Recent ISIS-linked bombings in Istanbul took place near two of the city’s top tourist destinations, which are also two of the city’s most important religious monuments: Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. Watch scenes of both as author and Ottoman scholar Scott Rank, who lives in Turkey, discusses their historic spiritual and political significance for Istanbul, formerly known as Constantinople, and for Christians and Muslims. More →

January 14, 2016

“We are confident that someday this school will reopen, and we have to prepare ourselves for that day,” says Metropolitan Elpidophoros, the abbot of Halki. He has reestablished a monastery at the site of the distinguished Eastern Orthodox seminary closed by the Turkish government for 43 years. More →

January 23, 2015

For many Christians, celebrating the Feast of the Epiphany means marking the appearance of Jesus. In Western churches, the holiday emphasizes the visit of the wise men to the baby Jesus. But Eastern Orthodox churches focus on Jesus’ baptism. More →

January 9, 2015

“East and West are not contradictory to each other. They are part of the same body,” says Metropolitan Elpidophoros, a bishop in the Greek Orthodox Church in Istanbul. “And in the last years, thank God, we have extremely good relations.” More →

November 21, 2014

The pope’s pilgrimage is intended on one level to commemorate the 1964 meeting between Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras that ended a thousand years of estrangement between Eastern and Western Christianity. But there are other agendas as well: interfaith dialogue, the Middle East peace process, the diminishing Christian presence in the Holy Land, encounters with Jewish and Palestinian religious and political leaders. More →

May 23, 2014

The Holy Land meeting of Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew should “reaffirm our commitment to the dialogue of love, to the dialogue of truth, and to a sense of unity moving toward a sense of communion.” More →

May 23, 2014

“We are the ones who inherited this birthplace of Christianity. I think we are agents to carry this as witnesses to the whole world,” says Father Nabil Haddad, a priest in the ancient Melkite Catholic Church who lives in Amman. More →

February 14, 2014

Iconographer Seraphim O’Keefe talks about how icons play a role similar to fasting in the Orthodox tradition. Both, he says, are ways of finding order and beauty. More →

May 1, 2013

In the Orthodox Christian tradition fasting is not about deprivation or suffering, says Catherine Mandell, author of “When You Fast: Recipes for Lenten Seasons.” More →

March 2, 2012

Because of differing church calendars, Western and Eastern Christians usually celebrate the resurrection of Jesus on different dates. Over the centuries, distinct Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Holy Week practices have developed. However, both Orthodox and Western Christians say celebration of the Resurrection is the most important event on the church calendar. More →

April 2, 2010