Source: Orthodox Christianity Istanbul, March 13, 2019 – The Orthodox Churches have no right to speak on the matter of the Ukrainian crisis other than to affirm the decisions and actions of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, according to Patriarch Bartholomew’s reply to the Albanian Church that was recently published in Greek and subsequently in Russian. In December, Pat. Bartholomew wrote to the primates of the Orthodox Churches throughout the world, calling on them to recognize the results of December 15’s “unification council” that created a new ecclesiastical structure in Ukraine. On January 14, the Albanian Church responded that while it cannot accept…
Browsing: Orthodox Church
Source: Russian Orthodox Church DECR In physics there is a notion of ‘bifurcation point’, which denotes a critical state of a system when it becomes unstable and, under the impact of even minor external events, can shift to a lower or, on the contrary, higher level of self-organization. In a certain sense, the developments in Ukraine are such a ‘bifurcation point’ for the whole world of Orthodoxy. The decisions made today and actions carried out determine in many ways the future life of the Orthodox Church, possibly, even for many centuries. In this situation, it would be wrong to step aside…
Source: Union of Orthodox Journalists by Konstantin Shemliuk What is behind the concern of US officials about the rights of the Orthodox? At the Athens conference on disinformation and news manipulation held on March 5, the ex-US Ambassador to Ukraine and now the Ambassador to Greece Jeffrey Payette made a strong statement about Russia’s efforts to undermine the authority of Patriarch Bartholomew: ”We’ve seen evidence of this kind of manipulation of information in Greece. We’ve seen Russian efforts in the Church, the efforts to undermine the role of the Ecumenical Patriarch.” He particularly stressed that “the purpose of this event tonight is to…
Source: Orthodox Christianity Tirana, March 8, 2019 incarnatewordsistershouston.org The Holy Synod of the Albanian Orthodox Church has not recognized the Ukrainian schismatic church, calling their ordinations graceless and calling instead for a Synaxis of the primates of the Orthodox Churches, given that Constantinople has failed to achieve unity in Ukraine. The Holy Synod of the Albanian Church adopted its decision on January 4 and expressed it in a letter sent to Patriarch Bartholomew on January 14. The letter was published today on the Albanian Church’s site. In particular, the Albanian bishops expressed their concern about the recognition by the Patriarch of Constantinople…
Source: Union of Orthodox Journalists by Olga Tsviliy Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople Patriarch Bartholomew rejected the proposal of the Primate of the Antioch Orthodox Church to hold a pan-Orthodox discussion of the religious situation in Ukraine. In a letter to the Primate of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, Patriarch John X, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople declared that “he has good reasons” to refrain from a general Orthodox meeting on the Ukrainian church issue, reports the official website of the Russian Orthodox Church. Patriarch Bartholomew called the discussion of the religious situation in Ukraine “useless” and reminded the Primate of the Antiochian Church…
Source: Orthodox Christian Laity OCL is delighted that the 2019 calendar year got off to a meaningful start for Orthodox Christians at home and abroad. It is delightful to see Orthodox Christian faithful people communicating with each other. I hope that you can find 6 minutes in your busy schedules to watch the video of Pan-Orthodox Activities taking place in Cleveland, Ohio. We would love to hear updates from you about people communicating and working together in your communities. What Pan-Orthodox activities are you engaged with in Houston, Denver, Atlanta and other Southern communities; Detroit, Metropolitan New York, Chicago, D.C./…
Source: Basilica On Thursday, 21 February 2019, the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church held its working session at the Synodal Hall of the Patriarchal Residence, under the chairmanship of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel, during which the following decisions were made: The Holy Synod appreciated the manifold and rich activities carried out in the Romanian Patriarchate marking the 1918 Great Union Centennial, culminating with the consecration of the Holy Altar of the National Cathedral on 25 November 2018. At the same time, the numerous social-philanthropic activities, summing up to over 114 million RON (approx. 24 million euros) were highlighted.…
Source: OINOS Educational Consulting by Frank Marangos, D.Min., Ed.D., FCEP “The only man who never makes mistakes is the man who never does anything.” Theodore Roosevelt The polar vortex is a large upper-level zone of cold air that hovers over the northern artic region of the globe during the winter season. When the polar vortex is pushed further south, this frigid air pocket can occasionally reach portions of the United States. According to AccuWeather’s Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson, “such a vortex is capable of delivering subzero temperatures for several days at a time.” The recent polar vortex of 2019 has created…
Source: Public Orthodoxy by Fr. Marc Dunaway and Benjamin Dunaway This post is a two-part reflection by a father and son who traveled from Alaska to attend the inaugural conference of the International Orthodox Theological Association (IOTA) in Iasi, Romania. Fr. Marc Dunaway Many Christians are suspicious of “academic theologians,” and this is understandable. I remember as a young man eagerly tuning into TV documentaries about how the early Church grew or what the world Jesus lived in was like, only to realize in a few minutes that many of these supposedly “Christian” scholars didn’t actually believe in Jesus, or…
Source: The National Herald By Dennis Menos It’s been almost a month since Patriarch Kirill of Moscow suspended Eucharistic Communion between the Church of Russia and the Ecumenical Patriarchate, in response to the granting by Patriarch Bartholomew of the Tomos of Autocephaly to the Church of the Ukraine. By his action, the Russian Patriarch set into motion a schism within Orthodoxy with a potential for harming not only the relations between Moscow and Constantinople, but also between other Churches within the Orthodox family. One would assume that because of the seriousness of the Russian action and its potential for damage,…
Source: OrthoChristian.com by Kirill Alexandrov A comparison of the relationship of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church with the Moscow Patriarchate and the “Holy Church of Ukraine” with the Phanar. Petro Poroshenko and Epiphany Dumenko have received their desired tomos. Already well before that, the majority of religious experts argued that the Phanar would never give the Ukrainian Church true autocephaly, and that’s what happened. Even the most ardent supporters of autocephaly have to admit that the Ukrainian so-called autocephaly has a number of very significant restrictions. They also expressed the opinion that the new Ukrainian Church, which will be called autocephalous, will in…
Source: Asia News by NAT da Polis On the feast day of Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, the ecumenical patriarch defends his decision to grant autonomy to the Ukrainian Church, as well as upholding the “primus inter pares” status for himself and the Mother Church of Orthodoxy. Istanbul (AsiaNews) – The anniversary of the death of one of the great Fathers of the undivided Church was commemorated yesterday at the Phanar, headquarters of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Gregory of Nazianzus, theologian and patriarch of Constantinople, was a close friend of Saint Basil the Great, whose cultural and ecclesial education he shared, and a…