Browsing: Governance & Unity Commentary

Source: The National Herald By Nikolaos Piperis When our forefathers immigrated here near the turn of the 20th century, they generally desired to maintain their Hellenism in America. Like people everywhere, Greeks hold fast to their inherited traditions, having protected them through centuries of inordinate persecutions in the Ottoman Empire. Understandably, these immigrants intended to perpetuate their culture and religion in their new country and accordingly established, in nearly every locality they stepped foot, local societies devoted to that task. These societies, which sponsored Greek schools, community centers, and churches, later transformed themselves into parishes, creating the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese…

Source: Orthodox History by MATTHEW NAMEE The following remarkable letter appeared in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle on March 18, 1915. It offers a well-informed but obviously partisan perspective on the Orthodox reality in America and globally in 1915 — in the midst of World War I. There’s so much happening in this letter, so many layers. It has to be one of the most fascinating historical records I’ve ever stumbled upon. I only wish I knew the identity of the author — all we can tell here is that he’s a Greek-American who knows a great deal about the entire Orthodox world. Read…

Source: Orthodox Christian Laity Download the Event Flyer here. The OCL Board will hold the 36th Annual Meeting and Conference in Chicago, Illinois, at Sts. Peter & Paul Greek Orthodox Church, 1401 Wagner Road, Glenview, IL 60025 (https://ssppglenview.org/) the weekend of October 20-21, 2023. Mark your calendar! Join us for what promises to be a unique and enlightening program. Friday, October 20, 2023 Annual Board Meeting Saturday, October 21, 2023 8:00 am – Continental Breakfast and Fellowship 9:00 am – 11:15 am V. Rev. Archpriest Bohdan Hladio, an Orthodox priest and former Chancellor of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada…

Source: Public Orthodoxy by Very Rev. Dr. John Jillions Visiting Professor at the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies (Cambridge, UK) When the New York Times recently asked readers to tell them why they had left their religion behind some 7,000 readers responded (“Why Do People Lose Their Religion?” June 7, 2023). Clearly there is a lot of painful pent-up feeling about this. But an equally intriguing question is, “Why do people keep their religion?” This is a question that percolated throughout a course on religion in American history I was teaching this past Spring at Fordham University (“American Religious Texts and Traditions”). The class…

Source: The National Herald SOUTHAMPTON, NY – In an interview featured on 27east.com, Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Patriarchate Father Alexander Karloutsos spoke about the war in Ukraine. Tom Gogola’s article begins by noting that, “the war in Ukraine may be thousands of miles away, but it hits close to home for Father Alex Karloutsos of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church of the Hamptons in Shinnecock Hills.” Gogola writes that, “Karloutsos is joining his church colleagues in decrying the punishment, he says, of hundreds of Russian-based clergymen in the Russian Orthodox Church who have opposed the war…

Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA The Kyiv Theological Academy and Seminary (“KTA”) of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) is moving from the Kyiv Lower Lavra to the Pokrovsky Holosiiv Monastery, which is located 7 km. southwest of the Lavra.  (Holosiiv is the district of Kyiv where the Monastery is located.)  The Monastery is also approximately 2-1/2 km. from Feofania where Metropolitan Onufry resides.  The Monastery was fairly recently restored.  The website of the Monastery can be viewed at http://goloseevo.com.ua/?lang=uk.  As can be seen from the photos on the website, the Monastery is a large and attractive complex.  A photo of the Monastery is also…

Source: Orthodox Public Affairs Committee The Orthodox Public Affairs Committee (OPAC) decries the punishment of clergymen of the Russian Orthodox Church under Patriarch Kirill for opposing the war against Ukraine. Although there are tens of thousands of Russian Clergy, around three hundred have actively opposed the war and its support by Kirill. They have defied the Russian Church leader by substituting the word “peace” for “victory” in Putin-centric prayers mandated by the Russian Church Hierarchy. Some, like Father Ioann Koval have been defrocked and sought refuge under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Not only does Kirill and his cronies continue to compromise the integrity of the…

Source: The National Herald NEW YORK – Jerry Dimitriou, past Executive Director of Administration of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA), has issued a statement responding to a news release by the GOA. The latter release referred to Dimitriou’s being sentenced by the U.S. District Court – Southern District of New York on August 2, 2023, to two years of probation, four months of house incarceration, and over one hundred hours of community service for charges related to personal tax evasion while he served at the Archdiocese. The full text of his statement follows: August 5, 2023 – FOR…

Source: The National Herald By Theodore Kalmoukos BOSTON – The National Herald publishes here the fourth and final part of the confidential report from the meeting of hierarchs of the Eparchial Synod of the Archdiocese of  America with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on Wednesday, April 5, 2023. This article features what Metropolitan of Chalcedon Emmanuel and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew said. The report contains the following: “Next, Metropolitan Chalcedon took the floor, emphasizing the need to build a spirit of mutual trust between the Archbishop of America and the members of the Eparchial Synod, and in no case should [people] be given…

Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA On December 29, 2022, the Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate decided in Journal Entry 121 to set a “bishops’ conference” for July 19, 2023.   https://mospat.ru/ru/news/89905/  It is important to note that this is not the “bishops’ council” that been repeatedly postponed because “the international situation continues to hinder the arrival in Moscow of many members of the Bishops’ Council.”  A Bishops’ Council is a decision-making body while a Bishops’ Conference is not.  Rather this Bishops’ Conference is to be “a fraternal discussion of current issues of church life” with an agenda to be prepared by…

Source: Orthodox History by MATTHEW NAMEE It almost goes without saying that the Orthodox world is a mess right now. The situation in Ukraine alone is a disaster: a Russian invasion of the country backed by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) by the state, and a recognized-by-only-some Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) that was created by the Ecumenical Patriarchate by joining together and legitimizing two schismatic church bodies. Moscow has broken communion with Constantinople and the other churches that have recognized the OCU: Alexandria, Cyprus, and Greece. In Africa, Moscow has established dioceses on the…

Source: The National Herald By Theodore Kalmoukos BOSTON – The clergy and laity of the Metropolis of Chicago expressed their opposition to the Charter proposed and distributed by Archbishop Elpidophoros in person during their recent meeting on Friday, July 7, 2023. He called the meeting to express his thoughts on a new Charter for the Archdiocese of America, referring to them as “his personal” points of view, as he characteristically said. Specifically, at the meeting that took place at the Saints Peter and Paul parish in Chicago, there were about seventy priests from the communities of all the states that…