Source: Russia Today by Jim Jatras Originally published on October 3, 2018 One of the most contentious and significant controversies in the world today is also one of the least-well understood. In part, this is because it involves matters of faith and church governance, the importance of which many people, especially some of a secular mind who scorn mere “religion,” tend to underestimate. That is a mistake, certainly with respect to the storm that seems on the verge of plunging Ukraine into a new cycle of violence. That may happen if, as seems quite possible, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople recognizes an “autocephalous” (completely self-ruling)…
Browsing: Constantinople
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: Archdiocese of the Russian Orthodox Church of Western Europe The Archdiocese of the Russian Orthodox Churches in Western Europe, which is one of the oldest Orthodox ecclesial entities of our region, was placed under the pastoral responsibility of Metropolitan Euloge (Georgievsky) by St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow, by decree of April 8 1921. Thrown on the roads of exile by the Bolshevik Revolution, Russian emigrants established, with faith and courage, an ecclesial presence based on the major principles of the unfinished Moscow Council of 1917-1918. First established in Berlin, the seat of the Archdiocese was transferred to Paris, to the…
Source: Byzantine, TX How reasoned and gentle are these responses by the Albanian Church? Well worth reading now and I suspect these letters will be read many years from now when this unpleasantness is written about by historians. (Albanian Church) – Views of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania regarding the Ukrainian ecclesiastical question On the 22nd of November, 2018, Russian sources released selected excerpts [and even some websites published articles with manipulative titles, dates, and arbitrary assessments] from the letter by His Beatitude Anastasios, the Archbishop of Tirana, Durres and All Albania to His Beatitude Kirill, the Patriarch of Moscow…
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: The Conversation by Alexander Titov The Moscow Patriarchate recently announced that it is breaking its ties with the Patriarchate of Constantinople, triggering what is potentially the biggest split in the Orthodox Church in a thousand years. So why is one of the great defenders of Christianity tearing itself apart? The tussle between Moscow and Constantinople is over Ukraine, and Constantinople’s declaration on October 15 that the Ukrainian church is no longer part of Moscow’s patrimony. And behind this is Ukraine’s divided national identity – and the woes of its current president. There have long been two main Ukrainian identities: Eastern Slavic (or Little Russian)…
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: Orthodox Synaxis The recent controversy over the Orthodox Church in Ukraine has been the subject of a lot of confusion, especially online. The following questions and answers attempt to clear up confusion in a non-partisan way that does not take sides in the dispute. Updates will be added whenever new information comes to light, so check back periodically. LAST UPDATED DEC. 10, 2018 Who are the players in the current dispute and what is being disputed? The primary parties in the dispute are the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate, MP), led by Patriarch Kyrill, and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (EP),…