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Child of Governance

Source: The Conversation by Alexander Titov The Moscow Patriarchate recently announced that it is breaking its ties with the Patriarchate of Constantinople, triggering what is potentially the biggest split in the Orthodox Church in a thousand years. So why is one of the great defenders of Christianity tearing itself apart? The tussle between Moscow and Constantinople is over Ukraine, and Constantinople’s declaration on October 15 that the Ukrainian church is no longer part of Moscow’s patrimony. And behind this is Ukraine’s divided national identity – and the woes of its current president. There have long been two main Ukrainian identities: Eastern Slavic (or Little Russian)…

Source: Orthodox Christianity Metropolitan Amfilohije (Radovich) His Eminence, Amfilohije, Archbishop of Cetinje and Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral, and of the Highlands of Brda, and Exarch of the Throne of Peć gave an interview to “Channel One” Russia. “The decisions of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew and his Synod concerning the Ukrainian issue, are, in my opinion catastrophic, both for the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and for resolving the Church question in Ukraine, as well as for the unity of the Orthodox Church. We in our Church are simply shocked at how the Ecumenical Patriarch—an expert on the canons—made…

Source: Bloomberg As Ukraine’s church moves toward independence, the Russian president could lose his role of defender of the faith. By Leonid Bershidsky The Eastern Orthodox Church is closer than ever to a schism that would cast Russian President Vladimir Putin in a role similar to that of King Henry VIII when he split the Church of England from Rome in the 16th century. Russia’s ambition to be the center of the Orthodox world threatens to end in isolation. But holding back from splitting the church will mean humiliation by the Ukrainians, who have been ruthlessly terrorized by the Russian leader. On…

Source: Pravda The agreements of 300 years have been cast aside. Constantinople wants to break the spine of Orthodoxy and make Ukraine hostile to Russia forever. However, it is up to common people – Ukrainian Christians – to make their final decision. On October 11, the Synod of the Constantinople Patriarchate made the following decisions (briefly): 1. To confirm the decision that the Ecumenical Patriarchate proceeds to provide autocephaly to the Church of Ukraine. 2. To restore the stauropegion of the Ecumenical Patriarch in Kiev. 3. To accept and consider the appeals from Filaret Denisenko and Macary Maletich for the…

Source: Hurriyet Daily News By ARIANA FERENTINOU “We have known you for years and we appreciate your devotion to the Mother Church. It needs the devotion and faithfulness of the ones who serve it, because it faces, especially these days, many problems and challenges and its privileges as the First Seated Church are being disputed and attacked passionately,” said His Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew in a recent speech welcoming the appointment of a new bishop. It was his first public statement after he returned to Istanbul, from his bittersweet, week-long tour in Greece during which the ongoing crisis between the Autocephalous Church of…

Source: The National Herald By Theodore Kalmoukos In covering the visit of Elder Ephraim, Abbot of the Vatopaidi Monastery on Mt. Athos, to the United States, I had the opportunity last week to visit the St. Nicholas National Shrine at Ground Zero in New York, and really it was a very painful and heartbreaking sight, and experience. I had not visited there in quite a while, and seeing what I saw was quite a traumatic shock. The building was locked, as construction halted nine months earlier due to the Archdiocese’s lack of funds, which ultimately caused it to mortgage its…

Source: The National Herald By Theodore Kalmoukos BOSTON– His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew appears to be undecided once again about the issue of His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America and the possibility of replacing him with a new Archbishop. The National Herald has learned that the Patriarch made a brief mention of the issue at the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate which convenes this week at the Phanar. He reportedly said that he is being pressured concerning the ecclesiastical problem of America and the removal of Archbishop Demetrios, but the issue will be resolved at its proper time. The…

Source: Ekathimerini The next couple of days will be crucial for the future of Hellenism in the United States. A decision will be taken in Istanbul on whether Archbishop Demetrios of America will step down from his post and, if so, who will replace him. Officials in Athens would in the past treat this as a routine decision. But this is no longer the case. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America is facing an unprecedented crisis that calls for immediate and radical solutions. Financial mismanagement in the construction of the Saint Nicholas National Shrine at the World Trade Center has…

Source: The National Herald By Antonis H. Diamataris If the leaked information is true, the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate will convene October 9-11 in Constantinople to decide the replacement of Demetrios as Archbishop of America. But similar information regarding the archbishop’s replacement also circulated at the previous two Synods, and despite that the information was confirmed insofar as Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew asked Archbishop Demetrios to resign, the latter not only refused to do so, but imposed his decision to stay. If such were to happen a third time, for any reason at all, then one thing is certain:…

Source: Orthodox Christian Laity I would like to share this pastoral letter sent to Orthodox Christian Laity by His Eminence Metropolitan Isaiah of Denver as OCL  gathers in Cleveland October 17-20 for its 31 Annual Meeting. His letter provides the opportunity to thank all the dedicated supporters past and present who served and continue to serve on the board and advisory board of OCL. Board members serve at their own expense and contribute $1,000 yearly to support the organization. Without their prayers, time, talent and resources, we could not continue our ministry. We are especially grateful to the hierarchs and…

Source: Orthodox Christian Laity Editor’s Note:  Pan-Orthodox Cleveland is the setting for the 9th meeting of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops charged with bringing the separate Orthodox ethnic divisions together. They meet the first week in October. They are really meeting under the radar.  Many faithful people actively involved in the life of the church in Cleveland do not even know that the meeting is taking place. What a shame!  Over fifty bishops meet and the church faithful at large do not have access to their discussions. Why are not the minutes, results of surveys and discussions made public? If the bishops got out into the…

Source: First Things by Luma Simms Originally published on September 18, 2018 In 1977 my parents came to the difficult conclusion that there was no future for them and their children in Iraq. Under the guise of vacation we left for Greece, where we lived as refugees for a year and a half. During our time there we met American Evangelical missionaries, who were kind to us. But they told us we would not be real Christians until we became “born again.” They informed us that my parents’ ancient faiths—Chaldean Catholic and Syriac Orthodox—were just dead traditions. My parents trusted…

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