Browsing: Governance & Unity News

Source: AEON …But in September 1943, as Stalin imagined a role for a victorious Soviet Union in a postwar world, he began to reconsider his government’s position with regards to the Russian Orthodox Church, and eventually to the entire question of the role of religion in an atheist empire. At this meeting, Stalin presented these men with a bold proposal: the same Soviet state that had destroyed their Church was now going to devote its resources to bringing it back… Read the entire article here

Source:  OINOS Educational Consulting by Frank Marangos, D.Min., Ed.D., FCEP Disturb us, Lord, when We are too pleased with ourselves, When our dreams have come true Because we dreamed too little, When we arrived safely Because we sailed too close to the shore.Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess We have lost our thirst For the waters of life; Having fallen in love with life, We have ceased to dream of eternity And in our efforts to build a new earth, We have allowed our vision Of the new Heaven to dim. Disturb us, Lord, to dare…

Source: Union of Orthodox Journalists (UOJ) Author: Elena Yufereva Representatives of the Albanian Church propose to discuss the “Ukrainian issue” and ensure the unity of Orthodoxy throughout the world. The Albanian Orthodox Church calls for an All-Orthodox Council to be convened, reports romfea.gr. “As the unprecedented distress of Orthodoxy in Ukraine intensifies and the unspeakable suffering of the Orthodox faithful reaches a climax, an Ecumenical Orthodox Council, which is known to be convened by the Ecumenical Patriarch and acts even if some Local Churches are absent, as was the case with the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church in Crete in…

I am a third-generation member of the Orthodox Christian Church in the United States, dating back to 1906, when my paternal grandparents settled in Springfield, MA, and then Poughkeepsie, NY (1908), when my maternal grandfather settled in Pittsburgh, PA. At 28 years old, my grandmother died of the Swine Flu in that city in 1918, leaving a 3-month newborn and a 4-year-old child.   Eventually, this branch of the family settled in Garden City, L.I., N.Y. I grew up with my parents in Jersey City in 1942. My views on this Greek Orthodox Archdiocese Charter development process relate to this impressionistic…

Source: Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the USA NEW YORK – The Stavros Niarchos Foundation awarded the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America a 3-year, $200,000 grant to support its mental health ministries. During the process, it was noted that the Assembly of Bishops training program, Peace of Mind, is a groundbreaking effort to bridge the gap between faith and mental health. The program is groundbreaking insofar as it applies an evidenced-based program to train clergy and lay leadership in a way that honors the traditions and practices of the Orthodox Christian faith. In…

Source: Leadership 100 CLICK HERE to view highlights from the 32nd Annual Leadership 100 Conference held in Scottsdale, Arizona. Related Articles Leadership 100 Approves $5,006,600 in New and Prior Year Grants with $4,678,100 Distributed in 2023 for Total since Founding of $74,942,853 – Hellenic News

Source: Suprasl Press Releases: World Day of Orthodox Youth and Orthodox Youth Environmental Leadership Program

Source: Orthodox Christian Laity Orthodox Christian Laity features a presentation by Ken Liu, Executive Director of Orthodox Youth and Young Adult Ministries (OYM), on its monthly Orthodoxy in Action Call (click here to sign up for notifications of future presentations). OYM (https://theoym.org/) is the official youth agency of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America. OYM empowers, partners, and walks with parents and lay and ordained ministry leaders – at a jurisdictional, regional, and local level – as they seek to bring young people into an ever-deepening sense of who they are in Christ. Join OYM’s…

Source: Christian Network Europe During an inter-church discussion, representatives of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church concluded that it would be best to re-unite both denominations. Therefore, they recommend renewed cooperation. “It is crucial to preserve the spiritual unity of the Ukrainian people, the origins of which go back to the ancient Kyiv Orthodox tradition”, the clergy write in a statement, as reported by Risu.ua. They drafted the document during a so-called inter-church dialogue that took place in the St Sophia Church in Kyiv, as reported by Orthodox Times. Dialogue To achieve unity, the clergy propose…

Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA The Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Albania on February 24 issued a communique relating to the Orthodox church in North Macedonia.  https://orthodoxalbania.org/2020/en/2023/02/24/communique-the-holy-synod-orthodox-autocephalous-church-of-albania/  The official English translation is as follows: The Holy Synod of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania, during her session of February 23, 2023, under the presidency of His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios, reiterated that she gladly welcomes the decision of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, of last May 2022, that “She accepts into Eucharistic communion the Hierarchy, the clergy, and laity of the Church under Archbishop Stefan… She recognizes as…

Source: Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America His Eminence, the Most Reverend Saba Esper, is the Archbishop of New York and Metropolitan of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. His Beatitude Patriarch John X of Antioch and All the East and the Holy Synod of Antioch elected His Eminence to lead the Archdiocese during its extraordinary session on Feb. 23, 2023 in Balamand, Lebanon. His Eminence now leads and oversees the Archdiocese’s parishes, missions, departments, institutions and organizations in the United States and Canada from the headquarters in Englewood, New Jersey. The auxiliary bishops aid him in…

Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA The confrontations between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Ecumenical Patriarchate which have so influenced the Orthodox world in recent decades have now spread to a new country – Lithuania.   On February 17, the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate issued a “Communique on the Petition of Appeal by Clergymen from Lithuania.”  https://ec-patr.org/communique-on-the-petition-of-appeal-by-clergymen-from-lithuania/ (official English translation)   The communique reports the decision on appeals by five Orthodox priests from Lithuania who had been removed from the priesthood by a final decision of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’.  The communique contains the following three important paragraphs:  Our Patriarch,…