Quote of the Day: Fr. Alexander Elchaninov

"In our present life everything is so uncertain, insecure, painful, almost intolerable, that death in no way appears as something terrifying. I often think of death as a calm and luminous haven, where there is no sickness, no sadness and, in particular, no parting. When, during morning and evening prayers, I pray for my loved ones in minutes of sadness, I am almost glad to think that I will soon be with them, and their life seems more certain than our phantom existence."

From page 117 of "The Diary of a Russian Priest," a posthumous compilation of the notes of Fr. Alexander Elchaninov, a Russian Orthodox priest who served in the south of France after the Bolshevik Revolution.

Day of Rejoicing

Christ is risen! Христос воскресе! Today's feast, commonly known as the Day of Rejoicing or Радоница ("Radonitsa"), was established as a day to commemorate the dead in the hope of their future resurrection and for Orthodox Christians to visit their loved ones in the cemeteries and proclaim to them the good news of the Resurrection of Christ. More on the feast can be found here.

Israeli Arab Actor Gunned Down in West Bank

The half Jewish, half Arab Catholic Israeli actor Juliano Mer Khamis has been killed in Jenin on the West Bank. More here.

Quote of the Day: Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky) of Kiev

"We are temporary visitors here on earth, who must drink from the chalice of the Lord until our death, which will not tarry, and if we sense that it does, then we must think even more about our passage through death and prepare for it with prayer and struggle.