The hymns of Vespers remind us that the Transfiguration is not merely a historical event, but something which also has implications for us. Those who “desire to see and hear things past understanding” must ascend from earthly concerns to “the height of the contemplation of the…

The Martyrs Archdeacon Laurence, Pope Sixtus, Deacons Felicissimus and Agapitus, and the soldier Romanus were citizens of Rome, and suffered in the year 258 during the reign of Emperor Valerian (253-260). Saint Sixtus was born in the city of Athens, and at first he was a philosopher, but later he…

Blessed Laurence, the Fool-for-Christ and Wonderworker of Kaluga, lived at the beginning of the XVI century at a distance of half a verst from old Kaluga, near a forest church dedicated to the Nativity of Christ, set upon a high hill. There was a long underground entrance from his dwelling place…