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Source: Russian Orthodox Church Department of External Church Relations On August 25, 2012, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external church relations, led the celebration of the Divine Liturgy at Fort Ross, the place of the first Russian settlement in California. The liturgy was celebrated in the open, next to the reconstructed Russian Church of the Holy Trinity. Among His Eminence’s concelebrants were Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York, the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Outside Russia, Archbishop Justinian…

Source: Orthodox Church in America For many years, His All-Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, has issued a statement on the protection of the environment in conjunction with his annual message marking the beginning of the ecclesiastical year on September 1. “Our God, who created the universe and formed the earth as a perfect dwelling place for humanity, granted us the commandment and possibility to increase, multiply and fulfill creation, with dominion over all animals and plants,” writes His All-Holiness in this year’s message. “The world that surrounds us was thus offered to us as a gift by our Creator as an…

Source: Eurasianet | Molly Corso A growing number of Georgians are turning to yoga to shake off the stress of daily life. But their quest for inner calm and smaller waists is generating hostility from the powerful Georgian Orthodox Church. Over the past two years, yoga has gone from a largely unknown Eastern tradition to a popular fitness routine in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. Georgian National Yoga Federation President Giorgi Berdzenishvili, a passionate practitioner for the past 15 years, called the trend a “dynamic” process that started under former Soviet leader Mikheil Gorbachev’s glasnost’ policies in the late 1980s. During…

Source: Chicago Tribune The local bishop of the Orthodox Church in America has been placed on administrative leave amid allegations of “inappropriate” behavior with a woman. The action comes more than a month after the church’s national leader, from Chicago, was forced to resign. In a letter to parishioners, Bishop Matthias, 63, denied the accusations, which he said came to light in a formal complaint submitted to the church last week. “The allegations are that I made unwelcome written and spoken comments to a woman that she regarded as an inappropriate crossing of personal boundaries and an abuse of my…

Source: Orthodox Church in America BALTIMORE, MD [IOCC] Temporary shelters like this tent encampment located on a former nine-hole golf course in Port-au-Prince offered little protection against the torrential rains and wind brought on by Tropical Storm Isaac this past weekend. Two and a half years after the devastating earthquake, nearly 400,000 Haitians still live in makeshift shelters like these. Photo: Paul Jeffrey/IOCC Tropical storm Isaac’s unleashing of wind and water on Haiti on Saturday, August 25, 2012, Saturday left more than two dozen people dead, washed away precious food crops, and destroyed the tents that still house hundreds of…

Source: PanARMENIAN.Net The bell-tower of Surp Giragos Armenian Church in Diyarbakır, Turkey, is set to return to use after a 97-year interval, with a new bell made in Russia, Hurriyet Daily News reported. As part of repair and restoration work at the Surp Giragos Church a new bell was made in Moscow, and has been delivered to Diyarbakır. The bronze bell weighs 100 kilograms, and will ring from the bell-tower beginning at its reopening ceremony on November 4. The church’s bell-tower was demolished during the years of Genocide, on the grounds that it was “higher than the minarets in the…

Source: Orthodox Church in America SYOSSET, NY [OCA] – Holy Trinity Church, Parma, OH, will be the site of the 17th All-American Council of the Orthodox Church in America, a one-day gathering on Tuesday, November 13, 2012—the Feast of Saint John Chrysostom—at which a new Primate of the Orthodox Church in America will be elected. “The Holy Synod of Bishops met in Detroit on August 13, 2012 and decided that they needed to hold the special Council as soon as possible so the work of the Church could move forward,” said Archpriest Eric G. Tosi, OCA Secretary. “It will be…

Source: Newsmax Archbishop Demetrios will deliver benediction on the third night of the Republican National Convention Wednesday, August 29. The archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America will anchor a night of speeches and other events that includes an address by GOP vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan along with 2008 standard bearer Sen. John McCain. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement that “we will devote Wednesday night to showing the country that Mitt Romney’s ‘Plan for a Stronger Middle Class’ will restore our country as the best place in the world to find a…

Source: Sofia News Agency Surrogate motherhood is no different from prostitution, according to Bishop Nikolay, the radical Bulgarian Orthodox Bishop of Plovdiv. Speaking after a service in Plovdiv on Wednesday on the occasion of the arrival of holy relics of Saint Joachim and Saint Anne, the parents of Virgin Mary, Nikolay mentioned surrogacy while commenting on a recent case in which Bulgarian heroin-addicts offered their newborn baby “on sale” in an online forum for EUR 5 000. “Two days after I reminded the position of the Holy Synod [of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church] about surrogate motherhood, and I was duly…

Source: The National Herald NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The leader of Cyprus’ Orthodox Christian Church said Tuesday that senior clergy and staff earning over €2,000 ($2,460) a month are in for salary cuts as the island nation’s ongoing financial crisis has seen church revenue dwindle. Archbishop Chrysostomos II said the church’s top decision-making body, the Holy Synod, will convene early next month to enact the cuts. He said his own salary as well as that of bishops and other high-income church employees will be the first to be cut in order to “set the good example.” “Church income…has dropped and…

Source: The Wichita Eagle The first Orthodox Christian school in Kansas opened Monday in northeast Wichita. Christ the Savior Academy, a private school at St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral, is beginning its first year with 18 students from pre-kindergarten through second grade. “It’s just a dream come true,” said Jennifer Sebits, president of the school’s board of trustees. “The kids are so excited.” Sebits said the school is a project of the entire Orthodox community in Wichita, which includes St. George, St. Michael the Archangel Orthodox Christian Church and St. Mary Orthodox Christian Church. Preparation began more than 16 years…

Source: St. George Publishing To honor Mr. Velon’s work and to preserve his musical contributions, a project was initiated at the request of the Velon family under the leadership of George Stefanidakis, PhD to preserve the Velon manuscripts in electronic form. John’s works are now preserved and available online! A special website has been constructed, Saint George Publishing, that enables you to order individual collections of transcriptions or the entire collection. Copies of the Velon manuscripts are no longer available in printed form, but on the website, they are assembled as PDF files or as a programmed interface to the…