Browsing: Ukraine

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: Orthodox Christianity Andrei German Introduction by Matfey Shaheen: Would it surprise you to know that Syria, Ukraine, and all Rus’ belong to Western Civilization? If we define Western Civilization as it was classically understood to be: 1.) Greek Philosophy, 2.) Roman Law, and 3.) Christianity, we would see that Russia by that model, is more Western than the contemporary “West”, which from the French revolution onward ideologically rejected Christendom. But where did Rus’ inherit this belonging to Christendom? Kievan Rus’ received Orthodoxy “from the Greeks”, but Syria, at that time was no less Hellenic than Athens. Antioch was a capital of Christian, Greco-Roman Civilization—the homeland…

Source: Helleniscope By Nadia Bazuk The Greek NGO Pan-Hellenic Orthodox Union is to appeal to the country’s Council of State claiming that the decision of the Church of Greece to recognize the Ukrainian autocephaly was taken in violation of Greek law, the Orthodoxos Typos reports. On October 12, 2019, the Council of Bishops of the Church of Greece held an extraordinary meeting on recognizing the autocephaly granted to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) by the Ecumenical Patriarchate. At the meeting, it was decided to give Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece a mandate to proceed with the recognition of the…

Source: Strategic Culture Foundation by James George Jatras “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.” So Karl Marx wrote in 1843. For three generations over the course of the 20th century his atheist disciples violently sought to break their subjects of this “opium” addiction. They failed. In many though not all parts of the former communist bloc Christianity not only survived but provided the impetus for national and social revival. In some countries, like Poland, Hungary, and Lithuania, this meant Roman Catholicism.…

Source: Orthodox Christianity AFRICA – Last week, an open letter from 27 African Orthodox priests from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia was published in which the signatories express their disagreement with their Patriarch’s decision to recognize the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” and to commemorate its primate, Epiphany Dumenko. The priests also note that the decision to recognize the schismatics was made without consulting the African clergy and laity, although they make up the majority of the Church. The clerics write with respect and restraint: “We would like to express our opinion and say that we do not agree with…

Source: Orthodox Synaxis Archbishop Anastasios of AlbaniaGreek source here. On Tuesday, November 26, 2019 (the day of the great earthquake in Durres, Albania) a report by Mr. Antonis Triantafyllou was published in your newspaper with the title “Anastasios’ Intervention in Favor of Moscow.” This is a malicious distortion of my views, intentions and proposals with regard to a sensitive and critical issue that concerns worldwide Orthodoxy. Its subtitle, “The Archbishop of Albania has again called for a Pan-Orthodox Council (the constant request of Kirill) for examining the Ukrainian issue,” as well as what is mentioned in the report, attempts to…

Source: Orthodox Christianity Jerusalem – Following his recent trip to Moscow, His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem has reportedly come under serious pressure from hierarchs from the Patriarchate of Constantinople and elsewhere, according to the Telegram channel “PravBlog,” with reference to its sources in the Holy Land. The Patriarch traveled to Moscow to last month to receive the Patriarch Alexei II Award for working towards Church unity from the International Public Foundation for the Unity of Orthodox Peoples. In his speech upon receiving the award, the Patriarch invited all the Orthodox primates to gather in Jordan to discuss the sensitive issue of…

Source: Orthodox Christianity [Tirana, Albania, November 25, 2019] Time does not heal schisms, but only sets them in stone, His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios of Albania believes. Therefore, in the spirit of the coming great feast of the Nativity of Christ, all the Local Orthodox Churches must agree to come together to find a pan-Orthodox resolution to the ongoing Ukrainian crisis, he states. However, at present, “a worrying silence prevails in most of the Orthodox Churches,” the Archbishop laments. His Beatitude’s statement, “In anticipation of Christmas 2019 Appeal-Supplication for the overcoming of the ecclesiastical polarization,” is published in full in English and Greek on the…

Source: Union of Orthodox Journalists Olga Tsviliy Unfortunately, the Patriarch of Alexandria was unable to withstand external pressure from the Phanar, the authorities of Greece and the United States. Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich, Deputy Head of the Department for External Church Relations of the UOC, commented exclusively for the UOJ on the recognition of the OCU by the Patriarchate of Alexandria. “Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria today mentioned Epiphany at the service, which means he recognized the OCU. And a year ago in Odessa he said: “Hold on to His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry.” He supported our Church, supported so much that Eustratiy…

Source: Orthodox Christianity [Daher, Egypt] His Beatitude Patriarch Theodoros II of Alexandria and All Africa commemorated Epiphany Dumenko, the primate of the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” during the Divine Liturgy today at the Church of the Archangels in Daher in the Cairo Governorate. The commemoration can be heard in a video of the Liturgy posted on the Archangels Rum Orthodox Church Facebook page around 45:30 (https://www.facebook.com/archangelsgreekorthodoxchurch/videos/2497852933641620/) During the Great Entrance of the Divine Liturgy, the primates of the Local Churches commemorate the other primates with whom they are in communion, thus commemoration of Epiphany constitutes official recognition of the canonicity…

Source: Interfax Moscow, November 6, Interfax – The United States had a hand in the granting of autocephaly to the new church of Ukraine and is seeking to split the Orthodox world even more, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. “I didn’t hear that the Church of Greece officially recognized the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine. I’ve heard that there is a letter by Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens and All Greece addressed to the leader of the schismatics, but I didn’t see an official statement by the Church of Greece,” Lavrov said at a press conference following negotiations with…

Source: Orthodox Christianity ATHENS — While the stance of the Archbishop Ieronymos, the primate of the Greek Orthodox Church, towards the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” remained unclear after the Bishops’ Council of the Greek Church on October 12, it has now been clarified. As Romfea and Orthodox Times both report, Abp. Ieronymos sent an “irenic letter” to “Metropolitan” Epiphany Dumenko, the primate of the schismatic OCU on October 21. According to established tradition, every new primate of a Local Church sends “irenic letters” to the primates of the other Local Churches of the Orthodox Church, officially announcing his elevation. Response letters from the other primates…