Source: Religion News Service The letter to the Russian patriarch comes amid calls to expel him and the Russian Orthodox Church from the WCC. By Jack Jenkins (RNS) — The head of the World Council of Churches is urging Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, to call for a cease-fire in Ukraine as Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter this weekend. “People lost their trust and hope in politicians and in a possible peaceful negotiation and a ceasefire,” the Rev. Ioan Sauca, a Romanian Orthodox priest and acting general secretary of the World Council of Churches, wrote in a letter…
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Source: The Washington Post Patriarch Kirill has angered many priests by echoing the language Vladimir Putin uses to justify the Ukraine invasion By Jeanne Whalen He leads his flock from a soaring, gilded cathedral built to celebrate Russia’s victory over Napoleon, where week after week the powerful head of the Russian Orthodox Church is working to ensure that the faithful are all in on their country’s invasion of Ukraine. Whether warning about the “external enemies” attempting to divide the “united people” of Russia and Ukraine, or very publicly blessing the generals leading soldiers in the field, Patriarch Kirill has become one…
Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America – Metropolis of San Francisco CLICK HERE OR ON THE IMAGE ABOVE TO VIEW THE VIDEO My dear sisters and brothers in the Lord, Holy Week is upon us, these final days of our journey to witness the crucifixion of Christ, and to celebrate His glorious Resurrection. Our Holy Week begins on a note of great joy. We are carried away by the words of praise, “Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord.” This year, after enduring the previous two years of distance-worship, we too, can be…
Source: Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America In just a few days, Holy Week begins. It is a wonderful, special week for Orthodox Christians. It is also filled with long services that can be challenging to anyone, but especially to young children. Here we offer a few suggestions that may help to make Holy Week more meaningful for our children and godchildren. Preparation begins with adults understanding the services (Holy Week: An Introduction) so that we can talk about them in words children will understand. With them, you can do some of the arts and crafts listed below. Please…
Source: Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) Originally published on February 22, 2022 WRITTEN BY Donatienne Ruy, Director, Abshire-Inamori Leadership Academy Heather A. Conley Former Senior Vice President for Europe, Eurasia, and the Arctic; and Former Director, Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program Marlene Laruelle Director and Research Professor, George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. Tengiz Pkhaladze Associate Professor and Head of the BA Program in Political Science, Georgian Institute of Public Affairs Elizabeth H. Prodromou Faculty Member and Faculty Director of the Initiative on Religion, Law, and Diplomacy, The Fletcher School at Tufts University Majda Ruge Senior Policy…
Source: Helleniscope By Anonymous contributor We have missed the mark. The chasm between Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy must be addressed and healed within our churches and within the hearts of the faithful. How can I make such a bold and audacious statement? Because it is true. I, like most Orthodox Christians, grew up in a loving, supportive, celebratory, and spiritually grounding community. We created in essence our own world inside the “American” world. In fact, the language of being Greek and being American were always clearly delineated, even though, of course, we were all Americans. We loved our country. Many of…
Source: Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of America By Bishop THOMAS (Joseph) and Fr. David Hyatt Download the Article (PDF) “Never, never, never let anyone tell you that, in order to be Orthodox, you must be Eastern. The west was fully Orthodox for a thousand years, and her venerable liturgy is far older than any of her heresies.” St. John of San Francisco and Shanghai On occasion, as I travel, I come across the opinion that churches that do not celebrate the Divine Liturgies of St. John Chrysostom or St. Basil the Great are not truly Orthodox. Some Orthodox Christians, it seems, have come to associate…
Source: National Catholic Register COMMENTARY: That Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople would travel to Warsaw to stand alongside a Catholic bishop to call out the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill is altogether remarkable. by Father Raymond J. de Souza The aftershocks of the “ecclesial earthquake” were not long in coming. On Friday, Pope Francis consecrated Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. On Sunday, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople was in Warsaw. What connects the two events? Neither the Bishop of Rome nor the patriarch of the “New Rome” — Constantinople — take into account any longer possible objections from…
Source: Neos Cosmos by Nick Trakakis As the war in Ukraine rages on, a parallel war is underway within the Orthodox Church. Not much has been said about this religious conflict in the mainstream media, even though it is playing a crucial role in the military conflict. And it’s a problem affecting not merely Eastern Europe, but Australia too. I have borrowed the title of this article, “Orthodox c’est fini” (French for “Orthodoxy is finished”), not from some militant atheist, but from a leading Greek Orthodox theologian, Professor Petros Vassiliadis [Prof. Vassiliadis made this remark in a March 11 post…
Source: The Tablet The Orthodox world is being shattered by the war in Ukraine. A close adviser to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew reflects frankly on the state of Orthodoxy before the invasion, and imagines how it needs to change if it is to have a future. By JOHN CHRYSSAVGIS On the Sunday of the first week of Great Lent, which this year began on 7 March, the Eastern liturgical cycle celebrates the Feast of Orthodoxy. Sometimes conceitedly called the “Triumph of Orthodoxy” it would be more accurate to describe it as the celebration of the “restoration of images”, for on this…
Source: OrthodoxReality National Study about the Pandemic’s Impact on Orthodox Church Life in America Dear OCL friends, If you are a lay church member in the United States of America, we ask you to do something that could make a significant difference for the future of both your parish and the Orthodox Church in general. We ask you to take part in a national study about the pandemic’s impact on Orthodox church life in America. The study has heard already from about 400 American Orthodox priests and the results were published here: https://orthodoxreality.org/coronavirus-and-american-orthodox-parishes Now it is time to hear the thoughts, concerns and experiences…
Source: Daily Beast by A. Craig Copetas Beneath the gold onion domes of the Danilov Monastery a few miles south of the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin’s chief shaman explains why Russia is hell-bent on destroying Ukraine. “If we see [Ukraine] as a threat, we have the right to use force to ensure the threat is eradicated,” Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill recently preached to his church’s 90 million faithful followers. “We have entered into a conflict which has not only physical but also metaphysical significance. We are talking about human salvation, something much more important than politics.” The wartime coalition between Putin and his patriarch is called symphonia,…