Byzantine, Texas

( OCL ) - Where is ANTIOCHIAN participation in the Assembly of Bishops in the USA and in Europe? Where is the participation of the Laity of the Antiochian Archdiocese on the matter of Unity? Why have the many years of leadership – promoting Unity, the legacy Metropolitan Philip, been reversed by Metropolitan Joseph? Why do the problems of the Patriarchates in Europe and other regions have ripple effects on the work of the Assembly of Bishops in charge of the spiritual lives of the faithful in the United States? Controversy between Patriarchs of Antioch and Jerusalem caused a directive to come from the Patriarch of Antioch in October 2013 calling for all Antiochian bishops to withdraw from the Assemblies around the world. Metropolitan Philip directed clergy, laity and bishops to withdraw from the US Assembly in January 2014. Their participation was reinstated in May 2014. Will the latest severing of relations between the two Patriarchate on June 26-27, 2015, result in th...

( Vatican Insider ) - He didn’t shout it about but the proposal made by Patriarch Louis Raphael, Primate of the Chaldean Church was still shocking: doing away with the three Patriarchates rooted in the ancient Church of the East - the first Church to bring Christianity to Persia, India and even faraway China – and unifying the three ecclesial communities, bringing them under the leadership of one single Patriarch. This is a delicate moment for the three local ecclesial communities of Mesopotamia as their very existence is at risk in their own homeland. The Chaldean Church, which is the largest and tied to the Apostolic See in Rome, has been haemorrhaging faithful since the US-led western military invasions took place. It is losing faithful in Iraq and as such Christians risk extinction in areas where it has been present for thousands of years. For decades now, most of the faithful belonging to the Assyrian Church of the East have lived in flourishing diaspora communities spread ...

I took a trip up north to attend the "Conference in Preparation for the Great and Holy​ ​Council of the Orthodox Church" Co-​sponsored by the Orthodox Theological Society in America ​(​OTSA) and the Orthodox Christian Studies Center of Fordham University. Many well-known names in Orthodoxy gave talks or were on panel discussions. Met. Kallistos was present for almost all of the proceedings and gave the Florovsky Lecture entitled “The Decisive Importance of Councils in the Life of the Church.” He was a fine choice as an expert on Church history and theology, but was somewhat hampered in speaking on the upcoming council directly as his Eminence is not actively involved in the conciliar preparation himself. To my mind he could talk about Orthodox clerical footwear and make it a joy to listen to so it should be no surprise that he completely entertained a packed crowd of academics, clergy, and students for over an hour with a Q&A afterward where he responded with refresh...

( RISU ) - The arrival of two bishops of the Constantinople Patriarchate in Ukraine and their meeting with Ukrainian clergy was one of the topics discussed by the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), held on 24 June in Kyiv. In particular, they referred to Bishop Hilarion (Rudnik) of Edmonton and the Western Eparchyand Bishop Daniel (Zelinsky) of Pamphilon. This was reported by the official website of the UOC (MP). Bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) “expressed concern” about their activities in the “canonical territory” of the UOC (MP) without consent of the hierarchs of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate). Separately, members of the Synod asked Metropolitan Onufriy of Kyiv and All Ukraine toturn to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I for an explanation of the situation. As it was previously reported, on June 8, 2015 in St. Michael's Monastery, in the Hall of the Academic Council of the Kyiv Orthodox Th...

Please forgive this robo-translated passage from a much larger declaration [ DECLARATION DE L'INSTITUT SAINT-SERGE (16 juin 2015)]. 8. This is the inviolable right of the St Sergius Institute, higher private educational institution recognized by the State and governed by a free association of law 1901 which, de facto , can legally raise the Archdiocese of Russian Orthodox Churches in Western Europe, which is a diocesan union of religious associations of the 1905 Act This is also the imperative duty of the St Sergius Institute, in view of the pan-Orthodox mission he accomplished over ninety years in the service of all, the Committee and the Assembly of Orthodox Bishops of France, of all the Orthodox Churches in the world and first of the Ecumenical Throne has always guaranteed up today, freedom of the Institute as an expression of its own radiation. 9. This period of suspension of regular education on site will be developed in compliance with the students concerned and the pro...

The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland will soon have its own hierarch.

( Asbarez ) - The leader of worldwide Armenian Catholics, Catholicos Nerses Bedros XIX passed away Thursday from a heart attack in Lebanon, reported the administration of the Glendale-based St. Gregory the Illuminator Church. A memorial Mass will be held Sunday, June 28, at the St. Gregory the Illuminator in Glendale in Armenian and English. A Mass in Arabic in memory of Nerses Bedros XIX will be held in Glendora Born in Egypt in 1940, His Beatitude completed his philosophical and theological studies in Rome and was ordained a diocesan priest for the Armenian Catholic Eparchy in Egypt on August 15, 1965. He served that Eparchy and its parishes as a parish priest until 1990, when he was elected diocesan bishop. He was consecrated a bishop of the same Eparchy on February 18, 1990. He was elected and enthroned Catholicos-Patriarch of Armenian Catholics on October 24, 1999, a position he held until his passing away on June 25, 2015. The Vatican press service reported Thursday t...

You may well remember Heimbach as a man who was at the center of a large kerfuffle over his entry into Orthodoxy and later messy end with it over his ties to white supremacy (you can read more about it here ). Well, he's back in the news again. ( ABC News ) - While thousands of mourners and well-wishers have come to pay their respects to the nine people killed in a Charleston, South Carolina, church shooting last week and to further a message of racial harmony, there is one young man came to Charleston with a different message. “Dylan Roof is a victim in regards to he was a white man born to a society that actively hates him and hates his people, hates his culture and his identity,” Matt Heimbach told “Nightline” in an interview Monday. “There is a culture war being waged. There is a war on the streets against whites,” he added. Heimbach, 24, is a college-educated white separatist who believes the United States would be a better place if it went back to segregation. But...

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Constantinople ( AOB ) — On Tuesday, June 16, 2015 His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew warmly received the Executive Committee of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America at the Phanar in Constantinople. During the meeting, which took place in a spirit of open exchange in the personal office of the Ecumenical Patriarch, the hierarchs reviewed with His All-Holiness the work of the Assembly of Bishops, especially as it relates to the overall work of its committees. Particular attention was given to the work of the Committees for Pastoral Practice and Canonical Regional Planning. The hierarchs also discussed a number of challenges and opportunities in the formulation of a proposed plan for the restructuring of the Orthodox Church in the United States. Joining the Ecumenical Patriarch, Elder Metropolitan John of Pergamon discussed the mission of the Assemblies of Bishops as originally envisioned at their inception in Chambésy in 2009....

In 2007, the Russian Orthodox Church officially instituted the Feast of All Saints of Britian and Ireland. The Holy Synod decreed that it should be observed annually on the Third Sunday after Pentecost. O come, all ye faithful, now let us praise the saints of the Isles, the venerable monastics, the holy bishops, the right-believing princes, all the martyrs and the company of holy women, those known by name and those unknown, for truly by their words and deeds and manifold ways of life and gifts of God, they became saints and God made glorious even their graves with wonders. And now, standing before Christ Who hath glorified them, they pray fervently for us who celebrate the splendour of their feast with love. With what beauty of hymn shall we praise the divinely wise of the Isles, the splendour and adornment of the Church of Christ, the crown of the priesthood, the rule of piety, the never-drying wellsprings of divine healing, the outpouring of the gifts of the Spirit, the str...

After rereading his rather amusing words on infants (innocent only because they are too small to harm anyone), I went back to his preamble; tonight's words to ponder. Great art Thou, O Lord, and greatly to be praised; great is Thy power, and Thy wisdom infinite. And Thee would man praise; man, but a particle of Thy creation; man, that bears about him his mortality, the witness of his sin, the witness that Thou resistest the proud: yet would man praise Thee; he, but a particle of Thy creation. Thou awakest us to delight in Thy praise; for Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless, until it repose in Thee. Grant me, Lord, to know and understand which is first, to call on Thee or to praise Thee? and, again, to know Thee or to call on Thee? for who can call on Thee, not knowing Thee? for he that knoweth Thee not, may call on Thee as other than Thou art. Or, is it rather, that we call on Thee that we may know Thee? but how shall they call on Him in whom they have not be...

( Greek Reporter ) - Ahead of International Day of Yoga, as designated by the United Nations, the Greek Orthodox Church in Greece has lashed out at the popular relaxation and exercise. The Holy Synod, the Greek Orthodox Church’s governing body in Athens, denounced yoga, saying it is “incompatible” with the Christian faith. According to a statement issued by the synod, yoga is a fundamental part of the Hindu religion and is by no standards “a form of exercise.” “For this reason, yoga is totally incompatible with our Christian Orthodox faith and it has no place in the life of Christians,” the statement said. International Day of Yoga was introduced last year by the United Nations on a proposal by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

( OCA ) - The annual retreat of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America concluded on June 11, 2015. In addition to participating in the daily cycle of services at Holy Dormition Monastery, Rives Junction, MI, retreat site, and reflecting on a number of spiritual themes, including that of the forthcoming 18th All-American Council, the hierarchs engaged in sessions of a practical nature. Highlights of these sessions include the following. In his opening report, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon, reflected on the positive role of the OCA in the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops and beyond. He noted that he would be visiting the Ecumenical Patriarchate on Tuesday, June 16, with the members of the Assembly’s Executive Committee. It was decided to issue a letter releasing the Former Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan Jonah, to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. His release becomes official with his receipt of said letter. The hierarchs reaf...

Moscow ( AsiaNews ) - The Russian Orthodox Church has cautiously welcomed the willingness expressed by Pope Francis to establish a common date for Easter, so that Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants will celebrate the Resurrection on the same day. According archpriest Nikolai Balashov, deputy chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate Department of External Church Relations, the Pontiff’s statements as reported in the media are not sufficient to give a proper understanding of the essence of his proposal. "I would prefer to know the exact statements of Pope Francis first, transmitted by different sources of information," said Balashov, in an interview with Tass news agency, noting that "if the Church of Rome intends to abandon Easter according to the Gregorian calendar, introduced in the sixteenth century, and go back to the old one (Julian), used at a time when the Church of the East and West were united and used to date by the Orthodox, then this intention is welcome...

Moscow, June 16 ( Interfax ) - Protodeacon Andrey Kurayev, the famous Russian theologian, has described as "prospectless" a recent proposal by Pope Francis to introduce a single Easter date for all Christian denominations. "The Pope's proposal to designate a single all-Christian Easter day is unrealistic," Father Andrey wrote on his blog. In his view, the presence of the different festive dates "is nothing dangerous to the Christianity." The motives behind fourth-century Church's insistence on unity over the Easter issue are no longer relevant: "no one mistakes us for the Jews," he said. "For the Catholics, the Pope's decision is self-sufficient, whereas the Orthodox Christians are still tied by their tradition, or to be more precise, the decision of the First Ecumenical Council. And if the question as to what exactly should be considered the vernal equinox day lies in the interpretation of the nevertheless recognized Coun...

From the blog Orthodox in the District ... Dear friends in Christ, It is with a glad heart full of rejoicing that I share with you that earlier today Metropolitan Jonah received a signed letter of official release from Metropolitan Tikhon and the Synod of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) releasing him to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR). His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion (Kapral), First Hierarch of ROCOR, has been notified that the OCA Synod has, at long last, made good on their promise to release Metropolitan Jonah. Vladyka Jonah is thus received into ROCOR’s jurisdiction as a retired Metropolitan. This means that, at long last, Metropolitan Jonah will be free to serve wherever he is blessed to do so by the Synod of the ROCOR and Metropolitan Hilarion. He will be free to serve unhindered at St John the Baptist ROCOR Cathedral (where he has been serving for most of the past three years) and wherever else he is invited to do so, with the blessing of the ...

June 11, 2015 ( mospat ) - Heads of Orthodox Churches’ representations to the European Union met in Brussels for a working meeting with the participation of the secretary-general of the European Federation of Catholic Families Associations, Anna Maria Hildingsson. The aim of the meeting initiated by the Romanian Church Representation was to exchange opinions on the report ‘On the European Union’s Strategy for Equality of Women and Men Post 2015’ adopted by the European Parliament. The resolution on this report adopted on June 9, 2015, though not obligatory for implementation, constitutes a serious attempt to exert political pressure on European countries with the aim to destroy the traditional notions of marriage and family and to legalize surrogate motherhood and abortion. The meeting was attended by Archimandrite Emilian (Bogiannu), representative of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, Archpriest Dimitry Sizonenko, acting representative of the Russian Orthodox Church to internat...

I've been following this multi-part posting (of which the below is the seventh installment) by Sofia Matzarioti-Kostara. It makes for interesting reading. If you like this post, consider reading the rest here . ( Pemptousia ) - Byzantine society was a dynamic union of different cultural elements based on Greek civilization and the Christian faith. Although Christianity was the decisive element in the formation of Byzantium, the practical application of the Christian ethos as a way of life met with the resistance of the old cultural principles that were deeply rooted in the consciousness of the people. Accordingly, the theology of gender as expressed before faced two opposing extremes: the chauvinism of the Roman civilization, which pushed women into the background, on the one hand, and the pagan liberality that was a danger for the social ethos, on the other. For this society, it is reasonable to say that “the ancient’s interest was order and peace, not blindly equal treatm...

( OCA ) - At 8:19 p.m. on the evening of Wednesday, June 10, 2015, Archpriest Innocent Dresdow was startled to receive a call from Kodiak Police Dispatch. Asked to meet police officers at Holy Resurrection Cathedral, he was told not to go into or near the church, as it was “an active crime scene.” “I arrived on scene at 8:25 p.m. and met up with responding officers across the street from the cathedral,” Father Innocent said in the initial report he sent to His Grace, Bishop David of Sitka. “The lead officer related to me that the cathedral had been broken into and that a suspect had been apprehended in the church yard. He called the damage to the interior of the church ‘severe.’” ... Complete article here .

( UOC-USA ) - On June 8, 2015 in the Academic Hall of Kyiv Orthodox Theological Academy at St. Michael's Monastery, a joint meeting of the Committees for Dialogue of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kyiv Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church took place, which resulted in the acceptance of the formal statement, addressing the importance of the joint efforts towards unity of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, especially the unity of the UOC-KP and UAOC. With the blessing of Ecumenical Patriarch, as observers at the meetings were His Grace Bishop Daniel, the Ruling Hierarch and President of the Consistory of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA and His Grace Bishop Ilarion of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada. The presence of Bishops of the Permanent Conference of the Ukrainian Orthodox Bishops Beyond the Borders of Ukraine confirmed the concern and the attention and support of the Mother Church of Constantinople to the unification process of Ukrain...

Moscow, June 9 ( Interfax ) - President Vladimir Putin will be ready to explain in talks with Pope Benedict the essence of Russia's position on the situation in southeastern Ukraine, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. "Traditional talks with the Pope will deal with a broad agenda of pressing issues, providing an excellent opportunity to exchange views on issues of the greatest importance," Peskov told journalists ahead of Putin's visit to Italy. Asked whether the situation in southeastern Ukraine and implementation of the Minsk agreements will be addressed, Peskov said, "This is not ruled out, especially if Pope Francis demonstrates interest. I do not doubt that the president will be ready to spell out Russia's position in detail, of course." Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov earlier said that the situation in Ukraine with an accent on interfaith relations will be discussed during Putin's talks with Pope Francis in the Vatican on June 10. Patriar...

( OCP ) - On 3rd June 2015, the Patriarch flew to Manakara where he was welcomed by the district commissioner and crowds of people. The Alexandrian Primate visited the offices of the district commissioner where he offered spiritual words to the people of the area and told them to have patience for a better future in the difficult circumstances under which they live, as the people live on what nature produces, in some of the rarest flora and fauna in the world. At the Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity in Manakara, the children and the packed crowds welcomed the Patriarch with a doxology and gave His Beatitude traditional handmade gifts. The day ended with the inauguration of the first Orthodox University in Madagascar, under the auspices of the Holy Metropolis. The Alexandrian Primate conducted the Service of Sanctification. Present were the Representative of the Madagascar Parliament, the Mayor of Manakara, the District Commissioner, the local Metropolitan, clergy from the Me...

If you want to know why some of the bishops are going to Constantinople in a few days, how important the upcoming council is, what this all means for Orthodox unity in the "diaspora," and many other things besides, listen to this podcast. Will you find a lot of answers? No. You'll end up with more questions than answers. If you're in favor of this unification process, you'll also be a bit saddened by the lack of a timeline or an achievement of the goals already explicit before us. ( AFR ) - On June 16, 2015 the Executive Committee of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States will travel to Istanbul in order to meet with His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who will receive them at the Phanar. Special Assistant to the Assembly Chairman, Fr. Nathanael Symeonides joins us to tell us what that is all about.

( Bebawy Coptic News ) - On Thursday, May 28, 2015, the Coptic Holy Synod convened with the presence of 115 members of the distinguished metropolitans and bishops, and was presided over by H.H. Pope Tawadros II and H.G. Bishop Rafeal, the Secretary of the Holy Synod. Holy Synod Decrees – May 28, 2015 Recognizing The Monastery of the Virgin Mary & Archangel Michael for nuns in Dairut. An official letter to His Holiness requesting the approval for each novice to take the monastic vow must be submitted by the Abbot of the monastery. A “Monastery Center” is an administrative and lodging center for monks and nuns, with certain health or social conditions. The center should not get involved in any ecclesiastic services or pastoral care except the divine liturgy. Establishing a center for a monastery requires approval and written permission from His Holiness the Pope and/or the Bishop of the Diocese as to where the center will be established. Abbotts are to rectify situations t...

About once a year a news story comes from Russia about a new Stalin "icon." As repugnant as they are, they seem to keep getting made and disseminated with startling regularity. ( Sputnik News ) - Representatives of the Belgorod Archdiocese of the Russian Orthodox Church have issued a statement denouncing a painting created in the style of an Orthodox icon featuring Joseph Stalin and Soviet WW2 generals. Earlier this week, people gathered at Prokhorovka field, the site of a key WW2 battle in Russia's Belgorod region, to hold a ceremony dedicated to the fallen, featuring the painting, entitled 'Sovereign Holy Mother', which shows Stalin and his marshals on Red Square under the gaze of Mary, the mother of Christ. The painting was carried and transported by vehicles through the site of the battle, passing churches and monuments; a monk priest named Athonogenes prayed for the fallen heroes... Complete article here .

"It's time to start... Running!" Let me say that for most (for me certainly) the time after ordination one feels as if he has been dropped off on in the middle of a field and told to "Get on with it." I wasn't sure exactly what "it" was and where I was supposed to be going. I knew ostensibly what was supposed to be happening, but I wasn't sure if that was in fact what was going on. By God's grace a clutch of new priests joined together online to discuss things so I was not left entirely to my own devices, but still one moment I was standing in seminary and the next I was all alone trying to remember survival techniques I should have paid better attention to in class. Really, the first months after ordination are very much like the Running Man. The ordination service is a blur and then you're at the other end of the tunnel trying to get your bearings. The below letter never made it to my mailbox in any form, but I wish it had. Ev...

Moscow, June 3 ( Interfax ) - The Moscow Patriarchate criticizes the decisions of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland to consecrate homosexuals and of the United Protestant Church of France to bless homosexual marriages. "These decisions of the Church of Scotland and the Church of France have deeply disappointed the Russian Orthodox Church as they seem incompatible with norms of Christian morals," the Department for External Church Relations says in its statement posted Wednesday on its official website. Guided by definitions of the Bishops' Councils, which say that future relations with many Protestant communities depend on their faithfulness to norms of Gospel morality, DECR "does not see any prospects in further official contacts with the Church of Scotland and the United Presbyterian Church of France." "In sorrow we state that today we have new divisions in Christian world, not only in theological, but in moral issues," the statement says. ...

( ROCOR ) - One of the most tragic pages in the history of the Russian diaspora was marked by a solemn panikhida held on Monday, June 1, 2015, at St John the Baptist Cathedral in Washington, DC. The tens of thousands of Cossacks who were repatriated by the Western powers to the USSR in 1945 were honored. “Many parishes in the emigration since World War II have marked the anniversary of the betrayal by the Allie of tens of thousands of Russian Cossacks who were repatriated to the USSR. They naively believed that in collaborating with Hitler, they could emancipate Russia from the Communist yoke,” said Protopriest Victor Potapov to RIA Novosti. " He noted that “within the framework of the agreement signed at the Yalta Conference, Stalin demanded that all Soviet citizens found in the West be returned to the USSR. I grew up in the emigration, and I know from our older generation that the Allies felt obliged to execute their agreement with Stalin,” he said. “The battalions of Russi...

My son is taking Arabic and he asked why he was being taught "The Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. One God." with the two word addition. Islam has been variably defined by Christians as a heretical movement, a completely separate religion, and the work of the devil. In Christian-Muslim talks, properly defining who Jesus is and isn't looms large. Here's a discussion of that topic from OCN. ( OCN ) - Recently, the following question was received by OCN: Hi, Thanks for a great page and I’m very happy to see my Orthodox brothers and sisters from around the world. I have a question maybe you could help me to answer. I have a friend (a Muslim convert) who is questioning the Trinity. According to him the Christians took the words of Jesus and twisted them to create a Trinity. He explains that Jesus never said he is 3 in 1 only the followers of Paulus since it was Paulus who created the Trinity. My friend said this was the main reason he left Christianity. Wh...