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…
Browsing: Patriarch Bartholomew
Source: The National Herald By Theodore Kalmoukos CONSTANTINOPLE – Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew sent a two-member Exarchy to Ukraine to pave the way and do all the necessary proceedings for the granting of Autocephaly status to that country’s Orthodox Church. The Patriarchate, via a press release, said that “It is announced that in the context of the decision to grant autocephalous status to the Orthodox Church in the Ukraine, it has named as representatives in Kiev Archbishop Daniel of Pamphilon of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the United States and Bishop Hilarion (Rudnyk) of Edmonton of the Western Eparchy of the…
Source: Russian Orthodox Church Department for External Church Relations Originally published on May 23, 2018 The Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople has stated its intention to discuss with all the Local Orthodox Churches the appeal made to it by Ukrainian President Petr Poroshenko to create an autocephalous Church in Ukraine. Is there today a commonly accepted procedure for granting church independence – autocephaly and what does canon law say about this mechanism? – a detailed explanation given to RIA Novosti by the vice-chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations, Archpriest Nikolay Balashov. – Father Nikolay, why…
Source: Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in America On Monday, September 3, 2018, before the entire Hierarchy of Metropolitans and Bishops of the Church of Constantinople, who were meeting in the Queen of Cities for the Synaxis of the Hierarchs of the Ecumenical Throne on the feast of Indiction, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew delivered an important address on the status of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, clarifying and reiterating numerous key points concerning the unity of the Holy Orthodox Church and the role within it of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. This instructive address followed a two-and-a-half hour private discussion on Friday, August 31,…
Source: Interfax Constantinople “plays a dangerous game” as it has its own schism Moscow, September 9, Interfax – Symmetric response of Russian Orthodox Church to actions of Constantinople in Ukraine could become establishment of the Moscow Patriarchate’s dioceses in Turkey, a famous religious expert, professor Roman Sylantyev believes. “Evident response decision is to set up dioceses in Turkey, where there are minimum ten times as many members of the Russian Orthodox Church even if we count only those who permanently live in the country. And if we take into account five million of our tourists who come to Turkey every…
Source: The National Herald By Associated Press CONSTANTINOPLE (AP) — A senior official in the Orthodox Church says “there’s no going back” in granting Ukrainian clerics full ecclesiastic independence from the Russian Orthodox Church. However, Metropolitan Emmanuel of France, who is part of a committee dealing with the Ukrainian question, told The Associated Press that the final step of the procedure has yet to be reached. His comments came as Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I welcomed Patriarch Kirill of Moscow in Istanbul on Friday. Ukraine’s president has launched a campaign to persuade Bartholomew, seen by many as the first among equals…
The new demand for Archbishop Demetrios’s resignation shows the Patriarch’s institutional impasse: he lacks the canonical legitimacy to force the resignation. Archbishop Demetrios must stay and lead the Church to a new phase. By Nick Stamatakis A new big “NO” was the response by Archbishop Demetrios to the renewed “urging” by Patriarch Bartholomew to resign “to save the Church’s prestige”. This time the Patriarch’s call was performed in the most official way, inside the Holy Synod’s regular meeting at Constantinople on August 29. The repeated call (the previous one was done on May 31st of this year) is rather…
Source: Department of External Church Relations – The Russian Orthodox Church On August 31, 2018, His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, arrived in Istanbul. The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church visited the Patriarchate of Constantinople, where, accompanied by Metropolitans Emmanuel of France and Bartholomew of Smyrna, as well as Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations (DECR) and Archpriest Nikolay Balashov, DECR vice-chairman, he venerated the shrines of the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Holy Protomartyr George. After that, a fraternal meeting took place at the building of the Patriarchate…
Source: Neo Magazine By Demetrios Rhompotis A few years ago, a crisis erupted in the St. Irene “Monastery” in Astoria when the two bishops in charge, Paisios and Vikentios, started fighting and throwing mud at each other, employing some willing Greek American media and many of their mainly naïve, if not plainly stupid, acolytes. Soon the s*** hit the fan as the proverbial saying has it, the situation got out of hand and led – thank God – to the demise of both. This time, another war has erupted in our church, not exactly of the same kind and with two…
Source: Asia News by Vladimir Rozanskij The Patriarch of Moscow will travel to Constantinople on the 31st of August. The theme of autocephaly (independence) of the Orthodox Church of Kiev is on the agenda. The request came only from the Ukrainian president, but is also supported by Orthodox in Ukraine and by the Greek-Catholics. Predictions of victory for Bartholomew I, who has a “primacy of honor” among the Orthodox. Moscow (AsiaNews) – Kirill (Gundjaev), the Orthodox patriarch of Moscow, is scheduled to meet BArtholomew I (Archontonis), the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople on August 31st next. The meeting was announced by…
Source: St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary [SVOTS Communications / CONSTANTINOPLE] In the spring of 2018,SVOTS Seminarians engaged in a remarkable undertaking, engaging with representatives of churches that both did and did not participate in the divisive Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church in 2016, often referred to as the “Council of Crete.” Now, the fruits of these seminarians’ unique venture are in the hands of the Ecumenical Patriarch, His All-Holiness Bartholomew. At the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople on Tuesday, May 22, with the blessing of His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon, and with the support of Seminary President Archpriest Chad Hatfield, Archpriest Alexander Rentelpersonally delivered the Appeal on…
Source: World Council of Churches Representatives of churches worldwide gathered at Geneva’s St Pierre Cathedral for a service of celebration to mark the 70th anniversary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), at which His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew urged continued efforts for unity, justice and peace. “We celebrate a long common pilgrimage on the path to unity, Christian witness, and the commitment to justice, peace, and the preservation of creation,” said the patriarch in his homily during the service on 17 June at the Swiss city’s historic Protestant cathedral. The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople was one of the founding…