Browsing: Governance & Unity News

Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Patriarchal and Synodal Encyclical Issued on the Occasion of the 1700th Anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea Prot. No. 335 + B A R T H O L O M E W By God’s Mercy, Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch To the Plenitude of the Church: May God’s Grace and Peace be with you! We offer a hymn of thanks to the almighty, all-seeing, and benevolent God in Trinity, who vouchsafed that His people reach the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, which bore spiritual witness to…

Source: Public Orthodoxy by  Varvara Gulina Doctoral Student at the University of California San Diego Churches are some of the most common places where abuse occurs. Patriarchal structures, lack of resources, community norms that ascribe higher status to men and lower status to women, pregnancy, and traditional gender norms and inequality, all increase the risk of a woman becoming a victim of spiritual, interpersonal, and sexual violence. Impacts of violence against women include: Miscarriages and other adverse pregnancy outcomes such as stillbirths, low birth weight babies, early deliveries, complications, etc. Children becoming vicariously traumatized through violent experiences of parents (a…

Source: Orthodox Church in America SPRINGFIELD, VA [OCA] During a special session held via teleconference on Wednesday, May 21, the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America confirmed His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon’s nomination of Archpriest Alessandro Margheritino as Chancellor of the Orthodox Church in America. Father Alessandro’s appointment was made in accordance with Article VI, Section 2 of the Statute of the Orthodox Church in America. His nomination was endorsed by the Metropolitan Council during a special session earlier the same day. He succeeds Archpriest Alexander Rentel, who served as Chancellor from 2019 to 2024, when he was appointed Rector of Three Hierarchs Chapel at St. Vladimir’s…

Source: Religion News Service Christian leaders stress that the council and its anniversary still have relevance in the modern day, despite theological divides. By David I. Klein İZNIK, Turkey (RNS) — For Christian leaders across the world and across denominations, the anniversary of the first Council of Nicaea is providing an opportunity for introspection and, potentially, the beginning of further dialogue. Seventeen hundred years ago — from May through July 325 — more than 200 bishops of early Christian churches gathered in the town of Nicaea, then in the Roman province of Bithynia (now İznik, Turkey), to determine a unified…

Source: Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate The Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate held the first-ever Pilgrimage of Discovery (POD) Alumni Retreat on May 16-18, 2025, in Chicago. The event was organized by the Pilgrimage of Discovery Alumni Leadership Network (ALN), a branch of the Archon Youth Participation Activities Engagement Committee, to bring together as many of the 21 young adults that participated in the first two Archon POD programs in 2023 and 2024. Funded by the Archons, the POD is a religious and educational journey through Constantinople awarded to Orthodox Christian young adults across America who went through a rigorous…

Source: Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate New details have emerged regarding the private meeting between His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and His Holiness Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Monday, May 19, 2025, the day after the inauguration of the new Pope. According to the Zenit News Agency, which reports on the activities of the Pope and the Church of Rome, “This was not merely a handshake between dignitaries. It was a renewed embrace between two ancient churches still walking the long and often fractured road toward unity.” Zenit added that “for Bartholomew, the longest-serving Ecumenical Patriarch in centuries and a tireless…

Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Huffington Ecumenical Institute at HCHC Brookline, MA – May 2025 — The Huffington Ecumenical Institute (HEI) at Hellenic College Holy Cross is pleased to announce two compelling and engaging online courses for Fall 2025. 1. For the Life of the World: Toward an Orthodox Social Ethos  This groundbreaking course invites students to engage with the document entitled For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church (FLOW), a landmark document of the Ecumenical Patriarchate that provides general parameters for an Orthodox Christian engagement with the modern world. Addressing issues…

Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America On Wednesday, May 21st, the feast of Sts. Constantine and Helen, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew received His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America in an audience with the Holy Cross senior students on the St. Helen’s Pilgrimage led by V. Rev. Archimandrite Bartholomew Mercado, a member of the Holy Cross faculty. Archbishop Elpidophoros offered remarks to His All-Holiness in which he expressed the dedication and commitment of our Sacred Archdiocese and our beloved School to the self-sacrificial ministry of His All-Holiness and the Mother Church of Constantinople. He then proceeded to introduce the students…

Source: Orthodox Church in America ROME, ITALY [OCA] With the blessing of His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon, a delegation of the Orthodox Church in America traveled to Rome to attend the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV on Sunday, May 18, 2025. The delegation, appointed by His Beatitude, consisted of His Grace Bishop Andrei of Cleveland, Auxiliary to the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America, and Archpriest Alessandro Margheritino, Acting Chancellor and Secretary of the Orthodox Church in America. Upon their arrival on May 17, His Grace and Father Alessandro were formally received by an official of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity. Representatives from all…

Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA On May 14, Pope Leo XIV welcomed in the Vatican’s audience hall the participants in the “Jubilee of the Oriental Churches,” which is being celebrated May 12-14 as part of the Catholic Church’s “Jubilee Holy Year 2025.”  https://www.iubilaeum2025.va/en.html  The full text of the address by Pope Leo is found at https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/speeches/2025/may/documents/20250514-giubileo-chiese-orientali.html.  Although the people in the hall were predominately members of the Oriental Churches in union with Rome, certain of the Pope’s remarks used the broad term “Christian East,” a term which obviously includes the Orthodox Church of the Byzantine tradition and the Oriental Orthodox Churches.  Pope…

Source: Public Orthodoxy [Preface of the Signatories]: The diaconate is one of the higher orders of ordained ministry in the Orthodox Church. Unlike the episcopacy or presbyterate, it is not a sacerdotal ministry, but one focused primarily on service. It seeks to meet the faithful where they are in this world and draw them into the Body of Christ more fully. In short, it connects the liturgy of our lives to the liturgy of the Church. The diaconate has always been part of the life of the Church and, in the Orthodox tradition, both men and women have been ordained to this ministry to…

Source: The National Herald Originally published on April 22, 2025 The late Pope Francis – whose ecclesiastical title was Bishop of Rome (Old Rome, as Constantinople is the New Rome) – was, both in life and after his exit from time (what we commonly call ‘death’), a different kind of Pope. During his life, he was the Pope “of Christ’s least brethren”: the poor, the lonely, the marginalized, the imprisoned – all those who, as the saying goes, “have no place in the sun.” It was with these that Christ – the One of the Holy Trinity – chose to…