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Source: NPR by Odette Yousef When Sarah Riccardi-Swartz moved from New York City to a small Appalachian town in West Virginia in the fall of 2017, she was searching for an answer to a puzzling question. Why had a group of conservative American Christians converted to Russian Orthodoxy? “It’s typically an immigrant faith, so I was really interested in that experience and why it spoke to converts,” said Riccardi-Swartz, a postdoctoral fellow in the Recovering Truth project at Arizona State University. Riccardi-Swartz’s study focused on a community of mostly former evangelical Christians and Catholics who had joined the Russian Orthodox…

PRESS RELEASE WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., April 28, 2022 — The Orthodox Christian Laity (OCL) denounces the horrific and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by the Russian military under the orders of President Putin and the attempt to bestow religious legitimacy to the war by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow. The indiscriminate and unjustifiable bombing of innocent civilian population centers including schools and hospitals, the rapes, mass executions and war crimes committed by Russian soldiers have shocked the entire world. Millions have been forced to flee their homes as refugees from a brutal war in which Orthodox Christians have been ordered by…

Source: Christian Post Did President Putin have a legitimate, legal, or moral basis for invading Ukraine beginning on Feb. 24, 2022, and going on to date? Was Putin’s aggression against Ukraine as a nation and its people justified under the “casus belli” laid down by Hugo Grotius in his book, On the Law of War and Peace, in the 16th century? Or was Putin’s actions in killing indiscriminately Ukrainian people and razing entire cities in Ukraine morally justified under Thomas Aquinas’s philosophy of war? It is a fact that the Ukrainian government did nothing to invite the genocidal acts of Putin.…

Source: The National Herald By Theodore Kalmoukos BOSTON – The Clergy Syndesmos of the Metropolis of Boston sent a protest letter to Archbishop Elpidophoros dated April 25, 2022 regarding his decisions and specifically about the old Charter, its revocation, and the questionnaire pertaining to the new one. It is emphasized here that it is the second such collective expression of disappointment towards Elpidophoros, after the one by the Clergy Syndesmos of Chicago. The Boston Clergy Syndesmos is one of the largest clergy associations of the Archdiocese. The priests of New England copied their letter to all the members of the…

Source: The National Herald By Theodore Kalmoukos BOSTON – The Clergy Syndesmos of the Metropolis of Chicago sent a protest letter to Archbishop Elpidophoros dated April 8, 2022 regarding his decisions and specifically about the old Charter, its revocation and the questionnaire pertaining to the new one. It is emphasized here that it is the first collective expression of disappointment towards Elpidophoros coming from one of the largest Clergy Associations of the Archdiocese. The priests copied their letter to all the members of the Eparchial Synod as well as the members of the Archdiocesan Council. The entire letter follows: “Your…

Source: The Pillar JD Flynn First, it is not yet Easter for most Christians living in Ukraine, where the Battle of Donbas is raging in the east, and in the west, the city of Lviv saw its first missile-strike casualties on Monday. Ukraine has defended Kyiv and the fighting has shifted, but the war is far from over. Amid the humanitarian and social crisis that will envelop Ukraine from years to come, there has also occasioned a serious ecclesiastical crisis for the 70% of Ukrainians who are Orthodox Christians. Orthodoxy in Ukraine has two hierarchies, and two sets of dioceses and…

Source: Religion News Service The letter to the Russian patriarch comes amid calls to expel him and the Russian Orthodox Church from the WCC. By Jack Jenkins (RNS) — The head of the World Council of Churches is urging Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, to call for a cease-fire in Ukraine as Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter this weekend. “People lost their trust and hope in politicians and in a possible peaceful negotiation and a ceasefire,” the Rev. Ioan Sauca, a Romanian Orthodox priest and acting general secretary of the World Council of Churches, wrote in a letter…

Source: The Washington Post By Ishaan Tharoor In October 2015, Russia’s newly launched military intervention in defense of embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad received a clerical blessing. Patriarch Kirill, the powerful leader of the Russian Orthodox Church and a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, declared the operation “a responsible decision to use military forces to protect the Syrian people from the woes brought on by the tyranny of terrorists.” The main spokesman for Kirill’s church went even further: “The fight with terrorism is a holy battle and today our country is perhaps the most active force in the world fighting it,” said the head…

Source: The Washington Post Patriarch Kirill has angered many priests by echoing the language Vladimir Putin uses to justify the Ukraine invasion By Jeanne Whalen He leads his flock from a soaring, gilded cathedral built to celebrate Russia’s victory over Napoleon, where week after week the powerful head of the Russian Orthodox Church is working to ensure that the faithful are all in on their country’s invasion of Ukraine. Whether warning about the “external enemies” attempting to divide the “united people” of Russia and Ukraine, or very publicly blessing the generals leading soldiers in the field, Patriarch Kirill has become one…

Source: Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) Originally published on February 22, 2022 WRITTEN BY Donatienne Ruy, Director, Abshire-Inamori Leadership Academy Heather A. Conley Former Senior Vice President for Europe, Eurasia, and the Arctic; and Former Director, Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program Marlene Laruelle Director and Research Professor, George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. Tengiz Pkhaladze Associate Professor and Head of the BA Program in Political Science, Georgian Institute of Public Affairs Elizabeth H. Prodromou Faculty Member and Faculty Director of the Initiative on Religion, Law, and Diplomacy, The Fletcher School at Tufts University Majda Ruge Senior Policy…

Source: Helleniscope By Anonymous contributor We have missed the mark. The chasm between Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy must be addressed and healed within our churches and within the hearts of the faithful. How can I make such a bold and audacious statement? Because it is true. I, like most Orthodox Christians, grew up in a loving, supportive, celebratory, and spiritually grounding community. We created in essence our own world inside the “American” world. In fact, the language of being Greek and being American were always clearly delineated, even though, of course, we were all Americans. We loved our country. Many of…

Source: Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of America By Bishop THOMAS (Joseph) and Fr. David Hyatt Download the Article (PDF) ​“Never, never, never let anyone tell you that, in order to be Orthodox, you must be Eastern.  The west was fully Orthodox for a thousand years, and her venerable liturgy is far older than any of her heresies.” St. John of San Francisco and Shanghai On occasion, as I travel, I come across the opinion that churches that do not celebrate the Divine Liturgies of St. John Chrysostom or St. Basil the Great are not truly Orthodox. Some Orthodox Christians, it seems, have come to associate…

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