Source: DECR Communications English translation by Katherine Ilachinski On March 16, 2012, a group of journalists accredited in Russia, the People’s Republic of China media (“Xinhua” news agency, China Central Television, China Radio International, China’s news agency, newspaper “People’s Daily”, “Guangming Daily”, “Economic Daily”, “Wen Wei Po”) visited the Trinity-Sergius Lavra . The trip was organized by the Russian-Chinese Business Council and the Department for External Church Relations of Moscow Patriarchate, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and the Embassy of China in Russia. In the city administration the Chinese journalists were welcomed…
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Source: Commentary Magazine | David Aikman From Egypt to North Korea, an unlikely minority suffers a plague of persecution IN OCTOBER 2011, when the so-called Arab Spring took a dark turn in Cairo, Egypt, the social media and smartphone technologies that had aided protesters in their fight for freedom captured new and dangerous developments. On video-hosting websites such as YouTube, one can see footage of the Muslim mobs that began throwing rocks at Coptic Christians on October 8. These young Copts had been protesting the burning of a Coptic church in Aswan and the failure of the Egyptian authorities to…
Source: The Wall Street Journal Regarding Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren’s “Israel and the Plight of Mideast Christians” (op-ed, March 9): No doubt, his piece will be compelling for many readers. Christians in North America are generally sympathetic to Christians who suffer elsewhere. More negatively, many respond well when blame for that suffering is placed on Muslims. The biggest problem with Mr. Oren’s analysis, however, is that it stands in sharp disagreement with the perspectives shared by those he presumably wants to protect. Mr. Oren seeks to speak for Palestinian Christians before he has spoken with them. Palestinian Christians have produced…
Source: BBC News Egypt’s Coptic Christian Pope Shenouda III has died at the age of 88, state television has announced. The leader of the Middle East’s largest Christian minority was reported to suffer from cancer that had spread to several organs. Coptic Christians make up 10% of Egypt’s population of 80 million. After attacks on Coptic Christians in recent years, Pope Shenouda urged officials to do more to address the community’s concerns. Pope Shenouda led the church, one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, for four decades. His political adviser Hany Aziz told Reuters news agency that Shenouda…
Source: Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America Committee Members and Consultants Members: Archbishop Nicolae (Chairman), Archbishop Justinian, Metropolitan Iakovos, Metropolitan Nicholas, Metropolitan Jonah Consultants: Fr. Nicolas Apostola, Fr. Joseph Abud, Tatiana Veselkina, Jerry Dimitriou, Alexei Krindatch, Demetrios Moschus, Steve Radakovich Secretariat Liaison: Protodeacon Peter Danilchick Objective of the Committee The Committee for Canonical Regional Planning is charged with formulating a proposal for a plan to organize all the Orthodox faithful of every jurisdiction in the Region on a canonical basis, in accordance with the Rules of Operation, Article 5.e of the 4th Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference in…
Source: Orthodox Church in America SYOSSET, NY [OCA] The complete minutes and reports of the spring 2012 session of the Metropolitan Council of the Orthodox Church in America are now available and posted in PDF format on the OCA web site. Also posted are the report of the Strategic Planning Committee and working group powerpoints in PDF format. Minutes Committee Reports Officers’ Reports Additional Reports Working Groups PowerPoints
In March 2012, His Beatitude Metropolitan Jonah spoke at Holy Cross Orthodox Church in Linthicum, MD on the topic of Orthodox unity in America.
Source: Orthodox Church in America KANSAS CITY, MO [FOCUS] The Board of Directors of the Fellowship of Orthodox Christians United to Serve (FOCUS) North America, has announced the appointment of Nicholas J. Chakos as their new Executive Director. Says FOCUS NA Chairman Charles Ajalat, “The Board of Directors is extremely blessed and excited to have found such a great leader to take FOCUS North America to the next level.” Nick Chakos has over 15 years of experience in Orthodox non-profit leadership, fundraising, strategic planning, and program development. In his 13 years with the IOCC, he served as Interim Executive Director,…
I. The Definition Phyletism is the name of an ecclesiological heresy which says that the Church can be territorially organized on an ethnic, racial, or cultural basis so that within a given geographic territory, there can exist several Church jurisdictions, directing their pastoral care only to the members of specific ethnic groups. A Church council in 1872 officially defined and condemned this heresy. It reacted to a proposition made by Bulgarians of the Patriarchate of Constantinople who wanted to establish a Church jurisdiction, sanctioned by the Turkish government, on the territory of the Patriarchate: The formation in the same place…
By George Matsoukas The Orthodox Christian Laity Winter Board Meeting took place in Columbus, Georgia the last week of February 2012 at the Hilton Gardens Inn. Advisory Board member and former mayor of Columbus, retired Colonel Robert S. Poydasheff, was the host of the productive meeting. President Bill Souvall from Salt Lake City, UT presided. The Orthodox Christian Laity Winter Board Meeting took place in Columbus, Georgia the last week of February 2012 at the Hilton Gardens Inn. Advisory Board member and former mayor of Columbus, retired Colonel Robert S. Poydasheff, was the host of the productive meeting. President Bill…
By George Matsoukas The Orthodox Christian Laity Winter Board Meeting took place in Columbus, Georgia the last week of February 2012 at the Hilton Gardens Inn. Advisory Board member and former mayor of Columbus, retired Colonel Robert S. Poydasheff, was the host of the productive meeting. President Bill Souvall from Salt Lake City, UT presided. The Orthodox Christian Laity Winter Board Meeting took place in Columbus, Georgia the last week of February 2012 at the Hilton Gardens Inn. Advisory Board member and former mayor of Columbus, retired Colonel Robert S. Poydasheff, was the host of the productive meeting. President Bill…
God works with and through people. As the body of Christ, the members of the Church (clergy and laity) are called to work together in synergy with the head who is Jesus Christ and with each other. The Orthodox Church is based on a conciliar form of governance. In the current atmosphere of working toward jurisdictional unity in North America and other regions of the world, what is the role of the laity?