Author: Aram Sarkisian
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When Do “Firsts” Really Matter? Thoughts on Orthodox History in the Americas
Working on the history of Orthodox Christianity in North America means toiling in a vineyard mostly unplanted. Unlike other significant denominations on this continent, scholars of American religions have paid very little attention to…
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Wondering about “OCA Wonder:” Intellectual Life in the Russian Metropolia
Several weeks ago, I saw a small news item on my Facebook timeline advertising the latest issue of Wonder, the Orthodox Church in America’s youth-oriented newsletter. I was slightly bemused that the item’s thumbnail…
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Herman, A Wilderness Saint: From Sarov, Russia to Kodiak, Alaska
The following is a book review from our friend and colleague Nicholas Chapman: Herman, A Wilderness Saint: From Sarov, Russia to Kodiak, Alaska is a new book that I think will be of interest to…
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Thanksgiving at St. Nicholas Cathedral, 1921
Thanksgiving Day as it is constituted as a civil holiday in the United States (and Canada) is not specifically found on the Orthodox liturgical calendar, but that doesn’t mean that Orthodox Christians in North…
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Fr. Alexander Schmemann in Detroit, 1962
Recently, I was alerted to several photographs of a visit Fr. Alexander Schmemann made to Detroit in the winter of 1962. Today would have been Fr. Alexander’s ninety-first birthday, so I thought this to…
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Met. Leonty: A Life in Moments
As Matthew pointed out in his post yesterday, this week marks the 47th anniversary of the death of one of the truly great Orthodox churchmen of the 20th century, Metropolitan Leonty Turkevich. With an ecclesiastical…
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Discovering Fr. Job Salloom
One of my favorite blogs is the photography blog Shorpy, which specializes in posting glorious, high-resolution photographs largely from the Civil War through World War II, many of which come from the Library of…
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St. Patrick’s Day with Fr. Patrick Mythen
We here at SOCHA would like to wish you and yours, Irish or not, a happy St. Patrick’s Day! And who better to portray those wishes than a figure we have written quite extensively about,…
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Fr. Ilia Zotikov: A Hieromartyr in a File Drawer
One of the little mysteries I’ve been meaning to research for some time has a bit of a family connection. This past week, I finally had the opportunity to delve into it, and the…