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…
Browsing: Patriarch Bartholomew
Nick Stamatakis
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…
Patriarch Kirill arriving in Istanbul
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…
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
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…
Patriarch Kirill with Patriarch Bartholomew
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…
Seminarians in Archpriest Alexander Rentel's class,“Contemporary Issues in Canon Law, at St. Vladimir's Seminary.
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…
Archbishop Demetrios
Source: The National Herald By Antonis H. Diamataris If there was ever any doubt that the ecclesiastical leadership we have is at this point unworthy of the Greek community, it was confirmed this past week in a tragic way. He put his selfishness and his interest above the interest of his flock and the people who chose him to lead our church almost 20 years ago. Unfortunately – and we write this with regret – that is what Archbishop Demetrios has done at least since The National Herald broke the story that the Archdiocese was bankrupt. And he set precedent…
Source: The National Herald By Theodoros Kalmoukos BOSTON – Archbishop Demetrios of America was severely criticized by the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate at its April 20 meeting, presided by His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, according to exclusive information The National Herald has obtained. Specifically, reports about Archbishop Demetrios and the Archdiocese were read, at which point Patriarch Bartholomew asked the synodic members if they wanted to ask him any questions. First was Metropolitan Apostolos, Geron of Derkon, who wondered why there is so much delay regarding the results of the Archdiocese audits. He also asked why the…
Source: TASS Russian News Agency The Kremlin comments on the possible decision to grant autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church reporting to the Kiev Patriarchate MOSCOW, April 19. /TASS/. Moscow opposes steps seeking to split churches, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said commenting on the possible decision to grant autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church reporting to the Kiev Patriarchate. “Of course, certain moves aimed at church schisms are bound to neither be supported nor welcomed,” the Kremlin spokesman told reporters. In light of that, he recalled the stance of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Patriarch of Moscow and…
Source: The National Herald By TNH Staff Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has reprimanded Church of Bulgaria Patriarch Neophyte for supporting a breakaway church in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) as “Macedonian,” with Greece still trying to settle a 26-year-long dispute with that country over what its name should be. The strongly worded statement by Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, came after the Bulgarian Church agreed to acknowledge and be the “mother church” of “Macedonia,” which is considered “schismatic” by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul. “The action of the sister church of Bulgaria was wrong. It complicates…
Source: Ahval News The Orthodox Christian community of Turkey has moved to show its support to the country’s armed forces, which launched a military campaign, “Operation Olive Branch”, against armed Kurdish groups in northwestern Syria on Jan. 20. Although the vast majority of Turkey’s population is Muslim, the country’s geography and history hold an important place for Christianity. Some of the most important locations for Eastern Orthodox Christians lie in Turkey, including the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew I, in Istanbul. Bartholomew I expressed his support for Turkey’s military operation in a letter to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan,…