THE TIME FOR ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN UNITY IN AMERICA IS NOW!

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Child of Governance

“AARRR!” PREVENTING THE PIRACY OF PHILANTHROPY

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Source: OINOS Educational Consulting By Frank Marangos, D.Min., Ed.D., F.C.E.P. “To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life.”Robert Louis Stevenson July 29, 2021, marked 71 years since Walt Disney released Treasure Island, his first live-action film, loosely based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1883 novel of the same name.  Treasure Island made its debut in 1950. Filmed in England, it was the first screen version of the adventure story made in color. Apart from then cutting-edge cinematography, the standout performance in the film was the introduction of the pirate Long John Silver,…

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Making of the Mosaic – Racial Reconciliation in the Orthodox Church

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Source: CrossRoad Institute – Orthodox Youth Take the Challenge by Fr. Turbo Qualls CR Guest Speaker In the patriarchal cathedral of St. Sava in Belgrade, the world’s largest mosaic is all but complete. This has been hailed as the peak of Christian art. As a priest of the Serbian Church, I take joy in this accomplishment; however, as an African-American Orthodox Christian, I am challenged by what this monumental work says to me about what is yet to be accomplished in the Church. When I see online pictures of this incredible mosaic, I can’t help but see it as a…

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The Greek Church in Peril

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Source: The National Herald by Prof. Dan Georgakas The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times recently reported at length about the serious problems engulfing the Roman Catholic Church and the Southern Baptists. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese faces challenges of a different but equally dangerous nature. For more than forty years, it has experienced a steady decline in membership, constant closing of more Church-sponsored Greek schools, and a chronic shortage of priests. The peak in church membership came in the 1970s, mainly due to the impact of nearly two hundred thousand Greek immigrants (1960-1980). The newcomers were educated, mainly…

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INTERESTING AND ENLIGHTENING RESPONSES TO THE SURVEY ON OBSTACLES TO AN ADMINISTRATIVELY UNITED ORTHODOX CHURCH OF AMERICA

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: Orthodox Christian Laity Thank you to the thirty respondents who provided thoughtful answers to two questions in a survey distributed at the end of June 2021. The voice of the Orthodox faithful reveals a sampling of grassroots understanding and passionate opinions about this important issue. 1) In your opinion, what major obstacles must be overcome to administratively unite the Orthodox Church on the American continent? Have everyone recognize the status of the OCA. (1) The fear of losing money and “handing over ” assets to some other authority. (2) The clergy are more opposed to giving up their ethnic…

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Religion as a Hybrid War Weapon to Achieve Russia’s Geopolitical Goals

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Source: The Jamestown Foundation By: Tetyana Zhurman On July 28, Ukrainian Orthodox Christians celebrated the 1,033rd anniversary of the Baptism of Kyivan Rus—a remarkable annual event for Ukrainian history and another reason for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s political speculations. After the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, signed the Ukrainian Orthodox Church tomos in 2019, granting it autocephaly—independence from the Russian Orthodox Church (see EDM, July 26, 2018; RFE, January 23, 2020)—experts warned that Moscow would double its efforts to weaponize religious issues as an element of its “hybrid war” against Ukraine  (Warsawinstitute.org, January 31, 2019). In his recent article “On the Historical Unity of Russians and…

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A Tribute to Bishop Basil of Wichita

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Source: Orthodox History by MATTHEW NAMEE Bishop Basil Essey, the longtime Antiochian Bishop of Wichita and Mid-America, is preparing to retire at the end of this year. Many Antiochians learned of this for the first time over the weekend, when the Archdiocese held a virtual convention. Metropolitan Joseph announced Bishop Basil’s retirement in his address to the convention: In particular, I would like to thank my beloved brother, His Grace Bishop Basil, for his service to this archdiocese over fifty years, as archdiocesan youth director, as a deacon, as a priest, and as a bishop. Some of you may know that, after…

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Professor Panos Stavrianidis lecturing at a seminar at Berkeley College. Photo Provided by Panos Satvrianidis

Dr. Panos Stavrianidis Speaks to TNH on important Issues of the Greek-American Community

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Source: The National Herald BOSTON – Dr. Panos Stavrianidis, professor, researcher in Greek-American matters and the Orthodox Church and a successful jeweler in his professional life will speak at the upcoming AHEPA Supreme Convention in Athens on the topic `The Evolution of the Greek-American Community in the 21st Century and the Struggle for its Survival. He touched on those and other important Greek-American Community issues in an interview with The National Herald, which follows: TNH: How did you spend your time during the pandemic from a personal, family, and professional standpoint? Panos Stavrianidis: The period of the pandemic was an…

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Archbishop Elpidophoros addressing the International Religious Freedom Summit.

For Whom Does AB Elpidophoros Speak?

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By on Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News

Source: Handwritings On the Wall — Musings of Orthodox Thinkers By Robert Arakaki, Ph.D. His address at the International Religious Freedom Summit Archbishop Elpidophoros has caused consternation among the Orthodox faithful by the speech that he gave at the International Religious Freedom Summit held in Washington D.C., 15 July 2021.  In the speech he stated: When you elevate one religion above all others, it is as if you decide there is only one path leading to the top of the mountain. But the truth is you simply cannot see the myriads of paths that lead to the same destination, because…

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PODCAST: Engaging Women in Parish Leadership

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Source: Orthodox Christian Leadership Initiative Listen Now Although women are not ordained in the Orthodox Church, many of them are hearkening God’s call to serve – as chaplains, scholars, diplomats, mothers, teachers, leaders of parish boards and ministries, and in many other roles. Dr. Patricia Fann Bouteneff, founder of Axia Women, shares in this episode what they are learning about parish support of women across the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox traditions. Recalling the Myrrh Bearing Women, they strive to care for the body of Christ and receive and proclaim the Good News of Christ’s Resurrection. Learn more about Axia Women at https://www.axiawomen.org/…

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Is Pope Francis Leading the Church to a Schism?

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Source: The Wall Street Journal Disagreements over same-sex relationships and the role of women are heightening tensions among Catholics worldwide. By Francis X. Rocca German Catholics have been meeting since last year to consider major changes to church life, including the blessing of same-sex relationships and the ordination of women—moves that many see as essential reforms after the clerical sex-abuse crisis. But the effort has drawn fierce criticism. Cardinal Rainer Woelki of Cologne, leader of the conservative minority of German bishops, has warned that the process could lead to a schism and even “a German national church.” His warnings have been…

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Really, Your Eminence?

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Source: Helleniscope by Lawrence B. Wheeler, B.A., M.Div. (Former Anglican priest, convert to Orthodoxy). It was a balmy summer day in midtown Manhattan when His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros stepped into St. Bartholomew’s Church. He was on Park Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets, where the grand edifice sits, imposing and Byzantine, yet dwarfed by the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. According to the Orthodox Church calendar, it was the feast day of Ss. Bartholomew & Barnabas, which fell on a Friday this year, the eleventh day of June 2021. The archbishop and his entourage had come to St. Bart’s, as the parish is…

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