Source: The Atlantic How recent documentaries show Russia’s tilt toward Eurasianism and Byzantinism. PETER ELTSOV This week, Ukraine, Russia and Belarus celebrate the 1,025th anniversary of the Christianization of Kievan Rus, a medieval state that existed between the 9th and 13th centuries, which, depending on one’s historical and political stance, is seen as the precursor of these three nations. In Russia, the celebration of this important anniversary included the release of a documentary entitled The Second Christianization of Rus. This film, along with other recent events, shows how the political culture of modern Russia is tilting towards Byzantinism and Eurasianism, the…
Browsing: Orthodox Church
Source: Orthodox Church in America [MOSCOW, RUSSIA – OCA] At an unprecedented gathering in the Moscow Kremlin on July 24, 2013, the Primates and Representatives of the Local Orthodox Churches met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, after which a statement was issued on the occasion of the 1025th Anniversary of Rus’. His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon, Primate of the Orthodox Church in America, was among those who signed the statement, the text of which reads as follows. “We, heads and representatives of the Local Orthodox Churches, who have come to Moscow on the occasion of the celebration of the 1025th anniversary…
Source: Orthodox Church in America ANCHORAGE, AK [OCA] – On Tuesday, July 2, 2013, the Rasmuson Foundation’s Board of Directors announced that it had allocated $8.6 million in awards to support non-profit programs and activities around Alaska. [See original release.] Among the two dozen grant recipients was Russian Orthodox Sacred Sites in Alaska, Inc. [ROSSIA], which received $495,000.00 to complete renovations of historic Orthodox Christian church buildings in Juneau, Kenai, Karluk and Unalaska. On Sunday, June 30, Archimandrite David [Mahaffey], Chancellor and Administrator of the Diocese of Alaska, presided at the groundbreaking of a new structure at Kenai’s Holy Assumption, one…
Source: Solia – The Herald by Psa. Nicole Mitescu I remember when I was newly married and had just started attending an Orthodox church. People would complain about how their children were refusing to come to church any more, and how when they left the family home, they often left the church entirely. So this is far from a new problem, and there must be hundreds if not thousands of articles written not only by Orthodox authors, but also by writers in many other religious groups, who are facing the same problem: children are not following their parents’ footsteps in…
Source: CNN From Errol Barnett, CNN Lalibela, Ethiopia (CNN) — It’s 4 o’clock on a Sunday morning when a trail of figures dressed in white emerges from the deep darkness. Quietly, the summoned crowd makes its way down a cluster of ancient structures as the slow beat from traditional skin drums beckons. It’s a common scene here in Lalibela, a small town in northern Ethiopia that’s home to 11 spectacular churches carved both inside and out from a single rock some 900 years ago. The chiseled creations have turned this mountain town into a place of pride and pilgrimage for worshipers…
Source: Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church The following is the statement made by Fr. Stephen Mathewes to the parish on Sunday, June 9th: To my most beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, Christ is risen! Holy Resurrection has had a long history. A convoluted one, shall we say. For 15 years, faithful and tremendously dedicated people have labored in this humble little vineyard to make it a true Orthodox community—a part of the great worldwide Church. There have been many struggles, many crises, many ups and downs. More than once, the end was thought to be near, only for this plucky…
Source: OCP Media Network The construction of the first ever Orthodox Church in Pakistan is under progress. Larges scale mission and charity works are being done alongside under the leadership of Fr Jon Tanveer,the first ordained Orthodox priest of Pakistan.
Source: B92 / Tanjug NIŠ — Serbian Patriarch Irinej has said that there was “much more that unites us with the Roman Catholic Church,” compared to that which stands in between. “We’ve always been close and lately it is even intensified, and we want to move away those the moments that keep us apart,” the Serbian Orthodox Church head told reporters at the opening of the exhibition “Naisus – Medians”, organized by the Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments of Niš. According to him, it is not necessary to have unity – but that a level “which befits Christians and…
Source: Vatican Radio (Vatican Radio) The head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Cardinal Kurt Koch, heads off to Ukraine on Wednesday for a visit aimed at deepening the dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox in the former Soviet state. The Cardinal will spend two days in the capital Kiev, meeting with the small Greek and Latin Catholic communities there. He’ll also hold talks with the Ukrainian Orthodox leader, Metropolitan Volodymyr, of the Moscow Patriarchiate,and other representatives of that Church. On Saturday the cardinal travels to the Western city of Lviv, the Catholic heartland of the country and on…
Source: Radio Free Europe – Radio Liberty By Robert Coalson Many were shocked on May 17 to see a phalanx of black-robed Orthodox clergy break into a trot and lead an angry mob in an attack on a gay-rights rally in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. Although the official Orthodox hierarchy in Georgia denounced the violence that left 17 injured, Georgian Patriarch Illia II had called on authorities the day before to ban the rally as an “insult” to Georgian traditions. Across Eastern Europe, societies in countries such as Georgia, Russia, Serbia, and Moldova are pushing, each in its own way,…
Source: The Daily Star – Lebanon ISTANBUL: Two Orthodox bishops kidnapped in Syria last month are “in good health,” though there is no news on their whereabouts, an opposition official told reporters Saturday in Istanbul. “Two or three days ago, a doctor visited the two bishops. They are in good health,” said Abdul Ahad Steipho, member of the main opposition’s National Coalition and of its committee established to follow up on the kidnappings. Steipho added that his committee’s attempts to enter into direct telephone contact with the kidnappers or the bishops have so far failed. “We are receiving a lot…
Proposed $230K would fund anti-fire, anti-theft systems Source: Peninsula Clarion By Brian Smith Sitting at his dinner table, looking out his window at the Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church, Father Thomas Andrew said he sometimes worries about the church he heads. “Nobody knows if something is going to happen,” he said. Currently, the church is protected from fire only by two fire extinguishers and the priest’s watch. But, a proposed $230,000 from the Alaska State Legislature could add a new fire protection system that would greatly ease Andrew’s mind, he said. “If we don’t have that,…