Questions and Answers 143 - 148

A Saintly Example During the Coronavirus Crisis

Question 143: In Question 140 you mentioned that St. Mary of Egypt was not a good example to bring up that matches our situation with not receiving communion and going to church during quarantine. I was wondering if there is another example you could recommend?

Questions and Answers 68 - 70

Sources of Ecclesiastical News in English

Question 68: I'm wondering what you consider to be a good source of ecclesiastical news in English. I have been going to orthochristian.com but it is slanted to the Russian side. Do you have another recommendation?

Answer: Unfortunately, there is no good English source for ecclesiastical news. You have to go to a lot of places to get them all. This is something I once thought of compiling, but when I saw how difficult it would be, I put it aside, since to do it properly would require full time work in and of itself. And since most people aren't willing to pay for something like that, if they can get it for free elsewhere, such work will probably not be done. Which leaves much of the work to be done by you. First of all, most dioceses, metropolises, archdioceses and patriarchates have websites, and these websites have news sections, often in English, so if you want news about a particular one, you can visit these sites and get some basic news. There are also periodicals and newspapers put out by some with news, like the Orthodox Observer for the Greek Archdiocese of America, where you can get news. There are also about a dozen or so news websites put out by groups or individuals that compile some of the news, which is sometimes helpful. I personally also get a lot of my news from Greek websites, most of which is never translated unfortunately. This is the best general advice I can offer. One day I will try and put all these sources together in one post so people can easily access the news they are looking for.

Questions and Answers 64 - 67

Identity of Hermit in A Night in the Desert of the Holy Mountain

Question 64: Does anyone know who the hermit was in the book A Night in the Desert of the Holy Mountain by Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos?

Answer: In a lecture of Metropolitan Hierotheos I translated, he recalls: "After the publication of the book A Night in the Desert of the Holy Mountain I visited a Hagiorite monk. He said to me: 'Many people ask me whether I am the monk with whom you were talking. I answer them: Do not try to find out who it is. Try to take the advice and live the prayer about which the book is speaking.'"