[ditty_news_ticker id="27897"] February, 2016 - Orthodox Christian Laity
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube

Monthly Archives: February, 2016

Friends, As promised, I am sending you a copy of the Motion filed by Dokos’s attorneys to file “under seal” a letter from Metropolitan Iakovos of Chicago. The contents of that letter remain secret and should be released to the public, now that there has been a disposition of the case.  Whatever the contents of that letter may be, it is obvious from the response of the State, and from the subsequent ruling of the Court denying the defense motion to dismiss the criminal charge on 1st Amendment “Separation of Church and States” grounds and because “this should be handled…

Source: OrthodoxOutpost.com by ANDREW ESTOCIN Imagine that you have been invited to class with an amazing teacher only to find that the teacher chooses to instruct students in a language that none of them understand. This is the experience of many people in the Orthodox Church. Every Sunday people encounter the Divine Liturgy but far too many fail to understand it, because the Church chooses to worship in a language that is not spoken by its members. This is true of many Churches today including The Greek Orthodox Church and The Russian Orthodox Church. How many people enter the front…

Source: Pravmir Moscow, February 24, Interfax – Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia is expected to visit Mount Athos, in May 2016, on the occasion of festivities marking the 1000th anniversary of Russia’s presence on the Holy Mountain. “Mount Athos is expected to be in May. The dates have not yet been set,” chief of press service of patriarch Priest Alexander Volkov, said at a press conference in Moscow on Wednesday. His statement implied that the patriarch’s trips to Mount Athos and to Crete, the venue of a Pan-Orthodox Council meeting, will not coincide. It was reported earlier that…

Source: Sputniknews.com Relations between the Russian Orthodox and the Roman Catholic churches will positively develop further following the historic meeting of their two religious leaders, the Russian Patriarch’s press secretary said Wednesday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On February 12, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia met Pope Francis at an airport in Havana, Cuba, where they signed a joint declaration. It was the first time that Catholic and Russian Orthodox spiritual leaders held face-to-face talks since Christianity split into western and eastern branches in 1054. “Relations will undoubtedly develop — we really hope it will happen — only in a positive way. And regarding all the provisions of the declaration, and…

Source: Orthodox Christian Laity The year 2016 is a momentous, historic time for Orthodox Christianity throughout the world.  After 1,200 years, Orthodox Christianity is on the verge of a seminal event, a meeting of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church, to be held in Crete, Greece, during the week of Pentecost this June. This event will provide a pivotal opportunity for hierarchs to officially recognize a unified American Orthodox Church which selects its own hierarchs. It is an idea whose time has come.  Moreover, it is properly based on the canonical precedents of the Church. Indeed, it…

Source: Aleteia Patriarch Kirill walked among the penguins and visited the only permanent church in the South Pole  by Zoe Romanowsky After their historic meeting in Havana, Cuba on February 12, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill flew to Antarctica where he made a point to stroll among the penguins on Ardley island, learning about them and their behaviors. In addition to meeting with scientists at the Bellingshausen polar station, one of the patriarch’s main reasons to be in the cold and sparsely populated South Pole was to visit the only permanent place of worship there — Holy Trinity. The tiny Russian Orthodox church is made…

Source: Catholic News Service BY SEAN GALLAGHER Catholic News Service INDIANAPOLIS (CNS) — The U.S. archbishop who is co-chair of the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation and an archdeacon who helps lead Orthodox ecumenical efforts in the United States watched with interest as Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill met in Cuba Feb. 12. Both of them — Catholic Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin of Indianapolis and Orthodox Archdeacon John Chryssavgis — saw significance in the historic Havana meeting of pope and patriarch. They shared their observations with The Criterion, the newspaper of the Indianapolis Archdiocese. Archdeacon Chryssavgis, an Australian-born…

Source: Chicago Tribune By John Kass, Contact Reporter If you stole $100,000 from a church, a reasonable person would expect that you’d get some jail time for your crimes. If a poor kid was charged with stealing a fraction of that much cash from a sandwich shop, chances are that jail would be waiting. But a Wisconsin priest stealing from a church trust, a priest with a fondness for luxury goods and fine restaurants, a priest with a powerful ally in the Chicago Greek Orthodox church hierarchy? Well, that’s a different story, because that’s no poor kid. That’s a holy man with…

Source: WTMJ-TV Milwaukee More than $100,000 was taken. by Pete Zervakis MILWAUKEE — A local priest accused of stealing more than $100,000 from his former parish between 2008 and 2012 pleaded guilty in a Milwaukee County courtroom on Monday. According to a criminal complaint, Father James Dokos, longtime priest at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, stole more than $100,000 from a trust fund that was supposed to be used primarily for the building of the church’s cultural center. Under the conditions of a deferred prosecution agreement accepted by the judge Monday, Dokos must perform 40 hours of community service over the…

Source: The National Herald By Dennis Menos No amount of sugar coating can conceal the fact that the Ecumenical Patriarchate is facing hard times. Its endeavor to resolve the major issues confronting the Church in the modern era by hosting a Holy and Great Council, is beginning to stall; and an old rival, the Patriarchate of Moscow, with designs of its own is challenging the existing order in the Orthodox East. The recent Synaxis of the 14 Primates of the Orthodox Church, held at Chambesy in Switzerland, provides ample proof of the difficulties that the Ecumenical Patriarchate is experiencing. Convened…

Source: North Park University The Inaugural Event in the Engaging Orthodoxy Speaker’s Series Saturday, March 5, 2016 10:00 am to 3:30 pm North Park University’s Anderson Chapel Orthodoxy is on the cusp of a major theological renaissance in the 21st century. Join North Park University to explore Orthodox theology as a vital religious force in American life and thought. In his inaugural lecture, Metropolitan Kallistos Ware will present an Eastern Orthodox understanding of the Gospel, and offer practical guidance on how local churches may keep it clear and central for each generation. Respondents to his lecture will include: Father John…

1 2 3