Religion & Beliefs

Prot. Victor Harakas26.10.2025

When should one fast? What different kinds of fasting are there and why? What does fasting do for you? The Kinds of Fasting In order to answer these questions best, I will rearrange the order of them. First of all, let’s look at what kinds of fasting there are and the reason for them. In […]

Victor Aliyev19.10.2025

Dreams, spiritual visions and revelations in the Lutheran tradition: from Luther and Böhme to modern Protestants. The Orthodox tradition, recognizing in principle the possibility of divine revelations through dreams (this is stated in the lives of the saints), in ascetic practice treats them with deep “sobriety”, as a potentially dangerous area of delusion. The Lutheran […]

Prot. Victor Harakas15.10.2025

The Orthodox teaching on dreams is that we shouldn’t believe them and interpret them, but dismiss them, because they may come from the devil. SPIRITUAL VISIONS Does the Orthodox faith believe in revelation of spiritual visions through dreams? The answer to this question is a bit on the complex side. The Church could hardly deny […]

Victor Aliyev08.10.2025

Fifteen years of pastoral ministry have taught me a simple truth: being a Lutheran in Russia means constantly answering the question of what Russian Lutheranism is. There is no answer—there are six different answers, six paths that seem to lead to the same goal. The history of this diversity goes back centuries. The first Lutheran […]

Prot. Victor Harakas26.09.2025

How to explain the following passage from the New Testament as it appears in the Jerusalem Bible: “If it is hard for a good man to be saved, what will happen to the wicked man and to sinners?” (1 Peter 4:18)? The passage which you mention is interesting on a number of different levels. First, […]

Yuri Chekalin17.09.2025

Shinto is often referred to as polytheistic, because there are many Kami that are classified in three ways: amatsukami (heavenly Kami), kunitsukami (earthly Kami) and yaoyorozu no kami (myriad other Kami). Kami are therefore not necessarily deities in the sense that is usually understood, but possess a wide variety of spiritual powers and attributes. Shinto […]

David Tilman24.08.2025

Christianity appeared during the early Roman Empire, spread throughout the Mediterranean area and beyond it, and within four centuries had become the dominant religion and system of thought in the Near East, North Africa, and Europe. The influence of Christian attitudes toward the natural environment was widespread, particularly in the last few centuries of ancient […]

Prot. Victor Harakas22.08.2025

What is the purpose of the Divine Liturgy? There are several important purposes to the Divine Liturgy. The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is one of a number of different liturgical forms of the Holy Eucharist. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the most common way of celebrating the Eucharist, is the Divine Liturgy of […]

Kirill Benediktov11.05.2025

Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost, is the first American to hold the See of St. Peter. He is an American born in Chicago, but not Anglo-Saxon: his father, a Navy sailor and World War II veteran, is half French and half Italian, and his mother, a librarian, is Spanish by birth. The new […]

Prot. Victor Harakas23.03.2025

This figure is prominent in the writings of St. John in the New Testament (1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7). The name comes from the Greek word “antichristos.” It means something or someone opposed to Christ. Generally speaking, any force, person, practice, or behavior which is antagonistic to, and contrary to, Christ may […]

Fasting

Dreams in Contemporary Protestantism

Common Questions

6 Lutheran Churches in Russia

An Important Lesson

Characteristics of Shinto

Christianity and the Natural Environment

Divine Liturgy

In the Vatican, the American Pope

Antichrist

Japan to keep importing Russian LNG

The Deal of the Century for Trump the Peacemaker

Fasting

The Glory of the World