Source: AMERICA - The National Catholic Review Paul L. Gavrilyuk Russia's influence seen behind the scenes During the week of June 19, the leaders of the self-governing Orthodox churches worldwide gathered in council on the island of Crete. As the first global Council of the Orthodox Church in more than 1,000 years, this historic event promised to usher in a new era of conciliarity. I had a rare privilege of serving as an external correspondent for the Press Office of the Patriarchate … [Read more...]
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THE COUNCIL AFTER THE COUNCIL
June 30, 2016
Source: In Communion by NICHOLAS SOOY By now, everyone has left Crete. Everything has been wrapped up. My skin, for its part in this, is a shade darker and a shade redder. The Council has ended. But the conciliar process has not. One of the phrases that is used in the Council documents is “liturgy after the liturgy.” This phrase is meant to capture the manifold ways in which prayer, love, and sacramentality are to shape the whole of life and the cosmos, and not just the experiences we … [Read more...]
BARTHOLOMEW TO IERONYMOS: I RIGHTFULLY CLAIM THE “NEW TERRITORIES”
June 22, 2016
Source: Pravoslavie.ru The Patriarchate of Constantinople has no plans to return the “New Territories” in its immediate jurisdiction, as Patriarch Bartholomew stated to Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens during a meeting of the Crete Council, writes Orthodoxia.info. Today the primates and bishops participating in the Council are discussing the draft document on the mechanism for granting a Church’s “autonomy.” The Greek Church had already proposed an amendment to the document. Immediately … [Read more...]
TO WHOM SHOULD THE ORTHODOX DIASPORA ANSWER?—DISCUSSION AT CRETE COUNCIL
June 22, 2016
Source: Union of Orthodox Journalists June 21, the second day of the Orthodox Church Council’s work on Crete, saw discussion of the problem of the Orthodox Church diaspora, reports Romfea. The problem of the Church diaspora will be discussed with great difficulty at the Crete Synaxis due to the absence of the delegations of the Russian and Antiochian Orthodox Churches. Representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church noted during the discussion that in the absence of Local Churches “with … [Read more...]
Budget of Orthodox Churches Council Amounts to $2.8Mln, 60% From US Donors
June 21, 2016
Source: Sputnik News The budget of the council of Eastern Orthodox Churches underway on the Greek island of Crete has amounted to 2.5 million euros (some $2.8 million), including $1.5 million from US donors, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America said Tuesday. KOLYMBARI (CRETE) (Sputnik) — According to Father Alexandros, the US funds have come from non-state sources only, and the US government was involved neither in organizing nor in financing the Council. "It is 2.5 million euros. … [Read more...]
COUNCIL MESSAGE COULD CODIFY FOUR NEW ECUMENICAL COUNCILS
June 20, 2016
Source: Pravoslavie.ru In addition to discussing the six documents prepared beforehand at previous conferences, participants at the ongoing council, begun yesterday on the Great Feast of Pentecost on the island of Crete, are also to deliberate over and publish the official "Message" of the council. A draft of the document covers an array of topics including the questions of remarriage and marriage to non-Orthodox, the oneness and unity of the Church in the holy Eucharist, the importance of … [Read more...]
THE GREAT ORTHODOX COUNCIL: ANTIOCH IS DIFFERENT
June 20, 2016
Source: First Things by Andrew Stephen Damick and Samuel Noble In his toast this past Thursday night on the eve of the Holy and Great Council, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, the first among equals of the bishops of the Orthodox Church, expressed his sympathy for the Church of Antioch, which is suffering in the face of militant Islam. He decried the intense and intricate problems, which the brother Primates and local Orthodox Churches face on the account of intolerance … [Read more...]
Antiochian perspective on the “Holy and Great Council”: Harbinger of Storm or Passage to Calm?
June 18, 2016
Source: Ancient Faith Radio Archpriest Patrick B. O'Grady offers an Antiochian perspective on the "Holy and Great Council" currently taking place in Crete. Fr. Patrick is the pastor of St Peter the Apostle Antiochian Orthodox Church in Pomona, California, and Associate Fellow of The Antiochian Orthodox Institute, La Verne, California. Listen Here (Audio courtesy of Ancient Faith Radio) Transcript Harbinger of Storm or Passage to Calm? by … [Read more...]
The Orthodox Church Stays in the Dark Ages
June 16, 2016
Source: Bloomberg View By Leonid Bershidsky Pope Francis' enormous popularity -- his Twitter accounts in different languages have a total of about 30 million followers, about as many as Bill Gates and more than Adele -- is a consequence of his openness to diversity and a softer approach to dogma. He represents a modernized Catholic Church. By contrast, the world's second biggest Christian denomination is proving so resistant to modernization that its plans to adopt some timid changes … [Read more...]
Orthodox Churches’ Council, Centuries in Making, Falters as Russia Exits
June 14, 2016
Source: New York Times By ANDREW HIGGINS MOSCOW — After 55 years of preparation, a landmark effort to promote unity among the world’s 300 million Orthodox Christians turned into a showcase of disarray on Tuesday after the Russian church, the biggest of 14 Orthodox jurisdictions, announced that it would not take part in a historic conclave of church leaders scheduled to start this weekend. The gathering, known both as the Holy and Great Council and as the Pan-Orthodox Council, is scheduled … [Read more...]
