im Leben of the canons.
Orthodoxy and Nationalism in Georgia
Although the Orthodox churches have explicitly condemned ecclesiastical racism, or ethnophyletism, they have never forbidden Orthodox Christians of shared language, ethnicity, or geography from using religion as a criterion for who is “us” and who is “not us.” This kind of nationalism—that is, the process by which a group of people becomes recognizable to itself[…..]