Source: Ekathimerini.com Greece’s Orthodox bishops have voted unanimously to reject planned government legislation for marriage equality that would also allow for the adoption of children by same-sex couples. A meeting of the Holy Synod further decided to address an open letter to all 300 members of parliament outlining the church’s objections to the proposed legislation. The letter will also be read out in churches across the country on February 4. In a statement, the Synod said that while it is the state’s responsibility to legislate, “this parameter neither deprives the church of freedom of speech, nor relieves the church of…
Browsing: Orthodox Church
Source: Orthodox History by Matthew Namee In 1894, Pope Leo XIII issued a papal encyclical on the “Eastern Rites” — that is, the Uniates, those groups who use ancient Orthodox liturgical rites but submit themselves to the Pope of Rome. In 1898, St Raphael Hawaweeny, then an archimandrite in New York, published a response in a periodical called Faith and Reason, and […] Click here to read the article
Source: Assembly of Orthodox Canonical Bishops of the USA Washington, D.C. – The Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America sent a delegation to the annual March for Life in the nation’s capital on Friday, January 19, 2024. Bishop John (Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America) led the delegation. He was joined by Bishop Theophan (Albanian Orthodox Diocese of the Americas, Ecumenical Patriarchate), Metropolitan Tikhon (Orthodox Church in America) and Bishop Andrei (Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America, Orthodox Church in America). The members of the delegation attended the National Prayer Vigil for Life at the…
Source: Notes on Arab Orthodoxy Jad Ganem Patriarch Bartholomew celebrated the Feast of Saint Nicholas at the church-turned-museum bearing his name in the city of Demre, Turkey. During the liturgy, he gave a sermon that included the following: “The East is not just the birthplace of great saints but also the cradle of the Church in its present form. Our theology and ecclesiology originated in these sacred lands, within the canonical jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. It was here that the Ecumenical Synods convened, shaping the ecclesiastical conscience rooted in the ministry of the Lord, transcending national or other distinctions. The wisdom…
Source: Orthodox Christianity Anchorage, November 29, 2023 Archpriest Michael Oleksa, known as a missionary priest, having served in over a dozen Alaskan villages, and a scholar of Orthodoxy in Alaska and Native Alaskan history and culture, reposed in the Lord today, November 29, after suffering a stroke suffering a stroke. The Diocese of Sitka and Alaska of the Orthodox Church in America issued the following statement: May thy soul dwell with the blessed— Memory eternal, Вечная Память, dear father At 12:30 this morning on November 29th, His Grace, +Bishop Alexei received word that the beloved Archpriest Michael Oleksa fell asleep in the…
Source: Orthodox Church in America SPRINGFIELD, VA [OCA] December 10, 2023, the Sunday before the feast day of Saint Herman of Alaska, is the second annual collection for the Orthodox Church in America’s Diocese of Alaska. His Grace Bishop Alexei spoke at 20th All-American Council in Baltimore, MD where he detailed the serious challenges facing the OCA’s mother diocese. The council passed a resolution to support the Alaskan Diocese in their difficult situation: “Whereas Alaska is the cradle of Orthodoxy in America: Be it resolved that the 20th AAC asks the Holy Synod of Bishops to designate annually the Sunday closest to the December feast…
Source: The National Herald To the Editor: Due to indisposition I stayed at home last Sunday and watched the Divine Liturgy from 10 o’clock until almost 12. The Liturgy is broadcast from the Holy Resurrection Church with presiding priest Fr. Panteleimon Papadopoulos, the former deacon of Archbishop Demetrios, and is mostly in English and the impressive thing is that now the cantors chant in English, too, because now there are also cantors who were born here in the United States. And I will briefly recount the course of English in the Church. When I came to America in 1955, the…
Source: St. Phoebe Center for the Deaconess Brookline, Massachusetts—In honor of its tenth anniversary, the St. Phoebe Center for the Deaconess held a symposium at the Maliotis Cultural Center of Hellenic College Holy Cross on November 10-12, 2023. The event drew a large and diverse crowd with clergy and laity coming from not only the New England area, but from across the country, with representation from Florida, Kentucky, California, Texas, Virginia, and elsewhere. The symposium reviewed the history of and need for the revival of the female diaconate, but primarily considered the pragmatics of how the Orthodox Church might welcome women—who comprise…
Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA The Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Moldova (OCM) met on October 25. The minutes of this meeting can be read at (link) However, before considering these minutes, it is helpful to review various events occurring prior to the meeting. On September 5, Metropolitan Vladimir of Chișinău and All Moldova sent a very strong letter to Patriarch Kirill with a long list of grievances. An English translation of the letter was provided in my last newsletter. See (link) (20 October 2023). The authenticity of this leaked letter has not been denied by either the Moscow Patriarchate or by the…
Source: Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America From the Patriarchate of Antioch The Fathers of the Holy Synod of Antioch raise fervent prayers to the King of Peace and Lord of Mercies to wipe away every tear from the eyes of the Palestinian people, and to remove all injustice, oppression, homelessness and displacement. They call on all their children to consecrate next Sunday in all the parishes of the Antiochian See for raising prayers that God may grant justice and peace in the land of peace, and to collect aid donations to relieve this afflicted people. Understanding that the…
Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA On Wednesday, October 11, the Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate met at the Danilov Monastery in Moscow. The meeting had not been previously announced. The minutes of the meeting can be read at (link). Changes were made in three important positions of the Moscow Patriarchate. The first change is that Metropolitan Lazar of Simferopol and Crimea is retired by the Holy Synod. See Journal entry 92. The retirement of Metropolitan Lazar is not a surprise. He was born in 1939 (thus 84 years old) and has served as the head of the Simferopol and Crimea diocese…
Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA Among the Local Orthodox Churches, it is common for one Local Orthodox Church to have a representation church (more properly called a podvorie or metochion) at the seat of another Local Orthodox Church. This is true of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Bulgarian Patriarchate. The Bulgarian Patriarchate has a representation church in Moscow. Conversely, the Moscow Patriarchate has a representation church in Sofia. The church in Sofia is the Church of St. Nicholas the Miracle-Worker, located in central Sofia. It is also known as the “Russian Church.” (link) Many come to pray here because the church is the location of…