Source: OCP Media Network Sophia Iliadi – Independent Article – 27/6/19 The Orthodox world is facing a total rearrangement. The balance of powers and the distribution of influence between 14 mutually recognized Local Orthodox Churches is shifting as the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, historically first among equal autocephalous Churches, has completely lost its weight. This is happening against the background of an unfolding crisis, which Orthodoxy hasn’t witnessed since the Great Schism of 1054. The threat of a new schism emerged because of Patriarch Bartholomew’s ambitions who claims he is the leader of the Orthodox world. The division affects nearly…
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Source: Orthodox Christianity [KIEV – June 26, 2019] Just as His Beatitude Archbishop Chrysostomos of New Justiniana and All Cyprus has taken the initiative to try to resolve the crisis in Ukraine, so the Cypriot Church is taking the initiative to legally defend the suffering clergy and faithful of the canonical Ukrainian Church. The Church has launched the collection of signatures in Europe to file a lawsuit in the European Court of Human Rights in support of the Church led by His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine, His Eminence Metropolitan Isaiah of Tamasos said during events in…
Source: Pastoral Healthcare of the Ecumenical Patriarchate One of the most perplexing aspects of pastoral ministry, as experienced in my personal encounters with my parishioners, surfacing often during confessions or spiritual counselling, has to do with the subject of exorcism, evil eye, and recently, toll booths in afterlife, toll-gates which our departed brethren are compelled to go through as they sojourn to Heaven or to eternal damnation. I have come to the realization that these questions arise as a result of pathological symptoms of fear, propelled by an innate chronic dread of a vengeful God, determined to punish the transgressor of…
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: University of Saint Katherine The 2019 Light of the East Conference will feature speakers representing historical Eastern and Western Christian churches. The Topic will be “Monasticism for the Rest of Us” which is also called interiorized monasticsm. We welcome you to join us…
Source: Pravmir.com ARCHPRIEST GEOFFREY KORZ “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love…” (Revelation 2:4) Those of you old enough to recall it might remember the Paul Simon song, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover. In it, an adulterer contemplates a long list of ways in which one affair can be terminated – presumably with the goal of concentrating on a different one. Like that song, living an Orthodox Christian life presents a plethora of ways to leave our first love: to leave Christ and His Church, whether we are planning to do so or not. Usually, most…
[Editor’s Comment: The Archbishop-Elect demonstrates with his words, that he does not understand the history of the Orthodox Church in USA. How can he be a servant leader of the clergy and faithful here?] Challenges of Orthodoxy in America and the Role of the Ecumenical Patriarchate By Very Reverend Archimandrite Dr. Elpidophoros Lambriniadis Chief Secretary of the Holy and Sacred Synod (Chapel of the Holy Cross, March 16, 2009) Reverend Protopresbyter Nicholas Triantafyllou, President, Reverend Protopresbyter Thomas Fitzgerald, Dean of the School of Theology, Reverend and Esteemed Members of the Faculty and staff, Dear Students, It is an exceptional honor and…
Source: The Russian Orthodox Church Department of External Relations According to the official website of the Bulgarian Patriarchate, on March 7, 2019, Metropolitan Daniel of Vidin, a hierarch of this Church, sent a letter to His Holiness Patriarch Neophyte of Bulgaria and members of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church presenting his arguments against the Patriarch of Constantinople’s claims to primacy of power in the Orthodox world, especially against the decision to revoke the 1686 act on transfer of the Metropolia of Kiev to the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate and against Phanar’s opinion on its alleged right to…
Source: Orthodox Christianity [Kiev – June 13, 2019] On May 26, the 19th anniversary of the restoration of St. Michael’s Golden-domed Cathedral, previously of the “Kiev Patriarchate” (KP) and now a cathedral of the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” (OCU), was celebrated in Kiev. It was previously known that the OCU primate “Metropolitan” Epiphany Dumenko was concelebrated by two hierarchs from the Patriarchate of Constantinople: Metropolitan Emmanuel of Gaul and Metropolitan Amphilochios of Adrianople. However, according to information received by the Union of Orthodox Journalists from the Metropolis of Montenegro and Littoral of the Serbian Orthodox Church, a cleric of the schismatic and…
Source: The Christian Science Monitor Russia may lack much of a political opposition. But our reporter found evidence of community-level democracy, as citizens push back against land grabs by the Russian Orthodox Church. By Fred Weir Correspondent [MOSCOW] On a recent Sunday in Torfyanka Park, in a densely populated suburb near the northern edge of Moscow, a familiar ritual of confrontation is taking place. The sun shines in this small patch of greenery with a circular pond at its heart. Dozens of people have gathered at a fenced compound that houses a 24-hour guard station and a large wooden cross,…
Source: Orthodox Christianity Istanbul, May 31, 2019 – The Patriarchate of Constantinople restored canonicity to the entire Ukrainian nation, although the “presence of the Moscow Patriarchate” threatens the unity of the Ukrainian nation, Patriarch Bartholomew boldly declared in a recent interview with the Bulgarian outlet BGNES, even as the so-called “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” (OCU), created by him along with President Poroshenko, battles to maintain unity simply within itself. Pat. Bartholomew’s brother primates, the Holy Synods of the Local Churches, and a number of hierarchs from throughout the Orthodox world have repeatedly called on him to convene a pan-Orthodox council to…
Source: Orthodox Christianity If the new authorities of Ukraine under President Vladimir Zelensky do not put an end to the persecutions against the canonical Church, the international community should impose sanctions against the country, said His Grace Bishop Qais (Sadiq) of Erzurum, vicar to Patriarch John X of Antioch and All the East, at the international “Violation of the Rights of the Faithful in Ukraine” conference currently being held in Moscow, reports RIA-Novosti. The Antiochian hierarch also urged the conference participants to appeal to the world with a demand to start a dialogue with the new Kiev authorities on the return…