HOLY VIRGIN CATHEDRAL, SAN FRANCISCO – PICTURE GALLERY
HAGIA SOFIA
Istanbul, Turkey Istanbul has the unique distinction that it has served as the capital of both the Christian and Islamic worlds. From the time of Constantine until the advent of Islam, the patriarch of Constantinople nominally ruled over the vast majority of the world’s Christians. From the time of the Ottoman conquest of the city until the end of World War I, the sultan at … [Read more...]
CHURCH OF STS SERGIUS AND BACCHUS
Cairo, Egypt The Church of Sts. Sergius & Bacchus is believed to be the oldest church in Cairo and one of the oldest in Egypt. According to tradition, it stands upon the site where Mary, Joseph and the Infant Jesus resided while in exile in Egypt. It is also one of Christianity’s most sacred shrines in Egypt. Named for Sergius and Bacchus, two soldiers who served in … [Read more...]
MONASTERIES OF METEORA
Kalampaka, Greece If the monasteries of Mount Athos are the spiritual heart of the Orthodox Church in Greece, than those of Meteora are its architectural heart. Less than one hundred miles away from Mount Athos, the monastic community of Meteora is somewhat more isolated than the former but infinitely more welcoming to pilgrims and tourists. Moreover Meteora’s … [Read more...]
ST. BASIL’S CATHEDRAL
Moscow, Russia The Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed is one of the great churches of Eastern Orthodoxy and the defining architectural symbol of the city of Moscow. By some measures it has been hailed as one of the most spectacularly beautiful churches in Christendom and is certainly among the most recognizable. It is often thought to be part of the Kremlin, Moscow’s great … [Read more...]
TRINITY-ST. SERGIUS MONASTERY
Sergius Posad, Russia Between the 10th and the 15th centuries, the heartlands of the Orthodox Church gradually shifted northwards into Slavic Europe as the Byzantine Empire was lost piece by piece to Islam. The twin disasters of the Mongol invasions and later the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople unexpectedly left the Patriarch of Moscow as the preeminent figure in the … [Read more...]
CHURCH OF THE TITHES
Kiev, Ukraine The City of Kiev, one of the last major bastions of Pagan worship on the eastern frontier of Europe, did not convert to Christianity until the very end of the first millennium AD. However, in the following centuries, when Kiev was the capital of the fledgling Russian kingdom, it served as the seat of the Russian Patriarchate. Because of this Kiev is … [Read more...]
RILA MONASTERY
Rila, Bulgaria Bulgaria and the Rila Monastery enjoy a special distinction in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Bulgaria was the first Slavic nation to convert to Chrisitanity, and was home to the first autocephalous Church that was in communion with Eastern Orthodoxy. John of Rila was Bulgaria’s first aescetic, and by extension the first true monk in Slavic Eastern Europe. … [Read more...]
HOLY MOUNTAIN
Mount Athos, Greece While the ever shrinking Patriarchate in Istanbul continues to maintain its tentative hold as the nominal world headquarters of the Eastern Orthodox Churches, Mount Athos in Greece has become the spiritual center of Eastern Orthodoxy in all but name. Home to a remarkable collection of monasteries crowded onto a tiny peninsula in northern Greece, Mount … [Read more...]
