Browsing: Governance & Unity News

Source: Orthodox Observer New York, NY – The Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, wanting to strengthen the role of the largest Eparchy of the Mother Church with a new vision and a new Charter suitable for the evolving and changing modern pastoral needs of American society, decided to place the current Charter (2003) of the Holy Archdiocese of America into abeyance. Temporarily, until the issuance of the new Charter, the administrative structures of the Archdiocese, i.e., the Holy Eparchial Synod, the Executive Committee, the Archdiocesan Council, the Clergy-Laity Assembly, as well as the respective structures of the Metropolises will…

Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Today, Thursday, October 8, 2020, on the third day of its work in this current month, the Holy and Sacred Synod extensively examined, among other items, issues of the Holy Archdiocese of America, and considered reports of His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America. The following decisions were taken: It placed into abeyance the force of the Charter of the Holy Archdiocese of America, with the objective of constituting a joint Committee of representatives of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Archdiocese for the composition of a new Charter. It placed His Eminence Metropolitan Methodios of…

Source: Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the USA Keynote Address of Archbishop Elpidophoros to the October 2020 Assembly of Bishops Meeting Keynote Address by His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros to the October 2020 Meeting of the Assembly of Bishops October 6, 2020 Your Eminences and Graces, Beloved Brothers in Christ, Dear Co-celebrants in the Holy Spirit, Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice![*] I greet all of you, Holy Brothers, with these encouraging words of the Apostle, for we have so very much to be joyful for. I am particularly happy to be with all of you…

Source: Orthodox Church in America SYOSSET, NY [OCA] On October 7, 2020, Archpriest Alexander Rentel, Chancellor of the Orthodox Church in America, made the following statement with the blessing of His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon: On Friday, October 2, 2020, His Eminence Archbishop David of Sitka and Alaska informed His Beatitude that he has received a diagnosis from his doctors in Anchorage of renal cancer. On the advice of his doctors, and with the blessing of His Beatitude, His Eminence has decided to travel to Indiana, where he will undergo further testing and eventual treatment at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, while…

Source: National Catholic Reporter by Thomas Reese, Religion News Service Computers are unforgiving, but Christianity is supposed to be forgiving. Computers insist that humans, especially programmers, be exact. A single wrong letter in a line of code can crash a program. But even ordinary users can experience this. Nothing puts us into panic like a computer telling us: “Invalid Username or Password.” The religion of Jesus is supposed to be forgiving. He attacked the Scribes and the Pharisees for their emphasis on the minutiae of the law. Yet, even under Pope Francis, who is all about compassion and forgiveness, the literalists appear…

Source: Public Orthodoxy by Gayle Woloschak Originally published on September 18, 2020 COVID has changed the lifestyles of almost every American (and even most citizens of the globe) since March 15 when quarantine orders, stay-at-home orders, mask orders, work limitations, social distancing, and many other such measures began. In many locations, these orders are in effect “until a vaccine for COVID is available.” The presumption is that a vaccine will render a person immune to serious infection from the virus. Naturally, the world awaits the production of a safe and effective vaccine, not just any vaccine. What do we mean by this? A safe…

Source: Orthodox Christian Laity “Take the best parts of everyone…and get together!” Roula Karcazes, wife of Orthodox Christian Laity Executive Board Member and Attorney George Karcazes, made this remark to me the other night when we were casually discussing the history of the work of OCL and its primary mission and focus. Race toward Unity Along with the Board and membership of Orthodox Christian Laity and its membership, I look forward to continuing the race that OCL has run since 1987. This race has been toward several, high-level goals: First – the greater cooperation of the hierarchy, clergy and laity…

Source: Public Orthodoxy When, in March 2020, Serbian Patriarch Irinej officially sanctioned Dr. Vukašin Milićević, a priest and assistant professor of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology (FOT) at the University of Belgrade, it became clear that the recent interference of higher clergy of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) in public speech matters gradually evolved into monopolizing the freedom of expression of its clergy with regard to almost all relevant issues, including science. The Patriarch remarked that Prof. Milićević—by his unannounced appearance in the TV broadcast Utisak nedelje—expressed disobedience to him personally, that he neglected the Constitution of the SPC and compromised…

Source: The National Herald NEW YORK – The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America has distributed a total of $620,775 to persons affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic in the USA, as was officially reported by the Archdiocese in a lengthy article on its web site. Excerpts from the post follow: “’What you are doing is the work of God!’ These words come from Matt of Long Island City, NY, the beneficiary of a grant from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America COVID-19 Relief Fund. Matt is one of 358 grant recipients who received much needed assistance after being financially impacted by…

Source: Orthodox Observer NEW YORK: On September 28th, 2020, His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America convened a regularly scheduled Holy Eparchial Synod meeting via a teleconference in order to review the up-to-date matters of the Agenda. In the beginning of the meeting, gratitude was expressed to His All-Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew for His inspiring message, as well as congratulations to all those who worked tirelessly for the successful and proficient organization of the 45th National Clergy Laity Congress. It was the first time in the history of the Holy Archdiocese that such participation numbers were achieved for the Congress…

Source: Orthodox Observer See Video at the end of the article. Dear Fr. Joseph M. McShane of the Society of Jesus, President of Fordham University Dear Fathers, Distinguished Participants, Dear Christ and Anastasia Economos, in whose honor this lecture series has been renamed, Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Friends present here at the University Church and elsewhere online, When I think of Orthodox-Catholic relations, I see the word: “Solidarity.” Let me tell you why. Two months ago, in the middle of this sweltering summer, I picked up my phone and called His Eminence, Cardinal Dolan. I told him: “Your Eminence, I…

Source: Orthodox Observer New York – More than 1,200 delegates and observers participated in the 45th Biennial Clergy Laity Congress of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.  The theme of the Congress, “…the greatest of these is love” exemplified the words and the spirit of the presenters as the Covid-19 pandemic forced the Congress to be held “virtually.” The virtual meetings began on Wednesday, September 9, 2020 at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time with a prayer service led by His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America.  Introductory remarks by Judge Theodore Bozonelis, Secretary of the Archdiocesan Council and Presiding Officer of the virtual Congress, greetings…