Browsing: Governance Top Stories

Source: Orthodox Church in America SYOSSET, NY [OCA]  On Sunday, April 26, 2015, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon, concelebrated the Divine Liturgy with His Holiness and Beatitude, Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II of All Georgia and Archbishop of Mtskheta and Tbilisi, at the Cathedral of the All Holy Trinity in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. [See related story and photos.] At the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, Metropolitan Tikhon addressed His Holiness, the text of which appears below. ADDRESS OF HIS BEATITUDE, METROPOLITAN TIKHON CATHEDRAL OF THE ALL HOLY TRINITY, TBILISI, GEORGIA April 25, 2015 Your Holiness, Christ is risen! It is with deep…

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Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America NEW YORK— A few days before the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments on the rights of states to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman, more than 30 religious leaders representing tens of millions of US citizens from diverse faith communities throughout the United States have reaffirmed their shared commitment to marriage and religious freedom. An open letter entitled “The Defense of Marriage and the Right of Religious Freedom: Reaffirming a Shared Witness” was issued to all in positions of public service on April 23. Archbishop Demetrios of America,…

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Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America NEW YORK – The Holy Eparchial Synod of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America convened for its regular spring meeting at the Synodal Chamber of the Archdiocesan headquarters in New York on April 20th, 21st and 22nd, 2015. His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America presided at the meeting with the participation of the Members of the Synod. The Synod deliberated extensively on many matters including the following: 1) The Holy Synod discussed the progress of the publication of the text of the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom in Greek and English, which has…

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Source: Orthodox Church in America SYOSSET, NY [OCA]  At the invitation of the His Holiness Karekin II, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon and a delegation from the Orthodox Church in America, will arrive in Armenia on Tuesday, April 21, 2015, where they will participate in the commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Accompanying Metropolitan Tikhon are Archpriest John Jillions, OCA Chancellor, and Subdeacon Roman Ostash. Metropolitan Tikhon will be among the heads and representatives of Churches and presidents, prime ministers, and others…

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Source: Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the USA Can Orthodox weddings be celebrated on Saturdays? Are group confessions permissible? How are catechumens prepared for reception into the Church? The answers to these questions and others depend on which Orthodox jurisdiction you call home. While there are vast areas of agreement in the Orthodox Church, there are variations in practice across jurisdictions in the United States as pertain to baptism, marriage, confession, and other sacraments of the Church. As the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America strives to manifest the unity of Orthodoxy, it is…

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Source: Greek Orthodox Christian Clergy and Laity We, Greek Orthodox Christians of the Metropolis of Chicago, will no longer accept what we believe is the continual financial and spiritual abuse of both clergy and laity, by the current Hierarchs of the Metropolis of Chicago. With this goal, a group of dedicated and committed individuals began a campaign to inform the church / laity of serious aberrations in our Greek Orthodox community, and to correct some of the financial and spiritual abuses rampant in the Chicago Metropolis, that is spreading to other jurisdictions. The success of this website to inform the…

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Source: Orthodox Church in America SYOSSET, NY [OCA]  Bright Friday, April 17, 2015 is the deadline for submitting proposed resolutions for the 18th All-American Council, slated to convene in Atlanta, GA July 20-24, 2015. Proposed resolutions should be sent via e-mail to resolutions.18aac@oca.org or in hard copy to the Resolutions Committee, 18th All-American Council, c/o the Chancery of the Orthodox Church in America, PO Box 675, Syosset, NY 11791.  After review by the Resolutions Committee, they will be published/posted by May 15, 2015—60 days before the AAC per Article III, Section 5, Part E and Article XIII, Sections 1-2 of…

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Source: Orthodox Church in America SYOSSET, NY [OCA]  In a letter dated Friday, April 3, 2015, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon shared the intention of the Holy Synod of Bishops to continue the process regarding the revision of the Statute of the Orthodox Church in America and the presentation of the final draft at the 18th All-American Council[AAC] in Atlanta, GA July 20-24, 2015. The text of the letter may be accessed here. While weighing concerns that the time allocated for a Church-wide review of the revisions is insufficient, the members of the Holy Synod agreed to continue the current process…

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Source: Pravmir On 31 March 2015, the first meeting of the bilateral commission which will consider the possibility of recognizing the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church took place at the Moscow Spiritual Centre of the Old Believers of the Belokrinitsa branch in the Rogozhskaya Settlement. The commission was established on the initiative of Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, and Metropolitan Korniliy of Moscow and All Russia, head of the Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church. Representing the Moscow Patriarchate at the meeting were archpriest Vladislav Tsypin, professor of the Moscow Theological…

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Source: Orthodox Christian Laity On February 20, 2015, Orthodox Christian Laity (OCL) hosted an Open Forum for interested clergy and laity in the Jacksonville/St Augustine, Florida area on the progress of the Assembly of Bishops as they finalize a blueprint for Orthodox Unity in the USA. Videos of the Forum at which His Eminence, Archbishop Nathaniel was the principal speaker, are available below: Part 1  Part 2 [subscribe2]

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Source: Orthodox Church in America SYOSSET, NY [OCA]  In a document dated March 15, 2015, the members of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America offered a response to the Chairman and Secretary of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America with regard to the “Common Starting Point” for Canonical and Regional Planning. The text of the six-page document is available here. As noted in the document’s introduction, the response is “an expansion of the Preliminary Response which was offered by our Synod on September 17, 2014, during Assembly V in Dallas,”…

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Source: Orthodox Church in America SYOSSET, NY [OCA]  The Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America held its spring session at the Chancery here March 17-20, 2015. The session was chaired by His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon, who in his opening remarks thanked the members of the Holy Synod, the Chancery staff, and those who facilitate the Church’s boards, committees, commissions and departments for their work and ministry. After hearing the report on the work of ORSMA and SMPAC, the Holy Synod decided that all faculty, staff and administration members of the OCA’s seminaries, together with all faculty…

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