Source: The National Herald By Antonis H. Diamataris This year’s National Prayer Breakfast, an important annual American tradition involving many hundreds of religious and political leaders and other officials from all over the world, was held on February 8. This year’s main speaker was President Trump, and so much importance is attached to that fact. The president said that “religion plays a central role in American life and freedom.” And so it does. Americans, on average, are religious people. They do not hesitate to express their faith in words and deeds, Their faith is a deeply rooted human need and…
Browsing: Greek Orthodox Church
Source: The Washington Post By Ruth Eglash Beside a nondescript stretch of highway linking Bethlehem to Jerusalem, there’s a large shiny rock and a cluster of olive trees. This place, called Kathisma or “seat” in Greek, is said to be where the Virgin Mary rested and drank from a well, not long before giving birth in a stable to Jesus. The only clue to that history is the ruins of a Byzantine church, with a vibrant mosaic floor peeking through mud and smashed beer bottles. And while the ruins themselves remain in the hands of the Greek Orthodox Church, all the…
Source: CBC News Allegations in statement of claim are ‘wholly without merit,’ says Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Toronto By Lauren Pelley, CBC News A civil lawsuit filed against some of the most powerful members of Canada’s Greek Orthodox community includes allegations of verbal and physical abuse by priests, money for a sick baby stolen from a church fundraiser, and sex offenders placed in Toronto churches — a controversy some say is part of an ongoing Greek “turf war.” The board of directors for the Greek Community of Toronto (GCT), a non-profit charity representing more than 150,000 Greek Canadians, filed the lawsuit against the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Toronto, its metropolitan — the Greek Orthodox…
Rev. Dr. Frank Marangos – FINDING OUR VOICE: Orthodox Leadership for the 21st Century Rev. Fr. Hans Jacobse – THE CHALLENGE OF SECULARISM IN THE LOCAL PARISH Dr Frances Kostarelos, PhD – RELIGIOUS PLURALISM & FUNDAMENTALISM & CONTESTED IDENTITIES IN THE GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH IN AMERICA His Grace, Bishop PAUL (Gassios) PROGRESS AND PROSPECT OF THE WORK OF THE ASSEMBLY OF BISHOPS AS THEY WORK OF THE UNITY OF THE ORTHODOX IN THE USA AND CANONICAL GOOD ORDER Thanks to John Maddex of Ancient Faith Ministries for recording the sessions and making them available!
Peter S. Makrias
Source: Estiator by P.S. MAKRIAS Although things are transpiring in the usual secrecy, all signs point to serious developments in the Church. These events have the characteristics of an underlying crisis that reached a climax with the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s unexpected arbitrary decision not to recognize the “triprosopon” (a three-person list of candidates for election to the episcopate), and as a result, the Archdiocese’s Charter was violated in regards to filling the vacancy in the Metropolis of Chicago; the very same Charter that the Patriarchate imposed upon the Archdiocese of America, abolishing its cohesion and creating individual fiefdoms that are not under the Archbishop’s…
Source: HAARETZ One activist who called for ouster of Theophilos III of Jerusalem was barred from a town in northern Israel ahead of patriarch’s visit by Jack Khoury In an unusual step, the police prohibited a member of Israel’s Greek Orthodox community from entering a town in Israel’s north last week, ahead of the Sunday’s visit to the town by the church’s patriarch, after the man called for the leader’s ouster. Police issued a restraining order against Ghassan Munair last Thursday, barring him from the town of Kafr Reineh in the Galilee for one week over “suspicions of endangering public…
You may be interested in this ruling from the Tucson Court…. a case where a US Court upholds the well settled doctrine: “So long as a court does not cross into ecclesiastical matters, it is appropriate to apply neutral legal principles, including those based in contract, in resolving a dispute involving a religious organization.” If the New York courts had followed this doctrine in the Declaratory Judgment action filed challenging the imposition of the 2003 Charter by the EP without the approval of the Clergy-Laity Congress in accordance with the revision provisions of the previous Charter the GOA would not…
Source: Orthodox Christian Laity The Orthodox Christian Laity calls upon the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople [EP] to ratify the selection of His Grace Bishop. Sevastianos of Zela as the Metropolitan of Chicago. The process by which the Eparchial Synod of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America [GOA] under Archbishop Demetrios selected him to lead the recently widowed see of Chicago was agreed upon by all parties before the repose of Metropolitan Iakovos, of blessed memory. The Eparchial Synod followed all the procedures approved by the EP including receiving input from the clergy and laity of the Church in America. It…
Source: The Baltimore Sun By Jonathan M. Pitts, Contact Reporter The Baltimore Sun Growing up a Southern Baptist in eastern Tennessee, Brent Gilbert says, he never realized there were other ways to worship. He figured everyone knew the best church music was contemporary. He was sure there was a 45-minute pastor’s sermon at the heart of every Sunday service. And didn’t all Christians agree that religious art, symbols and rituals were relics of a less desirable past? Then he encountered the ancient faith that would change his life. In the formal liturgy, rituals and language of the Greek Orthodox Church, he…
Source: The National Herald by Theodoros Kalmoukos MILWAUKEE, WI – Rev. John Ketchum, priest of the Annunciation Church in Milwaukee, WI, excommunicated Parish Council Treasurer Patricia Galanis at the beginning of Holy Week, on April 8, the Saturday of Lazarus, for reasons, he said, of “disobedience to the Ecclesiastical Authority, the priest of the parish.” Galanis is the wife of former AHEPA Supreme President John Galanis. The parish is upset and nine of the fifteen members of the parish council including the president, Dr. Clemens Stoeckl, have resigned collectively. The situation was more painful for the entire parish because the excommunication…
Source: Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago Chicago, IL: The Chancellor of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago, together with an anonymous donor from California and the Greek America Foundation’s Project Hope for Greece, recently helped repair two commercial fishing boats, restoring the livelihoods of their owners on the Greek island of Lesvos. The boats were severely damaged in winter storms this January following their use throughout much of 2015-2016 to rescue refugees whose own boats stranded or were sinking in the Aegean Sea. “When I learned of this story, I immediately desired to do all I could to help these…
Peter D. Haikalis, PhD
Source: Orthodox Christian Laity I have the sad responsibility to inform you that our beloved board member, Dr. Peter Haikalis, fell asleep in the Lord suddenly on March 20, 2017. He and Susan were out shopping. Susan went into the pharmacy to pick up an item and returned to the car, and Peter was experiencing a heart attack. With state of the art, immediate emergency care, he could not be revived. The sudden death of Peter is a shock for his family and friends, his Orthodox Christian Laity (OCL) extended family and his parish community of Ascension Cathedral, Oakland, CA. …