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The Pandemic and the Ecumenical Patriarchate

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By on Governance & Unity News, Governance Top Stories

Source: Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in America This informative article details how His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s swift and decisive action in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic unified the Church, staved off disaster, and protected the faithful. His All-Holiness provided crucial explanations for why it was so important to adhere to the guidelines provided by government and health authorities and overcoming various objections to doing so. These explanations were further elaborated by His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America for the safety of the faithful of the Omogeneia. The pandemic, Greece and the Patriarchate Read this article on the…

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Makarios, left, and Bragg. Image via Facebook

Odd bedfellows: an Orthodox Greek prelate & a gay rights champion

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: Patheos – The Free Thinker BY BARRY DUKE BACK in 2017, ahead of Australia’s plebiscite to legalise gay marriage, the Greek Orthodox Church spent a great deal of time and money opposing same-sex unions. Then, at the beginning of this year, church members had a WTF? moment when the man who successfully pushed hard for marriage equality – Liberal Party Senator Andrew Bragg – was awarded the highest honour the Greek Orthodox Church in Australia can bestow. Bragg became the the first non-Greek and non-Orthodox person to receive the Order of Christ-Loving and was proclaimed a Grand Commander by the church’s newly-appointed head, His Eminence…

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ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY, SYSTEMIC RACISM, AND THE WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: Public Orthodoxy by George Demacopoulos and Aristotle Papanikolaou When Archbishop Iakovos stood alongside Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma in 1965, he was maligned by many Greek Americans who took offense that their Archbishop would “fraternize with Civil Rights agitators.” Fifty-five years later, opinion has shifted dramatically. Iakovos’ march alongside MLK is widely regarded as one of the iconic moments of Orthodox Christianity in the United States, if not globally. Today, we either ignore or apologize for that generation of Orthodox who did not understand the moral necessity of the Civil Rights movement. We now find ourselves at a similar moment. Will our…

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Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

Bartholomew Seeks Common Orthodox Approach on Communion Distribution & Other News

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By on Governance & Unity News, Governance Top Stories

Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA Distribution of Communion Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has sent a letter to the primates of the Local Orthodox Churches seeking their opinions and thoughts “so that we may commonly walk in the pastoral approach to controversies over the established mode of the distribution of divine communion” during the Covid-19 pandemic.  The full text of the letter in Greek was posted yesterday (June 1) at https://www.romfea.gr/epikairotita-xronika/37382-ektakto-to-oikoumeniko-patriarxeio-zita-epikoinonia-me-tis-orthodojes-ekklisies-gia-tin-theia-koinonia .  Today, a good English translation was posted at https://orthodoxia.info/news/correspondence-of-the-ecumenical-patriarchy-with-primates-of-other-local-orthodox-churches-regarding-the-way-of-distribution-of-the-eucharist/  The letter includes the following important points: Since, nevertheless, after the praiseworthy interest of the authorities and the priceless prevention of the leaders during the…

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OCA Holy Synod Issues Statement on Recent Tragic Events in Minneapolis, MN

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By on Governance & Unity News, Governance Top Stories

Source: Orthodox Church in America The Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America today issued the following statement on the recent tragic events in Minneapolis, MN. The full statement follows: “We, the members of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America, mourn the tragic death of Mr. George Floyd on May 25, 2020. We too have looked with horror at the footage of this episode, and condemn the brutal actions that caused his violent death. We look to the civil authorities to bring to justice those who participated in this senseless tragedy. “We categorically reject racism in…

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DO THE SACRAMENTS PREVENT ILLNESS?

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: Public Orthodoxy A SURVEY OF LITURGICAL SOURCES by Rev. Dr. Nicholas Denysenko The global COVID-19 crisis has ignited a number of difficult discussions among Christians. The method used to distribute Holy Communion is fiercely debated. In the Churches that remain open, many Protestants and Catholics are withholding the cup, so faithful are receiving in one kind only, the body of Christ. In Orthodox communities, clergy and laity are discussing the possibility of trying new methods for distributing Holy Communion that prevents the spread of disease through a common spoon. This issue has generated emotional statements claiming that it is impossible…

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A Note on the Common Communion Spoon

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: Orthodoxia.info REVEREND DR. ALKIVIADIS C. CALIVAS Liturgical spoons existed from at least the sixth-seventh century.[1] But it does not mean that they were used for Communion. In fact, canon 101 of the Penthekte Synod (691-692) prohibits the use of any receptacle for the reception of the consecrated Bread other than the human hand.[2] The canon reads: “So that if anyone should wish to partake of the pure Body during the time of the synaxis…let him form his hands into the shape of a cross, and thus approaching, let him receive the communion of grace. For we nowise welcome those men who…

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Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and Pope Francis smile during a meeting at Jose Marti International Airport in Havana in this Feb. 12, 2016, file photo. (CNS/Paul Haring)

A Proposal for Catholic-Orthodox Eucharistic Sharing During the Pandemic

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: National Catholic Reporter by John D. Faris In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pope Francis March 27 characterized the worldwide trauma as: “God’s call on people to judge what is most important to them and resolve to act accordingly from now on.” Can this occasion also be a time of deeper communion among us? Catholics, Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox hierarchs, pastors and faithful agree that the Eucharist, the body and blood of the Son of God, is the most precious gift of God to the church.  It is of paramount importance to us! Nevertheless, while sharing the same belief in the…

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