Europe

Dozens of Orthodox men dove into Istanbul’s cold waters to retrieve a cross to mark the baptism of Jesus Christ. On Sunday, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I led worshipers in the celebration of the Epiphany, throwing a blessed wooden cross into...

The Greek Orthodox Christian community in Istanbul led by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew celebrated Epiphany with the traditional blessing of the waters on Saturday. The Ecumenical Patriarch and Archbishop of Constantinople led the liturgy at the Patriarchal Church of Saint George....

A bitterly cold Wednesday morning saw the return of one of Istanbul’s oldest – and most demanding – religious traditions as dozens of Greek Orthodox Christians swam frantically to retrieve a cross thrown into the Golden Horn. The Greek community...

The Christian Orthodox ritual stopped being practiced in 1922 after the war and population exchange between Greece and Turkey.

For the first time since the Asia Minor Catastrophe of 1922, a Greek Orthodox Epiphany celebration is set to take place in Izmir on January 6, 2016. The Greek Orthodox community has received permission from the Turkish authorities to perform the...

   A cross-throwing ceremony was held as part of commemorations on the birth and baptism of Jesus Christ, held at Fener Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Istanbul. A group, led by Bartholomew and other members of the clergy, walked to the...

Greek Orthodox faithful swam in İstanbul's iconic Golden Horn to retrieve a wooden crucifix thrown into the Bosporus during Epiphany day celebrations on Monday. Priests and Orthodox Christians were present at the Fener dock where the Metropolit threw a large...

The few Greeks that still live on Tenedos and in Smyrni, Turkey, celebrated the Epiphany Feast yesterday with a glorious ceremony. On the eve of the Epiphany, the first blessing was held on Tenedos and then the small number of...

For the sixth consecutive year in the 300 year old history of Orthodoxy in Austria, the Blessing of the Waters and the casting of the Holy Cross was held at the Danube River. It was held on the occasion...

Orthodox Christian worshippers plunged into chilly waters across southern and eastern Europe on Friday to retrieve crucifixes in ceremonies commemorating the baptism of Jesus Christ. Hundreds of members of Istanbul's tiny Greek Orthodox community and tourists from Greece attended the...

For the fifth consecutive year in the 300 year old history of Orthodoxy in Austria, the Blessing of the Waters and Holy Cross casting in River Danube was held.  It was held on the occasion of the Epiphany feast, which was...

The ancient Greek and German languages may seem worlds apart, but it was a Greek bishop and Christian missionary named Ulfilas, who played a surprisingly important role in the codification of the early German language into a written system. Ulfilas...

The Autocephaly (independence) of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine will be made official in special ceremonies which will take place in the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople on January 6, on the Feast of the Epiphany. The ceremonies will be held in...

Unknown assailants tried to set fire to the Greek Consulate building in Smyrna on New Year's Eve, a Kathimerini newspaper report says. The "Emmanouil Kapetanakis" house on the historic waterfront of Smyrna, is the building that has been hosting the Greek...

His Eminence Metropolitan Cleopas of Sweden and All Scandinavia made his first archpastoral visit to Bergen on the weekend of October 28-29, 2017 to preside over the establishment of the parish of the Holy and Glorious Holy Martyr Chrysostom...