Source: The National Herald By Theodore Kalmoukos More than a year or so ago I had written on the issue of granting Autocephaly to the Church of Ukraine. We are revisiting the issue today because of the unholy games that some prelates of the ancient and new Patriarchates and from the Autocephalous Churches continue to play by attacking the very heart of the Orthodox Church, the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Many things have come to light, and many individuals, including patriarchs, archbishops, metropolitans, and priests, have been exposed. It is really interesting to see the masks falling, revealing the faces behind them.…
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Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA A whirlwind of events occurred today in connection with the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s former “archdiocese,” composed of parishes of the Russian tradition in Western Europe. Many of these events are revealed in the minutes of the Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate, which convened a special meeting today (September 14), “thorough remote communications,” to grant an appeal, also made today, by Archbishop John (Renneteau) to Patriarch Kirill. The full text of the minutes is posted at http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/5499619.html. An English translation of parts of the minutes have been quickly posted by the DECR of the Moscow Patriarchate. https://mospat.ru/en/2019/09/14/news177560/ These…
Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA The Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate held a meeting at the Phanar on August 29 and 30. The press release concerning the results of the meeting was posted today (Saturday). https://www.facebook.com/ecumenicalpatriarchate/?__tn__=kCH-R&eid=ARCT1A3O6dAskvFf0ErJbFzhmpS-zkbxs6v_KkfWrsdlDqjDVGWmFku5vJ8J-roM5_ttDWTqYUX0B0vx&hc_ref=ARTsNzwPjolkEHRPNLm-QSwZq98tdu4TmBYM4oj2fjRpMI6kD44dNy3HoJI9gFhBMMM&fref=nf An English-language summary can be read at https://www.romfea.news/the-decisions-of-the-holy-synod-of-ecumenical-patriarchate/. The latter states: During the meeting, it was decided to discharge Archbishop Ioannis [John] of Harioupolis from the Apostolic and Patriarchal Ecumenical Throne, personally and only to him, thereby relieving him of the responsibility of the Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox parishes of the Russian Tradition in Western Europe. As a consequence, Metropolitan Emmanuel of France is now…
Source: St Philaret`s Christian Orthodox Institute (SFI) Participants of SFI’s Annual Theological Conference discuss the church’s ministry and her structure The question of exactly “what the Church is,” is no less relevant and pressing for the church herself today than it is for secular society, which can’t seem to find a place for the church in its system of coordinates. What is it? A social organization that helps the poor and the sick? A funeral service provider? An ideological department of the state government? A club for the virtuous and a moral policeman? Few would immediately guess that the Church…
Source: Orthodox Christianity MOSCOW — Any Local Church has the authority to call a pan-Orthodox Council, His Grace Bishop Qais (Sadiq) of Erzurum recently told RIA-Novosti. Bp. Qais spoke with the Russian outlet while in Moscow for an international conference dedicated to the protection of the rights of the faithful in Ukraine In his address, he called the Canonical Church of Ukraine to contact the International Community to force Ukraine to respect the religious freedom rights of the members of the canonical Church if the violence against the canonical Church does not cease and if there is no progress in…
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…
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 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),…
Source: Bloomberg As Ukraine’s church moves toward independence, the Russian president could lose his role of defender of the faith. By Leonid Bershidsky The Eastern Orthodox Church is closer than ever to a schism that would cast Russian President Vladimir Putin in a role similar to that of King Henry VIII when he split the Church of England from Rome in the 16th century. Russia’s ambition to be the center of the Orthodox world threatens to end in isolation. But holding back from splitting the church will mean humiliation by the Ukrainians, who have been ruthlessly terrorized by the Russian leader. On…
Source: Orthodoxia ORTHODOXIA.INFO | Andreas Loudaros In an exclusive, orthodoxia.info reveals Constantinople and Moscow’s respective arguments and the points of conflict between the two Churches vis-à-vis the Ukraine issue, publishing part of the heated debate which took place between Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Patriarch Kirill during their meeting at the Phanar last August. For three hours the two Primates discussed the issues currently separating their Churches, from the Ukraine question and the Russian Church’s absence from the Holy and Great Synod in Crete, to Moscow’s position on inter-Christian dialogue. As revealed from the talks, the Ecumenical Patriarchate believes Ukraine does…
Source: Catholic Herald Tensions over Ukraine threaten to tear apart the world’s 300 million Orthodox Christians For centuries, the archbishops of Constantinople could credibly claim to be the “Ecumenical Patriarch”. Their see was the “New Rome”, centre of the oikoumenē, the “inhabited world”. Today, their successor, Patriarch Bartholomew, looks beleaguered. The guards around his residence in the Phanar quarter of Istanbul reveal his threatened position in an increasingly Islamified Turkey. But now he seems poised to gain other powerful enemies, this time within the Orthodox Church itself, by unilaterally recognising a Ukrainian Orthodox Church independent of Moscow. The renascent Church…