Source: Citizen-Herald By Joanna Tzouvelis WATERTOWN, MA – Eastern Orthodox Easter will be celebrated on April 19 this year. There are many services leading up to the religious holiday throughout the world which usually draw thousands of people together and raises thousands of dollars for churches. This year, however, for the first time in history, every Greek Orthodox Church in Massachusetts is closed and anyone wishing to participate in one of the services will need to watch it virtually via Facebook or YouTube. The Taxiarchae Archangels Greek Orthodox Church in Watertown estimates it will lose approximately $250,000 over the next three months.…
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Source: Eastern American Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church During this pandemic, as we collectively experience the global outbreak and exponential spread of the coronavirus, the Venerable Nikephoros the Leper appeared to someone in Greece and told him: “Tell the people not to be afraid of the virus. And, in the event that someone gets infected, tell them to pray to me and I will help them.” Rendered at the hands of iconographer, Archimandrite Evsevije (Meandzija), a Serbian post-graduate student at the Theological Faculty of the University of Athens, this new icon for our times, represents the Theotokos and St.…
Source: Orthodox Christian Laity Getting to know the Saints who lived, labored and served in America. Our Neighborhood Saints! This Lenten period, observed in the time of the coronavirus, I am more mindful of prayer and looking inward with family and friends. My prayer life has brought me to appreciate the Orthodox Christian Laity feature on its web site entitled Getting to Know our Orthodox Christian Saints who Lived, Labored and Served in America. For some reason, I have found solace in the lives of the saints that knew us directly and labored in our neighborhoods throughout the United States. …
Source: MYSTAGOGY On Friday 27 March into Saturday 28 March the monks of Mount Athos, in every monastery, skete and cell, held an all-night vigil against the pandemic of the coronavirus. The vigil was dedicated to the Panagia, who is the protectress of the Holy Mountain, as well as the Holy Hieromartyr Haralambos, who is noted especially for his miracles in vanquishing plagues and epidemics, including an epidemic that once infected the monks of the Holy Mountain and which he was responsible for dispelling. In all the monasteries, during Matins, a special canon to the Holy Trinity for deliverance from…
Source: Orthodox Church in America SYOSSET, NY [OCA] The Bishops of the Holy Orthodox Church love their flocks and ever strive to lead them to well-watered and rich pastures. They care for them, body and soul. In so doing, they are following their Master Christ who not only “cast out unclean spirits,” but also healed “all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.” (Matthew 10:1). In the Gospels, we see that Christ sometimes treated the soul first and the body second; at other times, the body first and the soul second. In the presence of…
Source: Orthodox Church YouTube Channel His Eminence Orthodox Metropolitan of Odessa Agafangel, with the famous miracle-working Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God, started a Crusade against the Coronavirus.
Source: Orthodox Church in America SYOSSET, NY [OCA ] We are all experiencing and dealing with the Coronavirus outbreak in our own ways. Some of us were able to attend services in person this weekend. Some of us were not. Many of our clergy have quickly become versed in live-streaming Divine Services online, and some parishes and youth groups have begun on-line prayer groups and inspirational talks. We are all looking for ways to help our neighbor, ways to cope, and ways to retain some sense of normalcy in our lives. During this time our web team will be doubling…
Source: Orthodox Christianity [Mt. Athos, March 23, 2020] While the Holy Mountain has closed its port to pilgrims until the end of the month, the monastics continue to uphold the faithful through their prayers. In this vein, the Sacred Community, the governing body for the 20 ruling monasteries and their associated sketes and cells, has called on all the monasteries to serve All-Night Vigils to the Mother of God and to hold cross processions, entreating God’s mercy and grace as the world continues to suffer from the coronavirus epidemic, reports the Greek Orthodoxia News Agency. At its Thursday session, the Sacred Community, consisting…
Source: Orthodox Christian Laity On March 1, 2020, His Holiness Patriarch Irinej of Serbia (celebrating his 45th anniversary as a bishop, 10th anniversary as primate, and 60th anniversary as a monk), Bishop Irinej of Eastern USA, and Bishop Jovan of Šumadija concelebrated the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy and the Slava of St Sava at St Simeon Serbian Orthodox Church, Miami FL. It was a joyful and festive celebration attended by hundreds, mostly Millenials and young families. A luncheon followed the services and included folk dancers, songs, poems and classical music. OCL Executive Director George Matsoukas attended the celebration joined by Advisory…
Source: The Uppsala Report: Official Report of the Fourth Assembly of the World Council of Churches, July 4-20, 1968 Bishop Ignatius became Patriarch of Antioch in 1979 and served until 2012. Without the Holy Spirit: God is far away, Christ stays in the past, The Gospel is a dead letter, The Church is simply an organization, Authority a matter of domination, Mission a matter of propaganda, Liturgy is no more than an evocation, Christian living a slave morality. But with the Holy Spirit: The cosmos is resurrected and groans with the birth-pangs of the Kingdom, The risen Christ is there,…
Source: Orthodox Christian Laity Milan Damljanovic, former coordinator of Cleveland area Orthodox Christian Fellowships (OCF) and Choir Director of Serbian and Antiochian Churches, was recently ordained to the Holy Diaconate. The beginning of the year 2020 has brought exciting Inter-Orthodox Christian events to the city of Cleveland, Ohio. As previously reported, the city has its first Orthodox Bishop, His Grace Bishop Andrei of the OCA and the Romanian Episcopate. Earlier in the year, on January 27, His Grace Bishop Irinej of the Eastern American Diocese of Serbian Orthodox Church ordained Milan Damljanovic to the Holy Diaconate at Saint Sava Serbian…
Source: Crux Cindy Wooden CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE ROME – The last group of U.S. bishops to make their “ad limina” visits to Rome chose to celebrate the final liturgy of their visit at Rome’s Basilica of St. Clement because of its ties to the Christian East. Under a sparkling 12th-century mosaic depicting the church as a vine growing from Christ’s cross, Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Archeparchy of Philadelphia presided over the Divine Liturgy Feb. 21. Bishops from the other U.S. Ukrainian eparchies concelebrated as did bishops from the Ruthenian, Maronite, Melkite, Syriac, Syro-Malabar, Armenian and Romanian Catholic churches.…