Byzantine, Texas

( OCA ) - Ancient Faith Radio [ AFR ] has partnered with the Orthodox Church in America to offer the faithful informative podcasts before and during the 16th All-American Council October 31-November 4, 2011. In advance of the Council, AFR will release a weekly series of interviews with OCA leaders. Various topics related to this important gathering will be discussed. AFR’s staff will also be on-site at the Council and produce timely recordings of the Council’s proceedings throughout the week. In the first interview — now posted on the OCA’s web site and AFR’s web site , His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah offers a brief history of the All-American Council, explaining its central purpose and his goals and hopes are for this year’s gathering (see here  and embedded below - documents for AAC available here ). During the first week of October, His Grace, Bishop Benjamin of San Francisco and the West, will discuss his role as host bishop and the significance of convening the Coun...

( mospat.ru ) - On September 29, 2011, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, DECR chairman, met with Pope Benedict XVI at the pontifical summer residence in Castel Gandolfo. They discussed a wide range of issues concerning the bilateral relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the Moscow Patriarchate. After their tete-a-tete talk, Metropolitan Hilarion presented to Pope Benedict his retinue including Archpriest Dimitry Sizonenko, DECR secretary for inter-Christian relations, Fr. Antony (Sevryuk), rector of the Parish of St. Catherine in Rome, Archpriest Igor Vyzhanov, a cleric of St. Catherine’s, Fr. Ioann (Kopeikin), assistant to the DECR chairman, Mr. V. Yakunin and Mr. S. Plastilin, Orthodox sponsors, and Mr. L. Sevastyanov, executive secretary of the St. Gregory the Theologian Charity. Metropolitan Hilarion presented the Pope of Rome with an icon of St. Benedict of Nursia and an album on frescoes by St. Andrew Rublev.

The following is the first in a series of four guest posts from Herman A. Middleton, author of Precious Vessels of the Holy Spirit: The Lives and Counsels of Contemporary Elders of Greece (featuring eight Greek Orthodox monastic elders) , and translator of the recently released Greece's Dostoevsky: The Theological Vision of Alexandros Papadiamandis (a study of one of modern Greek literature's finest writers) . It is about his new book that he now writes. (The second, third, and fourth posts will be posted elsewhere, for which see below.) I have been working on a translation of Dr. Anestis Keselopoulos's book, Greece's Dostoevsky: The Theological Vision of Alexandros Papadiamandis for quite some time now. The book is a study of the living (lived/experiential) theology found in the short stories and novels of one of Greece's greatest fiction writers of the past 2+ hundred years. I was first introduced to Papadiamandis through Dr. Keselopoulos's pastoral the...

( MSNBC ) - A baby is baptized during a mass baptism ceremony in Tbilisi, Sept. 29, 2011. About 450 children were baptized by the Georgian Orthodox church during a mass baptism ceremony at the country's main cathedral Holy Trinity.

I have never been a "fan" (if such word can be used in this context) of high-back vestments. It's probably a result of my upbringing having been a high-backed-less one; one tends to like what one has grown accustomed to and eschew perceived other-ness. They have also always recalled to my imagination, of all things, the Monascheiwans from movie The Fifth Element (vide supra). Many things said about Orthodox vestiture, practices, and paraphernalia are conjecture or educated guesses that have been handed down as gospel. That said, I'm happy to see learned discussion that attempts to get at the facts over symbolizing, mystifying, or repeating half remembered explanations. The below is from the Orthodox PSALM Yahoo! Group: As much as I hate to say it (being a priest who will only ever wear low-back phelonia) Fr. Dn. Sergius is correct: the high-back phelonion is rather closely related to the original conical phelonion/chasuble. There are two "creation myt...

Fr. Basil over at The Orthodox Leader has started a discussion about the merits (and reservations) that are worth considering when designing a website. This is a topic near and dear to my heart (see here , here , and here ). You can also watch a video on making a good parish websites put out by the OCA's Midwest diocese here . The church website. That a church should have one is all but axiomatic in our current context. This, of course, has happened in a fairly short span of time. As recently as a dozen years ago, most parishes didn’t have one. Now, it is considered far more important than the pages-formerly-known-as-yellow, and a cornerstone of parish outreach activities. As a leadership matter, however, the church website does present a number of challenges that merit consideration. I’ll begin by summarizing the positive elements of the church website. First and foremost, it is cheap. Hosting at a good provider, with sufficient space and bandwidth, can be had for under $10...

( mospat.ru ) - On the initiative of Pope Benedict XVI and on the invitation of the German Bishops’ Conference, a meeting took place on September 24, 2011, between the Pope of Rome and members of the Orthodox Bishops’ Assembly in Germany and representatives of Oriental (non-Chalcedonian) Churches, at the Seminary of Freiburg. Participating in the meeting from the Russian Orthodox Church were Archbishop Longin of Klin, ROC representative in Germany, and Archbishop Feofan of Berlin and Germany. In his welcoming speech, Pope Benedict XVI pointed in particular to closeness between the Roman Catholic Church and Orthodoxy, referring among other thing to the fact that they have preserved the old church structure through centuries. He also spoke of the age-old division between Christian East and Christian West and the primacy of the Pope of Rome as one of the serious reasons for this division. Pope Benedict XVI gave special attention to the common efforts made by the Catholic and Orthod...

NEW YORK ( GOARCH ) - Archbishop Demetrios of America met on Friday with the Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during the visit of the Prime Minister to New York City on the occasion of the opening session of the United Nations. In a candid meeting which lasted 45 minutes, the Archbishop, Exarch of the Ecumenical Throne in America, thanked the Prime Minister on behalf of the Greek Orthodox Church of America, for certain favorable actions which the Turkish Government has taken involving the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Namely, the recent decision to return properties owned by minorities in Turkey, the implementation of a process by which Hierarchs of the Ecumenical Patriarchate can apply for Turkish citizenship, thus creating a larger electoral body for Patriarchal elections, the ability afforded to the Ecumenical Patriarch to conduct religious services at various historic churches and monasteries in Asia Minor and Pontus, most recently at Panagia Soumela ...

Patriarch Kirill sends well-wishes Pope Benedict Moscow, September 27 ( Interfax ) - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has expressed his respect towards Pope Benedict XVI. "I am rejoicing at the opportunity to meet with you as the high representative of the Catholic Church and the Holy See in order to express my respect and fraternal love to His Holiness. I would like you to express these feelings on my behalf," the Patriarch said at a meeting with Pope's Personal Representative Cardinal Jozef Tomko in Moscow. For his part, the Cardinal spoke of the spiritual revival in Russia. "We see how cathedrals are being revived, this is a sign of the revival occurring within the believers. You, Your Holiness, are both the sign and the leader of this renewal and revival of the faith here," he said. The Cardinal delivered to the Patriarch the Pope's cordial and fraternal greetings. Tomko has arrived in Russia to attend the festivities on the occas...

Bestow on us the Invincible trophy, Your weapon of Peace!

Bp. Daniil of Dragovitsa ( AOB ) - With the blessing of His Holiness Maxim of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church - Bulgarian Patriarchate and according to the decision of the Holy Synod, Bishop Daniil (Trendafilov Nikolov) of Dragovitsa has arrived in New York City to take up the position of Vicar to Metropolitan Joseph of the Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Diocese of the USA, Canada and Australia. His Grace was born on March 2nd, 1972. In 1991 he completed his secondary education in his hometown of Smolyan; in 1996 he undertook studies in English philology at the State University in Sofia; and in 1997 he enrolled in the Theological Faculty of Sofia from which he graduated in 2002. In 1997 he became a novice of St. George Monastery in Hadzhidimovo, where on August 7th, 1999 he received the tonsure and the next day was ordained a hierodeacon. In 2004 he was ordained a hieromonk, and on July 1st, 2006 was elevated to the rank of archimandrite. On January 20th, 2008 he was consecrated t...

( RISU ) - On 14 September, 2011, in the Kyivan Patriarchate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate, a meeting was held between the head of the Kyivan Patriarchate, Patriarch Filaret and the head of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Mefodii. The meeting was also attended by President (2005-2010) Viktor Yushchenko. As the result of the meeting, the primates signed a joint statement regarding the fruitfulness and usefulness of the meeting and agreement to make steps to resume the dialogue between the two Churches as to the restoration of unity of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine. The statement was published by the press-service of the Kyivan Patriarchate (see here ).

H/T: Creative Minority Report Section 5 Whether behaviour can be properly categorised as disorderly is a question of fact. Disorderly behaviour does not require any element of violence, actual or threatened; and it includes conduct that is not necessarily threatening, abusive or insulting. It is not necessary to prove any feeling of insecurity, in an apprehensive sense, on the part of a member of the public (Chambers and Edwards v DPP [1995] Crim LR 896). The following types of conduct are examples, which may at least be capable of amounting to disorderly behaviour: causing a disturbance in a residential area or common part of a block of flats; persistently shouting abuse or obscenities at passers-by; pestering people waiting to catch public transport or otherwise waiting in a queue; rowdy behaviour in a street late at night which might alarm residents or passers-by, especially those who may be vulnerable, such as the elderly or members of an ethnic minority group; causing...

H/T: Monomakhos

Freiburg, DE, Sep 24, 2011 ( CNA ) - Pope Benedict XVI has urged Catholic and Orthodox Christians to work together to defend human life and promote the traditional family. “The common engagement of Christians, including many Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Christians, makes a valuable contribution to building up a society equipped for the future, in which the human person is given the respect which is his due,” said the Pope at a meeting with Orthodox leaders in the German city of Freiburg Sept. 24. At the Archdiocese of Freiburg’s seminary, the Pope highlighted areas where co-operation is particularly needed in order to reverse “the present climate, in which many would like, as it were, to ‘liberate’ public life from God.” In the pro-life struggle both Catholic and Orthodox can “speak up jointly for the protection of human life from conception to natural death.” They can also work together to promote “the value of marriage and the family,” particularly when defending “the integr...

Imagine trying this in an Orthodox setting. I'm reminded of the kerfuffle from the swine flu scare of a few years back (see here ). The idea of using plastic spoons or other non-standard methods of distribution was enough cause for much energized debate in Churches both East and West that I can't fathom what would happen if the faithful came up only to find a "dry" chalice. ( USA Today ) - What? No wine? The Bishop of Phoenix Thomas Olmsted is crossing wine out of Communion at most Masses, limiting how often the chalice is offered to holy days and special occasions, writes Michael Clancy at the Arizona Republic. Olmsted bases his unique decision on the Church's new translation of the liturgy for the Mass, called the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, and other church documents, which he says don't really require folks in the pews have wine as part of the Eucharist. The Catholic Church teaches that the bread and wine, when blessed by the priest, beco...

Olyphant Church Emerges from Ashes of Tragedy ( STOTS ) - This past Saturday September 17th could just as have easily occurred on March 4th because it represents in the minds and lives of the local community no less of a “Triumph of Orthodoxy.” Saturday marked a celebration several years in the making when the holy altar at All Saints Church was re-consecrated by His Grace Bishop Tikhon, after having been destroyed by a fire in 2006. The fire took not only the altar area but also damaged almost all of the Holy Icons which adorned the walls of the parish. This was possible do to the efforts of the faithful at All Saints and specifically the hard work of Fr. David Cowan (STOTS Alumnus 2007)and his wife Matushka Tamara. Their tireless efforts guided the community in Olyphant through one of the most difficult things a parish can ever face. The banquet following the event was a festive one filled with people celebrating like only a true family could at the end of a long and hard...

BALAMAND, Lebanon ( Daily Star ) - Leaders of Lebanon’s Maronite Church held talks Tuesday with Greek Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius IV Hazim, the head of the country’s second-largest Christian community, in a bid to strengthen Christian unity as political instability sweeps the Middle East. Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai underscored the need for dialogue and unity among Christians, as well as between Christians and Muslims, particularly under the current circumstances in the region. “We see wars and divisions today as events unfold in neighboring Arab countries. Thus we need to meet and unite our people and urge solidarity among all Christians and Muslims,” Rai told reporters at the Greek Orthodox patriarchate at the monastery of Balamand in northern Lebanon. “All religious sects should consider themselves one family … our religion is based on love,” Hazim said. Rai added that his visit was aimed at strengthening bonds with the Greek Orthodox Church to encourage Christians to m...

TERMOLI, Italy, SEPT. 14, 2011 ( Zenit.org ) - Paul's beloved disciple was a source of unity for Catholics and Russian Orthodox last Friday, as representatives from both Churches gathered around St. Timothy's relics in Termoli, Italy. The Orthodox delegation included Archbishop Zosimo of Elista and Bishop Aristarh of Kemerovo. The papal nuncio to Great Britain, Archbishop Antonio Mennini, also attended the event, recalling his long tenure as the nuncio in Russia. The local bishop, Gianfranco De Luca, welcomed the group. The delegations are developing a plan for Bishop De Luca to take the saint's skull to Russia for Orthodox Lent, while an Orthodox bishop will lead the delegation that will return the relic to Termoli. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow will finalize the plan. Bishop De Luca gave the Orthodox bishops two small relics of St. Timothy, while his Orthodox guests presented him with an icon and a relic of St. Seraphim.

The Assembly of Bishops website is still posting interviews with bishops (for background, see earlier post on this here ). I again recommend you take a listen to one or two podcasts. These are frank discussions about the future of Orthodoxy in America well worth your time. The page is linked here .

( OCA ) - During the last week of August 2011, His Grace, Bishop Benjamin of San Francisco and the West and Archpriest Eric G. Tosi, OCA Secretary, visited the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia. His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, was to have joined them, but due to the repose of His Eminence, Archbishop Dmitri, he remained in the US. Below, Father Eric shares his impressions of the visit with oca.org . Complete article here .

I wished for more meat on this news release, but there have been previous dispatches that have touched on how to handle people wanting to return to the Church, the nature of the current schism, and future plans which put this post in perspective - an update on an ongoing process. ( mospat.ru ) - The ROC Inter-Council Presence’s commission for opposing and overcoming church schisms met for a regular session on September 19, 2011, at the Kiev Laura of the Caves. The chairman of the commission, His Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev and All Ukraine, sent the participants a message of greetings, assuring them of his prayers for the success of their work and noting that the main factor of their work lies in ‘the profound awareness of the abnormality of the situation when the faithful find themselves outside the saving fold of the Orthodox Church’. One of the causes of this situation is the cooling of love and the penetration of the church fold by ‘the spirit of this age – the s...

Again we pray, for the hearts, the minds, and the lips of our college students, that they may receive the power of Your law and successfully comprehend the useful things which will be taught them, and so they will understand Your perfect will and contribute to the building up of Your Holy Church. Deliver them from every snare of the enemy, preserve them in the true faith in righteousness and purity all the days of their lives, that they may grow in wisdom and in the observance of Your commandments, and may be revealed as worshipers of Your name and heirs of Your Kingdom. Bless also their teachers, O Lord, bless the Orthodox Christian Fellowship, its chaplains, student leaders and beneficiaries; and may they always proclaim the word of Your truth.

( UOC-MP ) - On September 14-16, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the UOC Archbishop Alexander of Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyy and Vyshneve visited the Holy Mount Athos, heading the pilgrimage trip from Ukraine. During the tour the pilgrims climbed the top of the Mount Athos (about 2030 m above the sea level). Here, at the Church of Transfiguration of Our Lord at the top of the mount, archbishop Alexander celebrated the Divine Liturgy. Note that the majority of the pilgrimage group were the parishioners of the Holy Transfiguration Church of Kyiv in Teremky residential area, where Vladyka Alexander is rector.

( ROC-USA ) - Met. Jonah of Washington visited Abp. Justinian of Naro-Fominsk at the St. Nicholas Patriarchal Cathedral in New York. Abp. Justinian presented Met. Jonah with an engolpion bearing the image of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk.

I'm not sure I understand. Why not get a religious marriage and not have a civil component if the worry is about splitting up money. I find this idea unsettling and I think it deserves some conversation. Watch the full episode . See more Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.

The below is an icon I noticed when perusing the Ukrainian Greek Catholic website The Way (ШЛЯХ). While I understand the sentiment, I'm rather uncomfortable the icon's composition. The Theotokos bore the Christ Child in her womb. The Pokrov/Intercession/Agia Skepi/Holy Protection type icon (if any icon would be appropriate here) would be more fitting. Thoughts? Website article is here .

http://www.stspress.com/ It finally happened; the St. Tikhon's Bookstore & Press website has been updated. Things seem to be better organized, the search tool actually works, and the shopping cart now holds your items reliably. I have to admit that, before this update, I had always thrown my hands up in the air and simply called the bookstore to get a quick answer or order submitted in less time than it took to wade through the web of confusion. While St. Tikhon's website was difficult, St. Vlad's website has always been easy. On the flip side I have always been able to contact the people at St. Tikhon's, and yet St. Vladimir's Press has not answered one of my emails in some 4 months.  If you want to see this blog's comparative list of online retailers, see here .

Update: The government has promised to step in and the hunger strike has ended (see here ). Kolencherry, Kerala, India ( OOC ) - The oldest churches in India, the Syrian Orthodox Church of the East in central Kerala is in the grip of an intense feud. The fight between rival factions of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church is now spilling onto the streets. The bone of contention is the ancient church in Kolencherry, which both warring Orthodox and Rebel Jacobite factions claim as theirs. The trouble has become worse, after a recent court order, which handed over control of the church to the Orthodox Church headed by Catholicos of the East H.H.Beselios Paulose II. Trouble began when the Orthodox Church decided not to share ownership of the church with the rivals, preventing them from entering the premises. The Orthodox faction demanded that the Rebel Jacobite faction abide by the district court order. The dispute over the right to worship further led the head the Orthodox Churc...

H/T: Again & Again

Tbilisi, September 15 ( Interfax ) - Georgia has opened a new monastery on its border with Russia. On Thursday, Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II of Georgia, consecrated the Monastery of the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel, situated in the Darial Gorge, and led the first worship service in a church in it. "This is a very significant church. It stands on the border with Russia. Russians are mostly Orthodox, and when a guest comes from there he will see he has come to an Orthodox and peace-loving country," Ilia II said during the opening ceremony for the monastery, at which Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili was present. The monastery must become "a symbol of peace, unity, peaceful relations between Georgia and Russia," the Catholicos said. It would put up travelers, and political leaders would be able to hold talks there, he said. He expressed hope that Georgia and Russia would restore good-neighborly relations.

A wonderful change and, to my mind, not just symbolic. It is also fitting that this came out as the New Calendar celebrates the Elevation of the Cross. Old (2001) bank note. Moscow, September 15 ( Interfax ) - Depiction of Orthodox crosses appeared on a new 500 ruble banknote issued on September 6. Official website of the Bank of Russia represents a drawing of the new banknote, on its backside crosses crown churches of the Solovki Monastery. The previous banknote depicted the monastery in its "Soviet" variant without crosses. Depictions of cupolas and crosses appeared at the banknote after Patriarch Kirill's petition to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, head of the Synodal Department for Church and Society Relations Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin told Interfax-Religion on Thursday. New (2011) bank note. He reminded that once when the Patriarch visited Solovki a local resident keen on Solovki history and culture came up to him and attracted his attention to ...

Someone sent me this story a little while ago. I have reposted it below. Also, the blog Monomakhos has an editorial on the situation (available here ) that asks some probing questions and, of course, delivers some critiques. ( Alaska Dispatch ) - In January, three clergy members from the Orthodox Church of America traveled on a plane owned by one of Alaska's wealthiest, most prominent citizens to various villages in Southwest Alaska. When they disembarked they headed to frozen waterways in each community. There they stood on the ice and dipped their hand into a hole -- carved out of ice and in the shape of the Cross -- and blessed the water, an annual ritual celebrating the sacredness of the natural world. Among the group was Bishop Benjamin Peterson of San Francisco, interim leader of the Alaska diocese. Two Alaska-based priests joined him. One of them was Father Michael Oleksa, among the most well-known and beloved religious leaders in the Last Frontier. Some of the trip w...

( mospat.ru ) - On September 14, 2010, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external church relations, met with Patriarch Abuna Paul of Ethiopia. In a warm and friendly atmosphere they discussed topical problems of inter-Christian cooperation and made a high assessment of the relations that used to tie the two Churches in the past.

( ACROD ) - On Wednesday, September 14, 2011, His Eminence Archbishop Justinian of Naro-Fominsk and Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA visited Christ the Saviour Cathedral following a clergy conference and nearby Antiochian Village. Pictured above, Abp. Justinian with students and faculty of Christ the Saviour Seminary.

( GOA-Denver ) - Protocol 11–12 The Reverend Clergy, and The Pious Faithful of the Holy Metropolis of Denver Beloved in the Lord, It appears that the interest in tattoos and tattooing has become very popular among young people as well as adults of both genders in today’s society. Coptic wrist crosses. In ancient times, tattoos were restricted to slaves and people of servitude, and were limited to symbols and numbers, much like the branding of animals today. During the years of the Nazis in Germany, the Jewish people were forcibly tattooed to distinguish them as a lower class of people and even as enemies of the state. Even today, in certain parts of Africa, Christians are expected to have a tattoo of a cross on their foreheads in order to set them apart them from the larger Moslem population. In short, tattoos were used as a visible sign of deferment to the higher authority which controlled the government or the kingdom. In regard to Christians who must have crosses on...

Periodically, I'll post updates on how seminary life is going. If it proves edifying for readers I'll keep it up. I had a few preconceived notions as one might imagine about life up here. I expected it to be cold; I've already worn a sweatshirt on one early morning drive to seminary for Matins. Food is necessarily quite different and small town living, while I love it, is an adjustment. There is not a FedEx Office on every corner, a UPS Store in every shopping center, or all the ethnic fare I'm used to treating the family to. The courses I expected to be difficult have proven to be so. "Seminary translations" are always a bit different than parish use. But, truly, the largest adjustment has been my time away from the wife and family. Before moving up North from the Lone Star State I worked from home, and, while I had an office, I came out to visit with the family when I could. Now I spend my waking hours at the seminary and the time away pulls at the he...

I encourage listening to these sessions. Fr. John Peck is a gifted speaker and St. Joseph's in Houston,TX is a blessed parish with a special place in my heart. While I'm mentioning this podcast, I am glad to have the opportunity to also mention Fr. James Early's (assistant pastor of the parish) podcast " Teach Me Thy Statutes ." Also, Fr. John is the administrator of a number of influential websites. Do take a gander: Good Guys Wear Black Journey to Orthodoxy Preachers Institute ( AFR ) - On September 10, 2011, St. Joseph Antiochian Orthodox Church in Houston, Texas, hosted the 2011 Orthodox Christian Parenting Retreat. The speaker was Fr. John Peck, priest at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Prescott, Arizona, and the topic was “Orthodox Christian Parenting in the 21st Century." Session One Session One Session One Session One

( basilica.ro ) - His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church paid a canonical visit to the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of Germany, Austria and Luxemburg during the last few days.

( OCA ) - His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, was among the religious leaders invited to attend ceremonies marking the opening of the 66th session of the United Nations’ General Assembly at the Church of the Holy Family here Monday, September 12, 2011.

( RISU ) - The head of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Ilarion (Alfeiev) of Volokolamsk in an interview to the Russian magazine Portal-Credo commented on the situation connected with the future inter-Orthodox Council to be held with the participation of all the autocephalous Orthodox Churches of the world. In answer to the question if “such Churches as the Kyivan Patriarchate, Greek Old Style, True Orthodox Church” will be invited to the All-Orthodox (Ecumenical) Council, the metropolitan said: “What you call “alternative Orthodoxy” we call a schism. There were no precedents of invitations of representatives of schismatic organizations to inter-Orthodox meetings so far and I think there will be no such things in the future.” According to the bishop, schismatics are imposters, that is people who assume a dignity which is not theirs according to the canonical order of the Church. “Just imagine that a group of people appears today...

( Reuters ) - A senior leader of the Russian Orthodox Church on Monday called on the Vatican to do more to resolve outstanding disputes so that a meeting between Pope Benedict and the Russian Patriarch could take place. In an exclusive interview with Reuters, Russian Orthodox Metropolitan (Archbishop) Hilarion, urged the Vatican to show "some signs" of readiness to resolve a decades-long conflict between Orthodox and Catholics in Ukraine that has been blocking a meeting of the two world religious leaders. An unprecedented meeting between Benedict and Patriarch Kirill could begin to heal the 1,000-year-old rift between the Western and Eastern branches of Christianity, which split in the Great Schism of 1054. Since the break-up of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, the Russian Orthodox Church has accused Catholics of using their new freedoms to poach souls from the Orthodox, a charge the Vatican denies. But the biggest bone of contention concerns the fate of many chu...