Orthodoxia
An English-language library of the Eastern Orthodox tradition — the lives of the saints, the meaning of the great feasts, prayers explained, and the history of the Church.
Lives of the Saints
Brief, accessible accounts of the men and women whose lives the Orthodox Church remembers — martyrs, monastics, hierarchs, and wonderworkers.
The Great Feasts
The Twelve Great Feasts and Pascha — what each feast commemorates, how it developed, and what the Church teaches in its hymns and icons.
Prayers Explained
The classical prayers of the Orthodox tradition — line by line, with their scriptural roots and their place in daily life.
Church History
Councils, schisms, missions, and movements that shaped the Eastern Christian world from the first century to today.
Recently published
The Seven Ecumenical Councils — An Overview
A short guide to the seven councils that the Orthodox Church recognizes as ecumenical — when they met, what they decided, and why.
The Iconoclast Controversy
The eighth- and ninth-century Byzantine controversy over the veneration of icons — what was at stake, how it was resolved, and why it still matters.
The Baptism of Rus' (988)
The conversion of Kievan Rus' to Orthodox Christianity under Saint Vladimir the Great — the political story, the religious story, and what it has meant since.
Mount Athos — A Short History
The monastic republic on the third peninsula of Chalkidiki — its founding in the tenth century, its golden age, its troubles, and its present life.
The First Council of Nicaea (325)
The first ecumenical council, called by the emperor Constantine to settle the Arian controversy — what was at stake and what was decided.
The Great Schism of 1054
The slow estrangement of Eastern and Western Christianity — the events of July 1054, what really caused them, and how the schism became permanent.
The Prayer of Saint Ephraim
The short Lenten prayer with prostrations, attributed to Saint Ephraim the Syrian — the line-by-line meaning and the discipline of its use.
The Akathist to the Theotokos
The great sixth-century hymn to the Mother of God — the form of the akathist, its place in Great Lent, and how it is sung.