Source: The National Herald By Dennis Menos The fact that Orthodoxy finds itself today in the midst of disastrous schism between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Church of Russia is hardly a secret. It is all the result of the recent issuance of a Tomos of Autocephaly to the Church of the Ukraine by the Ecumenical Patriarch, a move that the Patriarchate of Russia strongly opposed. Because of the issuance of the Tomos, the Patriarchate of Moscow has directed that all religious co-celebrations between its hierarchs and those of the Ecumenical Patriarchate cease, and that the two Patriarchates no longer…
Browsing: Autocephaly
Source: Bigorski Monastery On January 4, 2019, His All Holiness, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew welcomed in his patriarchal residence the Reverend Hieromonk Luke of Xenophontos. Father Lucas, the most famous Athonite painter and calligrapher, gave His All Holiness the parchment with a calligraphy of the Tomos for the autocephalous Church in Ukraine, hand written by him, with the blessing of his Abbot, Archimandrite Alexios of the Xenophontos Monastery, Mount Athos. The representatives of the Ukrainian Church, headed by the Metropolitan of Kiev, Epiphanius, have already arrived at Phanar, where the next day they will attend the ceremonious act of the Tomos ratification by the Ecumenical Patriarch.…
Source: The New York Times By Andrew Higgins CHERNYTSYA, Ukraine — Ukraine is on the verge of opening the biggest schism in Christianity in centuries, as it breaks from the authority of a Moscow-based patriarch and this week expects to formally gain recognition for its own church, taking tens of millions of followers. Intensifying a millennium-old religious struggle freighted with 21st-century geopolitical baggage, Ukraine’s security services have in recent weeks interrogated priests loyal to Moscow, searched church properties and enraged their Russian rivals. “They just want to frighten us,” said the Rev. Vasily Nachev, one of more than a dozen priests…
Source: Kyiv Post By Toma Istomina. The Unification Council in Kyiv’s Saint Sophia Cathedral elected the head of the unified Ukrainian Orthodox Church on Dec. 15, the latest step on the path to Ukraine gaining its own national church. Epiphanius, Metropolitan of Pereyaslav and Bila Tserkva, born Serhii Dumenko, will head the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the council announced. Ukraine’s Minister of Culture Yevhen Nyshchuk announced the name of the new church leader on the evening of Dec. 15 from the stage on Sofiivska Square, where people had gathered to celebrate the event. Epiphanius then addressed the crowd on the square, calling the day a…
Source: NBC News Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko believes the potential outcome of Saturday’s meeting represents an “opportunity that arises once in a millennium.” By Yuliya Talmazan One of Christianity’s biggest splits in centuries is expected to be formalized this weekend as Ukraine moves to create a new church independent from Russia’s influence. It’s estimated that more than 70 percent of Ukrainians — or nearly 32 million people — identify as religious. The overwhelming majority of them are Orthodox Christian. But they don’t all pray in the same churches. There are currently three separate branches of the Orthodox church in Ukraine, including one under…
Source: Orthodoxia ORTHODOXIA.INFO | Maria Sereti This Saturday, December 15, the final stage in the process of the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s granting to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church the canonical status of Autocephaly takes place in the famous St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev. When this event was announced in Constantinople after a decision of the Holy Synod, our correspondent Maria Sereti M.Th. took an interview from the President of the Center of Ecumenical, Missiological and Environmental Studies “Metropolitan Panteleimon Papageorgiou (CEMES), Emeritus Professor Petros Vassiliadis, who was with members of CEMES conducting a scientific research on the Ukrainian crisis. The questions focused on…
Source: Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate The current church situation in Ukraine has a long history. Millions of Ukrainian Orthodox Christians were excommunicated from the church. In response, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has today restored them to communion and granted their church autocephaly. Rev. Dr. John Chryssavgis’s life and work
Source: National Catholic Register NEWS ANALYSIS: Pope Francis cautions Catholics not to ‘meddle’ in ecclesiological conflict between the Orthodox Church of Constantinople and the Russian Orthodox Church. Victor Gaetan The accelerating dispute in Ukraine between two Orthodox Churches — the Church of Constantinople, a historic Church with spiritual prestige, and the 140-million-member Russian Orthodox Church, a powerhouse in terms of membership muscle, political clout and wealth — is ominous because it forecasts conflict in a country already suffering a “fratricidal” war, to use Pope Francis’ term. The Russian Orthodox Church broke Eucharistic communion with the Church of Constantinople Oct. 15 in response…
Source: ROMFEA In the last months, we are witnessing a very dangerous and seemingly unjustifiable crisis which erupted within our Church. The reason of this crisis is the imminent granting of autocephaly to the Church of Ukraine or rather the creation of an autocephalous Church in Ukraine. It seems that inter-Orthodox relations are a major issue in our days, and although union with the other Christian dogmas is the goal, the Orthodox, although they ascertain love between them, they de-construct this love in their life; they proclaim the union of the blessed sacrament between them but they practice the opposite.…
Source: The Tablet by John Chryssavgis Orthodox disunity It is tempting to consign the rift between Constantinople and Moscow – this time over autocephaly in Ukraine – to competition within the Orthodox world over power and jurisdiction. The reality is more complex. Beyond the multifaceted religious intrigue lie murky geopolitical ramifications. The matter transcends any exercise of right or even the simple exhibition of might. The issue of the autocephaly (literally, “self-headed”, or self-governing) of the Church in Ukraine, along with questions of the validity of orders and sacraments, are vital to Orthodox unity, but they pale before the isolationism and…
Source: Orthodox Christianity Metropolitan Amfilohije (Radovich) His Eminence, Amfilohije, Archbishop of Cetinje and Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral, and of the Highlands of Brda, and Exarch of the Throne of Peć gave an interview to “Channel One” Russia. “The decisions of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew and his Synod concerning the Ukrainian issue, are, in my opinion catastrophic, both for the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and for resolving the Church question in Ukraine, as well as for the unity of the Orthodox Church. We in our Church are simply shocked at how the Ecumenical Patriarch—an expert on the canons—made…
Source: Religious Information Service of Ukraine (RISU) Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew will come to Kyiv to personally hand over the Tomos of autocephaly to the leader of the united Ukrainian Church. President’s parliamentary representative Iryna Lutsenko said this in live broadcast of the Pryamyy, reports LB ua. “The main thing is to hold the unifying council, which will be able to choose the primate, whom the Ecumenical Patriarch will personally hand over the Tomos – he is going to come to Ukraine,” she said, commenting on the transfer of the St Andrew’s Church into the use of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. “This…