Browsing: Ecumenical Patriarchate

Source: The National Herald CONSTANTINOPLE – The Ecumenical Patriarchate on Friday thanked the Prefect of Trebzon for signing the written permit for the Patriarchal liturgy at the historic Monastery of Panaghia Soumela on August 15, feast day for the Dormition of the Virgin Mary. In its statement on Friday, the Ecumenical Patriarchate said it received the permit in writing on the day, thanking both the signatory and Turkish government authorities. It is noted that initially Turkish authorities had refused permission, but approval was first issued late last month. The Panaghia Soumela Monastery is located high in the Pontic Mountains and…

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Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America The Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate convened today, July 24, 2023, and elected His Grace Bishop Apostolos of Medeia as Metropolitan of New Jersey. In the wake of this consequential decision, His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America shared the following reflections: “With profound joy, I extend my fervent congratulations to His Eminence Apostolos on his election to the seat of the Metropolitan of New Jersey. I pray that our Lord grants him wisdom and abundant blessings as he assumes the sacred duties entrusted to him by our Church. The Metropolitan has devotedly served…

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Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Meeting of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America participated in the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. His Eminence had the opportunity to brief the participants on the ongoing developments regarding the proposed revision of the Charter of the Archdiocese. His Eminence also proposed to the Holy and Sacred Synod that a Metropolitan be appointed as a hierarch for the current Metropolis of New Jersey. The Synod unanimously agreed. Under the existing charter, the hierarch with responsibility for the New Jersey Metropolis must…

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Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, as a member of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, participated in its deliberation, which was convened on the 29th and 30th of May under the leadership of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. This regular session brought significant decisions for the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. Central among these decisions was the mandate given to the Holy Eparchial Synod of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America to further examine the Archbishop’s proposals for a comprehensive Charter revision. Affirming the Synod’s previous decision, His…

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Source: The National Herald By Theodore Kalmoukos BOSTON – His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew fired Grand Archimandrite Agathangelos Siskos after the article of The National Herald on April 21 that revealed that, “on April 17 Turkish authorities arrested the Grand Archimandrite of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Agathangelos Siskos, for the theft of a pocket watch of great value. He was sent to jail, from which he was however released with the intervention of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s police guard. Patriarch Bartholomew has placed him on indefinite suspension. Phanar sources told The National Herald that the Patriarch is very concerned and saddened by…

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Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America On Saturday, January 28, 2023, the First Synaxis of Hierarchs of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the USA convened in Los Angeles, California, under the presidency of His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America. The hierarchs, twelve in all, represent the Orthodox ecclesiastical eparchies under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, namely the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, as well as the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox and Albanian Orthodox dioceses. “As leaders of our communities at every level, we have the responsibility and privilege to voice the concerns of the Ecumenical Throne, and to provide advocacy for…

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Source: The National Herald By Theodore Kalmoukos BOSTON – New serious inter-Orthodox problems have arisen at the Archdiocese and consequently at the Ecumenical Patriarchate regarding bishop-elect Alexander Belya of the Slavic Orthodox Vicariate in the United States. As The National Herald had reported in July of 2022, Fr. Belya’s ordination to the episcopacy which was scheduled to take place at the end of July in Miami, Florida was postponed. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America had issued an official announcement stating: “In a spirit of the careful responsibility for the preservation of Orthodox Christian unity in the United States of…

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Source: The National Herald By Theodore Kalmoukos BOSTON – Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has appointed Metropolitan Evangelos of Sardis as a member of the Holy Synod of the Phanar for a one-year tenure starting March 1, 2023. Archbishop Elpidophoros is also a member of the Synod during the current Synodic period. Metropolitan Evangelos served as the duly and canonically elected Metropolitan of the Metropolis of New Jersey for seventeen years, from his election and enthronement on May 11, 2003, until October 8, 2020. Under his leadership the Metropolis of New Jersey, for the first time, acquired its Metropolis Center in the…

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Source: Public Orthodoxy by Matthew Namee | български | ქართული | ελληνικά | Română | Русский | Српски One of the keystone prerogatives claimed by the Ecumenical Patriarchate is its jurisdiction over the so-called “diaspora”—regions not included within the geographic boundaries of the other Autocephalous Churches. She insists that this exclusive extraterritorial jurisdiction is rooted in Canon 28 of Chalcedon which states: [O]nly the metropolitans of the Pontian, Asian, and Thracian dioceses, as well as the bishops of the aforementioned dioceses among barbarians are ordained by the aforementioned most holy throne of the most Holy Church of Constantinople. This phrase—“the bishops of the aforementioned dioceses among barbarians”—is interpreted by supporters of the EP’s…

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Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America As announced by the Ecumenical Patriarchate during today’s meeting of the Holy and Sacred Synod, His All-Holiness designated as members of the Joint Committee on the Charter of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, on behalf of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Their Eminences Metropolitan Geron Emmanuel of Chalcedon and Archbishop Nikitas of Thyateira and Great Britain, the The V. Rev. Grand Ecclesiarch Archimandrite Aetios, Director of the Patriarchal Private Office, and Dr. Konstantinos Delikostantis, Archon “Didaskalos Tou Genos,” Director of the First Patriarchal Office, and Professor Emeritus of the University of Athens.

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Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America PHANAR — After nearly a year of preparations, “Kosinitza Manuscript 220” will return to the Patriarchal and Stavropegial Monastery of Theotokos Eikosiphoinissa in Drama, Greece. The manuscript, which was most recently purchased from Christie’s in 2011 and entered the collection of Washington D.C.’s Museum of the Bible in 2014, was among hundreds of priceless objects looted from the Monastery by Bulgarian troops in 1917. Following the discovery of its origins by curator Brian Hyland, the Museum of the Bible began working in collaboration with the His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew for the repatriation of the manuscript…

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Source: Orthodox Times Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew once again expressed his condemnation of the war that began with the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Speaking at a press conference on the conference of Orthodox youths in Turkey organized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in early September, the Patriarch said that “I have expressed the position of the Ecumenical Patriarchate since the beginning of this painful war. I said that it is unjustified and unacceptable.” He continued: “His Beatitude the Patriarch of Moscow said that it was a holy war and tried to justify it and explain it in spiritual and religious terms.…

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