Source: Public Orthodoxy Sergei Chapnin Director of Communications at the OCSC of Fordham University and Chief Editor of The Gifts (Дары) Almanac As an Orthodox Christian witnessing the systematic persecution of clergy and faithful in Russia, I find myself compelled to break the deafening indifference within our American Orthodox communities. My heart grows heavier each day as friends—priests I’ve known for decades—suffer for their faithfulness to the Gospel of peace. Here, I must acknowledge that Ukrainians are dying daily under Russian aggression. At the same time, hundreds of pro-war priests from Russia actively support the war efforts in the occupied…
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Source: Orthodox Christian Studies Center (OCSC) – Fordham University Religion in Russia – Chapnin – UN presentation 2025 Sergei Chapnin presented his report “Religious Communities Under Pressure: Documenting Religious Persecution in Russia 2022-2025” at the Free Peoples of Russia House in Washington, DC, during a panel discussion entitled “Can Post-Regime Russia Embrace Christian Democracy? Religious Persecution in Modern Russia and Occupied Ukraine.” The panel examined the potential role of Russian Orthodoxy in democratic restoration following regime change, approaches to securing freedom of conscience in a multi-confessional Russia, and the current realities of religious persecution. Download the Report here Sergei Chapnin…
Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA At the very short negotiation session in Istanbul between Russia and Ukraine on the afternoon of June 2, Russia presented a three-page memorandum on its proposed terms for settlement. TASS reported: The memorandum Russia handed over to the Ukrainian side today in Istanbul consists of two parts, Russia’s chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said. “We handed over to the Ukrainian side our memorandum, which consists of two parts. The first one is about how to reach a truly lasting peace. The second part highlights the steps to be taken toward a real ceasefire,” he said, adding that…
Source: Orthodox Christianity Remembering the Disaster, reverence for the labors, a call to repentance Priest Vyacheslav Inyushkin The tragedy at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant on April 26, 1986, changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people—those who found themselves in the affected areas and those who eliminated the consequences of the explosion at the nuclear reactor of the fourth power unit. According to official data, over 77,220 square miles were exposed to radioactive contamination, seventy percent of which were on the territory of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. The most polluted areas were the northern parts of the Kiev…
Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA On December 19, President Putin held his annual end-of-the -year question-and-answer session. This year it was a combination of a press conference and an “open line” where the Russian public could telephone and ask questions. The session lasted for more than four hours. The official transcript of the entire session is found at http://www.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/75909. During the session, there was a question relating to the religious situation in Ukraine. The question was asked by Alexandra Suvorova, one of the moderators of the session. The question and answer are as follows: Suvorova: There was also a question…
Source: Public Orthodoxy Daria Morozova Visiting Researcher at the University of Exeter (UK) The “Edict” of the World Russian People’s Council caused controversial reactions on the side of theologians. Some were quite unexpected, like the essay by Rev. Dr. John Chryssavgis entitled “Casting the First Stone of Heresy.” Together with the corresponding image, this title represents patriarch Kirill as an unfortunate harlot, at whom the bloodthirsty crowd of the Pharisees throws its stones. This cannot but look puzzling for someone who two years ago had to flee from the Russian rockets blessed by the patriarch. For it is not the patriarch on…
Source: UOJ The Ukrainian Orthodox Church remains the most affected religious denomination in Ukraine due to the military actions. The Institute for Religious Freedom has updated data on partially damaged or completely destroyed religious buildings as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian war. According to the IRS, at least 246 Orthodox churches have been affected, with the majority belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, viz. 187. Overall, according to the organization’s data, the number of religious buildings affected or destroyed as a result of military actions amounts to 630 objects to date. “The largest number of churches, prayer houses, synagogues, and mosques have been…
Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA There is the very sad news that Patriarch Neophyte died on the evening of March 13 at the age of 78 after a long illness. https://bg-patriarshia.bg/news/saobshtenie-po-povod-konchinata-na-negovo-sveteyshestvo-balg He had been patriarch for 11 years. The funeral service will begin at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 16 at the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia. https://bg-patriarshia.bg/news/sv-sinod-na-bpts-bp-opredeli-datite-za-poklonenieto-opeloto Patriarch Neophyte seems to have been highly regarded by everyone, and his condolences have poured in. On the morning of March 14, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew conducted a Trisagion service for the repose of the soul of Patriarch Neophyte. https://orthodoxtimes.com/patriarchal-trisagion-for-the-late-patriarch-of-bulgaria-and-bishop-of-efkarpia/ The following are the condolences sent…
Source: Public Orthodoxy Inga Leonova Editor-in-Chief at The Wheel Journal On Friday, February 16, 2024, Russian Penitentiary Service (FSIN) that is responsible for the thriving GULAG system informed the world that Russia’s “Prisoner no. 1,” Alexey Navalny, collapsed during the daily walk in the camp and died shortly thereafter. While everyone who cared about Navalny had feared for his life every day since January 17, 2021, when he returned to Russia after recovering in Germany from an assassination attempt by the Kremlin, the news still came as a gut-punching shock. Despite three years of imprisonment in inhuman, torturous conditions, despite…
Source: Public Orthodoxy Very Rev. Dr. Andrei Kordochkin Priest at St. Mary Magdalene Russian Orthodox Church (Madrid, Spain) Editor’s Note: The Orthodox Church in Russia is divided, but this division is not canonical nor administrative. Moreover, it is not always visible from the outside. While the official Church has become an integral part of Putin’s political regime, on a deeper level, there is resistance on behalf of small Orthodox communities and individuals who deny accepting the proclamation of violence and the justification of war. These “propaganda sermons” are constantly pronounced from the ambos of the churches nationwide, causing abruption and…
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: The National Herald BETHESDA, MD – His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros was the honored guest at the National Intelligence University’s Presidential Lecture Series, where he addressed the faculty and student body on the topic of “Russia’s Weaponization of Religion in the Ukraine Conflict.” This historic visit marks the first-ever address by the spiritual leader of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America to the US intelligence community. The National Intelligence University (NIU) is the US intelligence community’s premier academic institution, with faculty and students from all 18 agencies of the intelligence community (including the CIA, NSA, NGA, FBI, and more) as…