Source: Novaya Gazeta The Russian Orthodox Church’s supreme administrative body has decided to remove the scandal-prone head of its Budapest and Hungarian Diocese, the church’s Holy Synod announced on Friday. Grigory Alfeyev, who took the religious name Metropolitan Hilarion, was temporarily suspended by the body in July following an investigation by Novaya Gazeta Europe that uncovered evidence of misconduct in both his financial and personal affairs. As the head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department of External Church Relations since 2009, Hilarion had been touted as a possible successor to Patriarch Kirill, the current head of the church, until he was…
Browsing: Russian Orthodox Church
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: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Yesterday, September 3, 2024, the Ecumenical Patriarchate issued a condemnation of recent illegal actions of the Russian Orthodox Church. This statement comes in response to a heartfelt letter from His Beatitude Pope and Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria and All Africa, dated August 31st, 2024, which was delivered at the concluding session of the Holy Synaxis of the Hierarchy of the Ecumenical Throne in Istanbul, Türkiye. At the concluding session of the Holy Synaxis of the Hierarchy of the Ecumenical Throne in Istanbul, Türkiye, His Beatitude Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria’s letter to His…
Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA The Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate held its summer meeting on July 25, 2024. Journey Entry 78 of the minutes of the meeting announced an important decision relating to Metropolitan Hilarion of Budapest and Hungary. http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/6146121.html A Google translation of the complete text of the entry is as follows: HAD A JUDGMENT on the state of affairs in the Budapest-Hungarian Diocese. RESOLVED: To form a Commission to study the situation in the Budapest-Hungarian Diocese. For the duration of the work of said Commission, temporarily remove Metropolitan Hilarion of Budapest and Hungary from the administration of the…
Source: Moscow Patriarchate DECR Communication Service, 18.06.2024. On June 18, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’ met with the heads and representatives of Protestant churches – members of the Christian Interconfessional Consultative Committee (CICC). The meeting took place at the Patriarchal and Synodal residence in St.Daniel’s Monastery in Moscow. Representing the Protestant denominations were Eduard Grabovenko, head bishop of the Russian Church of Christians of the Evangelical Faith and co-chair of the CCIC; Vladimir A. Provorov, Archbishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Russia; Sergei V. Ryakhovsky, head bishop of the Russian United Fellowship of Christians of…
Source: Public Orthodoxy by Rev. Dr. John Chryssavgis Executive Director of the Huffington Ecumenical Institute at Holy Cross School of Theology In previous years, weeks, and days, I have seen—and, in one instance, supported—a variegated condemnation of the Moscow Patriarch—his preaching and practice alike—as heretical. The “Russian World” ideology has been denounced as unorthodox and heretical. The “Edict” of the World Russian People’s Council has been characterized as distorted doctrine. And the commemoration of Patriarch Kirill has been called in question. All of the above have been justly promoted and justifiably promulgated, among others, by dear friends across the globe. While I am not…
Source: Public Orthodoxy by Sister Vassa Larin Liturgiologist and Founder of Coffee with Sister Vassa I presented the following paper on February 17, 2024 in Wheeling, IL, at a conference entitled “We’re Not Alone.” The conference was organized by laypeople of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR), concerned about the church issues arising from Putin’s war against Ukraine. The topic of the paper, “The ROCOR and Western Values: Past and Present,” needs reflection, because Patriarch Kirill and the Putin regime have repeatedly justified the invasion of Ukraine as some kind of effort to save Ukraine from the influence of…
Source: Kyiv Post Moscow Patriarchate calls for the conquest and absorption of the Ukrainian and Belarusian nations into an ultranationalist ‘Russian world’. By ISW The Russian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate (ROC MP), a Kremlin-controlled organization and a known tool within the Russian hybrid warfare toolkit, held the World Russian People’s Council in Moscow on March 27 and 28 and approved an ideological and policy document tying several Kremlin ideological narratives together in an apparent effort to form a wider nationalist ideology around the war in Ukraine and Russia’s expansionist future. ROC MP Head Patriarch Kirill, reportedly himself a former Soviet…
Source: Public Orthodoxy Archimandrite Nicanor (Mishcoff) Abbot of Tsarnogorsky Monastery “Holy Wonderworkers Kosma and Damian” It is said that after the Soviet army occupied Bulgaria, Winston Churchill wrote on a napkin in Yalta, “Bulgaria – 25%,” representing the portion of influence the Western allies should have in the new, post-war Bulgaria. Of course, that turned out to be wishful thinking. In two years’ time, the last opposition politician was hanged, and the Soviet influence in the country was so comprehensive that it was referred to as the “16th Republic” (of the former USSR). After the collapse of the communist regimes,…
Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA On December 29, 2023, Patriarch Kirill issued the following decree relating to Archimandrite Cyril Hovorun: “Hereby, on the basis of the decision of the diocesan church court of the Moscow diocese dated October 31, 2023, you are deposed from the priesthood in connection with violation of the 25th rule of the Holy Apostles.” http://moseparh.ru/ukaz-u-02216-ot-29-dekabrya-2023.html (first posted on Jan. 17, 2024) On October 31, 2023, the Moscow diocesan court had ruled: “Recognize that, on the basis of the 25th Rule of the Holy Apostles, Archimandrite Kirill (Govorun) is subject to canonical reprimand in the form of demotion from the priesthood.” http://moseparh.ru/reshenie-eparxialnogo-cerkovnogo-suda-moskovskoj-gorodskoj-eparxii-po-delu-zapreshhennogo-klirika-arximandrita-kirilla-govoruna.html …
Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA On January 12, the Russian news agency Novosti reported that Archpriest Alexey Uminsky failed to appear for the second time before a Moscow diocesan court (Link). Novosti interviewed Archpriest Vladislav Tsypin, deputy chairman of the diocesan court. Tsypin stated: Yesterday we waited for him [Uminsky] for 4-5 hours. He is being summoned to court due to failure to comply with the instructions of the hierarchy, the Patriarch, to read a prayer for Holy Rus.’ This quotation is the most authoritative information to date that the current proceedings against Uminsky are based on his failure to recite this prayer. The…
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…