Browsing: Governance & Unity Commentary

Source: The National Herald By TNH Staff Archbishop Elpidophoros has not stopped working for a minute, paving the way for his arrival – in just a few days – in the United States. He is visiting the leaders of the political parties of Greece, large and small, without distinction, as well as its religious leaders. And what he is doing is right and useful on two levels: First, it is good to have a personal relationship with them, as it will come in handy when America’s Archbishop needs the Motherland’s co-operation. And second, because it is time for us and…

Source: Orthodox Christianity MOSCOW — Any Local Church has the authority to call a pan-Orthodox Council, His Grace Bishop Qais (Sadiq) of Erzurum recently told RIA-Novosti. Bp. Qais spoke with the Russian outlet while in Moscow for an international conference dedicated to the protection of the rights of the faithful in Ukraine In his address, he called the Canonical Church of Ukraine to contact the International Community to force Ukraine to respect the religious freedom rights of the members of the canonical Church if the violence against the canonical Church does not cease and if there is no progress in…

Source: Orthodox Christianity Istanbul, May 31, 2019 – The Patriarchate of Constantinople restored canonicity to the entire Ukrainian nation, although the “presence of the Moscow Patriarchate” threatens the unity of the Ukrainian nation, Patriarch Bartholomew boldly declared in a recent interview with the Bulgarian outlet BGNES, even as the so-called “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” (OCU), created by him along with President Poroshenko, battles to maintain unity simply within itself. Pat. Bartholomew’s brother primates, the Holy Synods of the Local Churches, and a number of hierarchs from throughout the Orthodox world have repeatedly called on him to convene a pan-Orthodox council to…

Source: Orthodox Christian Laity “Relent, do not be unjust; reconsider, for my integrity is at stake”. (Job 6:29)  The study of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and its relations with Greece and Constantinople is troubling as these documents described by Professor James Counelis of blessed memory demonstrate.  As the stepchild of Constantinople, the autonomy of the Archdiocese has been diminished with each Charter.  With the present Charter, the Archdiocese has been reduced to a colony controlled from abroad.  The Metropolitans and Archbishop in the United States are auxiliary bishops of the Patriarch in Constantinople.  There is, in effect, no Greek Orthodox Archdiocese.…

By Nick Stamatakis In this weekend’s interview to the Greek edition of “Kathimerini,” it became even more evident that Elpidophoros’ so-called “election” will send the already troubled Greek Orthodox Archdiocese into a new more problematic phase.  His answers to the open-ended “softball” questions created more question marks than his speeches, writings and actions in the past.  But, what to say about the journalistic standards of the interviewer, Alexis Papahelas, when he starts the interview with “how are you feeling…?”. Especially when Elpidophoros had clearly shown his intentions for the “throne” years ago (as early as 2015 according to one report…

Source: The National Herald By Theodore Kalmoukos His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the Holy Synod expressed eloquently and courageously the language of their historic responsibilities with the election to the Archbishopric Throne of America of then-Metropolitan Elpidophoros of Bursa, putting an end to the drama of our Church in America. They ignored the last minute intrigues and delaying tactics by theologically and ecclesiologically illiterate individuals who are trapped in legalisms and regulations. Undoubtedly, they are ignorant of the fact that the constitutions and the regulations are granted by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, because it is Supreme – the Originating…

Source: Orthodoxy in Dialogue Following the rubles seems to be a reliable predictor of where a given Patriarchate will stand on the question of Ukrainian autocephaly. A May 19, 2019 report by Russia’s Union of Orthodox “Journalists”—arguably the Moscow Patriarchate’s most loyal peddler of propaganda after the Department for External Church Relations itself—cites the following statement by Patriarch Theophilus III of Jerusalem, delivered by his proxy to the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society and published on the Patriarchate’s website. The Patriarch’s statement is remarkable for two reasons: first, while Jerusalem is lauded as “the Mother of the Churches” in our liturgical hymnography, we question where in Orthodox tradition…

Source: Orthodox Christianity Patriarch Bartholomew is Isolated: The Danger of Ethnophyletism Fr. Theodore Zisis For the first time, the Constantinople Church has found itself isolated from the other autocephalous Churches, due to its anti-canonical and anti-conciliar actions in granting autocephaly to the Ukrainian schismatics. Thus, it itself has placed under doubt its accepted coordinating role as a unifying factor and driven its hitherto proven and effective ecclesiastical politics into complete failure. It all began with the incomplete, truncated representation of the Body of Christ at the pseudo-council in Kolymvari, Crete. In our previous articles we noted the unavoidable danger arising…

Source: The National Herald By Theodore Kalmoukos BOSTON – The unanimously elected Archbishop Elpidophoros of America gave his first interview to The National Herald, in which he spoke about the Omogenia (the Greek American Community), the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine, the good-ordering of financial matters, the Greek language and heritage, and his vision for the Archdiocese and the Greek-American Community. The Archbishop emphasized regarding the Community, among other things, “For me, you are my pride, my praise, my spiritual children, my precious coworkers, my fellow travelers for the sake of the glory of…

Source: Strategic Culture Foundation by James George Jatras Originally published on November 17, 2018 Was $25 million in American tax dollars allocated for a payoff to stir up religious turmoil and violence in Ukraine? Did Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (unsuccessfully) attempt to divert most of it into his own pocket? Last month the worldwide Orthodox Christian communion was plunged into crisis by the decision of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I in Constantinople to recognize as legitimate schismatic pseudo-bishops anathematized by the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is an autonomous part of the Russian Orthodox Church. In so doing not only has…

Source: Oinos Educational Consulting by Frank Marangos, D.Min., Ed.D., FCEP “There are 552,830 people experiencing homelessness on any given night in America. Thirty-three percent (33%) are families with children. Forty-eight percent (48%) are unable to work.” ` ~ The National Alliance to End Homelessness (2018) The nineteenth year of the 21st Century marks a number of salient scientific milestones. On Saturday, July 20, the United States will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 moon landing. 2019 will also commemorate the 500th anniversary of Leonardo di Vinci’s death, the man responsible for the first scientific studies of flight. The United…

PDF version available here This paper was presented originally at a symposium honoring Fr Meyendorff on the 20th year of his death, held at St Sergius Institute in Paris on February 8-11, 2012. It was published in St Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly 56 (2012): 335-52, and is being reprinted here with permission. Fr Meyendorff was in the 1950s one of the teachers of His Beatitude, Patriarch Ignatius, at the Institut de Théologie Saint-Serge in Paris, and it is evident that they shared the same ecclesial vision. My personal acquaintance with Patriarch Ignatius began when I was a small child, when he…