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The Donation of Mehmet: The Myth of Orthodoxy under the Ottoman Empire
In 1054, Pope Leo IX of Rome wrote a letter to Ecumenical Patriarch Michael Cerularius, defending his claims to supremacy by citing a document known as the “Donation of Constantine.” This document purported to…
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The Other American Orthodox Saints: A Pilgrim’s Guide
NOTE: I have continually updated this article as I have received more information or had new thoughts occur to me. For Orthodox Christians, what do California, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, New York, Ohio,…
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When a god visited Congress
In 1934, St John Maximovitch was ordained ROCOR bishop of Shanghai and sent to shepherd the Russian exiles in China. Even before his episcopal ordination, when St John was teaching at the Bitol seminary…
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Non-Fasting Between Pascha and Ascension
In all but one of the world’s Orthodox Churches today, after a fast-free Bright Week, the Wednesday and Friday fasts resume. This happens even though we continue to exclaim “Christ is risen!” until Ascension,…
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New Translation: St Raphael Against the Papacy
The pontificate of Leo XIII (1878-1903) was marked by a flurry of encyclicals addressing the Christian East, which naturally received a great variety of Orthodox responses. Here on Orthodox History we have already published…
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Chinese Orthodox Martyrs: A Firsthand Account of the Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion was an anti-foreign, anti-Christian uprising in China at the turn of the twentieth century. Its victims included a group of Chinese Orthodox Christians, who were brutally martyred on June 11-12, 1900.…