Source: The National Herald By Christopher Tripoulas It’s a new year, but the Archbishop’s recent meeting at the Phanar regarding amendments to the Archdiocese of America’s Charter is more like a blast from the past. This on-again, off-again process, which began in the fall of 2019 with the sudden suspension of the Charter by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, was thought to have ended last June when the Patriarchate restored the Charter at the “request” [sic] of the Archdiocese. However, no sooner did this thoroughly botched matter seem to have been resolved, when it was awkwardly revisited, following a cryptic announcement by…
Browsing: Phanar
Source: The National Herald By Theodore Kalmoukos BOSTON – Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has appointed Metropolitan Evangelos of Sardis as a member of the Holy Synod of the Phanar for a one-year tenure starting March 1, 2023. Archbishop Elpidophoros is also a member of the Synod during the current Synodic period. Metropolitan Evangelos served as the duly and canonically elected Metropolitan of the Metropolis of New Jersey for seventeen years, from his election and enthronement on May 11, 2003, until October 8, 2020. Under his leadership the Metropolis of New Jersey, for the first time, acquired its Metropolis Center in the…
Source: Union of Orthodox Journalists Originally published on December 20, 2021 by Kirill Aleksandrov The Phanar received Macedonian schismatics. What is this – revenge to the Serbian Church for non-recognizing the OCU or a global policy of legalizing all schismatics? On 16 December, Patriarch Bartholomew received a delegation from the so-called Macedonian Church at the Phanar. Does this mean the start of another Tomos for the schismatics, and how might this affect the entire Orthodoxy? The delegation of the “Macedonian Orthodox Church” at the Phanar. Photo: religija.mk Analyzing the visit of the Macedonian schismatics to the Phanar, three points should be noted: The delegation…
Source: The National Herald CONSTANTINOPLE – His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew celebrated his name day on June 11 at the Patriarchal Church of St. George in Constantinople. In his homily he said among other things that, “from this Martyr Throne, we feel the sacred obligation urgently as we minister the affairs of the Holy Church by means of our works and words, through the special responsibilities which the sanctified action and the theoretical approach of the Holy Fathers entrusted to us, specifically to Constantinople.” His All-Holiness continued: “We have, and we recognize that we have, a unique responsibility to the…
Source: Union of Orthodox Journalists Elena Konstantinova According to the Greek professor Kyriakos Kyriazopoulos, an experiment is underway to papalize Ukraine through the “autocephalous church” led by Epiphany. Kyriakos Kyriazopoulos, a professor of church law at the Law Faculty of Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, believes that the Patriarchate of Constantinople has created the OCU with the aim of ecumenically uniting Catholicism with the Orthodox Autocephalous Churches. It is reported by Pravoslavie.ru with reference to the Greek site Oukraniko. According to Kyriakos Kyriazopoulos, the goal of creating the OCU led by Epiphany is “to weaken the Moscow Patriarchate to enable the unification of Ukrainian Uniates…
Source: Union of Orthodox Journalists Kirill Aleksandrov What role influential Greek clans play in strengthening the power of Phanar and what relation they have to Ukraine. With the fall of Constantinople under the pressure of the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the situation of the Patriarchate of Constantinople underwent significant changes: on the one hand, it turned from the dominant one into only tolerable in the Muslim country, and on the other hand, administrative functions of the Greek population living in the Ottoman Empire (rum millet), unusual for the Church, were transferred to it. Affluent laymen, who received the name of…
Source: Union of Orthodox Journalists Yekaterina Filatova “We elevated Patriarch Bartholomew to the third heaven ourselves giving him primacy, so all responsibility lies with us, Primates,” admitted one of the Greek hierarchs. The newspaper “Orthodox Press” published fragments of a conversation with the “Greek Primate” without revealing his identity, who stated that Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople threatens church leaders with the removal of autocephaly. Excerpts from the conversation with the hierarchs are cited by oukraniko.blogspot.com. As follows from the publication, “the first hierarch admits that the Primates are responsible, because they made a mistake by going to the Cretan Council and raising him (Patriarch…
Source: Union of Orthodox Journalists Konstantin Shemliuk The decisions of the Council of the Greek Church can be interpreted either way. Only commemoration of Epiphany will tell if tectonic shifts are to begin in Orthodoxy. The decision of the Council of Bishops of the Greek Church on Ukrainian autocephaly stirred up commotion throughout Orthodox world. A lot of bishops, priests and lay people, as well as the media perceived it as recognition of the OCU by the Hellenic Church. From various sources it became known that only 7 (according to other information, 12) out of 69 hierarchs disagreed to the decision of the Council…
Source: Union of Orthodox Journalists Taras Rebikov In an attempt to justify its concelebration with the Ukrainian schismatics, Constantinople descends to a distortion of facts and a blatant lie. The most inexplicable story in the history of the creation of the OCU for the Orthodox World was the question of how the Phanar was going to solve the obvious problem of the “hierarchs” of the UOC-KP and UAOC having no canonical ordinations. In the autumn and winter of 2018, when it became clear that the Patriarchate of Constantinople was determined to give autocephaly to the schismatic structures, there were various…
Source: Orthodox Christianity ATHENS — The Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church has once again delayed its decision about whether or not to recognize the so-called “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” (OCU). Having heard the proposals of the Synodal committees on dogmatic and canonical issues and on inter-Orthodoxy and inter-Christian relations at its 3-day session this week, the Synod “recognize[d] the Ecumenical Patriarch’s canonical right to issue the status of Autocephaly,” reports Romfea. It is unclear if the Synod is speaking of Constantinople’s rights in general or specifically in the Ukrainian situation, though, predictably, Constantinople-aligned Greek and Ukrainian sources were quick to proclaim that the…
Source: Byzantine, TX (president.gov.ua) – President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky had a meeting with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I at the Fener in Istanbul. The Ecumenical Patriarch reiterated support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the Ecumenical Patriarch for supporting Ukraine. “Our common value is human life. This is the main thing for me, especially now, when I became President of Ukraine. The authorities shouldn’t interfere in church affairs. I will defend the independence of the church,” the Head of State emphasized. The agenda of the President’s visit to Turkey also includes St. George’s Cathedral located on the…
America Doesn’t Exist at the Archdiocese By Dean Popps It sure seems to me that the new archbishop is trying to create an organization (perhaps modeled after the British East India Trading Company) that reflects his own official, publicly stated views that we are a diaspora, an omogenia, and expatriates of some other country and period of history. Independence Day, July 4th, our sacred national holiday, is totally ignored on the archbishop’s official calendar; and, in fact, on the whole goarch.org website. (see https://www.goarch.org/ and https://www.goarch.org/-/public-schedule-of-his-eminence-archbishop-elpidophoros-june-28-july-8-2019). The title “GOA of America” is a hollow concept for this archdiocese. Their America…