Byzantine, Texas

( OCA ) - His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon, will be enthroned as the Primate of the Orthodox Church in America at Saint Nicholas Cathedral, Washington, DC on Sunday, January 27, 2013. The announcement was issued by the Holy Synod of Bishops on Friday, November 30, 2012. Metropolitan Tikhon was elected at the 17th All-American Council in Parma, OH November 13. On Saturday, January 26, the Vigil will be celebrated at 5:00 p.m. Sunday’s Divine Liturgy and Rite of Enthronement will begin at 9:00 a.m. A banquet will follow. The enthronement will be celebrated in conjunction with the annual March for Life in the US capital on Friday, January 25. How fortuitous! Additional information on both events, including hotel and banquet arrangements, will be posted on the OCA web site as it becomes available.

( SVOTS ) - When His Beatitude The Most Blessed Tikhon, primate of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), made his inaugural visit to St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary (SVOTS) as its new President and ruling bishop on November 29th, he sampled the rich diversity of campus life. First, His Beatitude attended Vespers, along with His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan, archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York and a special guest of the seminary for the evening. Second, he sat down to a community fish dinner, prepared by the school's chef and his wife, Nat and Teresa Fasciani, served up by faculty and staff. And third, His Beatitude blessed the school's new exercise/gym facility. In four short hours, Metropolitan Tikhon experienced the mundane and the sublime, the ordinary and extraordinary, the earthy and the heavenly that characterizes daily life at SVOTS. His Beatitude assumed the offices of President of the Seminary and Chair of its Board of Tr...

OTTAWA, Nov. 28, 2012 ( LifeSiteNews.com ) – Pro-life advocates are calling for a federal investigation after Canada’s official statistics agency has confirmed that 491 babies died after they were born alive during abortions between 2000 and 2009. Statistics Canada confirmed the information in an e-mail to LifeSiteNews Tuesday. Pro-life blogger Patricia Maloney first discovered the data about the abortions in the federal agency’s online database. Mary Ellen Douglas, National Organizer for Campaign Life Coalition, called the revelation “outrageous.” “The federal government needs to do whatever it can to investigate this data,” she added. “It’s bad enough that babies are being killed in the womb, but now we learn that even those protected under Canadian law are apparently being left to die.” Douglas recalled that pro-lifers heard about babies being born after hysterotomy abortions in Kingston in the 1980s. “Babies were found struggling for life in a basin and nurses were told to...

From the blog " Kyrie, Eleison ," a response to the kerfuffle at the failed attempt by the Church of England to make female bishops. I quite liked the response and have posted a bit of it below. I should also point out that the exiting Archbishop of Canterbury, a proponent of the measure, was given an honorary doctorate by St. Vladimir's Seminary only two years ago. This was cause for no little scandal amongst the alumni. The Church of England has just defeated, by a very narrow vote, a proposal to allow women to become bishops. The measure needed two-thirds of the vote in each of the houses: the House of Bishops, the House of Clergy, and the House of Laity. It passed the first two, but lacked 6 votes (or five, according to one source) in the House of Laity. Now my friends in England are too, too outraged. They hope the State will impose fairness on a body which cannot seem to achieve it on her own. They feel stunned, they feel almost physically sick, they are ashamed,...

From an amazing set of pictures from Pravmir on the Convent of the Entrance of the Theotokos available here . The photos are so delightful and inspiring that there should be a travel package offer at the bottom.

( OCMC ) - In 2012, 135 Orthodox Christians shared their faith through loving service as part of an OCMC Mission Team. They witnessed baptisms, healed the sick, strengthened the foundations of the Church, and brought the love of Christ to people around the world. They answered the call to make disciples of all nations. Is 2013 your time to share in this journey of faith? OCMC is excited to announce 2013 Orthodox Mission Team opportunities. Next year, team members will have the opportunity to share the Orthodox Christian faith by offering evangelism, catechism, healthcare, construction, and youth ministry in 8 countries around the world... Complete list of openings here .

A very well attended and organized affair I'm told. I'll post more from this event as it becomes available. Johnstown, PA ( Post Gazette ) - During a joyous service lasting nearly four hours a Greek Orthodox priest and former medical researcher was consecrated and enthroned as the new bishop of the American Carpatho-Russian Diocese USA. Bishop Gregory of Nyssa, 55, was most recently dean of the Greek Orthodox cathedral in New Orleans. He was recruited to lead the tiny Johnstown-based Orthodox jurisdiction because none of its handful of unmarried priests was willing to be considered for the position. While married men can be Orthodox priests they cannot be bishops. The former Rev. Gregory Tatsis is a North Carolina native who was ordained a priest and tonsured as a monk in 2007. He worked for 20 years in cardiovascular research before entering seminary. He succeeds the late Metropolitan Nicholas, who died in March 2011, as bishop of a church with 81 parishes in 13 sta...

( ROAA ) - On November 6 and 7, 2012 took place in Caracas, Venezuela, the Assembly of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in South America. It was the third meeting of Orthodox Bishops of South America after those organized in Sao Paolo (2010) and Buenos Aires (2011). The Assembly was hosted by the Greek Orthodox parish in Caracas. After serving the Divine Liturgy, the first item on the agenda was the meditation of HE Metropolitan Tarasios of the Greek Metropolis of Buenos Aires and South America, about common service and spiritual-pastoral ministry in the Church of Christ. His Eminence Metropolitan Athenagoras of the Greek Metropolitan Church for Mexico and Central America, the Chairman of the Assembly, then explained at length the dialogue with the bishops of Antioch Church in parishes in South America regarding their participation at this Assembly. The representatives of the Orthodox jurisdictions that were present (five out six jurisdictions) noted with regret on the non-partici...

Tomorrow on the New Calendar St. Stylianos is commemorated. There is actually an akathist to him, but I cannot find an English resource for it. Anyone who might be able to help me with that would have me in their debt. The below is from Wikipedia (see here ). Saint Stylianos (Latin: Stylianus, Greek: Στυλιανός, English: Stylian) was born during the 6th century in Adrianopolis in the province of Paphlagonia (in modern day Turkey) into a very wealthy family. At a young age, Stylianos joined the hermits of the desert with a view toward cleansing his soul through a period of meditation and prayer, as well as through association with men likewise pledging their lives to Jesus Christ. Unlike most other hermits, however, he did not withdraw from society altogether, preferring to go among the people for whatever good he might do, and then returning to his little cave for rest and prayerful meditation. According to the church tradition, one night while he prayed for guidance in helping ...

A good reminder before the St. Philip's Fast begins on Wednesday and for those already in the midst of the Nativity Fast. Brother: What are fasting and prayer? Old Man: Fasting is the subjugation of the body, prayer is converse with God, vigil is a war against Satan, abstinence is being weaned from meats, humility is the state of the first man, kneeling is the inclining of the body before the Judge, tears are the remembrance of sins, nakedness is our captivity which is caused by the transgression of the command, and service is constant supplication to and praise of God. Brother: Are these able to redeem the soul? Old Man: When internal things agree with external, and manifest humility appears in the hidden works which are from within, verily, a man shall be redeemed from the weight of the body. Brother: And what is internal humility? Old Man: The humility of love, peace, friendship, purity, restfulness, tranquility, subjection, faith, remoteness from envy, and a...

H/T: OCL ( ekathimerini.com ) - The Church of Greece and the Vatican are putting the final touches to an agreement for the joint promotion of religious tourism, the cleric leading the Greek side of the initiative said on Thursday. An initial agreement reached last week by Greek and Italian clerics foresees the mutual promotion of religious sites including churches and monasteries, Bishop Chrysostomos of Dodoni told a conference in Thessaloniki on Thursday. Several firms have expressed interest in working with the Synod’s office to produce CDs and DVDs introducing visitors to Greece’s religious sites, the bishop said. The agreement follows a similar pact last month between the Greek and Russian Orthodox churches.

Fr. John Whiteford's blog has a worthwhile post on the often used phrase "Judge not, lest ye be judged." My problem with its contemporary usage is, as emboldened below, that a blanket condemnation of all judgements would seem to make mutes of us all - unable to call the spade before us a spade. This is certainly not a quality we find in the hagiographies that line our home libraries or permeate our services nor is it reflective of the other exhortations of Christ. Truthfully, I find this quick response to the perceived slights of the offending party to be a knee-jerk reaction made socially acceptable only by usage of the above phrase as an aphorism. The Gospel-in-pericope method of Scriptural exegesis rarely benefits anyone, and, more often than not, distorts the original intent. It distorts it to such an extent that the new popular meaning can expunge the traditional understanding entirely as it has done here. This phrase, in contemporary parlance, is now the squelc...

( The Sounding ) - Here are some phenomenal resources for us to read to our children during December: 1. A Children's Paradise of Saints , by Nun Nectaria McLees There are 15 stories in this book. One of them is the story of Saint Nicholas. We commemorate St. Nicholas on December 6 (December 19 for old calendar). He is a popular saint in the Orthodox church, and this is an opportunity to talk with our children about the history behind how Saint Nicholas morphed into Santa Claus in our American culture and also teach them that there's more to this saint than secretly giving gifts. 2. North Star: St. Herman of Alaska , by Dorrie Papademetriou This is one of my favorite Orthodox children's authors. This book has absolutely beautiful illustrations, and the story engages children. We commemorate St. Herman on December 13th. 3. Saint Herman of Alaska , by S.A. Smith Here's another wonderful book about Saint Herman. 4. Let Us Live Orthodoxy - Vol...

( Orthodoxy in China ) - This original lithographed edition was digitally photographed on November 22, 2011 at the library of Beijing Normal University. Digitization project coordinated by the Orthodox Brotherhood of Saints Apostles Peter and Paul in Hong Kong. The chopmark on the title page is stamped in Chinese: Beiping Furen University/Library Collection, and in English: Catholic University of Peiping , which operated under that name during the period 1925-1950 in Beijing before shortly thereafter relocating to Taipei, Taiwan. Underwritten by the Orthodox Brotherhood of Saints Apostles Peter and Paul in Hong Kong, the electronic text of the Psalter as translated into Mandarin Chinese by Bp Innokenty of Beijing and published by the Russian Mission (Beiguan) in 1910 is now being made available at http://orthodox.cn/bible/psalter/1910/ . All modern Chinese liturgical translation being prepared for SS Peter & Paul parish in Hong Kong or for OFASC, that quotes or alludes to t...

( mospat.ru ) - On 20 November 2012, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, arrived in Paris with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and All Russia and was met by Metropolitan Emmanuel of France (Patriarchate of Constantinople) at Charles de Gaulle airport. They proceeded to the premises of the Patriarchate of Constantinople’s Metropolia in France, where the Coordinating Committee of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches holds its meeting. Metropolitan Hilarion takes part in it as representative of the Moscow Patriarchate. On November 21, the feast day of the Presentation in the Temple of the Birth-Giver of God (according to the new style), members of the Coordinating Committee prayed at the Divine Liturgy celebrated in the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St. Stephen. Metropolitan Hilarion is accompanied by hie...

( ROCOR ) - With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and His Eminence Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco and Western America (Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia) a reliquary with a relic of St John, Wonderworker of Shanghai and San Francisco, will be taken to 10 dioceses of Central Russia. The project is part of the international youth program "Spiritual Connection" and begins on November 16. The holy relics will be taken to the following cities: Ivanovo (November 16-18), Riazan (November 19-21), Tula (November 22-24), Kaluga (November 25-27), Briansk (November 28-30), Kursk (December 1-2), Belgorod (December 4-6), Voronezh (December 7-9), Lipetsk (December 10-12) and Tambov (December 13-15). Numerous educational events are planned in every city the relics of St John visit.

( Armenian-WD ) - We hereby announce that The Holy Synod of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem convened on November 8, 2012 under the presidency of the Patriarchal Locum Tenens His Eminence Archbishop Aris Shirvanian, decided to call the General Assembly of St. James Brotherhood to a meeting next January 23, 24, 25, 2013, to elect a new Patriarch as successor to the late Patriarch His Beatitude Archbishop Torkom Manoogian whose passing has left the Holy See vacant. We pray that preparatory works for the election go forward successfully and the Holy See of Jerusalem will have its worthy occupant.

The below news story has been making the rounds in recent days. GetReligion, as always, delved into the topic with its laudable mix of the factual and editorial. If your son wants to be confirmed in the Church and doesn't go to church regularly and doesn't affirm the teachings of his faith (e.g. support the traditional view of marriage), what is a pastor to do? In an Orthodox context this is a discussion of openness to the chalice, but the central issue is the same; if you profess beliefs antithetical to the faith what should the response of the Church be? Later in the article the boy says, "He’s so strict. He won’t loosen up about things.” A common debate I have with people is on the merits of keeping people "in the church" even when there are real, demonstrable divisions between their beliefs and practices and what the Church would have them confess and do. Rarely, if ever, will a priest kick a person out of church, but that doesn't mean he's powerl...

( Reuters ) - The Coptic Orthodox church staged a ceremony rich in ritual on Sunday to install its pope, Tawadros II, who Christians hope will guide them through the new, Islamist-led Egypt. The 60-year-old pope was picked on November 4 and the ceremony on Sunday filled with incense, elaborate robes and chanting marked his formal ascendance as the 118th leader of the church. Coptic Christians, whose church predates the arrival of Islam in Egypt, make up a tenth of Egypt's 83 million people. Many fear their community, the biggest Christian group in the Middle East which has long complained of discrimination, will be squeezed to the sidelines of society under Islamists now ruling the Muslim-majority nation. "We chose him because he is man who is obedient to God," said Bishop Bakhomious, who was pope in the interim period after Shenouda III died aged 88 in March after four decades in office. "God had listened to our prayers and did not wish to leave us orphans...

BRUSSELS, November 12, 2012 ( LifeSiteNews.com ) – A consortium of homosexualist, secular humanist and abortion groups are campaigning against the appointment of the Maltese Dr. Tonio Borg as the new EU Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner. The objection, they say, is nothing more than that Dr. Borg is a Catholic, with “staunchly conservative and outdated” views on homosexuality, divorce and abortion. The campaign has been organised, according to sources at the EU Parliament, by the European Humanist Federation, the International Lesbian and Gay Association, ILGA - Europe, and International Planned Parenthood Federation. The situation is drawing comparisons to when a group of far-left activists blocked the appointment of Italian politician Rocco Buttiglione as Italy’s representative at the European Parliament in 2004. At the time, Italian Justice Minister Roberto Castelli accused Buttiglione’s opponents as “fundamentalist” anti-Christians. “This decision shows the real...

H/T: St. Elias Church Thousands of people are going to read this and believe it. I am saddened to see this sort of thing still being thrown into the discussion. This is, simply put, an attempt at making palatable heresy. ( NC Register ) - One objection raised by some Protestants is this: If the Immaculate Conception is truly apostolic teaching, then why do the Eastern Orthodox Churches reject it? After all, those Churches trace their lineage to apostolic times just as the Catholic Church does. To answer that, we have to understand why the Roman Church developed her doctrine in the way she did and why the East did not take the same path. Some people have the notion the Eastern Orthodox Churches reject the Immaculate Conception because a few early Eastern Fathers (Origen, Basil, and John Chrysostom) expressed a couple of doubts about Mary’s sinlessness. Origen thought that, during Christ’s Passion, the sword that pierced Mary’s soul was disbelief. Basil had the same notion. And John ...

November 15 ( RIA Novosti ) - The conflict over unpaid water bills of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem has been resolved, the spokesman for Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia said. “The Holy Sepulchre Church’s water debts have been written off, not without the participation of the Russian Orthodox Church after Patriarch Kirill met with Israeli President Shimon Peres,” Deacon Alexander Volkov said on Wednesday while summing up the five-day visit by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church to the region. Volkov, who heads the Patriarch’s press service, added that the news was announced by Israeli Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov at his meeting with Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Russian Church's Department of External Church Relations. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which has for centuries been one of the most important pilgrimage destinations for millions of Christians as the purported site of the crucifixion and resurrection of J...

( SNAS ) - When Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern), invited Fr. Mardiros Chevian to return to St. Nersess Armenian Seminary as its new Dean, he accepted the invitation after much consideration. “Although I have enjoyed immensely being the Dean of St. Vartan Cathedral for the past 19 years, I am excited to return to St. Nersess and direct the expanded mission of the seminary at its new campus in Armonk, NY”, stated Fr. Mardiros recently. Second Term as Seminary Dean This is not the first time he has answered the call to serve at St. Nersess. In 1978, after returning from his studies in Holy Etchmiadzin, he went to St. George Armenian Church in Waukegan, IL, as the Deacon-in-Charge where he was very happy to start his ministry. But not soon after, in 1981, he received a call from Archbishop Torkom Manoogian, of blessed memory, to be the Director of Recruitment and Programs at the newly purchased St. Nersess Armenian S...

Metropolitan Hilarion, always a realist, offers congratulations and some strong words on where the Church believes the Anglicans have gone and are taking themselves with their deviations from Tradition. ( mospat.ru ) - To the Right Rev. Justin Welby, Bishop of Durham, Dear Brother and Lord Bishop, I would like to extend to you wholehearted congratulations on your election as Head of one of the oldest episcopal chairs founded by St. Augustine of Canterbury in the 7th century. You have been entrusted with the spiritual guidance of the entire Anglican Communion, a unique union of like-minded people, which, however diverse the forms of its existence in the world may be, needs one ‘steward of God’ (Tit. 1:7) the guardian of the faith and witness to the Truth (cf. Jn. 18:37). The Russian Orthodox Church and the Churches of the Anglican Communion are bonded by age-old friendly relations initiated in the 15th century. For centuries, our Churches would preserve good and truly brot...

ROME ( CNS ) - In Eastern Christianity -- among both Catholics and Orthodox -- a dual vocation to marriage and priesthood are seen as a call "to love more" and to broaden the boundaries of what a priest considers to be his family, said Russian Catholic Father Lawrence Cross. Father Cross, a professor at the Australian Catholic University in Melbourne, was one of the speakers at the Chrysostom Seminar in Rome Nov. 13, a seminar focused on the history and present practice of married priests in the Eastern churches. The Code of Canons of the Eastern (Catholic) Churches insist that "in the way they lead their family life and educate their children, married clergy are to show an outstanding example to other Christian faithful." Speakers at the Rome conference -- sponsored by the Australian Catholic University and the Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies at St. Paul University in Ottawa -- insisted the vocation of married priests in the Eastern churche...

( ROCOR-EAD ) - All-Night Vigil in Holy Dormition Convent "Novo-Diveevo" in Nanuet, NY on October 12, 2012 - during the Joint Pastoral Conference of the Eastern American Diocese and Moscow Patriarchate in honor of the 5th anniversary of the Reunification of the Russian Orthodox Church. All-Night Vigil led by the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, His Eminence, HILARION, Metropolitan of Eastern America and New York. Sung by a joint male choir of Holy Trinity Seminary and St. Tikhon's Seminary.

( OCA ) - Archbishop Tikhon, Archbishop of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania, was elected Primate of the Orthodox Church in America during the 17th All-American Council of the Orthodox Church in America at Holy Trinity Church here Tuesday, November 13, 2012. Six hundred and sixty three hierarchs, clergy and lay delegates and observers representing OCA parishes across the US, Canada and Alaska participated in the Council. Five hundred and ninety were eligible to vote. The Council opened with the celebration of the Divine Liturgy and, at noon, the plenary session. After the celebration of a Service of Thanksgiving and the singing of the troparion invoking the Holy Spirit, Archpriest Eric G. Tosi, OCA Secretary, opened the plenary session. “Christ grows brighter as we grow dimmer, as we approach the eternal light,” said His Eminence, Archbishop Nathaniel of Detroit and the Romanian Episcopate, Locum Tenens of the Metropolitan See, in his opening address. “And it is within t...

( ROCOR ) - An ecclesiastical store called "Synod Supply" has been opened by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. Here, retailers and wholesalers, parishes, diocesan administrations, monasteries and the general public can obtain literature (in English and Russian), compact discs, icons, antiquities and fine art, jewelry, church vestments and vessels, souvenirs and porcelain. Many of our products are produced in Russia and the Ukraine. We accept custom orders on vestments and cassocks with 50% prepayment. Credit cards accepted. Shipping and handling charges (USPS library media rate or UPS) apply. Due to extremely limited store space, many items advertised on our internet site are stored at our warehouse. We accept antiquities on consignment. Bulk orders can be discounted. " Synod Supply " also organizes exhibits of rare ecclesiastical antiquities from private collections. We are happy to work together with all for the benefit of the entire Orthodox com...

JERUSALEM, November 12 ( RIA Novosti ) - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia finally consecrated a Russian cathedral in a Jerusalem suburb on Monday, just over a century after construction began at the site. “Today is a special day for the convent, for the entire Russian Orthodox Church and personally for me,” the patriarch said after holding a liturgy in the Church of All Russian Saints. The foundations for the Church of All Russian Saints in the Gornensky Convent were laid in 1911, but construction was suspended 1914 and only resumed in 2003. The Gornensky Convent is situated in the Jerusalem suburb of Ein Karem, where according to Christian tradition, John the Baptist was born. Patriarch Kirill, elected to head the Russian Orthodox Church in 2009, recalled visiting the site in 1969 when the church building consisted of just four walls without a roof or floor. Nuns and hundreds of pilgrims attended the consecration ceremony. The convent, founded in 1874, currently h...

( pravmir.com ) - It is difficult for us to accept the imperfection of the world. We want there to be some kind of guarantee of stability. We may not be perfect, but at least someone should be, so that they can provide an example for the rest of us to follow. It can therefore be especially difficult to come to terms with the fact that things do not always go well even in clergy families. Archpriest Dmitri Karpenko, secretary of the Diocese of Gubkin and rector of the Church of St. James in Gubkin (Belgorod Oblast, Russia), offers the following response to an account written by the former wife of a priest (matushka) who endured a psychologically, spiritually, and physically abusive marriage for eleven years before seeking a divorce. The husband, who claimed that he had married her only out of “obedience,” eventually took a lover. During this entire ordeal, each time the former matushka sought advice from a priest or spiritual father, she was greeted with the same familiar refrain: “endu...

( Voice of Russia ) - A group of young Pussy Riot sympathizers received a humiliating thrashing from a Ukrainian clergyman when they tried to repeat the “feat” of the notorious Pussy Riot punk group. Several men with stockings on their heads entered a small Ukrainian Orthodox church in the village Barvinkovo on Thursday night to perform a “punk prayer” of their own but met fierce defiance of the priest who smacked them with a censer and handed them over to the police. The arrested are reported to be members of the local music band called Dick Revolt.

Fr. John Sorochka gave the Orthodox Inter-Seminary Movement (OISM) group a tour of St. John's Russian Orthodox Cathedral , Mayfield, PA followed by Vespers when the group visited on Saturday. The turnout at last weekend's OISM was quite good; seminarians and students from Holy Cross (GOARCH), St. Tikhon's (OCA), Christ the Saviour (ACROD), Holy Trinity (ROCOR), and St. Sophia's (UOC-USA) were in attendance. Students from those jursdictions and others (Jerusalem, the Antiochian Archdiocese, Western Rite) participated in the event. Glaringly absent was St. Vladimir's who has had rather spotty attendance in recent years. Two talks were given in addition to the normal general meeting and liturgical offerings of the monastery. Fr. Stephen Vernak, Pastor of Christ the Saviour Orthodox Church and founder of Hagia Sophia Orthodox Coffee House in Harrisburg spoke on the importance of pan-Orthodox efforts and the process that brought the idea of a coffee shop to fru...

( ROC-Thailand ) - A parallel Russian-Laotian Orthodox prayer book has been published. The publication under the Representation of the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) in Thailand, is part of the pastoral responsibility to the Lao People's Democratic Republic. Financial support for the publication was provided by the Foundation of the Orthodox Church in Thailand. The volume was edited by archimandrite Oleg (Cherepanin), Representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in Thailand. Peter (Pone) Somepheth and Anthony (Tongkham) Phiaxayavong, currently seminarians at St. Petersburg Theological Seminary, translated the text from Thai. Dr. Vladimir Buntilov was in charge of formatting and design. Five hundred copies will be sent to the Orthodox believers in Laos, as well as several copies going to religious educational institutions in Russia and missionary organizations.

( OCA ) - Motivated solely by a prayerful desire to achieve an appropriate resolution of matters of care and mutual concern both to the Orthodox Church in America and to His Eminence, Metropolitan Jonah, the Church and His Eminence continue at this moment in ongoing discussions that are intended to achieve a mutual agreement and understanding that will be a Christian resolution acceptable to both. Metropolitan Jonah and his legal representative, together with the appointed representatives of the Church, have mutually agreed to maintain these discussions in confidence until a point in time when they can be made public to the satisfaction of the Orthodox Church in America and His Eminence, Jonah.

JERUSALEM, November 10 ( RIA Novosti ) - The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, who arrived in Jerusalem on Friday, was accompanied by a solemn procession of clerics and laypeople on his way from the Jaffa Gate to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre inside the Old City. Thousands of believers gathered in front of the church, which is the holiest site for Christians across the world, to greet Patriarch Kirill and Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III, who met him. The two patriarchs held a short divine service. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre has for centuries been one of the most important pilgrimage destinations for millions of Christians as the purported site of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Patriarch Theophilos III addressed Patriarch Kirill, for whom it is the first visit to the Holy Land since he was elected to head the Russian Orthodox Church in 2009, with a solemn speech, in which he noted th...

( OCA ) - On Tuesday, November 13, 2012, Ancient Faith Radio will podcast segments of the 17th All-American Council, to be held at Holy Trinity Church, Parma, OH. While definitive times have not been set for individual podcasts, access will be available throughout the day here . “Our plan is to record the homily at the opening Divine Liturgy, any interviews we can gather from official sources, and all of the audio from the platform,” according to AFR’s John Maddex. “Audios will be posted immediately editing and uploading to our site.”

( The Telegraph ) - The Church of England and other religious groups are not necessarily acting for the good of the public, Britain’s charity watchdog said in a decision letter. Its officials cited a tribunal ruling that religion is not always for “the public benefit” as it denied charitable status to the Plymouth Brethren, an exclusive Christian group, for one of its churches in Devon. In a letter to the Plymouth Brethren, the watchdog set out a recent tribunal decision that “there is no presumption that religion generally, or at any more specific level, is for the public benefit, even in the case of Christianity or the Church of England”. The Charity Commission has been in a long running battle with independent schools over how they should get charitable status. However, this is thought to be the first time it has denied the label to a religious group on the grounds that it does not advance public benefit. The Plymouth Brethren, an evangelical movement whose 16,000 believe...