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Source: Foreigners & Friends Magazine Romania’s president has called for tolerance and acceptance of minorities. The statement was connected to a pending case about same-sex marriage at his country’s highest court. Klaus Iohannis, who is part of the German minority in Romania, as well as a Lutheran, and who therefore belongs to two minorities himself, stated: “Tolerance and acceptance of others are vital. These are the values I believe in.” Iohannis, whose comments were unconventional, compared to those of most eastern European presidents or politicians, also sharply criticized parts of the Christian Orthodox Church of Romania. “Religious fanaticism does not help society.…

Source: Brooklyn Daily Eagle By Francesca Norsen Tate Brooklyn Daily Eagle Yes, Brooklyn does have its own saint. Antiochian Orthodox Christians celebrate the feast and life of St. Raphael of Brooklyn each November for his work in establishing the Syrian mission here. He was the first Orthodox bishop consecrated in North America. This branch of Orthodox Christendom had its roots in ancient Antioch, an ethnically diverse metropolis in Syria during the first century, Common Era, where the followers of Christ were first called Christians. Modern-day Antioch is in Turkey, but just about 12 miles from the Syrian border. Fast-forward from…

Source: Mystagogy A Muslim refugee named Ahmet, who was given hospitality from Greece to stay in Thermopylae, has built a shrine to the Virgin Mary there to thank the Greek people for their help, and with tears in his eyes asks for people to pray at this shrine that the war in his homeland will come to an end. It took Ahmet one day to build it with the help of two youngsters. “We came here to escape war and we thank you for your warm hospitality, I cannot say enough about the Greek people and the way they have…

Source: RT Novosti Hundreds of people including the Archbishop of Canterbury and Prince Michael of Kent gathered in London’s Cathedral of the Dormition of the Mother of God and All Saints to attend a historic service conducted by the head of Russia’s Orthodox Church. Up to one thousand people attended the ceremonies on Sunday, according to the patriarch’s press service. Click here for RT International video news report. The service included the consecration of London’s largest Orthodox Christian Cathedral, which had undergone a major refurbishment, and the Divine Liturgy, commemorating the 300th anniversary of the presence of the Russian Orthodox…

Source: Bangor Daily News By Judy Harrison, BDN Staff BANGOR, Maine — An organization that advocates for the victims of clergy abuse has called for the removal of the Greek Orthodox chancellor in Boston who oversaw a former Bangor priest now serving a prison sentence for sexually assaulting a teenage altar server. Adam Metropoulos, 54, is incarcerated at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham. He was sentenced in March 2015 on four felony counts of sexual abuse of a minor following a jury-waived trial to 12 years in prison with all but 6½ years suspended. The charges stemmed from Metropoulos’…

Source: Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the USA Detroit, October 5 – The Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States began the 2nd day of its annual meeting with a special forum dedicated to the important subject of religious freedom. Three highly accomplished scholars presented: Dr. Charles Haynes, Director of the Religious Freedom Center and Vice President of the Newseum Institute, delivered an overview of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and its central role in protecting the free exercise of one’s faith in America’s public square. He encouraged the hierarchs to study how Orthodox…

Source: Religion Dispatches BY KATHERINE KELAIDIS SEPTEMBER 27, 2016 The Russian government’s shutdown of the country’s top LGBT website, BlueSystem, is just the latest entry in its gruesome record with respect to LGBT rights. While the time for passive concern by all parties has long past, it is a matter of utter amazement that American Orthodox Christians—even the most conservative—are not more vocally horrified about events in Russia. The complicity of the Russian Orthodox Church and Patriarch Kyrill of Moscow in Russia’s systematic persecution of its LGBT citizens speaks to a deep crisis in Orthodoxy’s encounter with the modern world.…

Source: Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the USA The Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America convened their 7thAnnual General Assembly Meeting in Detroit on October 4, 2016 with the celebration of the Divine Liturgy at the Antiochian Basilica of Saint Mary in Livonia, Michigan. The Bishops commenced their work with an opening address by the Assembly Chairman, His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, who greeted and welcomed the hierarchs, encouraging them that “…when we speak together as an Assembly of Bishops, we do so with the authority of the Church; we do not speak as jurisdictions or merely…

Source: OINOS Consulting by Frank Marangos, D.Min., Ed.D. “The contemporary world urgently needs the service of educational institutions which uphold and teach that truth is that fundamental value without which freedom, justice and human dignity are extinguished.”   Pope John Paul II What are the hallmarks of Christian institutions of higher learning? What are the characteristics that should distinguish faith-based colleges and universities from their more secular-minded counterparts?  The recent canonization of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, foundress of the Missionaries of Charity, on September 4, 2016 by the Catholic Church provides a hint to an appropriate response. Mother Teresa was born…

Source: Pan Orthodox United I co-founded Pan Orthodox United, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization created by young people for young people,  because I believe in focusing on the good.  I know that every year more and more young people leave Christianity, are filled with doubt and desire, and embark on spiritual or worldly quests to find themselves.  I know this, because I am one of those people.  I have doubted the existence of God, went months without going to church, and am always struggling for truth.  I believe that most people that have left organized religion will one day be curious and contemplate things like their purpose in life,…

Source: Orthodox Church in America SOUTH CANAAN, PA [STOTS Communications/Jonathan Lincoln]  Students and alumni of Saint Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary here gathered on campus for a joint retreat—hailed as the most positive, successful seminarian-alumni gathering in recent memory—on September 1 and 2, 2016. The retreat afforded students the opportunity to meet those who had been trained at Saint Tikhon’s and now serve as stewards of Christ’s vineyard while providing a context in which both groups could grow together in fellowship and self-reflection. On Thursday afternoon, September 1, Priest Andrew Stephen Damick, Pastor of Saint Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church, Emmaus, PA…

Source: Christian Today Mark Woods – Christian Today Contributing Editor Is the thousand-year-old breach between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches a little closer to being mended? Given the history of suspicion, hostility, political game-playing and theological intransigence that has marked the process so far, it seems unlikely. But after a significant meeting between theologians from the two sides, there are signs that change is in the wind. The 14th Plenary Session of the Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church met in Chieti, Italy, and has just completed its work. What’s significant is…