The building of a cathedral

Cardinal speaks to value of Melkite Church

Leonardo Cardinal Sandri

CORDOBA, Argentina, SEPT. 2, 2010 (Zenit.org) - Cardinal Leonardo Sandri is calling for a rediscovery of the contributions offered by the Melkite Church, particularly leading up to the October synod of bishops for the Middle East.

The prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches said this Tuesday in an address to bishops of the Melkite Church who are working in Argentina.

The cardinal was present at a Eucharistic celebration held in Cordoba, along with Gregorios III Laham, patriarch of Antioch for the Greek Melkite Church; Melkite Bishop Abdo Arbach, head of the apostolic exarch in Argentina; and Archbishop Carlos José Ñáñez of Cordoba.

The Greek Melkite Church is an Eastern Catholic Church of the Byzantine rite (in its Greek variant), that is, a particular Church of the Catholic Church, which enjoys autonomy and is in full communion with the Pope.

The Melkite Church originates in the Middle East, but today its members, which number 1.5 million, have been dispersed on other continents. Originally, its members were Arab-speaking. The See of the Patriarch is in Damascus.

Cardinal Sandri noted that "important contributions have already been made by the Melkite Church in the preparatory phase of the synod and they have been included in the instrumentum laboris (working document)."

He continued: "The topic, which is the real objective of the synod, must be kept constantly in mind: 'Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul.'
"This is of course the commitment of every Christian community, in every place and every time of Christian history. However, it can never be taken for granted. Rather, it must represent a stimulus that we cannot ignore."

The cardinal insisted that communion is indispensable to sustain the evangelical mission. He affirmed that the episcopal synods must always try to be "only one heart and one soul," so that each of the communities will be so around their bishop and their parishes and their priests.

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Metropolitan Nicholas: on serving the Church

Quite an edifying and inspirational letter. I think there is value to a broader audience than was originally intended. Please pray for his health as he has been struggling in recent years with illness.

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(ACROD) - To the Very Reverend Protopresbyters, Very Reverend and Reverend Fathers, Monastics, and the pious faithful of our God-saved Diocese,

Glory to Jesus Christ!

“Instruct a righteous man and he shall continue to receive it” Proverbs 9:9

Once again, we prepare to open the doors of study to the students of our Christ the Saviour Seminary to begin its 71st academic year.

While the words of wisdom expressed by the authors of the Book of Proverbs apply to each and every man and woman, they are, and ought to be, especially appropriate to those who are leaders of communities, whether civil or spiritual. Especially in the realm of the Holy Church do they need to strike a chord, from the most exalted rank of a patriarch to the most recently- tonsured reader. For young men who begin their studies at the seminary, this verse and others in the same chapter ought to resonate in their hearts.

When a man chooses to begin seminary life, or rather when the Lord calls him to this vocation, the seed has already been planted. There must already exist some measure of wisdom and righteousness, fear of the Lord, and a desire to know Him and His law even better than he does or thinks he does. The seminary is the training ground upon which those qualities will grow and increase. The seminarian, through study and prayer, will become wiser and more righteous and more knowledgeable in the law of God. Like Christ His Master, he will "grow and become strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God will be upon him." (Luke 2:40)

The Child Jesus was always God, the Son of God, but for a while He emptied Himself (kenosis) and assumed human nature. He set aside His power, authority, and glory to accomplish the task of our salvation. "He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the Cross." (Philippians 2:8)

A seminarian must follow the example of his Teacher; he must set aside the things of this world, not only throughout his seminary years, but throughout his diaconate and priesthood. Things that other men may often do need to be avoided and abandoned by the man of God. He sets his goals much higher. He practices a "type of death" by truly "laying aside all earthly cares," and gives his life to Christ. He trusts in the Lord that He will utilize his talents and abilities and the learning that he has received in the service of God, His Church, and His people. Like the Lord was to His Father, and Mary, His Mother, and Joseph, His guardian, a seminarian, a deacon, a priest, and yes, even a bishop, need to be humble and obedient to all proper authority. In this lies true wisdom and understanding. This is the type of man that God can work with and mold into a "good and faithful servant."

So I ask you once again, good and pious faithful of our God-saved Diocese, to pray for our seminary and its future, its students, and their teachers, that righteous men will hear and accept the call, and that God will continue to provide leaders for the Church until the end of the age. Encourage young men who appear to have that calling, and do not hinder them in any way. And I hope and pray that you will continue, whenever called upon, to offer your material and financial support as well. After all, you and your children, will be the beneficiaries of this holy work, and God will reward you abundantly!

Bestowing upon you my archpastoral blessing and offering my gratitude, I remain

Most sincerely yours in Christ,

+ METROPOLITAN NICHOLAS

UOC-MP: no UGCC cathedral in Odessa

(RISU) - The Odesa Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate published an official statement regarding the possibility of constructing a Greek Catholic church in Odesa. "In Odesa, where the vast majority of the residents are believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, there is such a small number of Greek Catholics that there is no need to build not only a cathedral but even a prayer house for the Uniates," stated Metropolitan Ahafanhel (Savin) of Odesa and Izmail of the UOC, who is also a deputy of the Odesa Regional State Administration and a representative of the Party of Regions.

The statement reads that "the expected construction in Odesa, on the territory of the Prokhoriv Public Garden, of a cathedral of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is the Uniates' attempt to aggressive expand in the Odesa region."

According to the press service of the Odesa Eparchy of the UOC, the construction of a cathedral of the UGCC in the Orthodox city of Odesa will cause indignation and protest of the clergy and the Orthodox believers of the Odesa region, "will create in our peaceful city a situation of the interreligious conflict, will not be conducive to strengthening peace and social agreement in the Odesa region."

In the end, the statement reads that Metropolitan of Odesa of the UOC and the clergy of the Odesa Eparchy consider it unadvisable and very dangerous to construct a religious object "of Uniates in the capital of our region."

Further Information:

As of March 2010, there are 10,000 Greek Catholics in Odesa. In addition, according to the Chancellor of Odesa-Crimean Exarchate of the UGCC, Volodymyr Zhdan, there are several large Greek Catholic communities in Odesa Oblast, such as Ilichivska, Rozdilnianska, Berezovska, etc.

All-Orthodox Council update

(RISU) - Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople expressed confidence that the long-expected All-Orthodox Council will be held soon. According to him, in the beginning of 2011, the penultimate meeting of the preparatory committee will probably be held in the patriarchal center of the Constantinople Patriarchate in Geneva. "and it will become a great event," stressed Bartholomew I.

"The Faith is alive and Orthodoxy is alive. Orthodoxy will live and the Holy and Great Council, the preparation of which is coming to the end, will be held," stated the Patriarch of Constantinople

Patriarch Bartholomew noted that the All-Orthodox Council is not only long-expected and needed by the world Orthodoxy but also for the relations between Orthodoxy and other Christian Churches and confessions.

Information:

The last, 7th Ecumenical Council was held in Nice in 787, that is 1212 years ago under Empress Irene. It was attended by 367 fathers and is also known as the "Triumph of Orthodoxy."

When in Rome...

Kiev, September 1 (Interfax) - Orthodox priests who work in the countries where Orthodoxy is not a traditional religion of the majority, have to adapt to local religious traditions or invent new ones comprehensive to their newly converted parishioners.

Thus, in Antarctica people are baptized in the ocean and on the feast of the Holy Trinity the procession with cross does not carry traditional for Russia branches of beech, but priests go through the snowstorm of the polar night, the Ukrainian paper Segodnya reported on Wednesday.

One of the Hollywood Orthodox churches occupies a former motion-picture set, Liturgy is celebrated in English once a month, but about ten new believers are baptized a week and Tom Hanks and Jennifer Aniston can be seen among the parishioners.

Metropolitan Iriney

Metropolitan Iriney of Dnepropetrovsk and Pavlograd, who worked in Tokyo in 1971-1975, searched for the way to a Japanese heart through music: first they learned "Katyusha", then prayers, and after it many of them got interested in Orthodoxy and wanted to be baptized.

In Africa newly converted Ethiopic Christians regularly go to the church, but on their feasts leave the city for the countryside, paint their bodies and dance pagan dances. Ethiopic believers do not bake Easter cakes: they are replaced by lentil flats in salty sauce. Local residents, who have not adopted Christianity, believe the local priest is a powerful magician.

Thai are shocked to see people entering the church in shoes: any sole is considered "unclear", thus representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in Thailand Archimandrite Oleg (Cherepanin) serves in socks and cassock.

Iran bans conversion to other religions, thus there are no Orthodox Iranians among the parishioners of Tegeran church, but Muslim Iranians often come in to pray to Jesus Christ and Virgin Mary also mentioned in Quran and even light candles to them.

Rare word #11: podvig

podvig: an ascetic feat, spiritual labor or simply, Christian struggle.


This description from the Orthodox Christian Information Center:

Any Orthodox Christian who does even the least bit of spiritual reading will come across the word podvig. While this word can be described, it cannot be translated into one single English word — which is why we continue to use, and must therefore learn to understand, this Russian term.

The word itself has been defined as spiritual struggle. Like so many things in Orthodoxy, in doing it, we understand it within our souls even if we cannot explain it. In performing a podvig, we find it as a means of drawing nearer to Christ as we travel along the path of salvation.

We bear the scars of sin in our bodies which drags us down to the earth like a magnet, yet our soul longs to ascend to the heights. As man, composed of body and soul, we find the two opposing each other. Even St. Paul says I cannot understand my own behavior. I fail to carry out the things I want to do, and I find myself doing the very things I hate.... for though the will to do what is good is in me, the performance is not, with the result that instead of doing the good things I want to do, I carry out the sinful things I do not want.

As Orthodox Christians, we know that we must labor toward purification, illumination, theosis (deification). The first step of purifying ourselves from the passions, from all which draws us away from God and shackles us from ascending to the heights, employs the use of podvig.

St. Theophan the Recluse defines our entire Christian life as podvig. He explains that the spirit hates sin, while the flesh dwells in it. How is this battle within ourselves to be resolved? Through podvig, that spiritual struggle of bringing the soul into mastery over the body.

The Church gives us the directions for doing this through fasting, prostrations, standing in prayer, etc. All of these things oppose the body, and as we fulfill these ascetical practices, we do indeed find that they help us draw nearer to our Creator and Savior. As we aspire to deepen our souls in Christ we find that we want to do more, to go beyond what the Church has already told us are the necessary first steps.

Podvig is precisely that doing more.

According to St Theophan all the saints accept the only true path to virtue to be pain and hard work... lightness and ease are a sign of a false path. Anyone who is not struggling, not in podvig, is in prelest (spiritual delusion) (The Path to Salvation, pg 209).

Our Lord said, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow me (Matt. 16:24). St Innocent, in his book, Indication of the Way into the Kingdom of Heaven, writes clearly that the way which leads to the kingdom of Heaven is precisely to deny oneself, take up the cross, and follow Christ. Our beloved American saint goes on to explain that to deny oneself means to give up ones bad habits, to root out of the heart all that ties us to the world...there are external and internal crosses. To take up ones cross means not only to bear crosses laid on us by others or sent by Providence, but ...even to lay crosses upon oneself and bear them.

This is a clear direction to podvig.

When we take up an additional cross, a podvig, with the blessing of our spiritual father, we find that the Lord Himself comes and helps us to carry that cross, walking side by side with us. Isnt this what we long for? To have the Lord near, to be close to Him?

All of podvig is a form of repentance, of turning around and getting back unto the correct path. Because it is so intricately linked to repentance, no one should ever undertake a specific podvig without the approval of his father confessor/spiritual father. The evil one is very crafty and he wants nothing more than to drag us into the same pride through which he fell. He will try to use the very means with which we are trying to overcome our sins to lead us into the sin of pride. Yes, we can become prideful and vain glorious over our own podvig! In fact, it frequently happens that an astute spiritual guide will tell his spiritual child to abandon his podvig.

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OCA summarizes Met. Hilarion's visit

This is mainly a reiteration of what has been posted here before, but there are some points not mentioned in earlier posts I've highlighted.

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SYOSSET, NY (OCA) - On Tuesday, August 31, 2010, His Eminence, Metropolitan Hilarion [Alfeyev] of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, and permanent member of the Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate, concluded his three-day working visit to New York at the invitation of His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah of All America and Canada.

A member of the Board of Trustees of Saint Vladimir's Seminary, Crestwood, NY, Metropolitan Hilarion was to have concelebrated the Divine Liturgy with Metropolitan Jonah at the school's Three Hierarchs' Chapel on Sunday, August 29, but was unable to do so due to illness. [Earlier reports that he was to have attended a meeting of the seminary trustees were incorrect.]

On Monday, August 30, Metropolitan Hilarion visited the Chancery of the Orthodox Church in America. Joining Metropolitan Jonah in welcoming him were His Grace, Bishop Tikhon of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania; His Grace, Bishop Michael of New York and New Jersey; Archpriest Alexander Garklavs, OCA Chancellor; and Archpriest Leonid Kishkovsky, OCA Director of External Affairs and Interchurch Relations. Also present were Archpriests John Behr and Chad Hatfield, Dean and Chancellor of Saint Vladimir's Seminary respectively, and Priest Alexander Rentel, Secretary of the seminary's Academic Council.

After the celebration of a Service of Prayer in honor of the Saints of North America in the Chancery's Saint Sergius Chapel, a meeting was held [as previously reported at www.oca.org/news/2253] for the purpose of "contributing to the reflections within the OCA regarding its participation in the Episcopal Assembly process" as part of ongoing periodic fraternal conversations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Church in America.

"Metropolitan Hilarion affirmed the Russian Orthodox Church's commitment to uphold its granting of autocephaly to the Orthodox Church in America in 1970," said Father Alexander Garklavs after the meeting. "Various prospects for future developments in the Orthodox world also were discussed."

Metropolitan Jonah added that "though rather brief, the discussions with Metropolitan Hilarion were extremely positive and reiterated the deep symbolic and historical links between our Churches."

[A photo gallery of the visit appears on the Web site of the Moscow Patriarchate at www.mospat.ru/en/2010/08/31/news25108.]

Later that day, Metropolitan Hilarion visited the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America in New York, where he held a working meeting with His Eminence, Archbishop Demetrios to discuss "a wide range of issues concerning relations between various Orthodox jurisdictions in North America," as reported on the web site of the Moscow Patriarchate [see www.mospat.ru/en/2010/08/31/news25112]. Also participating in the meeting were Archpriest Mark Arey, Secretary of the Greek Archdiocese, and Archpriest Seraphim Gan, Secretary of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia [ROCOR].

Metropolitan Hilarion also visited His Eminence, Metropolitan Hilarion, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, with whom he "discussed a wide range of issues concerning cooperation between the Church in Russia and the Church in diaspora and inter-Orthodox cooperation in the American continent" [see www.mospat.ru/en/2010/08/31/news25110]. That evening, Metropolitan Jonah and Fathers Alexander Garklavs and Leonid Kishkovsky joined the Metropolitans and Father Seraphim Gan for a visit to and meeting at Saint Seraphim of Sarov Church [ROCOR], Sea Cliff, NY.

On Tuesday, August 31, Metropolitan Hilarion met with Ms. Anne Glynn-Mackoul, legal adviser of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America and a member of the World Council of Churches' Committee for Consensus and Cooperation. Father Leonid Kishkovsky also took part in the meeting. [See www.mospat.ru/en/2010/09/01/news25184].

Prior to his departure the same day, Metropolitan Hilarion once again met with Metropolitan Jonah and Father Alexander Garklavs.

This shark, swallow you whole.

Damascene Gallery - Database of Icons launched

A new public domain gallery of icons is online. For more on it and the accompanying online store see here.

http://icons.damascenegallery.com/

Metropolitan Hilarion returning home from US trip

(mospat.ru) - On 31 August 2010, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, who was on a working visit to the USA with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and by invitation of His Beatitude Metropolitan Jonah of All America and Canada, met with Ms. Anne Glynn-Mackoul, legal adviser of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America and a member of the World Council of Churches’ Committee for Consensus and Cooperation.

They shared opinions of a wide range of problems of the Orthodox participation in the governing bodies of the World Council of Churches. Ms. Mackoul’s narration of the processes in the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America was followed by a discussion of a visit of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia to the Patriarchate of Antioch due to take place on 6-9 November 2010. Taking part in the talk was archpriest Leonid Kishkovsky, head of the Office of External Affairs and Interchurch Relations of the Orthodox Church in America.

Before his departure, Metropolitan Hilarion met with His Beatitude Metropolitan Jonah of All America and Canada. Archpriest Alexander Garklavs, chancellor of the Orthodox Church in America, joined them in the meeting.

That same day Metropolitan Hilarion departed for Moscow.

Statistics and information

Does anyone want to see a popular posts listing on the sidebar? Blogger has added a pageviews counter (total number of people who have visited) and a popular posts widget (shows the most viewed posts) today, which I have no strong views one way or the other on using. Opinions, please.

Salvation, an interview with the martyr, Fr. Daniel Sysoyev

This has made the rounds on blogs for the last few days. For that reason I hesitated to be needlessly redundant, but this teaching is so good I cannot fail to post it.

On Abbot Gerasim and the Diocese of Alaska

Having met Abbot Gerasim a few times, I can say that he is a very welcoming and kind-hearted man. I had heard a while back that he was a possible candidate for Alaska, and am enthused to see that that possibility might become a reality.

Photo from the Diocese of the South's clergy conference. Pictured: Abbot Meletios, Met. Jonah, Abbot Gerasim.

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(ocanews.org) - In a recent letter to OCANews.org, Fr. Michael Oleksa, Acting Chancellor of the Diocese of Alaska and a member of the Metropolitan Council, explained the current situation in the Diocese regarding its vacant cathedra. Fr. Michael writes:

"I am writing only to clarify what has been happening in Alaska as we attempt to discern God's Will and nominate a new bishop for this diocese.

Many Alaska Native cultures, until quite recently, practiced match-making and arranged marriages, relationships initiated or promoted by the parents of a prospective bride or groom. Usually, the proposal was then accepted or rejected by one of the pair, but obviously, one could consider only a single option at a time. No one ever had to choose between several simultaneous suitors.

In the same way, selecting a bishop can be compared to an arranged marriage in which, in our case, the Holy Synod has vetted a man to become our bishop, and the clergy and laity of the diocese, as the bride, has the option to accept or reject him. That is the process in which we are intensely engaged now.

Abbot Gerasim (Eliel) was invited to celebrate Christmas and Theophany in Southeast Alaska, among the predominantly Tlingit parishes of Sitka, Juneau and Hoonah. They welcomed him and seem to have been favorably impressed by him.

This summer, Abbot Gerasim went to an Alutiiq regional summer camp, organized by the Chugachmiut Native Corporation at the ancient village site of Nuchek, in Prince William Sound, and then spent a week in the most isolated of all our villages, Nikolai, an Athabaskan Indian parish near the source of the Kuskokwim, Alaska's second-longest river. He witnessed and engaged in subsistence fishing activities, held daily services, baptized six infants and children and continued downriver by boat to the next village, Stoney River. From there, because of the unexpected death of a villager, we were detoured up the Stoney River itself, to one of our smallest parishes, Lime Village. I doubt that any bishop or candidate for bishop ever visited this community of fifteen houses and a log church. The town is too small to sustain either a public health clinic or a school. While it had been intent to accompany him all the way down the river, I had to return to Anchorage for a wedding and therefore left Abbot Gerasim in this isolated village, basically saying "Hasta la Vista, Brother," and flying off. I cannot imagine simply abandoning any past bishop I have ever known with the hope that I'd find him four days and four hundred miles later, but that is what happened.

And four days later, Father Gerasim had found his way down river, "hitch hiking" from Lime to Stoney to Sleetmute to Crooked Creek to Chuathbaluk to Aniak, to Lower Kalskag, all totally unfamiliar "bush" Alaska, and arrived on schedule at Kwethluk. This was a test of patience and even courage we had not engineered or foreseen, but he passed it with ease and grace.

By the end of July, Abbot Gerasim had visited all the parishes on the Kuskokwim and met all the local clergy. He attended the deanery conference in Kasigluk and visited Nunapitchuk, celebrated his 49th birthday in both Lime Village and Chuathbaluk, and, it seemed, had a great time doing so. He was in Kodiak for the St. Herman Day festivities and return to the Kenai Peninsula, where he visited Kenai and Ninilchik on the drive southward and visied Nanwalek and Port Graham on the way back north. Then he'll go to both the Yukon and Nushagak River regional clergy-laity summer conferences, concluding his tour of Yup'ik Alaska.

This winter, he will spend Christmas in the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands and begin Theophany at Lake Clark, performing the Great Blessing of Water along the entire river system threatened by the opening of one of the world's largest open pit mines. Together with His Grace, Bishop Benjamin, he will invoke God's blessing on the waterways at Nondalton, Newhalen, Igiugig, Levelock, Naknek, Pilot Point, Perryville and Chignik, meeting the people and spending time in the homes of every priest and his family. By the end of January 2011, Alaska will know Abbot Gerasim and Abbot Gerasim will know Alaska.

Then it will be our opportunity to nominate him to become our bishop or not. We will hold a special Diocesan Assembly to discuss whether or not we are prepared to nominate him. If the delegates decline to do so, we will find another candidate and begin another round of visitations, allowing everyone to meet and know the man, and giving him the chance to become acquainted with us.

There is no rush. We are not in any hurry. No one is being "imposed" on Alaska. Like an arranged marriage, the bride is free to reject any suitor and the "parents" cannot insist that she accept any particular "candidate." We have not adopted a "democratic" election process in which several candidates compete simultaneously because our diocese is too large and transportation is incredibly expensive.

As for the report that Bishop Benjamin vetoed the suggestion from some Native clergy to consider another candidate at this time, I think this was, therefore, somewhat misleading. His Grace only asked that the clergy consider one potential candidate at a time and not complicate the process by introducing "rival suitors." Trying to get acquainted with and then chose between two or more, would, His Grace and I believe make the process more confusing as well as expensive. The possibility remains that the first, second and even third candidates may not gain the confidence or support of the clergy and laity. This only means that His Grace Bishop Benjamin would probably continue as our locum tenens for another year or two. And I think we are content with that possibility. Bishop Benjamin served here for four years, two as dean of the Cathedral and two as dean in Kodiak, and he knows and loves us. We trust him. So there is no immediate need to hurry. God will reveal His Will to us in His Time.

I hope this clarifies the rather unique process by which we hope to discern God's Will for us and the future of our amazing and unique diocese.

with love and humble blessings
the unworthy archpriest
Michael Oleksa
Acting Chancellor
Diocese of Sitka, Anchorage and Alaska"

Metropolitan Hilarion continues US trip

On the visit with ROCOR...

(mospat.ru) - On August 30, 2010, DECR chairman Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, who is in the USA on a working visit with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and on invitation of His Beatitude Metropolitan Jonah of All America and Canada, visited the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia to hold a working meeting with the chairman of the ROCOR Bishops’ Synod, Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York.

They discussed a wide range of issues concerning cooperation between the Church in Russia and the Church in Diaspora and inter-Orthodox cooperation in the American continent.

In the evening of that day, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk and Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America visited the ROCOR’s church of St. Seraphim of Sarov in Sea Cliff near New York. The head of the Orthodox Church in America, His Beatitude Metropolitan Jonah of All America and Canada, was also invited to come to the church. The hierarchs inspected the church and venerated its shrines including the particles of relics belonging to men of God and the icons brought over from Ipatyev’s House and the kamelaukion of St. John of Kronstadt.

The three hierarchs had a talk which was joined by Archpriest Alexander Garklavs, chancellor of the Orthodox Church in America, Archpriest Leonid Kishkovsky, ROC’s director of foreign and inter-church relations, and Archpriest Seraphim Gan, secretary of the ROC’s Bishops’ Synod.

On the visit with the Greek Archdiocese...

(mospat.ru) - On August 30, 2010, DECR chairman Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, who is in the USA on a working visit with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and on invitation of His Beatitude Metropolitan Jonah of All America and Canada, visited the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North America to hold a working meeting with Archbishop Demetrios of America.

In their talk, which was also joined by Archpriest Mark Arey, secretary of the Archdiocese, and Archpriest Seraphim Gan, secretary of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia’s Holy Synod, they discussed a wide range of issues concerning relations between various Orthodox jurisdictions in North America. Archbishop Demetrios spoke about the work of the North American Bishops’ Assembly, which met for its first session in May 2010. The head of the Greek Archdiocese also shared remembrances of his trips to Russia and meetings with the late Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia and the then DECR chairman Metropolitan Kirill, now Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

Metropolitan Hilarion, on his part, spoke about the development of church life in Russia and other countries under the canonical jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate.

As a token of their meeting, the head of the Greek Archdiocese presented the DECR chairman with a bishop’s crozier and two volumes of his works in English.

On the visit with the Orthodox Church in America...

(mostpat.ru) - On August 30, 2010, DECR chairman Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, who is in the USA on a working visit with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and on invitation of His Beatitude Metropolitan Jonah of All America and Canada, visited the chancellery of the Orthodox Church in America in Syosset near New York.

At the chancellery’s chapel, His Beatitude Metropolitan Jonah said a brief thanksgiving, with His Eminence Hilarion attending.

After the service, the DECR chairman had a meeting with Metropolitan Johan, Bishop Tikhon of Philadelphia and Easter Pennsylvania, Bishop Michael of New York and New Jersey; Archpriest Alexander Garklavs, chancellor; Archpriest Leonid Kishkovsky, director of foreign and inter-church relations, Archpriest John Behr, rector of St. Vladimir’s Seminary; Archpriest Chad Hatfield, chancellor of the seminary, and Archpriest Alexander Rentel, secretary of the seminary’s academic council.

They discussed issues concerning the development of Orthodoxy in the American continent. The DECR chairman spoke about his participation in the Preparatory Commission for the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church and a number of inter-Orthodox events.

As a token of Metropolitan Hilarion’s visit to the ROC chancellery, Metropolitan Jonah presented him with an icon of St. Herman of Alaska with particles of the saint’s relics.