Browsing: Governance & Unity Essays

Source: Public Orthodoxy Lidiya Lozova British Academy Fellow in the Theology and Religion Department, University of Exeter First, I would like to say two things. From 2009 to 2019, I was quite involved in the life of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC)—from singing and helping a priest-monk at a local parish near Kyiv to assisting the bishop during international trips to translating for international ecumenical guests at Lavra, the metropolia, and the Kyiv Theological Academy. Second, I was among the authors of the recent statement against violence in resolving conflicts among church communities in Ukraine, which was drafted after violence was used…

Source: Public Orthodoxy Tiffany Butler Ph.D. Candidate, University of Edinburgh In an interview reported by The Russian Orthodox Church Department for External Church Relations, Rossiya TV asked Patriarch Kirill about his visit to Latin America in February 2016. At the time, Kirill commented about his impression of South America and his hopes for that country. As a comparative lesson, he reflected on the experience of the Soviet Union under a single monopoly in pursuit of one goal of development. He suggested that Latin America is at a similar crossroads between secular and religious influences. In 2016, Kirill responded, Russia seeks…

Source: Public Orthodoxy Andrey Shirin Associate Professor of Divinity, John Leland Center for Theological Studies In his 2006 book titled The Civil War as a Theological Crisis, historian Mark Noll argued that the American Civil War of the 19th century was, among other things, a crisis not only of differing biblical interpretations but of the very concept of the Bible. The South and the North interpreted the Scriptural outlook on slavery very differently, with Southern interpretation being more straightforward and the Northern one more nuanced. Therefore, at issue was the concept of the Bible as a clear source that could offer transparent…

Source: Public Orthodoxy Rev. Bohdan Hladio A Ukrainian Orthodox priest within the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate As I write this, the drama surrounding the expulsion of the monks of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under Metropolitan Onuphry from the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra is being played out, a drama simultaneously sad, understandable, and scandalous. I first visited the Lavra in November of 1988. A portion of the monastery had just been re-opened, and it was moving to see how the monks were re-establishing monastic life after decades of Soviet persecution.  One of the elderly monks “boasted” that he had been expelled from…

Source: The National Herald By Theodore Kalmoukos BOSTON – Despo Lialiou of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki was the professor of Elpidophoros Lambriniadis, the current Archbishop of America, who marked and influenced his life and career for many years. To her, he owes his academic advancement, as well as his broader career, but as it turns out, Professor Lialiou did not know him thoroughly. Now that she has come to know him better, she has begun speaking. Excerpts from her interview with the Greek Edition of The National Herald follow: The National Herald: Mrs. Lialiou, I thank you for agreeing to…

Source: Orthodox Theological Society in America Join us for an online conversation as we begin to assess and tackle anti-Jewish hymns within the Byzantine rite of the Orthodox Church. Registration is free and open to the public. Click “Request Tickets” below to register. The issue of anti-Jewish texts within the Byzantine rite is longstanding and complex. The Orthodox Theological Society in America is establishing a working group of liturgical scholars and specialists in Jewish-Christian theological dialogue to study and make recommendations for liturgical renewal within the Orthodox Church. To launch this endeavor, and in advance of this year’s Holy Week, a time…

Source: The National Herald By Theodore Kalmoukos BOSTON – His Eminence Archbishop Spyridon, former of America, in an interview with The National Herald, spoke about the Archdiocese, the Charter, the dethronement of Metropolitan Evangelos from his Metropolis of New Jersey, the Theological School, Greek Education in America, and much more. The interview follows: TNH: Your Eminence, after so many years away you made an appearance at a few church events in New York. How would you assess the state of the Church and our Community in America in the year 2023? SPYRIDON: Although I attended these events briefly, I was…

Source: The National Herald By Theodore Kalmoukos BOSTON – Archbishop Elpidophoros of America has turned openly against the will and directives of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew regarding the Charter of the Archdiocese of America, as it appears from the last meeting of the Eparchial Synod of the Archdiocese in New York on Tuesday, March 14, 2023. We reveal today that the will and the directives given by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to the Commission of the Phanar for the Charter call for no changes to come to the metropolises and their respective metropolitans. It is recalled that the Commission of the Phanar…

Source: Orthodox Reality A new report, A Unified American Orthodox Church: Do Parish Priests Want It?, is now available. Do parish clergy support the creation of a fully independent autocephalous American Orthodox Church? Do they prefer a self-ruling Church under the Ecumenical Patriarchate? Or, would they rather keep things as they are, with separate jurisdictions? If the latter, why? Based on a national survey of 390 U.S. Orthodox parish clergy, the answers to these questions can be found here: https://orthodoxreality.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/OrthodoxClergyOnUnity2023Protected.pdf Four major issues are discussed: How parish priests of various jurisdictions envision the future of the Orthodox Church in the…

Source: The National Herald Analysis by Theodore Kalmoukos On March 5, which was the Sunday of Orthodoxy, the newly elected Archbishop Georgios of Cyprus made his first official visit to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The visit in ecclesiastical language is called ‘the peaceful visit, and it was done according to the long-standing tradition of the Church. The Cypriot Archbishop co-celebrated the Divine Liturgy with Patriarch Bartholomew and members of his Synod, an act that manifests the unity of the two churches of Cyprus and Constantinople. On the same day, Metropolitan Epiphanios of Kyiv and All Ukraine made his ‘peaceful…

Originally posted on December 31, 2021 The process for gathering input from the clergy and laity outlined by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA), was to ask the 80 or so members of the Charter Committee to submit questions to be collected, organized, and incorporated into a questionnaire to be submitted back to the committee. The committee’s responses to the questionnaire would then be “summarized” by the Archdiocese to guide the members of the “drafting committee” appointed by the Archbishop. Those appointees will presumably meet with the 5 or so members of the drafting committee appointed by the Patriarch.…

Source: International Orthodox Theological Association (IOTA) The video recordings of select conference presentations are being edited and uploaded to the IOTA YouTube Channel. Approximately 1-2 new videos will be published each week. Currently available videos include the Keynote Address and Florovsky Lecture by Metropolitan Ambrosios of Korea, and the Presidential Address by Dr. Paul Gavrilyuk. Excerpt from Metropolitan Ambrosios’s Keynote Address, January 11, 2023: “[O]n February 24, 2022, the abominable war in Ukraine escalated on a massive scale. I immediately knew that I had to change the subject and nature of my speech, because I believe it is unacceptable for a…