January 20, 2011 Associated Press
Just months before the official opening of one of Christianity’s holiest sites to visitors, the area where John the Baptist is said to have baptized Jesus remains surrounded by thousands of land mines.
Israel says the sites visited by pilgrims and tourists in an area [...]
By Professor Ioannes Fountoulis
On January 6th our Church celebrates the great despotic feast of “Theophany” or “Epiphany” or “Holy Lights”. The forefeast begins the day after New Years, January 2nd. In this preparatory period is found the “Sunday Before the Lights”. This fits into the functional forefeast preparation. In the Gospel reading [...]
We shall now say something about the present feast. Many celebrate the feastdays and know their designations, but the cause for which they were established they know not. Thus concerning this, that the present feast is called Theophany — everyone knows; but what this is — Theophany, [...]
After the feast of the Circumcision (Jan. 1), the Church turns its gaze from our Lord’s infancy and childhood to his public ministry, which will begin with His baptism (Matthew 3:13-17). The feast of our Lord’s baptism is called the Theophany, meaning “the manifestation” or “appearance of [...]
1. Theophany or Epiphany and Christmas. Theophany is one of the great Feasts of the Lord of the ecclesiastical year. It is also called Epiphany and the Day of Lights and is celebrated on the 6th of January. The names of this Feast indicate the understanding of [...]
PREAMBLE: The Month of January is marked by the Great Dominical Feast of Theophany (or Epiphany), which commemorates the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ. This provides us with the occasion to consider both the Baptism of our Lord and also our own Baptism. The text published here is from [...]
1. THE FEAST OF EPIPHANY. On the 6th of January Eastern Orthodox and Western Christians celebrated the great Feast of Epiphany (Western) or Theophany (Eastern). This Feast introduced a new period of liturgical celebration, which is still with us – a celebration that goes right back to Christian beginnings and [...]
ON THE CIRCUMCISION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
With Special Reference to
The Oration of Andrew, Archbishop of Crete, The Jerusalemite,
On the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ (PG 97, 913-929)
By
St. Basil the Great
Celebrated January 1st

Very few of us realize that the beginning of the Church calendar does not start on January 1st. Actually, our Church calendar begins on September 1st. In our daily living, however, with our friends and neighbors [...]
Photios Kontoglou, an “emblematic Orthodox painter and novelist,” in the short story “John the Blessed” shows St. Basil the Great (Santa Claus in the Greek tradition) disappointed by human indifference finally finding hope in a young man – a shepherd whom they used to call Yiannis the blessed: “an innocent [...]
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