Browsing: Governance & Unity Commentary

Source: America – The Jesuit Review Julie Schumacher Cohen As we enter deeper into Lent and continue to abstain from certain foods and habits, even those who have given up constantly checking Facebook and Twitter cannot retreat entirely from our divided, toxic political environment. Partly because of my work in community and government relations for a Jesuit university, and partly the responsibility of simply being a citizen I will continue to take in news. This means I will inevitably be exposed to the usual mix of “fake news,” political grandstanding and negative partisanship—what the Stanford political scientists Shanto Iyengar and Masha…

Source: The Christian Science Monitor President Putin’s battle to control the “Russian world” includes a religious front: a centuries-old spiritual and nationalist struggle within the Orthodox church – a part of the consciousness of average churchgoers worldwide.  – Laurent By Sara Miller Llana Staff writer By Sarah Matusek Staff writer By Alexander Thompson Staff writer TORONTO, NEW YORK, AND BOSTON In the wake of an invasion that has shaken the globe, the diaspora of Ukrainians from Winnipeg to Warsaw has taken to the streets to denounce a war they say is unprovoked. But another side of their fierce resistance is spiritual…

Source: Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA GOD IS WITH US! CHRIST IS AMONGST US! HE IS AND ALWAYS SHALL BE! These ancient Christian greetings are so necessary for us all to embrace in hope and love, with a sense of deep concern and an unfathomable desire for peace, as the world watches the news reports from Ukraine and around the world concerning yet another threat from Russian leadership. The scare and intimidation tactics with the presence of the armed vehicles and over a hundred thousand of soldiers around the borders of Ukraine combined with systematic cyber attacks at all…

Source: OINOS Educational Consulting by Frank Marangos, D.Min., Ed.D., FCEP “We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.”  ~ C. S. Lewis Twenty-first century America has lost its way. With staggering speed we have gone from the generation of “Father Knows Best” to a time when fathers and parents”, in general, are considered irrelevant. Our courts are flooded with lawsuits that attempt to redefine marriage, identity, and normalize the absurd. From a moral…

Source: Public Othodoxy PERSONAL REFLECTIONS ON RUSSIA’S WAR ON UKRAINE by Rev. Dr. John Chryssavgis | ελληνικά | Română Few, if any, would go so far as to claim that Patriarch Kirill, as head of the Orthodox Church in Russia (or “the Russias,” as he likes to say), could be charged with crimes against humanity or war crimes for not preventing unwarranted and unjustifiable military aggression that has cost innocent lives in just the last few days. At the same time, many, if not most, would concur that President Putin should be charged with such atrocities. Even with his egregious violations of conventional law, however,…

Source: The National Herald By Alexander Kitroeff    I attended the recent Leadership 100 conference that took place in Florida. I was invited there to give a lecture on the one-hundred-year history of the Archdiocese and to receive an award for which I am very grateful. But I am also grateful for all I learned while attending the conference. I thought that Leadership 100 was simply about rich people who give money to our Church. But now I know better. Leadership 100 is composed of persons who can afford to donate the sum of $100,000 over a period of ten years…

Source: Religion News Service The Orthodox theologian who once taught at an evangelical school warns that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine should worry Americans who care about religious freedom. By Bob Smietana (RNS) — The news that Russian troops had invaded Ukraine was of deep concern for Bradley Nassif, a theologian and expert on Orthodox-evangelical dialogue who spent years as a tenured professor of religion at an evangelical university. The status of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine has long been a source of tension. While Ukraine is home to millions of Orthodox Christians, they are divided in loyalties, with ties to rival leaders in…

Source: Helleniscope By Nick Stamatakis An extraordinary Synod of the Ancient Patriarchates (Constantinople, Jerusalem, Alexandria, Antioch) including the Autocephalous Church of Cyprus (which enjoys a special status as her autocephaly was given by an Ecumenical Synod), is being planned, sources have told Helleniscope.  Behind the scenes, preparations are now taking place and a committee is delivering a letter by Pat. Bartholomew to the other Church leaders, visiting them in person, in an effort to present a unified as possible front when the real Synod takes place. Only the Patriarch of Constantinople has the right to call such a Synod. The…

Source: Public Orthodoxy by Heta Hurskainen | български | ქართული | ελληνικά | Română | Русский | Српски With its autonomous church in Ukraine, the Moscow Patriarchate could not accept the Patriarchate of Constantinople’s actions to grant autocephaly to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine (OCU) in 2018–2019. The Moscow Patriarchate severed its relationships with Constantinople and other primates who recognized the OCU and searched for ways to emphasize conciliarity within Orthodoxy while at the same time ignoring the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s position. The decision to establish the Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa at the turn of 2022 was a nonaccidental result of this development. The Moscow Patriarchate had already cut ties with Constantinople in 2018…

Source: Public Orthodoxy by Very Rev. Dr. Michael A. Meerson | български | ქართული | ελληνικά | Română | Српски The Board of Directors of St. Vladimir’s Seminary and, especially, its President, Father Chad Hatfield, must be commended for their constant labor to make the ends meet and thus to maintain the seminary. We must remember, however, that their seminary belongs at large to the American “eleven jurisdictions” and to the world Orthodox who entrust their students to it, and, last, but not least, to the entire Orthodox Church in America. So, it is perfectly natural to decide the seminary’s future in a conciliar manner. The most natural venue would be…

Source: The National Herald Analysis by Theodore Kalmoukos A few days ago, the Archdiocese of America began conducting a survey through a questionnaire, which it sent out only in English – as if the Greek-speaking members of the Church do not count – to the committee that will draft its new constitution, as TNH reported extensively in last week’s edition. First of all, let us say a few words about the Charter – or constitution if you prefer – emphasizing that it is nothing more than a text of practical guidelines, which functions as a document that set terms and limits…

Source: BookLocker Under One Roof: Uniting the Orthodox Church of America by George E. Matsoukas This collection of essays written between 2012-2020 addresses the status of the Orthodox Church in the U.S. and emphasizes the mission of Orthodox Christian Laity (OCL): unity, accountability, conciliar governance, education and renewal. CLICK HERE TO ORDER About the Book This is the second collection of essays, compiled from opinion columns written during the period 2012-2020, when George Matsoukas served as executive director of Orthodox Christian Laity (OCL). The first collection, “A Church in Captivity: The Greek Orthodox Church of America,” is also a collection…