Source: Pravda The agreements of 300 years have been cast aside. Constantinople wants to break the spine of Orthodoxy and make Ukraine hostile to Russia forever. However, it is up to common people – Ukrainian Christians – to make their final decision. On October 11, the Synod of the Constantinople Patriarchate made the following decisions (briefly): 1. To confirm the decision that the Ecumenical Patriarchate proceeds to provide autocephaly to the Church of Ukraine. 2. To restore the stauropegion of the Ecumenical Patriarch in Kiev. 3. To accept and consider the appeals from Filaret Denisenko and Macary Maletich for the…
Browsing: Russian Orthodox Church
Source: Public Orthodoxy by George Demacopoulos The three-way dispute between Ukrainians, Russians, and the Ecumenical Patriarchate over the possibility of Ukrainian ecclesiastical independence is shaping up to be the greatest challenge to Orthodox Christian unity of our generation. From a purely political perspective, Ukrainian autocephaly would represent an unmitigated disaster for the Russian Orthodox Church. Not only would it deprive the Russian Church of one third of its parishes and undermine its Russkiy Mir project, but it would dramatically belie the claim of the Moscow Patriarchate that it is the leader of the Orthodox Christian world. In a desperate effort to thwart the…
Source: Orthodox Christianity An Exclusive Interview on the Ecclesiastical Events in Ukraine In this interview with the program “Morning With Inter,” His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry speaks about his position on the latest Church events connected with the actions of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in regard to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The Ukrainian primate calls on the people of Ukraine to fear nothing, to preserve the purity of the Orthodox faith, and to live with God. Today we are being dragged into the format of a political party, so that Christ would not lead us, but politicians. If I had wanted…
Source: DECR Communication Service The Statement was adopted at an extraordinary session of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on 14 September 2018 (Minutes No. 69). With profound regret and sorrow the Holy Synod the Russian Orthodox Church learned about the statement made by the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople concerning the appointment of its two “exarchs” to Kiev. This decision was taken without an agreement with the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church and His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine – the only canonical head of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine. It…
Source: Russian Orthodox Church Department for External Church Relations Originally published on May 23, 2018 The Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople has stated its intention to discuss with all the Local Orthodox Churches the appeal made to it by Ukrainian President Petr Poroshenko to create an autocephalous Church in Ukraine. Is there today a commonly accepted procedure for granting church independence – autocephaly and what does canon law say about this mechanism? – a detailed explanation given to RIA Novosti by the vice-chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations, Archpriest Nikolay Balashov. – Father Nikolay, why…
Source: BBC The Russian armed forces plan to build their own cathedral in Moscow in record time, and are seeking donations. Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu says the project has Orthodox Church and state backing, but will be funded exclusively by the generosity of the Russian public, the official Tass news agency reports. Apart from many expressions of support for the project and the armed forces in general, social media has also seen debate about the unusual look of the cathedral. Some liken it to an armoured personal carrier, missile launcher, or air-defence battery, and the video on the cathedral website has drawn comparisons with the…
Source: Atlantic Council By Taras Kuzio On September 7, Ukraine inched closer to a globally recognized international church. That day, Constantinople Patriarch Bartholomew I placed Ukraine under the canonical jurisdiction of US Archbishop Daniel of Pamphilon and Canadian Bishop Ilarion of Edmonton who head Ukrainian Orthodox Churches in both countries under Constantinople’s canonical jurisdiction. Since 1685, the Russian Orthodox Church has claimed Ukraine lies within its canonical territory, but no longer. The two appointments are preparation for granting the Orthodox Church in Ukraine autocephaly (independence) from the Russian Orthodox Church. It’s no exaggeration to write that the granting of autocephaly from the Russian…
Source: Interfax Constantinople “plays a dangerous game” as it has its own schism Moscow, September 9, Interfax – Symmetric response of Russian Orthodox Church to actions of Constantinople in Ukraine could become establishment of the Moscow Patriarchate’s dioceses in Turkey, a famous religious expert, professor Roman Sylantyev believes. “Evident response decision is to set up dioceses in Turkey, where there are minimum ten times as many members of the Russian Orthodox Church even if we count only those who permanently live in the country. And if we take into account five million of our tourists who come to Turkey every…
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…
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…
Source: Orthodox Christianity [Ekaterinburg, July 17, 2018] The Russian Orthodox Church has been celebrating the centenary of the martyrdom of the last imperial family of Russia with numerous events throughout Russia all year, with the celebrations culminating in last night’s Patriarchal Divine Liturgy in Ekaterinburg and all-night cross procession in their honor. 100,000 faithful Orthodox Christians from around the world, including Azerbaijan, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Germany, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Lithuania, Moldova, New Zealand, Serbia, USA, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, France, Estonia, South Korea, and Japan, gathered in Ekaterinburg last night for the liturgical celebrations, reports the site of…
Source: Arab News MOSCOW: Next week’s centenary of the execution of Russia’s last tsar has reignited a long-running conflict between the state and the Russian Orthodox Church over what to do with the murdered royal family’s remains. Orthodox Patriarch Kirill on Monday will lead a procession marking 100 years since the Bolsheviks shot dead tsar Nicholas II and his family after he abdicated. But the Church — dominated by hard-liners — is still divided over the authenticity of the remains of the family, whose members were all sainted in 2000. Bolshevik forces shot Nicholas, his German-born wife Alexandra and their…