Blog Posts

Phoebe Farag Mikhail offers us a book, Putting Joy into Practice, that is like a warm blanket to hold onto as we journey through Lent. During those moments when I feel myself turning to anxiety or fear, her words comfort and redirect me so that I stay in touch with joy, love, compassion, and–the true meaning of Lent for me–connecting to God.

Revoula Venizelou was born in Athens, then part of the Ottoman Empire, on November 21, 1522, the only child of an illustrious and well-off Byzantine family. At 14, her parents married her to a fellow aristocrat, Andrea Chila, who turned out to be an abusive husband. She was only 17 when he died. Although her parents wanted her to remarry, she insisted on remaining at home, where she could spend her time in prayer and works of charity. As a result, she earned the respect and love of her community. Her parents died when she was 27, and she inherited extensive property. Around a year later, she founded a women’s monastery dedicated to St. Andrew and took the name Philothei. 

The first in a series of four blog posts reacting--in advance of our upcoming webinar--to Phoebe Farag Mikhail's book Putting Joy Into Practice. Tasoni Phoebe herself will be leading the webinar on March 19 at 7:30 Eastern, with a focus especially on the practices of fasting and hospitality. Here's Judith's take on reading the book in a dark time:

Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. 

(Jesus Prayer)

When I fall on my knees with my face to the rising sun,

Oh Lord, have mercy on me.  

This post is not about St. Mariamne, whom we commemorate today on the New Calendar, but it could have been. She was the sister of the apostle Philip, and she took a vow not to marry so that she could help him and Bartholomew in their apostolic work. As a result, she herself is one of the rare saints considered Equal to the Apostles. Where would be be if they hadn't--to paraphrase Metropolitan Savas in a post from October 2019--accepted her ministry as a blessing to their individual selves and our Holy Mother Church?

First in our series of Celebrated Women is Frederica Mathewes-Green.  She  is a well-known American convert to Eastern Orthodoxy and has been a prominent voice since the 1990s. For her the Church as a true and authentic expression of Christianity that has remained unchanged for over two thousand years means that it has preserved the teachings and traditions of the early Church, and has remained faithful to Jesus and the apostles. Mathewes-Green also sees the Orthodox Church as a beacon of hope in a world that is often troubled and divided. She believes that the Church offers a way of life that is rooted in love, compassion, and forgiveness, and that it has the power to transform the world through its witness and teachings.

The bare details of her life are simple, but the implications outline a path to understanding both the communal nature of sin and the communal nature of salvation. 

Also called St Marina the Monk, this Saint was thought to have been born in Turkey or Lebanon and died in Syria. She lost her mother at an early age and when her father offered to find her a spouse so he could see her settled and be free to join a monastery, Marina refused.

He didn’t know how to care for her and fulfill his own calling, but Marina shaved her hair, dressed as a boy, and entered the monastery with her father. They lived this way for ten years, until his departure, after which she remained in the monastery as a monk. 

I spend a lot of time working with women at Axia, and thinking about women’s issues, and looking at Orthodoxy through my own eyes and those of the women in our network. And when I go to liturgy, I find myself in parishes whose membership is at least half women and girls. So attending the International Orthodox Theological Association’s mega-conference in Volos, Greece, was a bit of a shock, however much I had been expecting it. I already knew that less than a quarter of its 450+ attendees would be women. Most of the people attending were theologians or other church scholars, and a large proportion wore cassocks.