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#ukrainian orthodox
divinum-pacis · 2 years
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A priest prays for unidentified civilians killed by Russian troops during Russian occupation in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Aug. 11, 2022. Eleven unidentified bodies exhumed from a mass grave were buried in Bucha Thursday. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
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liusia-piu · 4 months
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One of my favourite icons of The Intercession of the Theotokos, I especially love how Romanos is depicted here, his clothes those flowers aaaah 😔🤌💕
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jameslmartellojr · 2 days
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sidebee-horizons · 6 months
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Eastern Orthodox Church of the Intercession, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China. Source.
The Church of the Intercession is the only Orthodox Church in China open to Chinese nationals today. It’s history begins with the construction of the China Eastern Railway. In 1902, a prayer house was built in a Russian cemetery by the Russian employees of the railway. In 1922, a wooden church was built, and in 1930, the current stone building was donated by the railway. Ukrainians fleeing the Russian Revolution in 1917 made up most of the congregation until 1947. In 1958, Chinese/Russian relations worsened and church activities discontinued until 1984, when it was restored. Fr. Gregory Zhu Shipu served the church until his death in 2000. Fr. Alexander Yu Shi has served the church from 2016 to today.
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dianastevanblog · 8 months
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A Treasured Icon
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View On WordPress
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adelie-in-grey · 1 year
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Merry Christmas from Antarctica everyone,
I just thought I would like to share one of my favorite Christmas hymns, or part of it at least. It is an unusually sad one for a time so full of cheer, but I imagine the first Christmas, in that cave/stable in Bethlehem had much the same mood.
Anyways, I wish you all a good night, and a happy Christmastide. Also, Happy Kwanzaa to those who start your celebrations tomorrow.
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lionofchaeronea · 1 month
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Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac is halted by an angel. Fresco in St. Sofia Cathedral, Kyiv, Ukraine, painted ca. 1000.
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ohsalome · 9 months
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Concerned with the survival of unique Ukrainian architecture under constant russian bombing, ukrainian company Skeiron has launched a #SaveUkrainianHeritage project. They 3D scan culture monuments in order to preserve them, at least digitally, if the worst comes true. Asides from this utilitary use, the technology will also be helpful with monitoring the condition of the monuments over time.
While the beautiful church shown on the pictures - Saint Sophia Cathedral - has not yet been uploaded on their site, you can still have a virtual tour of the monuments they have already scanned here
And if you find this initiative worth supporting, please consider donating! (scroll to the bottom of the page for the relevant links in english)
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gwydionmisha · 24 days
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sidebee-hive · 5 months
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Hustynsky Holy Trinity, an Eastern Orthodox church and convent in Hustinya, Chernihiv, Ukraine. It is an example of the Ukrainian Baroque style of architecture.
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mask131 · 5 months
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I wanted to make this post last year but I got caught up in events (plus I couldn't find back my sources). But given the recent international events have completely turned away most media's attention from the Russian war on Ukraine, I thought it was finally time to make this post.
Because I want to talk about something truly crazy. Something that shows how deep Russia's distortion, warping and twisting of the Christian religion went - and how back there, we're back to the times of holy inquisitions.
Many people have covered the fact that the propaganda of Putin over Russia isn't just mediatic and politic but also religious. There were many viral reports and TV reports and investigations about how the higher-ups of the Russian Orthodox Church were in Putin's pocket, openly shared Putinist propaganda during their religious offices, declared that the war against Ukraine was a "holy war" that God wanted, that Putin was merely the agent and arm of God - there was this whole thing about the Patriarch blessing the weapons of the Russian soldiers sent to the front, and about him explicitely saying that the Devil and/or the Antichrist was in Ukraine.
But there is something that is even bigger and more shocking than that, and that shows how in Russia war = religion. It is a building: the Cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces.
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The building of this cathedral started in 2018, but it was only completed in 2020. The cathedral is technically a religious building, but the main reason of its existence is to celebrated the "various military feats of Russia", chief among which - the Russian victory over the Nazis during World War II. The completion of the cathedral was done on the Victory Day celebrating the Soviet Union crushing the Nazis ; and it was opened on the "Day of Remembrance and Sorrow" (a commemoration of when the Nazis turned against the Soviet Union and tried to march over it). There's something about "the resurrection of Christ" in there, but let's be honest, this was built exclusively for and around war.
This building is absolutely grandiose, without a doubt - and its beauty and enormity is a proof of Russia's dedication to its unique mix of religion and military matters. In fact it was considered one of the great monuments of Russia... until the Ukrainian attacks made people reconsider what this symbol ACTUALLY meant.
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And the thing with this building is that it was FILLED with carefully-thought war symbolism. For example, take the main dome's diameter: 19,45 meters... To symbolize the year when World War II stopped (1945). [Another source rather claims that the dome's diameter is 22,43 meters but it doesn't change the symbol: the Nazi capitulation was signed at 22h43]. There is a small dome that is 14,18 meters in height - because the conflict between the Nazis and the Soviet Union lasted 1 418 days and nights. And the belfry is 75 meters tall... because 75 years had passed between 2020 and the end of World War II. By the way, did you know that when Russians talk of the end of World War II and how they helped defeat the Nazis, they do not speak of the "World War"? No, they rather speak of "the end of the Great Patriotic War". Because the conflict between the USSR and the Nazis wasn't part of any world conflict, oh no! It was just one specific war against the patry - aka Russia. The total height of the Church is a reference to Saint Vladimir's (the one who Christianized the Rus lands) birth date, etc etc...
Things get better - the steps and floors of the cathedral are made of metal. Metal made from the melted war trophies taken from the Nazis - their weapons an their tanks for example. As such, the Russians will forever walk on the remains of their old ennemies. The church's saints are carefully chosen as the patron-saints of the Russian military: saint Elijah the Prophet, saint Barbara, saint Fyodor Ushakov... All organized in the four sections of the church, each dedicated to a different branch of the army; ground forces, navy, aerospace military and strategic missile forces. There's a lot of depictions of Jesus wielding a sword too.
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And then we go to the mosaics... Ah, the mosaics! These mosaics are not about the history of Christianity, but about the military history of Russia, each one depicting a great battle or a great Russian victory. You have several depictions of the orders of the Red Army overthrowing the Imperial forces in Russia, you also have depictions of the Soviet (or Communist) successes during World War II of course - there's the Battle of Stalingrad, there's the Reichstag fire... You also have more recent depictions of soldiers, with a kalashnikov in their hands... And of course, the latest mosaic depicting the latest "Russian military success" at the date of the Cathedral's fundation: the annexation of Crimea.
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This mosaic was in fact part of a dual scandal, before while the Cathedral was built, two images were leaked of two intended mosaics - one for the Crimea annexation and one for the (exclusively Soviet of course) victory over the Nazis in World War II (sorry, "The Great Patriotic War"). And the scandal was because on the latter Stalin was depicted, and on the former it was Putin who was on the mosaic. There was a big outcry, and ultimately the artists of the cathedral decided to remove the faces of Putin and Stalin... But not before asking for Putin's opinion first, and then - this is very symbolic - their faces were replaced by icons.
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Yeah all of this is kind of overwhelming - but one has to remember that in Russia, the Orthodox Church is on the same level as the various ministeries of Putin. The Patriarch Kirill, who consecrated the cathedral, has as such openly supported Putin's war and politics - invited and present at all of Putin's government meetings alongside his various ministers, the Patiarch has also placed in his sermons the exact same slogans and words used by the televisual Russian propaganda. In spring 2022, he held a whole sermon about how the Russian people had to stand together as brothers again the treacherous and wicked West - and added that the reason the Donbas distrusted the Russian Orthodox Church was because of the "vile phenomenon" of the Gay Pride - and added that it was against the corruption of the West, and the anti-religious "gay propaganda", that Russia was fighting - that it was to eliminate THIS that they threw bombs over Ukraine.
Speaking of that I almost forgot! Very recently the cathedral added a new stained glass to its windows... One made with broken glass shards from Mariupol, collected during the Russian attack.
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And let's not forget how the Patriarch promised to absolve all the Russians sent to the front who would die on the battlefield against the Ukrainians (the SAME kind of words that were used in the Middle-Ages for the crusades!) - because, and I quote, "such a sacrifice will cleanse you of all human sin". And at the beginning of 2023 (if I recall well), the Patriarch went as far as to say that if Russia didn't win this war, "someone" (he didn't specify who) but SOMEONE would appear "with the intentions of dominating, and then destroying the world" (aka, the Antichrist). This was later backed up by Dmitry Medvedev, who added that the real goal of the war against Ukrainian was to "stop the supreme leader of Hell" (and this time he dropped names, but several at once - Satan, Lucifer, Iblis).
We are literaly back to medieval crusades and to the crazy witch-hunts. Russian propagandists will stop at nothing to convince people that everything is evil outside of Russia.
"But..." you're going to say, "Not all Orthodox Russian priests can be falling for this crap!". And indeed you are right, there are priests in the Russian Orthodox Church that called out the fact Christianity was about peace, not war. The problem is that the higher-ups of the Church have started a hunt for all priests that advocate for peace rather than war - and they simply kick them out of the Church and revoke their status as priests. The Orthodox priests who refuse to see their faith turned into political propaganda are forced to flee into other Orthodox countries to maintain their status as priests.
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divinum-pacis · 1 year
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April 16, 2023: A man carries an Orthodox icon outside a church destroyed by a Russian missile strike in the village of Komyshuvakha, Ukraine (Photograph: Reuters)
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ch3ri-ch3ri-lady · 8 months
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little baby andrei c. late 15th century ukraine 😔 before the horrors
eastern european mediaeval history is acc fascinating and soooo underrated and somehow anne got everything wrong ☠️
underrated era for him. look at his little hat!
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jameslmartellojr · 8 days
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renegade-hierophant · 10 months
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Like something from Warhammer 40K, Ukrainian ballistic armor plates which stopped bullets painted with saints and consecrated as sacred relics.
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kobzars · 12 days
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The Eucharist (Greek: εὐ-χᾰριστία - "gratitude, thanksgiving" from εὖ "good, goodness" + χάρις "veneration, honor, respect") is a sacrament, a sacramental act of great importance for the Christian faith.
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In the historic churches, such as the Orthodox, Catholic, and Eastern churches, it is understood as the consecration of bread and wine in a special way and their subsequent consumption.
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Eucharist. A copy from the middle part of the altar mosaic of the Kyiv St. Sophia Cathedral (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), representing the holy sacrament of the Eucharist. Artistic printing on canvas, hand-applied gold leaf. On a stretcher. Size: 177 x 56 cm or 69.7 x 21.7 inches.
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