Browsing: Governance Top Stories

Source: Orthodox Christianity Mt. Athos, April 9, 2019 — Following the very public scandal caused by the previous visit to Mt. Athos of a group of its “clergy,” the schismatic Ukrainian Church is keeping a tight lid on the details of the second visit of its representatives, which is currently underway but seems to have turned out to be largely a failure. In late MarchOrthoChristian reported that “Metropolitan” Epiphany Dumenko, the schismatic primate, plans to travel to Athos after Pascha, possibly to be accompanied by Patriarch Bartholomew. At that time it was reported that this primatial trip would be preceded by a…

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Source: Orthodox Synaxis This English translation of the Greek letter is republished from the official website of the Albanian Orthodox Church, here. All emphases are in the original. In this remarkable letter, whilst showing profound respect and reverence for the office and person of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Archbishop Anastasios of Albania and his Synod present a detailed rebuttal of historical precedents cited by Constantinople to justify their intervention in Ukraine and emphasize the importance of convening a pan Orthodox meeting to heal the divisions that these actions have opened up. On the Ukrainian Ecclesiastical Question. 2nd Reply. Speaking the Truth in Love…

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Source: Orthodox Church in America The Orthodox Christian Association of Medicine, Psychology, and Religion [OCAMPR] recently issued a call for workshop and paper proposals for its Annual Conference, “Isolation, Violence, Hope and Communion,” slated to be held at Saints Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Church, Glenview, IL November 7-9, 2019. Proposals for presentations should reflect professional, academic discussion on critical issues regarding the helping professions and pastoral care, specifically as it relates to our Orthodox Christian faith. OCAMPR wishes to encourage an Orthodox approach to the topics that are addressed, informed by psychology and medicine. While presentations reflecting the Conference theme are encouraged, other subjects…

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Source: Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate Thank you for your time and your noble intention to give readers of “Politika” answers to very sensitive issues that characterize the positions of Orthodoxy in the modern world, namely – as you feel and know well – answers to very interesting questions about the Church of Ukraine. We admit that among the Serbian public, your explanation for this situation and your arguments have not been presented to a satisfactory degree. In contrast to this, the view and attitude of the Russian Church is constantly repeated in the Serbian media, and readers are fully…

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Source: Diocese of the West (OCA) March 17, 2019 – Holy Trinity Cathedral, San Francisco, CA His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon visited Holy Trinity Cathedral for Vespers on the Sunday of Orthodoxy. From the bell tower, the murmurings of spring daylight made the San Francisco sunset a warm gray. The Blagovest rumbled as the service began and the doors opened just before the hour. A triumphant sight entered the cathedral, His Beatitude with Archbishop Benjamin, Archbishop Kyrill (of ROCOR’s Western American Diocese) and Bishop Daniel of Santa Rosa. The first intoning of the deacon and response of the choir set the stage for…

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Source: Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate In a January 14, 2019 letter to His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana and all Albania called for a pan-Orthodox Council to resolve the crisis in Ukraine. His All-Holiness’ response, detailing the duties, responsibilities and rights of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, follows below. Protocol Number 104 Your Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana and all Albania, most beloved and precious brother, concelebrant in Christ our God of our Modesty: We address Your venerable Beatitude with exceeding delight, even as we greet you with a fraternal embrace. We received and thoroughly examined your fraternal…

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Source: Russian Orthodox Church DECR In compliance with the decision taken by the Holy Synod of the Albanian Orthodox Church at its session on the 4th of January 2019, the Albanian Church refused to recognize “the Orthodox church of Ukraine,” recently created by the Patriarchate of Constantinople. It is stated in the letter sent by His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana and All Albania to Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople on the 14thof January 2019 and published in accordance with the decision of the Holy Synod of the Albanian Orthodox Church of the 7th of March 2019. The text of the letter is…

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Source: Union of Orthodox Journalists by Konstantin Shemliuk What is behind the concern of US officials about the rights of the Orthodox? At the Athens conference on disinformation and news manipulation held on March 5, the ex-US Ambassador to Ukraine and now the Ambassador to Greece Jeffrey Payette made a strong statement about Russia’s efforts to undermine the authority of Patriarch Bartholomew: ”We’ve seen evidence of this kind of manipulation of information in Greece. We’ve seen Russian efforts in the Church, the efforts to undermine the role of the Ecumenical Patriarch.” He particularly stressed that “the purpose of this event tonight is to…

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Source: Orthodox Christianity Tirana, March 8, 2019 incarnatewordsistershouston.org The Holy Synod of the Albanian Orthodox Church has not recognized the Ukrainian schismatic church, calling their ordinations graceless and calling instead for a Synaxis of the primates of the Orthodox Churches, given that Constantinople has failed to achieve unity in Ukraine. The Holy Synod of the Albanian Church adopted its decision on January 4 and expressed it in a letter sent to Patriarch Bartholomew on January 14. The letter was published today on the Albanian Church’s site. In particular, the Albanian bishops expressed their concern about the recognition by the Patriarch of Constantinople…

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Source: Orthodox Church in America “Fast Questions and Fast Answers About American Orthodox Christian Monasteries” is the third essay in a series of mini-reports highlighting Orthodox Church life in America. Released by the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America, the essay is now available in PDF format online. “Not many people realize that there are 80 Orthodox Christian monasteries in the USA which represent great variety of ethnic and liturgical traditions,” said author Alexei Krindatch, the Assembly’s Research Coordinator. “In fact, America is, probably, the only place in the world where—within the same country—one can visit Greek, Russian, Romanian,…

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Source: Union of Orthodox Journalists by Olga Tsviliy Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople Patriarch Bartholomew rejected the proposal of the Primate of the Antioch Orthodox Church to hold a pan-Orthodox discussion of the religious situation in Ukraine. In a letter to the Primate of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, Patriarch John X, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople declared that “he has good reasons” to refrain from a general Orthodox meeting on the Ukrainian church issue, reports the official website of the Russian Orthodox Church. Patriarch Bartholomew called the discussion of the religious situation in Ukraine “useless” and reminded the Primate of the Antiochian Church…

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Source: Union of Orthodox Journalists by Tatyana Chaika Serbian Church published an official statement on the situation in Ukraine The official statement emphasizes that the only Church that the Serbian Patriarchate recognizes in Ukraine is the canonical UOC. The full translation of the document, published by the Press and Mass Media Bureau of the Serbian Orthodox Church, is available on the DECR website of the Russian Orthodox Church. The text of the document below is given in full. As far back as in November last year, the Serbian Orthodox Church was the first among the autocephalous Orthodox Churches to react officially, at the highest…

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