Stories
In the lives of the saints, we find a subtle tension between modern beauty and the beauty of the lives of Orthodox women who courageously followed Christ. Beauty, in the modern imagination, is often reduced to surface appeal, commodity, or self-presentation. Yet within the Orthodox tradition, beauty is something far more profound and radiant. It is the luminous revelation of who Christ is, then and now, and of the immense value bestowed on human beings, fashioned in the image and likeness of God.
Beauty is indeed aesthetic, but it is never merely so. Beneath and within it lies something deeper and more healing. Beauty becomes therapeutic: it heals the eye of the heart, teaching us to see anew.
When iconographer Heather MacKean was commissioned by the University of Portland to compose an icon of women in the New Testament, they emailed her a list of 18 names. Several months later, 18 had grown to 20, then 24, and finally to 58!
“I had no idea when I started that there would be so many names,” Heather commented when we spoke to her this week about her newly delivered icon. “If I had more time I might have come up with ten more women.”
On February 6, 2026 at the Patriarchal Cathedral of Bucharest, the general proclamation was given of the canonisation of sixteen holy women, referring to them as “spiritual mothers of the Romanian people”.
Our next hospitality story comes from Amanda Mosallam:
As we continue our series of prayers written by Orthodox women past and present, we hope you enjoy this beautiful prayer and song written by Carla Thomas. Carla tells us: "I wrote this song for our individual and corporate suffering. May it bring you peace in Christ."
You can listen to the song performed by Isaac Johnson's group here.
Vessels of Grace
Foxes have holes
Birds have a nest
But nowhere for the Lord, His Head to rest
Except in our hearts
Except in our souls.
May the Lord speak peace to our billows that roll.
The stars have the moon
As we continue our series of prayers by Orthodox women past and present, we're delighted to share this Morning Prayer by a recent Woman of the Week, Mat. Christina Veselak:
O Lord Jesus, Lover of my Soul, I offer up this day to you. Please bless it with your presence, your guidance, and your healing grace.
Our next prayer written by an Orthodox woman comes from Angelike Giallourakis:
“In 2009 our youngest son Steven was being prepped for his Bone Marrow Transplant in order to save him from Secondary Acute Myologenis Leukemia. Simultaneously our son Nick was having some outpatient surgery on his arm in the same hospital. My stress level was over the top. To ease my emotions I sat and wrote the attached prayer.