Byzantine, Texas

H/T: Ad Orientem You might also enjoy (as I did) the Road to Emmaus (Journal #50 - Spring) article entitled The Seal of the Gift of the Holy Spirit: Preparing Chrism at the Ecumenical Patriarchate by Mother Nectaria McLees.

( ACN ) - Fears are growing for two Syrian archbishops, with still no news about them a week on from their abduction. Adding urgency is the fact that one of the two prelates, Syrian Orthodox Archbishop Yohanna Ibrahim, faces a “life-threatening problem” if prevented from taking medicine for high blood pressure and diabetes. He did not have any medication with him when he and Greek Orthodox Archbishop Boulos Yagizi were kidnapped on Monday, April 22nd. Their driver, Deacon Fatha’ Allah Kabboud, was killed. The incident took place some 4 miles west of Aleppo, the city to which they were returning after traveling to the Turkish border to negotiate the release of two priests, Fathers Michael Kayyal and Maher Mahfouz, kidnapped on February 9th. Since the two archbishops’ abduction, there have been conflicting reports, with one (subsequently withdrawn) even claiming that they had been released. But in an interview with Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), an offic...

( Novinite ) - Bulgarian Orthodox Christians celebrate Palm Sunday - Tsventisa-Vrabnitsa, to mark the triumphal arrival of Christ into Jerusalem. The Bulgarian tradition is to carry flowers and willow branches, rather than palm leaves, and the day is also regarded as the holiday of the fields, meadows and forests. It is one of the most important holy days, falling one week before Easter, and marking the beginning of the Passion of Christ. Saturday marked Lazarovden (Lazar's Day), when Christ raised the faithful Lazarus from the dead. Lazarovden ceremonies, called Lazarouvane, are among the best-loved Bulgarian traditions. The Saturday before Easter is a festival devoted to young girls, pastures, fields and woods. In Bulgaria's village communities, Lazarovden was quite an event in the life of every young girl, for then she could demonstrate to the townspeople that she had already grown to be a "fully accomplished maiden". The girls would gather in groups of a...

Where there is money to be made from the body parts of people, there will be people who ignore morality for the sake of money. We've seen it all over the world not only as regards organ harvesting, but also surrogate mothers, children born so that they can supply material for ailing older siblings, and the poor selling their organs on the black market. We run the risk of making ourselves a commodity with few safeguards to protect ourselves. ( Greek Reporter ) - Senior clerics and church organizations are leading a campaign in opposition to a law, due to come into force on June 1, that will ease restrictions on organ donations. The chief focus of objections has been a legal provision regarding so-called “presumed consent” that would allow the donation of organs without the consent of a potential donor’s relatives or co-habitors. A group of church groups and clerics are reportedly considering appealing to the Council of State to revoke the law despite the watering down of the ...

( St. George's Orthodox Military Association ) - For all of you who have been asking about a Orthodox Chaplain in Afghanistan for Sunday Divine Liturgy and for PASCHA here you go: "I will begin holding services weekly at Bagram Air Base at Enduring Freedom Chapel -- in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. So please let everyone know on Saint George's Military Association that Fr. George (Hill) is back in the stan and will be celebrating my 4th, yes 4th, Paschal Liturgy there in the stan. They can have weekly Divine Liturgy at BAF." So, as of today there is an Orthodox Chaplain at Bagram in Afghanistan! If you make arrangements now with your command you will be able to attend Pascha at Bagram! Don't delay and spread the word -- we here at Saint George Orthodox Military Association know how much our Orthodox Chaplains want to serve the Orthodox and all those who are interested in Orthodox Christianity but many Orthodox seem to take a vacation from Holy Orthodoxy wh...

( AOB ) - The Honorable John Kerry United States Secretary of State Dear Secretary Kerry, We, the Members of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America, kindly bring to your attention the urgent and very serious plight of the Greek Orthodox and Syriac Orthodox Archbishops of Aleppo, Paul Yazigi and Yohanna Ibrahim, who were abducted this past week by "a terrorist group" in the village of Kfar Dael as they were carrying out humanitarian work. Since the outbreak of the civil war in Syria, religious minorities have not only come under increasing attacks by Islamic fundamentalist rebels, but also have been caught in the crossfire of the opposing factions. As you well know, on April 22, 2013, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom released a report entitled Protecting and Promoting Religious Freedom in Syria. Religious minorities, including the Christian population, have been targeted for extinction in an attempt to crea...

( Pravoslavie ) - On April 20, 2013, the Saturday of the Akathist, Bishop Nestor of Korsun served a Divine Liturgy in the house Church of the Paris Theological Seminary. At the Liturgy Bishop Nestor ordained into the priesthood Jean Denis Rano, a Frenchman from Martinique Island. Representatives of the Orthodox community on Martinique and also the priest’s relatives were present at the Liturgy. In near future, the newly ordained Priest will be sent to serve in the first parish of the diocese of Korsun on Martinique. The first service in the Orthodox Church of Martinique will be celebrated on Easter. After the Liturgy, Bishop Nestor shared a meal with teachers and students of the seminary and blessed the frescoes in the refectory that had been completed last week. Before the service the seminary's rector and students sang the Akathist to the Most Holy Mother of God in the wooden Church. This was the first service in this Church and works on its adornment are continuing, r...

Mystagogy on " What Happened to Lazarus After He Rose From the Dead? " Lazarus was a close friend of Christ, from Bethany, about three kilometers east of Jerusalem. He lived there with his sisters Mary and Martha, and they often gave hospitality to Jesus (Luke 10:38-40; John 12:1-3). John the Evangelist informs us (John 11) how one day Jesus was notified of the death of Lazarus. Four days later He arrived in Bethany, not only to bring comfort to Lazarus' grieving sisters, but to show the power of God and perform His greatest miracle by raising him from the dead, in anticipation of His own resurrection. The resurrection of Lazarus brought short-lived great admiration and fame to Jesus, as evidenced by his triumphant entry to Jerusalem, but it also provoked great anger among the teachers of the Law. Now they wanted both Jesus and Lazarus dead. Lazarus escaped, but Jesus did not. But what happened to Lazarus? According to St. Epiphanios of Cyprus (367-403), Laza...

BELGRADE ( in Serbia ) – Bishop of Zvornik and Tuzla, Vasilije Kacavenda, who has been retired by Serbian Orthodox Church, will leave his lavish palace in Bijeljina and move into a cell of the male monastery Vasilije Ostroski in the center of Bijeljina or monastery Sisatovac on Fruska Gora, reports news magazine “Kurir”. Recently, after the affair of sexual abuse of minors in which the bishop was allegedly involved and after news magazine “Kurir” has published part of the video on which, allegedly, bishop is kissing and enjoying a passionate moment with a boy, on Tuesday Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church has stepped in and silently punished the bishop by retiring him and sending him to monastery. How will Kacavenda, after being used to hedonism and luxury feel to live in a modest monastery, without friends, going outs, modern technology and luxury – many wonder. The bishop has, in his palace in Bijeljina, enjoyed the most modern equipment for home, fireplace, hot tub, gold, ...

VATICAN CITY ( Daily Star ) - The Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria Tawadros II will meet Pope Francis next month in the Vatican -- the first visit by a Coptic Orthodox leader in 40 years and the latest signs of growing ties between the new pope and the Orthodox world. Tawadros will visit various Vatican departments and is set to stay in Rome for several days. His arrival is expected for May 10 or 11, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told AFP. Tawadros' predecessor Shenouda III met with pope Paul VI in 1973 and the two launched a process of dialogue between their two Christian churches. "The idea is to celebrate the 40th anniversary of that historic meeting," Lombardi said. The visit will be part of a European tour during which Tawadros will visit different Coptic parishes -- his first foreign trip since his election in November at a time in which the Coptic minority is faced with rising Islamism in Egypt. The meeting between Tawadros and Francis will be a furt...

From the blog On Coptic Nationalism, a post entitled Coptic Unicorn: It's Symbolism . The very prominent Coptologist, Alin Siciu, has recently shared with us a picture of a unicorn which he got in a detail from a Coptic manuscript in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York. He dates the manuscript to the 9th century. The beautiful Coptic painting shows a cheerful, hopping unicorn, which one cannot look at without smiling and feeling good. Unicorns are, of course, mystical horse-like animals that are white and with a single, large, pointed, spiralling horn growing from their forehead. They are sometimes depicted with goat’s beard and cloven hooves. The unicorn (μονοκερωτων) is mentioned in Greek mythology and was described by Aristotle and Strabo. The Greeks were convinced it existed in India. There are a few mentions of the unicorn in the Old Testament. A fabulous book called The Physiologus, which was written in Alexandria in the 2nd century, possibly by Clement of Alexandri...

From the Poulos Blog , a post on a word created by Origen. A portion reposted below with a small editorial adjustment. As I transcribe Origen’s first homily on Ps. 76, I continue to find interesting bits. For instance, in the section I transcribed today, Origen coins a new word to describe the gladness that the presence of the Lord brings. Just prior, he has been discussing the line Ps. 76:4 (77:3 by Hebrew numbering), “I remembered God and was gladdened.” (The verse reads differently in the Hebrew apparently, at least judging from our English translations). He discusses presence and absence, and how memory is required only for those absent: you can, after all, see someone who is present before you. This creates a small difficulty: if remembering God gladdens the heart, what does God’s presence do? Origen responds by creating a new word: If the remembrance of God gladdens the heart, what does his presence do to the one who perceives it? Shall I create a word for it? It sup...

( HTS ) - From April 1–3, the Eastern American Diocese sponsored a Northern Lenten Retreat at Holy Trinity Monastery. Clergy from both the diocese and the Moscow Patriarchate parishes participated in the retreat. His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion (HTS 1972) and His Grace Bishop George of Mayfield (HTS 1980) came for the conference, and there were over eighty attendees. Seminary classes were canceled on Tuesday and Wednesday so that the seminarians could participate with the clergy in divine services, spiritual talks, and discussions.

H/T: OBL ( neoskosmos.com ) - Greek Orthodox Archdiocesan Bishop Iakovos of Miletoupolis defended the Church's reputation when he fronted the Victorian parliamentary inquiry on child sex abuse in the church this week. The Bishop said the church and the police had a strong relationship and the Church made it its prerogative to inform police of any criminal behaviour. "The church would never seek to cover up or sweep under the carpet anything serious," he said. He mentioned the church has a rigorous process for dealing with misconduct complaints, including reporting criminal behaviour to police, but revealed it had never been tested in an allegation of child sex abuse. The Greek Orthodox Church kept records of its clergymen and complaints against them, Bishop Iakovos said. It has defrocked two ministers following investigations into complaints but neither related to child sex abuse. In one case, a priest had been keeping the fees paid for marriage licences. ...

I have seen the video of this man's body shortly after he was brutally gunned down. It was a bloody and savage scene. Please pray for his eternal memory, the two Syrian bishops, and this man's family. ( Syrian Orthodox Church ) - A special collection is taking place for the family of the driver Fathallah Kabud, an innocent victim who was killed as a result of the kidnapping of the two bishops. If you would like to contribute to this collection, please do so here .

H/T: OBL ( ERR ) - The Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church and the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church are signing a joint statement on their shared theological beliefs today. The document stresses the importance of worship in people's lives, ETV reported. It is the first such appeal to be made by the two churches, which have held bilateral meetings every year since 2006. In their current talks, the churches are focusing on the issue of bioethics and organ donation. The Lutheran Church is the largest church in Estonia and also has an autonomous branch abroad that traces its roots back to the Soviet era, when organized religion was prohibited. The Orthodox Church, in which Estonian is the official language, is associated with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. It is separate from the Estonian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate, where the official language is Russian.

H/T: OCL

( antiochian.org ) - The following official joint statement has been released by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, and the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East. (Original PDF here .) On Monday the 22.04.2013, we were surprised by the news that our brothers Bishop Paul (Yazigi) of Aleppo and Alexandretta and Bishop John (Ibrahim) Syriac Orthodox Bishop of Aleppo, have been kidnapped on their way back to Aleppo after accomplishing a humanitarian mission. We deeply regret what happened as we regret all similar acts targeting civilians, regardless of their belonging and therefore we address to the local and international communities the following declaration: 1- The Christians living here are an essential part of their lands. They suffer the pain every person suffers, work as messengers of peace to lift the injustice off every oppressed: They follow the teaching of their Gospel telling them that love is the basis of human relations. The o...

( First Things ) - At an academic conference a while ago, I made an offhand reference to the contemporary persecution of Christians. My remark was greeted with some incredulity, even derision. There are, one scholar responded sarcastically, something like two billion Christians in the world today. “Next you’ll be telling us a billion Chinese are also in need of protection.” The failure of many opinion leaders in the West to acknowledge what’s happening to Christians around the world results from many factors, including, as I’ve written, a kind of psychological disconnect . Western liberals are not accustomed to seeing Christians as sympathetic victims, but as adversaries to be resisted. The idea that Christians might be suffering from persecution ruins the narrative. An article from last week’s Washington Post might change some minds. In response to increasing attacks on them since the revolution that brought the Muslim Brotherhood to power, Egypt’s Copts are showing a new assert...

( Zenit ) - The Holy See has extended the jurisdiction of the Romanian Catholic Eparchy of St. George in Canton, Ohio, to include the territory of Canada. The action was publicized today in Washington by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States. "Eparchy" is the term used in Eastern Rite churches for the equivalent of a diocese in the Roman rite. The Romanian Eparchy in Canton currently includes the entire United States as its territory and serves 5,675 Catholics. Bishop John Michael Botean, 57, a native of Canton, heads the eparchy, which includes 15 parishes. The eparchy has 21 active priests. And also... ( Romanian Catholic-Canton ) - Dear Fathers and Mothers, [Christ is risen!] (Those on the old calendar can ignore the text in brackets.) By now, most of you will have heard that the Romanian Eparchy of St. George now extends territorially to all of Canada. This announcement, made this morning by the Holy See, now settles the quest...

From the blog On Behalf of All : This is some pretty exciting news: Logos Bible Software has listed The Rudder (Pedalion) by St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain on Community Pricing. This means that the “market” gets to determine the final price for the set, simply by bidding on what an individual would personally pay for this collection... Complete article here .

I have no corroboration for this and, in fact, I have seen statements claiming this report of release is false. ( Aljazeera ) - Two Syrian bishops who were reportedly kidnapped carrying out humanitarian work in the northern province of Aleppo have been released, according to a Christian association. SANA news agency said the Syriac Orthodox and Greek Orthodox Archbishops of Aleppo, Yohanna Ibrahim and Paul Yazigi, were seized on Monday in the village of Kfar Dael. A Syriac member of the opposition Syrian National Coalition, Abdulahad Steifo, said the men had been kidnapped on the road to Aleppo from the rebel-held Bab al Hawa crossing with Turkey. Al Jazeera's Rula Amin, reporting from Beirut, said the kidnapping "has sent a lot of concern to the Christian community in Aleppo and throughout Syria". "They are afraid of the rising power among Islamist groups; many [Christians] have left the country as battles raged in the last six months. This is just anothe...

Bishop posing with Belgrade stripper Dejan Nestorovic Belgrade ( Radio Free Europe ) - The Serbian Orthodox Church has approved the resignation of a powerful cleric amid sex-scandal claims that culminated this week with the publication of a graphic video appearing to show him engaged in sexual activity with young men. Vasilije Kacavenda, the bishop of Tuzla and Zvornik in Bosnia-Herzegovina, retreated from his clerical duties months ago as allegations mounted that he had used his position for years to stage frequent orgies and rape underage boys and girls. But the April 22 decision by the Holy Synod to accept his resignation appears to be the first acknowledgment of the church’s growing unease with the crush of lurid accusations that seem better suited to Caligula’s court than an Orthodox diocese. Bojan Jovanovic, a former theological student in Bijeljina, the seat of Kacavenda’s diocese, says he observed numerous orgies organized by the 74-year-old bishop and attended by fe...

Syrian Bishop Boulos Yazigi, head of the Greek Orthodox church in Aleppo, who was kidnapped together with Bishop Yuhanna Ibrahim, head of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Aleppo. One idea I have seen well received is praying the Akathist to Almighty God in Time of Trouble (available here ). You can track updates on the situation from the Guardian news website  here . It is a sad  irony that they were captured while trying to free other captured clergy.

Metropolitan Paul Yazigi ( OCA ) - In a portion of a letter dated April 22, 2013 and signed by His Grace, Bishop Basil, Secretary of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America to all member hierarchs, prayers were requested for two Syrian hierarchs who had been abducted earlier that day. The text of the letter reads as follows. “Metropolitan Paul Yazigi of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Aleppo (brother of His Beatitude Patriarch John X of the Great City-of-God Antioch and all the East), and Mar Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim of the Syriac Orthodox Archdiocese of Aleppo, were both abducted this morning, Monday, April 22nd, while they were traveling together on the road between Antioch (Antakya, Turkey) and the north Syrian city of Aleppo. The driver of the vehicle in which they were traveling was killed in the attack. Your prayers are requested.” And also... Mar Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim BEIRUT ( Daily Star ) - Two Aleppian bishops were kidn...

Cedar Grove, NJ ( SCOOCH ) – This Thursday, April 11, the Standing Conference of Oriental Orthodox Churches in America welcomed its newest member jurisdiction, the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Archdiocese of North America. H.E. Archbishop Khajag Barsamian (Armenian), H.E. Archbishop Mor Cyril Aphrem Karim (Syriac), H.E. Archbishop Vicken Aykazian (Armenian), H.E. Mor Titus Yeldho (Malankara-Syriac), and representatives of H.G. Bishop David (Coptic) and H.E. Abune Zekarias (Ethiopian) were on hand at the Coptic Center in Cedar Grove, NJ to welcome an Eritrean Orthodox delegation consisting of H.G. Abune Makarios, Fr. Ghebre-Michael Yohannes, Fr. Athanasius Ghebre-Ab, and Ato Belai Teferi into the organization. In addition to this historic event, the members of the Standing Conference also discussed the launch of the organization’s official website (scooch.org), the charitable endeavors of the organization, future concelebrations of the liturgy, inter-church relations with ...

H/T: Salt of the Earth ( YouTube ) - Students from Hellenic College Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology sing at the informal memorial set up for victims of the Boston Marathon at Boylston Street.

Cairo ( AINA ) - A media representative for Egypt's Catholic bishops echoed concerns that police sided with Islamic extremists who attacked a funeral service en masse at St. Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo. "The police must have been aware of the situation. So why were the police not in front of the cathedral?" asked Father Rafik Greiche of the Egyptian Catholic bishops' conference. He told Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need that the police "only arrived two hours later, and then they protected the attackers." Muslim extremists had previously threatened to disrupt the service, the priest said. The April 7 funeral was for four Christians killed in a gunfight that followed a dispute in the town of Khusus near Cairo. A Muslim was also killed in that clash. After the Christians' funeral, mourners left the cathedral and joined sympathetic Muslims in chanting slogans against President Mohammed Morsi and calling for his removal. ...

An interesting tome. I'm sure if you talk to almost any Eastern Catholic in the US you'll hear a story about some inter-Church dilemma they or a friend have experienced. Many of them have to do with a rather unidirectional flow of treatment of Eastern Catholics by Latin clergy. Things like baptizing Eastern Catholic children in Latin parishes without complaint, but refusal to allow Latin children to be baptized in an Eastern Catholic parish or denying Chrismation to a Latin child attending an Eastern Catholic parish or requiring CCD classes for an Eastern Catholic attending a Latin parish. ( Canon Law Society of America ) - Eastern Catholics and Latin Pastors: Issues and Canonical Norms by Lorenzo Lorusso, OP, English Edition by Chorbishop John Faris, 2013, 352 pp., ISBN1-932208-35-6 There are eighteen Eastern Catholic jurisdictions in the United States with approximately 600,000 registered faithful. Pastors and canonists are often confronted with questions when Easte...

RIVERSIDE, CA ( The Tribune ) — A community group seeking to preserve a towering cross atop Riverside's city-owned Mount Rubidoux has purchased a small parcel around the landmark. The Press-Enterprise reports the group Totally Mt. Rubidoux paid $10,500 in Thursday's auction for the parcel. The City Council voted to sell the land around the cross to avoid a lawsuit on its constitutionality after Americans United for Separation of Church and State last year threatened a lawsuit. The group asserted that religious symbol on public land is unconstitutional. The land was once owned by Mission Inn founder Frank Miller and there has been a cross atop the hill since 1907. Miller's family donated the land to the city in 1955 and it became a public park.

( ekathimerini ) - US Secretary of State John Kerry urged Turkey on Sunday to re-open Orthodox clergy schools near Istanbul that authorities have kept closed for more than 40 years. "It is our hope that the Halki seminary will open," Kerry said during a press conference in Istanbul after two days of talks on the Syrian crisis and the Mideast peace process. Kerry said he discussed religious freedom in overwhelmingly Muslim Turkey and the possible re-opening of the theological schools in talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. The Halki seminary, where Orthodox clergy used to train, is located on an island off Istanbul and was closed in 1971, after Turkey fell out with Greece over Cyprus. Kerry also met on Sunday the Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios, the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians. Both the United States and the European Union, which Turkey aspires to join, have increased pressure on Ankara to re-open the seminary as well as introducing...

( OCA ) - The national youth directors of several Orthodox jurisdictions have collaborated to offer a resource packet for clergy and lay persons to minister to youth and young adults in light of the recent violence in and around Boston. The resource packet - it may be downloaded in PDF format here  - contains a cover letter from the youth directors, three reflections on the attacks by adults, ten tips for speaking to youth groups and Church school classes about public violence, and a ten suggested steps for equipping youth groups and OCF chapters to respond to these tragedies (reposted below) . Also available on-line is the OCA’s study guide, “A Christian Response to Terrorism”, originally compiled after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, provides prayers, scriptural references, and discussion questions to use with youth and young adults. 10 Do’s and Don’t’s of Talking to our Youth about Acts of Public Violence By Mr. Andrew Boyd Don’t Tell Them Everything is Ok ...

From the blog Roger Pearse , a post on how a modern opinion gets conflated with a patristic source. A correspondent has written to me with an interesting quotation which is being attributed on the web to Cyril of Alexandria. It may be found here , among other places, and reads: When we ingest the Eucharist in reality we are ingesting the Godhead ….. because His Body and Blood are diffused through our members we become partakers of the divine nature. My correspondent notes that this contradicts what Cyril says in Against Nestorius 4 : But out of overmuch reverence, he blushes (it appears) at the measures of emptiness and endures not to see the Son Co-Eternal with God the Father, Him who is in the Form and Equality in everything with Him Who begat Him, come down unto lowliness: he finds fault with the economy and haply leaves not unblamed the Divine Counsel and Plan. For he pretends to investigate the force of the things said by Christ, and as it were taking in the depth of the...

( RISU ) - On 19 April, the Head of the Ukrainian-Greek Catholic Church, Patriarch Sviatoslav (Shevchuk) and Head of the Department of Foreign Relations of UGCC, Bishop Borys Gudziak set off for a pilgrimage to Constantinople. The trip is organized in the context of the celebration of the 1025th anniversary of Baptism of Rus-Ukraine and will end on 22 April. During the pilgrimage, the delegation of UGCC will meet with Patriarch Bartholomew I. According to Patriarch Sviatoslav, “it is a courtesy visit to the Mother Church of the Christians of the Kyivan Tradition.” The delegation will also visit the Cathedral of the Holy Sophia, the Greek-Catholic Church of the Holy Trinity and other shrines. So reported the Information Department of UGCC. "Before the meeting Patriarch Sviatoslav and Bishop Borys visited the Cathedral of St. George at the Phanar and venerated the relics of the holy hierarchs Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom. After the meetin...

( CBN ) - In Egypt, thousands of Muslim Brotherhood supporters gathered in Cairo to demand that President Mohammed Morsi cleanse the judiciary. The judges say Morsi has worked to weaken their independence and authority. But Morsi's supporters say the president is just trying to rid the judiciary of corruption. Meanwhile, in Washington D.C., American Coptics gathered in front of the White House Thursday to demand justice for Egyptian Christians. "We need justice! Obama, Obama, where are you?" said one demonstrator. The protestors say the United States should do more to pressure the Egyptian government to protect the Christian minority from attacks. They also urged Christians around the world need to pray and stand with them. "We don't want to see what happened in other countries in the Middle East also happen in Egypt," one protestor said. "We need to come together as one and push to allow Coptic Christians to remain in Egypt. Again, they are...

If a parish uses chairs in the exact same way one might use pews, does it make any sense for the parishioners actively disparage pews? This seems to be a trend I've experienced in my travels in North America. Are pews fraught with a special, onerous symbolism that interlocking chairs aren't?

I've covered this topic before, but the Orthodox Arts Journal has done a better job of it. ( Orthodox Arts Journal ) - One of the most surprising images one is faced with considering Orthodox liturgical symbolism is the bishop’s staff sporting two snakes flanking a small cross atop it. Especially in a Protestant North American context, this image seems to hark back to ancient chthonian cults, more a wizard’s magic staff than anything Christian. As I have been doing for other subjects, I would like to take a trip through iconography, through the Bible and other traditions to show how this symbol is all at once thoughtful, powerful and perfectly orthodox in the broadest sense. It also happens to fit nicely with all I have been writing for the OAJ up till now. The first hurdle we must overcome is the perception that the Western bishop’s staff, the crosier, is really a shepherd’s staff, whereas the Orthodox have this strange snake bearing object. In fact, for a millennia at...

( SVOTS ) - Meetings of the St. Juliana Society for St. Vladimir's future clergy wives are often punctuated by laughter and animated conversation, and Monday evening's gathering at the residence of Fr. Chad and Mat. Thekla Hatfield was no exception. Lively guest Khouria Krista West, host of " The Opinionated Tailor " podcast, offered a mini-seminar on both the care, and the spiritual symbolism, of clergy garments. I certainly hope this becomes a future podcast. Krista has worked as an ecclesiastical tailor for over fifteen years and has created nearly 1000 sets of vestments through her Portland-based business. Her interest in the history and traditions of Eastern Orthodox liturgical vesture led her to Greece in 2004 to participate in a museum conservation course hosted by the Greek Ministry of Culture, and Lenten vestments at St. Vladimir's since then she has continued to research multiple aspects of this field, including natural dyestuffs and early Byzantin...

( mospat.ru ) - On April 16, 2013, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk in his capacity of rector of the Ss Cyril and Methodius School of Post-Graduate and Doctoral Studies, while on a visit to Greece with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, visited the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. At the university main entrance, Metropolitan Hilarion was welcomed by rector Prof Yoannis Mylopoulos, pro-rector Despina Lioliou and dean of the Faculty of Theology Prof Michael Tritos. During a friendly talk, they discussed prospects for academic cooperation between the university and the ROC post-graduate school, especially the need to establish regular exchanges of students and doctoral candidates. They also considered a possibility for lectures to be given to the ROC post-graduate students by leading professors from the Faculty of Theology in Thessaloniki. After the talk, Metropolitan Hilarion was taken to the university amphitheatre where professors ...

( YouTube ) - At the request of many of our young adults and OCF college students, the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston, Hellenic College Holy Cross, International Orthodox Christian Charities, and Orthodox Christian Fellowship invited young people around Boston to gather at HCHC. 5:00 pm - Vespers with Trisagion 6:00 pm - Dinner 7:00-9:00 pm - Discussion in the Library Reading Room with His Grace Bishop John (Abdalah), Fr. Peter Preble of the IOCC, Dr. Philip Mamalakis, and members of the OCF staff. The Service of Paraklesis followed.