Source: Reuters MOSCOW (Reuters) – The head of the Russian Orthodox Church told newly elected Pope Francis on Thursday they must act together to defend Christians persecuted in some parts of the world and promote traditional values against secularism. The Russian Orthodox Church shares the Roman Catholic Church’s conservative stances on many moral issues but disputes still strain relations nearly a millennium after the Great Schism split Christianity into eastern and western branches. “Orthodox believers and Catholics need to join forces today to safeguard Christians in need of support and sympathy, subject to pressure and persecution in different parts of…
Browsing: Russian Orthodox Church
Source: Russia Beyond the Headlines by Lucia Bellinello A few hours after Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation, Russia was already thinking about building relations with his successor. It had not happened for nearly 600 years. On February 11, 2013 Pope Benedict XVI (Ratzinger) announced his resignation in Latin to the Vatican. “I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry,” he said. In Russia, the pope’s Russian hashtag immediately became one of the most tweeted in the hours following the news, and…
Source: The St. Petersburg Times By Yekaterina Kravtsova MOSCOW – A demonstration outside the State Duma on Tuesday ended in fisticuffs as Orthodox activists clashed with opponents of a bill targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Police and at least one Duma deputy intervened to halt the violence. About 30 LGBT activists met at noon on Georgiyevsky Pereulok for an event they called “Kissing Day” to protest a proposed ban on “homosexual propaganda.” Gay and lesbian couples posed for photographs at the entrance to the Duma building while kissing. But Orthodox activists showed up at the event and tried…
Source: Reuters By Steve Gutterman MOSCOW (Reuters) – The head of Russia’s Orthodox Church urged citizens in a Christmas address on Monday to adopt Russian children after President Vladimir Putin signed a law last month barring Americans from doing so. The ban retaliates for U.S. legislation designed to punish Russian human rights violators which Putin said is poisoning relations. Critics of Russia’s legislation say Putin has made the welfare of children trapped in a troubled orphanage system hostage to political maneuvering, dimming their chances of finding loving homes or adequate medical care. Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, a strong supporter of Putin, paid special…
Source: Asia News by Nina Achmatova Amid controversy and criticism from civil society groups and some government ministers, Putin signs into law controversial bill passed by parliament in retaliation against US Magnitsky Act. For Archpriest Chaplin, orphans raised by foreigners cannot go to heaven. Patriarch Kirill speaks about possible help to families. Moscow (AsiaNews) – Despite a wave of criticism from civil society groups and members of the Russian government, the Russian Orthodox Church has backed the controversial ‘anti- Magnitsky bill’ that President Vladimir Putin signed into law last Friday. As of 1 January, the new law bans adoptions of…
By Susan Abram, Staff Writer Detectives with the LAPD’s Hollywood station are asking for the public’s help in providing any information that will lead to the arrest of the suspect who burglarized the church at 5432 Fernwood Ave. on Dec. 22. “An unknown individual entered the Holy Transfiguration Russian Orthodox Church, gained access to the altar room and stole numerous religious artifacts,” police said in a statement. A total of 37 items were taken, police said. Photographs of the missing items include ornate crosses and chalices for communion. “The community is very upset,” said a member of the church, who gave…
Source: Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America Very Rev. Thomas Zain, Archbishop Justinian, Met. Hilarion, Met. Philip, Bishop Nicholas View Photo Gallery His Eminence, Metropolitan PHILIP received His Eminence, Metropolitan HILARION, the Chairman of the Department of External Relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow and all Russia on Wednesday, October 24, 2012. Accompanying Metropolitan HILARION was His Eminence, Archbishop JUSTINIAN, the Patriarchal Representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in the United States as well as clergy and a reporter. His Grace, Bishop NICHOLAS and Archpriest Thomas Zain also attended the meeting. After welcoming Metropolitan HILARION, the hierarchs exchanged ideas…
Source: India Talkies New Delhi, Oct 20: A year after it began to preach from the confines of the Russian embassy in the capital, the Russian Orthodox Church of Russia formally introduced itself to the capital’s Christian fold with a brief ceremony this weekend. The Church, which does not have space to conduct services in the country, has moved the government to acquire land in the capital to build a shrine. The demand was taken up by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Olegovich Rogozin, who was in India earlier this week with a large trade delegation, Manoj Kumar, a spokesperson…
Source: Reuters By Gabriela Baczynska MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian lawmakers are calling for jail sentences for people guilty of offending religious feelings, in a move that could tighten the bonds between President Vladimir Putin and the resurgent Orthodox Church. The State Duma, the lower house of parliament, adopted a declaration on Tuesday saying the killing of spiritual leaders, vandalism against church property and “blasphemous acts of hooliganism” posed a threat to Russia and must be countered. The vote came weeks after members of punk band Pussy Riot were sentenced to two years’ jail for performing a protest song in a…
Source: Russian Orthodox Church Department of External Church Relations On August 25, 2012, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external church relations, led the celebration of the Divine Liturgy at Fort Ross, the place of the first Russian settlement in California. The liturgy was celebrated in the open, next to the reconstructed Russian Church of the Holy Trinity. Among His Eminence’s concelebrants were Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York, the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Outside Russia, Archbishop Justinian…
Source: Moscow Patriarchate Department of External Church Relations On June 19, 2012, the second consultations were held by the Russian-Chinese group for contacts and cooperation in religious sphere at the PRC State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) in Beijing. The group was established in accordance with the memorandum of understanding on the development of Russian-Chinese contacts and cooperation in religious sphere concluded between the Russian Federation’s Presidential Council for Cooperation with Religious Organizations and the PRC State Administration for Religious Affairs. The group has worked in the format of consultations, with the first consultations held on June 8, 2011, in…
Source: Associated Press/Huffington Post | Lynn Berry MOSCOW — Vladimir Putin took the oath of office in a brief but regal Kremlin ceremony on Monday, while on the streets outside thousands of helmeted riot police prevented hundreds of demonstrators from protesting his return to the presidency. Putin, 59, has ruled Russia since 2000, first as president and then during the past four years as prime minister. The new, now six-year term will keep him in power until 2018, with the option of running for a fourth term. “I consider service to the fatherland and our nation to be the meaning…