Source: The Wall Street Journal By George Weigel While Vladimir Putin is determined to reconstitute the old Soviet Union as a sphere of unchallenged Russian influence, Russian imperialism has a history that long antedates Mr. Putin. Czarist Russia was an expansive imperial power, extending its hegemony over the Eurasian landmass to the Pacific Ocean. Lenin, Stalin and their epigones, despite their ideological rejection of czarism, acted as de facto Great Russian imperialists in assembling the Soviet Union and maintaining it by brute force. In lamenting the demise of that prison house of nations as the greatest geopolitical disaster of the 20th century, Mr.…
Browsing: Governance & Unity Commentary
Child of Governance
Source: Helleniscope *Warning graphic content* By Heather (Markella) Georgiou RN, MsPH, CHES Archbishop Elpidophoros declared “respect for the autonomy of women” in regard to abortion this past Friday, January 21, 2022 (https://www.goarch.org/-/march-for-life-2022]. I would like to take this opportunity as an Orthodox Christian healthcare professional to clarify some points on this topic. Each year in the United States, a weekend in January is set aside to honor the sanctity of human life. Many individuals and churches have developed beautiful ways of glorifying the fact that each person is made in Gods’ image and likeness, knit together in the womb by…
In the second week of 2022, Orthodox Christian Laity’s Board met to review the past year and begin planning an agenda for the new year. During a discussion about Orthodox administrative unity in America and the general feeling of frustration with progress in that direction, one Board Member (Dr. Gayle Woloschak) drew our attention to the fact that the Assembly of Bishops USA has taken steps in the right direction through its establishment of fourteen committees, six agencies and commissions, and six affiliate ministries and associations (read about these initiatives here and here). She reminded us that the process of…
Source: OINOS Educational Consulting By Frank Marangos, D.Min., Ed.D., F.C.E.P “I strongly recommend all young entrepreneurs to invest in NFTs.” ~ Anuj Jasani 2021 was a year defined by numerous societal disruptions. Covid variants, climactic catastrophes, a foiled military withdrawal, tense court cases, and unexpected economic down-turns. Although the vastness of such a year could never be fully summarized with a single word, several prominent dictionary companies have attempted to do so. “Allyship,” for example, is Dictionary.com’s Word of The Year. According to the site, “allyship” may be defined as the role of an individual who advocates for inclusion of a “marginalized…
Source: The National Herald By Tony Glaros When I think about my Orthodox faith, where I would instinctively head to gather my core, the road always led straight to the Byzantine structure with the Greek Orthodox sign. Given my Hellenic heritage, the subject of where I spent two hours on Sunday morning was not up for debate. My unbreakable connection to Greek denotes where my forebears sailed here from. It wasn’t Russian. It wasn’t Serbian. Forty years ago, if I were to come across a fellow worshipper who dared to admit they were Russian or Bulgarian Orthodox visiting the Greek…
Source: Union of Orthodox Journalists Originally published on December 20, 2021 by Kirill Aleksandrov The Phanar received Macedonian schismatics. What is this – revenge to the Serbian Church for non-recognizing the OCU or a global policy of legalizing all schismatics? On 16 December, Patriarch Bartholomew received a delegation from the so-called Macedonian Church at the Phanar. Does this mean the start of another Tomos for the schismatics, and how might this affect the entire Orthodoxy? The delegation of the “Macedonian Orthodox Church” at the Phanar. Photo: religija.mk Analyzing the visit of the Macedonian schismatics to the Phanar, three points should be noted: The delegation…
Source: Academia by Christine Chaillot The topic of deaconesses and female diaconate is being debated today in different Churches, Protestant, Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches. It is a reflection based on the fact that deaconesses are mentioned in the New Testament and in other documents of the Early Church. Today the topic of deaconesses is also studied, discussed and experienced in the Eastern Orthodox of Byzantine tradition which accepted the Council of Chalcedon in 451 and the Oriental Orthodox Churches which include the Coptic Church in Egypt, the Ethiopian Church, the Armenian Church (with two catholicoses with seats in Etchmiadzin…
Source: John Carroll University Edward P Hahnenberg A survey of ministerial developments around the world sheds light on key aspects of lay ecclesial ministry in the U.S.: response to reality, vocational commitment, re-positioning within the community, and commissioning. Click here to view the PDF
After ten years of meetings, the Assembly of Bishops still finds bishops communicating with each other difficult. The rules governing how to reach decisions are impossible. The Assembly needs to develop communication skills that enable each bishop to stay focused, to hear one another, and to debate and reach conclusions. In-service programs with guides that have communication skills would be a useful exercise. We are no closer to canonical unity of Orthodoxy in the USA and throughout the world where Orthodox Christians reside in pluralistic societies. The largest grouping in the USA is in financial difficulty caused by undertaking an…
CLICK HERE or on the image below to read the letter
Source: OINOS Educational Consulting By Frank Marangos, D.Min., Ed.D., F.C.E.P This edition of Frankly Speaking will examine how a nonprofit’s communication strategy resembles the components of a crossbow. In the hands of a skilled archer – the arrows of its mission have great potency. “In any situation that calls for you to persuade, convince or manage someone or a group of people to do something, the ability to tell a purposeful story will be your secret sauce.” ~ Peter Guber In the center square of Alt-dorf, Switzerland, a small town nestled in the Alps, is an important statue. A man stands proudly, chest out,…
Source: Public Orthodoxy by Paul Valliere and Randall A. Poole Scholarly study of the interaction of law and religion is well established in Europe and America, but it is not evenly distributed across the religious and ecclesiastical spectrum. There is a vast literature on some aspects of the subject, such as religion in the American constitutional order and law in the history of Roman Catholicism. Issues of law and religion in the Orthodox world, however, have not received much attention. Law and the Christian Tradition in Modern Russia (Routledge, 2022), a volume sponsored by the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory…