Source: Public Orthodoxy by Very Rev. Dr. Nathanael Symeonides and Gayle E. Woloschak The document, “Mission of the Church in the World,” was released in preparation for the upcoming Holy and Great Council to be held in June (during the Feast of Pentecost) on Crete. This document relates to areas of great significance for problems in the world today—technology, war, discrimination and human dignity, globalization, the influence of the media, and others. Each of these topics is far-reaching with little readily available literature directly related to these issues in the Church Tradition and in Patristic texts; as such, this document…
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Source: St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church A “Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church” will convene on June 16, 2016 and conclude on June 27, 2016. There are many rumors and much speculation about what this “Holy and Great Council” will mean. Some of these are true, others are totally false. What follow are some brief clarifications on basic questions surrounding the council. What issues are under consideration? The following six issues, out of very many that were suggested and studied in fifty years of pre-conciliar meetings, were officially approved for referral to, and adoption by, the Holy and…
Source: Pravoslavie Sofia, April 5, 2016 The official website of the Patriarchate of Bulgaria reports: on April 1, 2016, at the Church of St. Petka in Troyan (Bulgaria) Metropolitan Gabriel of Lovech celebrated a Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. After the service he held a conference of priests with all the clergy of the Troyan deanery participating. Various matters associated with liturgical and pastoral activities of the district’s clergy were considered. At the end of the conference confessors of the Troyan district of the Diocese of Lovech firmly and unanimously supported the Declaration of the Clergy of the Troyan District,…
Source: Orthodox Church in America SYOSSET, NY [OCA] The Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America concluded its Spring Session at the Chancery here on Friday, April 1, 2016. His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon, presided at the sessions. Highlights of the meeting included the following, according to Archpriest Eric G. Tosi, OCA Secretary. His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon, delivered his opening address on Tuesday morning, March 29. He prefaced his address by reflecting on the funeral of a young girl who had fallen asleep in the Lord after a battle with cancer, at which he presided at Saint Nicholas…
Source: Russian Orthodox Church Department of External Church Relations Originally published on January 28, 2016. The document is approved by the participants in the Synaxis of the Primates of Local Orthodox Churches on January 21 – 28, 2016, in Chambesy, except representatives of the Patriarchate of Antioch. It is published by the decision of the Synaxis of the Primates. Article 1 Introduction By the grace of the Holy Trinity, the Holy and Great Council is an authentic expression of the canonical tradition and perennial church practice as to the functioning of the conciliar system in One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church…
Source: Russian Orthodox Church Department of External Church Relations On 29 March 2016, the first meeting of the Pan-Orthodox Secretariat of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church began at the Orthodox Centre of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Chambésy, near Geneva, under the chairmanship of Metropolitan Jeremiah of Switzerland (Patriarchate of Constantinople). The Pan-Orthodox Secretariat was established in compliance with a decision of the Synaxis of Primates of the Local Churches held in Chambésy on January 21-28. Each generally recognized autocephalous Church delegated one representative to make up the Secretariat. According to the decision of the Synaxis,…
Source: Orthodox Church in America As reported earlier, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon had accepted the invitation of His All-Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople to concelebrate at the Divine Liturgy in the Patriarchal Church of Saint George in the Phanar district here on the Sunday of Orthodoxy—March 19-20, 2016. Earlier, Metropolitan Tikhon had accepted similar invitations from Patriarch Bartholomew. In December 2014, he visited the Holy Theological School of Halki and the Patriarchate with Archpriests John Jillions, OCA Chancellor, and Archpriests John Behr and Alexander Rentel of Saint Vladimir’s Seminary, Yonkers, NY. In June 2015, Metropolitan Tikhon and Father Alexander…
Source: Orthodox Church His holiness, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Cyril I, at the Feast of Victory of Orthodoxy (20th March 2016) held a speech in which he strongly criticized union with Latins that former Orthodox Christians, now known as “Eastern Catholics” signed with Rome, during Florence Robber Synod crises in 15th century, before the fall of the great and holy city of Constantinople (1453)
Source: Orthodox Church in America Minutes and reports of the Spring Metropolitan Council meeting, held February 16-18, 2016, are now available. See related story. Minutes Committees/Departments Reports Officers’ Reports Additional Reports
Source: And in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church Letter of Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos to the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece on the texts proposed for approval by the upcoming Great and Holy Council of the Orthodox Church SACRED METROPOLIS OF NAFPAKTOS AND SAINT VLASIOS Nafpaktos, 18th of January 2016 To the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Church of Greece Ioannou Gennadiou 14 115 21 Athens Your Beatitude, President of the Synod, Following the Session of the Sacred Synod in the month of January, we were given the texts which were prepared and prepare for the future convening of the Holy…
Source: Pravoslavie.ru Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus has sent a letter to the Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church concerning the upcoming Pan-Orthodox Council. The main propositions of the document were published on the site Agionoros.ru. Vladyka styled the decision that every Local Church shall be represented by twenty-four hierarchs at the council “a never-before-seen innovation,” without precedent in two thousand years of Church history. He noted that at every Ecumenical Council “as many bishops as possible” took part. In practice, Churches did sometimes send representatives, but only in the event that the bishop could not arrive to the Council…
Source: The Economist BY ERASMUS AS ORTHODOX Christian leaders prepare for what has been billed as their most important gathering for centuries, they have many problems to wrestle with. One, as widely reported already, is the chronically uneasy relationship between the two best-known of those leaders, the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew I, and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow. It is Patriarch Bartholomew, in his capacity as “first among equals” in the Orthodox hierarchy who is organising and hosting the Synod; but many eyes, both wary and admiring, will be on his Russian guest, who along with his huge entourage has just toured South America, and…