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September 8, 2014 His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America Chairman, Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America Your Eminence, Evlogeite! I pray and hope you will have a blessed new ecclesiastical year, and I respectfully request that you extend my best wishes to the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops for a successful assembly gathering next week. I am also writing to ask the assembly to add the Holy Land Christians to their prayers and press releases when speaking of Christians in the Middle East.  When the Christians in the Holy Land see Orthodox statements calling for…

Source: The New York Times SLOVYANSK, Ukraine — On an overcast day in April, staff members at the municipal museum in this eastern Ukrainian town noticed strange goings-on next door at a cultural center run by the Ukrainian arm of the Russian Orthodox Church. Groups of burly men nobody recognized entered the building, known as Villa Maria, carrying big canvas bags and wooden boxes. “We didn’t know who they were or what they were doing,” recalled Valery Stupko, a museum employee. The next morning, he said, heavily armed masked men emerged from the same church cultural center and made their…

Source: International Orthodox Christian Charities Baltimore, MD (IOCC) — When record rainfall drenched the Midwest in July and triggered massive flooding of communities across Minnesota and Iowa, teen volunteers from St. Mary’s Greek Orthodox Church in Minneapolis were among the dozen members of an International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) Orthodox Action Team who traveled to the hard-hit Iowa town of Rock Rapids to help an elderly flood survivor clear away waterlogged debris from his home. Orthodox Christian youth across the U.S. also have a history of eagerly volunteering their time and energy to assist IOCC in helping families rebuild and…

Source: Breitbart by METROPOLITAN HILARION ALFEYEV A century ago, the First World War began. On 28 July 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, then on 1 August, Germany declared war on Russia, and over the course of a few short days, several more world powers joined the conflict either on their own initiative or by needs. Over the next three years, more and more countries joined both warring sides, dragged into the quicksand of fighting that was growing to encompass the European continent and far beyond it. The result of that four-year war was millions of lives lost–more than ten million…

Source: Orthodox Christian Network By Fr. John Parker in The Sounding I am an unworthy man, unworthy to be called an Orthodox Christian, not to speak of the priesthood, and I write, admittedly, from the comfort of my Mount Pleasant, SC, home.  There is no Mount nearby, but it is, indeed, a pleasant seaside community on the East Coast of the United States. As such, I ask myself: how to deal with ruthless, pitiless, pitiful souls who are so darkened that their life is spent taking the life of others—and worse, thinking that they are doing this at the direction…

Source: Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC) (08/22/2014) This year the parish family of the Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Cathedral in Accra, Ghana, marked the 25th Anniversary of its founding. A Mission Team from the Orthodox Christian Mission Center was invited to join in these celebrations. This was also the 25th Anniversary of the first OCMC Mission Team to Ghana! The 1989 Mission Team helped with the construction of the Cathedral in Accra.Events surrounding the celebrations included an all-night Vigil, Memorial services, Vespers, and Divine Liturgy; presentations on the history of the Church in Ghana, the Cathedral, and health education; visitations to…

Source: Orthodox Church in America DETROIT, MI [OCA] – Saint Andrew’s House, Detroit, MI, was the site of the first annual Catechist and Diaconal Vocations Conference of the Orthodox Church in America’s Diocese of the Midwest August 8-9, 2014.The conference attracted 43 students and faculty, including His Grace, Bishop Alexander and Priest Elijah Mueller, Diocesan Vocations Director, who facilitated the program.  Also participating was Archpriest Paul Gassios, Diocesan Administrator.  The program was especially designed for those who had completed theLate/Diaconal Vocations course before the present program was initiated needing to move forward with petitioning for ordination, those interested in beginning the program…

Source: Orthodox Church in America FOCUS has been featured on multiple TV stations in Ferguson, MO, where its St. Louis Center and FOCUS Director, Eric Shanburn, have been working to embody the “U” in FOCUS, which stands for “United” and “Understanding.” The video is accessible at www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLkqpS8h240&feature=youtu.be. “Eric and his team of Orthodox volunteers have spent time in Ferguson promoting discussion and understanding between the police and protesters,” said Larissa Hatch of FOCUS. “On Saturday, August 23, FOCUS hosted a community cookout that brought local shop owners—many of whom were victims of looting—protesters and authorities together.  In the past few nights,…

Source: The Messenger Online The Memorandum of Understanding has been concluded between the Ministry of Defense of Georgia and The Georgian Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church. The document was signed by the Minister of Defense of Georgia Irakli Alasania and His Holiness and Beatitude, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, the Archbishop of Mtskheta-Tbilisi and Metropolitan bishop of Bichvinta and Tskhum-Abkhazia Ilia II at the Youth Center of the Holy Trinity Cathedral. After the signature of the MoU, the sides underscored the importance of the document. “We are very happy that in his preaching Catholicos-Patriarch talked about the Georgian Army and blessed our military.…

Source: Accuracy in Media by Cliff Kincaid An article titled, “Iraq’s Christians See Putin As Savior,” appeared on the website of The Daily Beast in late June. It was picked up by literally dozens of “news” sites all over the Internet, contributing to the perception that Russia was actually prepared to do something on behalf of these Christians and other minorities. The article referred to “Russia’s increasingly cozy relationship with Middle Eastern Christians” and included a photo of Putin under a halo. But when the Christians in Iraq actually needed some help, it was the U.S. and Britain which intervened on…

Source: Catholic News Agency By Elise Harris Rome, Italy, Aug 8, 2014 / 04:30 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A priest hailing from what used to be Iraq’s largest Christian city has lamented the exodus of over 100,000 Christians from the city, many of whom are fleeing on foot with no food, money or water.“Today the story of Christianity is finished in Iraq,” said a priest who identified himself as Fr. Nawar.“People can’t stay in Iraq because there is death for whoever stays,” told CNA Aug. 8.A priest who has been living and studying in Rome for the last three years, Fr. Nawar…