Browsing: Orthodox Church

Source: Ancient Faith Ministries Panorthodoxy September 24, 2018 Length: 14:22 Bobby Maddex interviews George Matsoukas, the Executive Director of Orthodox Christian Laity(OCL), and Andy Kartalis, a Vice President of the board of OCL, about their upcoming conference on Panorthodoxy. CLICK HERE to listen to the interview. Cost to Attend (covers the cost of continental breakfast and lunch): $15 Please pay in advance by calling St. Mary Romanian Orthodox Cathedral (216) 941-5550 or Andy Kartalis (216) 831-2263 / andrew kartalis@gmail.com. CLICK HERE to view the Conference program. Conference Hotel: Cleveland Airport Marriott $89 per night (Deadline – Sept 28) – Mention: OCL Conference…

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Source: The Washingon Post By David Stern and Amie Ferris-Rotman KIEV, Ukraine — For centuries, the golden cupolas of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra monastery and catacombs have been a refuge of tranquility and prayer in Orthodox Christianity. It is now caught in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia as it spills into the world of faith. What is at stake is whether the Ukrainian church can formally break away from Russia’s control and become a new autonomous branch among Orthodoxy’s more than a dozen churches. But it also reflects the wider battlegrounds of nationalism and political identity that helped touch off a separatist uprising…

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Source: ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE PERMANENT DELEGATION TO THE WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES The Permanent Representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to the WCC, Archbishop Job of Telmessos, gave the following interview to Marina Ziosiou of the Greek newspaper “Ethnos of Sunday” about the ecclesiastical issue of autocephaly of Ukraine: The hierarch points out that the Patriarchate of Moscow rejects any dialogue and states that it is strange that Orthodox Ukrainians do not want to be under the jurisdiction of Kiev. Archbishop Job of Telmessos, Permanent Representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to the World Council of Churches gives his own point of view on the…

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Source: The New York Times By Neil MacFarquhar MOSCOW — Vyacheslav Gorshkov, who teaches the catechism at a Kiev cathedral, was among the majority of Orthodox Christians in Ukraine who had reconciled themselves to the fact that their church answers to the Russian Orthodox patriarch in Moscow. No longer. Mr. Gorshkov does not want to break with the faith, but does want to split with the Russian Orthodox Church, incensed by what he sees as the Kremlin using the church as an instrument of its old imperial control. He is among the majority of the faithful hoping that Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew…

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Source: Union of Orthodox Journalists The Holy Synod of the Church of Antioch speaks against establishing parallel jurisdictions within the present canonical Orthodox Churches. The Holy Synod of the Church of Antioch its latest session called to convene an extraordinary Pan-Orthodox Synaxis of the primates to discuss the issue of granting autocephaly to new Churches, reports “Romfea”. The Holy Synod of the Church of Antioch has released a statement in regard to the ongoing crisis situation in Ukraine caused by the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s unilateral incursion into the canonical territory of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church with the intent of unilaterally granting autocephaly to Ukrainian…

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Source: Business Review Anca Alexe Romania is holding a referendum this weekend to change the definition of the family in the Constitution to being established based on the consensual marriage “between a man and a woman” instead of the current form which says “between two spouses”. The legislative project to amend the constitution passed in the Romanian Senate with 107 votes in support versus just 13 votes against and 7 abstentions. The ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) fully supported the initiative, and so did most senators of the opposition National Liberal Party (PNL). PSD’s coalition partner parties ALDE and UDMR…

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Source: Our Sunday Visitor Newsweekly Tawadros II, head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, welcomes increased numbers, moves toward unity Deborah Castellano Lubov, OSV Newsweekly When he traveled to the southern Italian city of Bari in Puglia on July 7, to attend the unprecedented ecumenical meeting summoned by Pope Francis, his holiness Pope Tawadros II represented the largest Christian Church for the entire Middle East. Yet, the number of Christians in the Middle East has plummeted. It was “a very successful meeting,” said the highest-ranking leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt, “a great opportunity for Church leaders to meet and…

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Source: The National Herald By Theodore Kalmoukos MOUNT ATHOS, GREECE – Elder Ephraim, Abbot of the Great Vatopaidi Monastery of Mt. Athos gave an extensive interview to The National Herald, which follows. TNH: Elder Ephraim, is this your first visit to America? What is the aim of this forthcoming visit? EE: This will be my second visit. I went to Arizona in 2011, to St. Anthony’s Monastery, to meet Elder Ephraim, now of Arizona, formerly of Filotheou, who is a spiritual brotherof my late Elder, Iosif. Both of them had the blessed Elder Iosif the Hesychast as their spiritual father. It…

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Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America At its formal session on April 20, 2018, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople voted to proceed with taking the necessary steps for granting autocephaly to the Orthodox Christians of Ukraine.  This decision was made after extensive study and discussion based on the responsibilities and rights of the Ecumenical Patriarchate as enumerated by the sacred canons, and the historical reality that in 1589 when the Church of Russia received its status as a patriarchate from the Ecumenical Patriarch, the Metropolis of Kiev, the…

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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…

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Source: Hurriyet Daily News WASHINGTON The United States said in a statement on Sept. 25 that it supports Fener Greek OrthodoxPatriarch Dimitri Bartholomew’s stance on granting independence to the Ukrainian Church. U.S. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a statement that the U.S. supports the freedom of groups “to govern their religion according to their beliefs and practice their faiths freely without government interference.” “The United States respects the ability of Ukraine’s Orthodox religious leaders and followers to pursue autocephaly according to their beliefs. We respect the Ecumenical Patriarch [Dimitri Bartholomew] as a voice of religious tolerance and interfaith dialogue,” she added. Nauert reiterated her country’s “unwavering…

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