Byzantine, Texas

Over the years, having travelled a bit for school, seminary, parish assignments, and the like I think I've found a pattern of sorts to the names you'll find. OCA Diocese of the South? There is at list one child named Seraphim milling about. Greek Archdiocese? Elenis for miles. Heavily convert populated? One guy named Photius for sure. People, help me out with some other regional/jurisdictional name markers that I'm missing.

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( RNS ) - The Papal Nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, will attend the opening events of the 21st Orientale Lumen Conference scheduled for June 19-22, 2017 in Washington, DC. Other international ecumenical leaders who will be plenary speakers during the 4-day conference include Archbishop Job of Telmessos, Orthodox Co-Chair of the International Catholic-Orthodox Dialogue; Msgr. Paul McPartlan of The Catholic University of America and also a member of the international dialogue; Father Thomas FitzGerald, from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Seminary and member of the North American Catholic-Orthodox Consultation; and Father Hyacinthe Destivelle, OP, from the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity at the Vatican. Video recorded lectures by Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia, of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and professor emeritus of Oxford University, will also be presented during the conference. The theme for the conference will be “Chieti and Crete: Two H...

( OCL ) - One year ago, the worldwide Christian Community was looking East to Chania, Crete to see what would result from the gathering of Orthodox Bishops called together by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to meet as a Holy and Great Council. The preparations for the meeting were 60 years in the making. In 2008, the 14 Patriarchs and self-governing heads of the Churches of the old Roman Empire, the traditional Orthodox lands, agreed to meet and began discussions to settle on an agenda. Within this 8-year time frame, 6 agenda items were agreed upon. The meeting was on track until four months before the June 2016 date when four Church leaders broke the 8-year agreement to meet. Antioch, Russia, Bulgaria and Georgia, for various reasons, declined to attend. To the great credit of Patriarch Bartholomew and the other bishops, the Holy and Great Council took place, and there were some positive results. Without the four obstructionist Churches attending, Orthodoxy showed that i...

( OCA ) - With the blessings of His Eminence, Archbishop Irénée of Ottawa and Canada and His Eminence, Archbishop Alejo of Mexico City, three new activity books for use in Sunday school, vacation Church school and summer camp programs are now available from Lengua Viva Publishers, Ottawa, ON. Author Ioana Dimitriu, a Romanian-Canadian member of Ottawa’s Annunciation Cathedral, began writing the activity books after working with youth in rural Orthodox communities in Mexico during the 2014 missionary trip organized by the Orthodox Church in America and the Orthodox Christian Mission Center. Being a Spanish teacher and a native speaker of Romanian, Ioana was inspired to use her language skills to develop catechetical materials that would benefit Orthodox children in multilingual parishes or who worship in Spanish, French, or Romanian, as well as English. The first volume—The Twelve Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church—includes accounts of the feasts and numerous engaging activiti...

I want you to think of this video when you second-guess crossing yourself at a restaurant or before you step on the field to play sports or wherever someone might see you. No one is going to shoot at you like they did to these little ones on a CHILDREN'S CHURCH TRIP to a monastery. Those moments are as certainly tests for you as they are the Scantron sheets being filled out by students in schools across this country as the last days of school approach. I've received some comments and emails asking why I'm covering these "schismatics" (or other such terms). I have no patience for such criticisms. These are women and children with the name of Christ on their lips as they lay bleeding to death in the sand. If your faith is so caustic as to wonder why I weep for the lives of these innocents, I would remind you of the words of the Father in Genesis. And the Lord said, "What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood cries to me out of the ground....

As clergy, we hear this defense for all manner of poorly chosen venues for an Orthodox Christian to attend. I've heard it for going to same-sex weddings, for attending wild parties, for drinking at pubs at all hours, and really whatever predicament one can think of that someone put oneself in and now wants to explain oneself out of. Actions have purposes. There really aren't too many neutral visitations in the context of such activities. One is either supporting such behavior or challenging it. Very rarely is the Orthodox Christian just an innocent fly on the wall minding his own business while trying to get at the buffet table without anyone noticing. Three cheers for bacchanalia? ( TheBlaze ) - I was recently informed by a fellow Christian that it’s perfectly OK for a follower of Christ to march in a gay pride parade because, as he explained it, “Jesus hung out with sinners.” It was far from the first time that I’ve heard a clearly objectionable act justified on these ...

( NYTimes ) - “At this rate Copts will be extinct in 100 years. They will die, leave, convert or get killed,” a friend wrote on Facebook as news broke of the latest bloody attack on Egypt’s Coptic Christians. Less than two months ago, while attending church in Cairo on Palm Sunday, my friend told me she’d mused to herself that it was a blessing her daughter wasn’t with her: If there was a bombing, at least her child would survive. Forty-five Copts were murdered that day by the Islamic State in churches in Alexandria and Tanta. Such are the thoughts of Coptic parents in Egypt these days. The terrorists chose today’s target well. The Monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor, which I visited a decade ago, is very hard to reach. One hundred and ten miles on the Cairo Luxor desert road, you make a right-hand turn and for the next 17 miles drive on an unpaved road. The single lane forces cars to drive slowly, and, as the only route leading to the monastery, the victims were guaranteed to ...

( OrthoChristian ) - During his visit to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople in September 2016, Heinrich Bedford-Strom, Chairman of the Council of German Evangelical Churches, told His All-Holiness that “it would be a special honor” if the patriarch would attend the celebrations for the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation in Wittenberg and Tübingen this month. Having accepted the invitation, Patriarch Bartholomew will head to Germany next week, reports Sedmitza. The patriarch will arrive in Stuttgart on Sunday, May 28, and will be awarded an honorary doctorate from the Evangelical Theology and History Department in Tübingen the next day. He will also be presented with the German translation of his book Encountering the Mystery. Then the patriarch will attend a two-day symposium on Evangelical and Orthodox theology. According to the organizers of the Reformation celebrations, the invitation to Patriarch Bartholomew is intended to remind about the first conta...

( BBC ) - Gunmen have attacked a bus carrying Coptic Christians in central Egypt, killing at least 28 people and wounding 25 others, officials say. The bus was travelling to the Monastery of St Samuel the Confessor, 135km (85 miles) south of Cairo, from Minya province when it came under fire. No group immediately said it was behind the attack. But Islamic State (IS) militants have targeted Copts several times in recent months, and vowed to do so again. Two suicide bombings at Palm Sunday services at churches in the northern cities of Alexandria and Tanta on 9 April left 46 people dead. Another suicide bombing at a church in the capital in December killed 29 people, while a Christian community was forced to flee the town of el-Arish in the northern Sinai peninsula after a series of gun attacks in February. The Copts killed on Friday had been travelling to St Samuel's monastery to pray. Their bus was in a small convoy that was stopped on a desert road near Adwa police...

MOSCOW, May 23 ( TASS ) - Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Kirill I has issued a proposal to the leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, Pope Tawadros II, to organize 'translation' (delivery) of the relics of Egyptian fathers of the Orthodox Church to Russia. He made the proposal on Tuesday as he received Tawadros II in the official patriarchal residence in St Daniel's monastery in Moscow. "An idea appeared upon the outcome of a trip to Egypt by a group of our monks to issue a request to you for authorizing delivery to Moscow of the relics the founding fathers of our shared monastic tradition," Kirill I said. "This would ignite huge spiritual enthusiasm in people and strengthen our bonds further. Nothing else unites people as tightly as common saints. He invited Coptic Christians to visit the shrines of the Russian Orthodox Church. "We are looking forward to the arrival of your delegation and we'll show them our monasteries an...

Sargodha, Pakistan ( OCP ) - His Beatitude Metropolitan Hilarion (First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Outside Russia) has defrocked two Priests in Pakistan for canonical violations and pastoral disobedience. The two Priests are Cyril Amer and Anthony Shamoon. The two Priests are Cyril Amer and Anthony Shamaoon. They are involved in several criminal activities including human trafficking. All believers are hereby advised not to engage with Cyril Amer or Anthony Shamoon in any manner. Believers are also advised not to fund any of their activities in Pakistan or elsewhere. Please be advised that Cyril Amer and his friends are still using the name of ROCOR to raise funds for their illegal activities. All faithful are advised to exercise high caution. Add caption

From Manchester resident Fr. Gregory Hallam's blog Antioch Abouna , a post entitled " Rolling back the darkness ." It is with a sad and heavy heart that I must comment on those terrible events that unfolded last night in the great city of Manchester, when the terrorists struck again on our soil. This time they targeted defenceless and innocent young people, some with friends and some in family groups, attending a pop concert in the Manchester Arena in the centre of the city. As I speak to you on the day after, there are currently 22 fatalities and 59 people injured, many of them critically. One of the children killed was merely eight years old. Our prayers go out to the grieving families of those who have lost loved ones and also to those who are suffering from grievous wounds in various hospitals around the city. IS/Daesh has claimed responsibility for this despicable and cowardly action but that cult of death often tries to promote itself on the back of such...

( Haaretz ) - Other American presidents have visited the Old City of Jerusalem, which was conquered by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War, but not while they were serving in this capacity. Breaking longstanding tradition, Donald Trump became the first sitting American president to ever visit the Old City of Jerusalem. Trump’s visit to the Holy Sepulchre preceded his visit the Western Wall, one of Judaism’s holiest sites. Trump visited two major religious sites in the Old City on Monday afternoon, during the first few hours of his visit to Israel. His first stop was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of Christianity’s holiest sites. The church, one of the most visited sites in in the country, is believed by Christians to be the place where Jesus was buried and then resurrected. In doing so, he became the first sitting president to visit a Christian holy site before a Jewish holy site while visiting Israel. Trump and his wife Melania spent about an hour at the Old City church befo...

Moscow, May 22 ( Interfax ) - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia believes Christians of different confessions will unite in the future. "Today we are still divided as theological problems rooted in the ancient times don't give us a possibility to unite," the patriarch said on Sunday at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior after the service at the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker first time in history delivered from Italy. The primate said that the Christians could unite "not thanks to their efforts or some church diplomatic steps or theological agreements, but only if the Holy Spirit again unites all who confess the name of Christ." "We believe that St. Nicholas who listens to the prayers of Christians in the East and in the West stands before the Lord and among others requests asks Him to unite Churches together," he said. "May the Lord save and help Christians of the West and of the East in going through difficult historic w...

If you've been following Bishop Athanasius (Akunda) of Kismu lately, you know he has been touring the US recently. Bishop Athanasius of Kisumu oversees approximately 300 parishes, with 115 priests, 1 medical clinic with three more to open, 5 high schools, 8 primary schools, a monastery dedicated to St. Anthony (under construction) and many other ministries. His Diocese encompasses a very large geographical area bordering Lake Victoria, Somalia, Tanzania, and Uganda and includes regions such as Turkana, where much missionary work is taking place. Here's a wonderful story from one of his visits to a parish along the way. The below from Christ the Savior Orthodox Church in Rockford, IL. Nina Strapko speaking in Swahili with His Grace Bishop Athanasius. We have some parishioners who as children were forced to live in camps in Siberia during WWII. The Polish Army liberated their camp and they spent 5 or more years living in a colony in Africa where Nina once spoke Swahili fluen...

( SOC-NASA ) - With the blessing of His Grace, Bishop Longin of New Gracanica and Midwestern America, the relics of St. Mardarije, which have laid in the Church of St. Sava Monastery in Libertyville, Illinois, since his internment in December 1935, were uncovered. The opening revealed St. Mardarije’s holy relics to be incorrupt. On Thursday, May 4, 2017, His Grace Bishop Longin served Divine Liturgy at St. Sava Monastery with Sindjel Serafim (Milojkovic), Priest Nikolaj Kostur and Hierodeacon Nektarije (Tesanovic), in preparation for uncovering the relics. Following the Divine Liturgy, Bishop Longin and the other clergy served a Moleban with the Akathist written to St. Mardarije. Upon completion, the crew organized to remove the tombstone and flooring in order to exhume the relics arrived, under the guidance of Mr. Dusan Djordjevic of Sveta Gora Funeral Home in Chicago. After removal of the stone, it was revealed that the casket of St. Mardarije was in a cement vault. This caused...

Leaving Italy Arriving at airport ( Nikola 2017 ) - From 21 may to 28 July 2017 will be bringing in the Russia of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker stored in the Basilica of Bari (Italy). This is a unique event: for 930 years honest relics of St. Nicholas in Bari they have never left the city. Saint Nicholas is one of the most revered saints in all of Christendom. Every year hundreds of believers of the Moscow Patriarchate visited Bari to venerate the honourable relics of the great Saint of God. However, for the majority of Orthodox Russia pilgrimage are far too difficult. The agreement on the transfer of part of the relics of St. Nicholas was reached at the historic meeting of Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Kirill with Pope Francis February 12, 2016. The press service of Church events is now accepting applications to cover the events related to the stay of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Moscow. The relic will be brought to the Cathedral of Chr...

( Sputnik News ) - In an unprecedented sign of inter-faith solidarity, Ukraine's Ambassador to the Vatican has been summoned by Pope Francis over a new bill by Ukrainian lawmakers which would impose discriminatory restrictions against the Moscow branch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. On Thursday, Ukrainian lawmakers delayed voting on two bills which would impose severe restrictions on the Moscow Patriarchate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, a major religious organization accounting for half of Ukraine's total Eastern Orthodox parishes, churches and communities, with over 11,500 parishes and monasteries and representation in every region of the country. Lawmakers' proposals included assigning a "special status" for religious organizations whose leadership was based in an "aggressor state," the term used by Kiev to describe Russia. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church's Moscow Patriarchate is the major target of the legislation. The proposed bills s...

The whole idea is a little tone deaf. Besides the obvious impediment to such "Immaculate Heart" imagery, the Russian Church - I am sure - would not make Rome happy if it chose to dedicate Italy to Mark of Ephesus. This is the sort of stuff that has every step towards mutual understanding followed by two steps back in skepticism. ROME, May 19, 2017 ( LifeSiteNews ) – Cardinal Raymond Burke issued a call this morning for the Catholic faithful to “work for the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.” Cardinal Burke, who is one of the four Cardinals who have asked Pope Francis for a clarification of Amoris Laetitia, made his appeal at the Rome Life Forum, in the month of the centenary of Our Lady of Fatima’s first apparition to the three shepherd children. Burke is the former prefect of the Apostolic Signatura and current Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. In a comprehensive address on “The Secret of Fatima and a New Evangelization,” Cardina...

( Pravoslavie.ru ) - Mother Ines, abbess of the Holy Trinity Monastery in Amatitlan, Guatemala, and head of the Hogar Rafael Ayau Orphanage in Guatemala City, has announced on the Hogar Rafael Ayau Facebook page and the Friends Helping Rafal Ayau site that the children’s home is being forced to abandon its property in the capital city. As previously reported , although the orphanage and property had been given to Mother Ines and the nuns of Holy Trinity in 1996 by former President Arzú for a span of fifty years, the Attorney General sent a letter on March 20 stating that the state was repossessing the property, needing it to take care of children with more immediate needs, and that the legal agreement between the government and orphanage was never properly registered and so not binding. Mother Ines writes: I am writing this to tell you with great sadness that we are going to leave the property donated for charity by my great-grandfather, Don Rafael Ayau, in 1856; and which in ...

He was in no small way the soundtrack of my youth. Temple of the Dog is my favorite album and I think I still own almost every Soundgarden album from my teens. Blessed repose, Chris Cornell. Christ is risen! Please, mother mercy Take me from this place And the long winded curses I keep hearing in my head Words never listen And teachers never learn Now I'm warm from the candle But I feel too cold to burn He came from an island And he died from the street He hurt so bad like a soul breaking But he never said nothing to me So say hello to heaven New like a baby Lost like a prayer The sky was your playground But the cold ground was your bed Poor stargazer She 's got no tears in her eyes Smooth like whisper She knows that love heals all wounds with time Now it seems like too much love Is never enough, you better seek out Another road 'cause this one has Ended abrupt, say hello to heaven I never wanted To write these words down for you With the pa...

( COCC-Detriot ) - The Very Rev. Radomir Obsenica of St. George Serbian Orthodox Church, Monroe, will speak on the subject of " Marriage to Non-Orthodox "(PDF) on Monday, June 19 at 7 p.m. at St. Mary the Protectress Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral, 21931 Evergreen Road, Southfield, 48075. The presentation is sponsored by Orthodox Christian Women of Michigan (OCW). The meeting is free of charge and open to all members of the public. Refreshments will be served after Father Obsenica's talk. For further information, contact OCW President Mary Ann Dadich at (586) 775-4799 or mdadich811@gmail.com. OCW was founded in 1993 to provide spiritually enriching and educational presentations and activities, to promote Orthodox unity, to provide opportunities for Inter-Orthodox fellowship, and to perform charitable works. All women who are members of Orthodox Christian parishes in metropolitan Detroit are invited to become supporting members and participate in the organization'...

( ROCOR Pastoral School ) - The Pastoral School of the Diocese of Chicago & Mid-America feels strongly that active partnership with higher education theological institutions of the Russian Orthodox Church/Moscow Patriarchate is an important aspect of making the continuing reconciliation of the Russian Church a real, living effort that will bear spiritual fruit, and that this is fully within the spirit of the Act of Canonical Communion signed by the ever memorable Patriarch Aleksey II and Metropolitan Laurus on the day of the Ascension 2007. On the very precipice of the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Act of Canonical Communion, The Pastoral School is happy to announce the signing of a Partnership Agreement with the Kyiv Theological Academy and Seminary on May 4/17, 2017. Signing on behalf of the Pastoral School was the Rector, Archbishop Peter of Chicago & Mid-America. Signing on behalf of the Kyiv Theological Academy and Seminary was the Rector, Metropolitan Antoniy ...

( HTOS ) - On May 3, 2017, at a regular session of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad, the V. Rev. Archpriest Alexander Webster was confirmed by the Synod as dean of Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary, having been nominated by the Board of Trustees of HTOS. A priest of almost 35 years, a retired US Army chaplain with the rank of Colonel, holding degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, Harvard Divinity School, and the University of Pittsburgh (PhD in Religion / Social Ethics), author of four books and more than a hundred published articles, having taught for many years, a specialist in Moral Theology, and previously the academic dean of an Orthodox seminary, Fr. Alexander brings a wealth of academic and pastoral experience to HTOS. Fr. Alexander was ordained to the priesthood in 1982 in the Serbian Orthodox Church. He has been married to his wife Kathleen for 44 years. They have four children and four grandchildren.

Moscow, May 17 ( Interfax ) - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia called on the heads of state of the "Normandy four" countries, the Orthodox Churches, Pope Francis, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to prevent the planned adoption by the Verkhovnaya Rada of Ukraine of two laws that are regarded by the Russian Orthodox Church as discriminatory. "The messages state that, if these drafts are adopted, discriminatory legal practice on a majority of the Orthodox population of Ukraine unprecedented for today's Europe will be legalized. Such restrictive religious legislation was not effective in Ukraine even in the period of the Communist regime, and in the remaining territory of Europe something like that only existed under Nazi rule in Germany," the Russian Orthodox Church said on its website on Wednesday. There are two bills. Bill №4511 gives special status to religious organizations "whose administrative centers are located in a state recogniz...

WASHINGTON ( Christian Post ) — Evangelical Christians from the United States and other areas of the world are helping "destroy" the historic Antioch Church in Syria by offering poor, vulnerable orthodox Christians aid and assistance if they "convert" and start worshiping at evangelical house churches, a prominent Syrian priest asserted. Archimandrite Alexi Chehadeh, director-general of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch's Department of Ecumenical Relations and Development, traveled from the church's headquarters in Damascus, Syria, to the U.S. capital last week to take part in the first-ever World Summit in Defense of Persecuted Christians hosted by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association at the Mayflower Hotel.

NEW YORK ( GOA ) – The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America mourns the passing of Metropolitan Philotheos of Meloa who fell asleep in the Lord early this morning following a short illness. Upon hearing of his passing, His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America stated: “His Eminence Metropolitan of Meloa Philotheos, of blessed memory, was an outstanding clergyman of our Holy Archdiocese. He served for many years as a deacon, presbyter and bishop offering liturgically model services, pastorally amazing sensitivity, and canon law knowledge of unusual quality. He established a bright example of total dedication to God, firm faithfulness to the people he worked with, remarkable ecclesiastical ethos and passionate patriotism. Even during a time of medically strong treatments he did not stop from officiating in liturgies, vespers and other occasions. He served and moved with dignity and grace. His departure leaves a vacuum difficult to fill. He left us, but now he is a permanent amba...

I follow things like this because there is an egg timer attached to these sorts of events. Someone gathers together all the papers, edits them and translates them as needed, and then ding! out comes a book in a year. The one I read on St. Isaac the Syrian from this conference was quite good (if a few topics were a bit wonk-y). ( mospat.ru ) - The Fourth International Patristic Conference on St. Ephrem the Syrian and His Spiritual Legacy has completed its work at the Ss Cyril and Methodius Institute of Post-Graduate Studies (CMI). During six plenary sessions, leading specialists in patristics, Syriac studies and history of the Early Church read papers on St. Ephrem’s theological and ascetic teaching, textology of his works and various problems concerning studies and publication of his extensive literary legacy in Syriac and other languages. The conference worked in the Russian and English languages. Summing up the results of the conference at its closing session, Bishop Irenae...

( mospat.ru ) - On 11 May 2017, the Vice President of the Unites States Michael R. Pence met with religious leaders of different Christian confessions at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington before a plenary session of the World Summit in Defense of Persecuted Christians. In the talk with high-ranking American politician Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, expressed confidence in the necessity of forming a world anti-terrorist coalition with the United States of America and the Russian Federation as its participants to overcome terrorist threat. The DECR chairman underscored the impossibility of conquering terrorism by several coalitions in confrontation with one another. Other issues of mutual interest were also touched upon during the talk. Metropolitan Hilarion presented the Vice President of the United States with the English version of the book “Patriarch Kirill in his own words” which contain...

H/T: Symposium Part 1 Part 2 Theotokos Institute for Catholic Studies - TICStalks are free public lectures delivered by staff members of the Theotokos Institute for Catholic Studies in partnership with universities around the UK. ABSTRACT: More often than not, we take what it is to be a human being for granted. Yet understanding who we are and what we exist for is a task that neither philosophy nor science have yet exhausted. Religions, on the other hand, and Christianity more specifically, point the way forward with some confidence. Indeed, the Christian theological tradition has wrestled with, and gone some way toward answering, the question as to what humanity and its purpose is since the emergence of the Church in the first century. From a Christian point of view, however, there are two possible places to start when talking about the human person: with what we know about people, or with what we know about God, and it is for this reason that the theologian most natur...

( Antiochian.org ) - Paul Jabara, Department of Sacred Music Chairman, is searching for choristers with advanced vocal training and musical experience who will perform in a select Sacred Music Chamber Choir at the Sacred Music Institute on July 12–16, 2017 at Antiochian Village. The chamber choir will sing a variety of Orthodox hymns, both Byzantine and Choral, under the direction of Mr. Jabara. The choir will be limited to eighteen members. Singers are asked to audition with a piece of their choice that demonstrates their technique and vocal range. The recording can be made on an iPhone or similar device, and emailed to Paul Jabara at sacredmusic@antiochian.org. The audition deadline is June 1, 2017. The Sacred Music Chamber Choir was formed six years ago, allowing experienced choristers the opportunity to challenge themselves and perform Orthodox music of the highest calibre. Longterm plans for the Chamber Choir include the creation of a recording of Orthodox Christian hymns, an...

More great photos here .

Several people emailed to ask about how to honor my brother in Christ, Fr. William George, who passed away after a car accident last week. His obituary gives some direction: In lieu of flowers, kindly support the Saints Peter and Paul Narthex Icon Project. Donations can be sent care of Saints Peter and Paul Orthodox Church, 66 Beach Street, Rockaway, NJ 07866. May his Memory Be Eternal. Christ is Risen! Thursday, May 11, at 10 am, reception of the body into Saints Peter and Paul Church at 66 Beach Street, Rockaway. The church will remain open all day and there will be a Priest's Parastas service at 7 pm. Friday, May 12, at 10 am, a funeral Liturgy followed by internment at Saints Peter & Paul Cemetery on Quaker Ave. in Randolph. Please do come and pray with us if you are in the area.

Her Royal Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II meets with His Holiness Pope Tawadros II

( basilica.ro ) - On Sunday, a ceremony was held at St George Church in Saint-Hubert borough of Longueuil, Canada, during which His Grace Ioan Casian was enthroned as first Romanian Orthodox Bishop of Canada. His Eminence Metropolitan Nifon of Târgoviște, the delegate of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel, read out the Synodal Tomos proclaiming the establishment the new Romanian Diocese of Canada. His Eminence Nicolae, Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan of the Americas, led the enthronement ceremony of the first Romanian Bishop of Canada and read out the Patriarchal Gramata [decree of blessing]. Metropolitan Nicolae presented the episcopal insignia to His Grace Ioan Casian, who addressed the audience and stressed the importance of the mission the church has in society. He referred to the co-responsibility Christians have in their communities. Bishop Ioan Casian called that day a moment of great joy, a crowning of long efforts. For over thirty-three years, we have been working on this...

( La Stampa ) - Behind the scenes - between lights and shadows - of the renunciation of Patriarch Laham. An emblematic story of the “inner” malaise that crosses many Christian Middle Eastern communities. Potential candidates to succession and the - spiritual and pastoral - emergencies that they will have to face In the end, Patriarch Gregory III Laham pulled out. He is no longer the Primate of the Greek-Melkite Catholic Church. His somewhat troubled exit ultimately confirming his impulsive attitude. It also reveals factors - often removed - of the “inner” malaise that today crosses many Christian Middle Eastern communities. Patriarch vs. Synod On Saturday May 6, the Vatican Press issued Pope Francis’ letter in which he informs Gregory III of having accepted the Patriarch’s renunciation of the patriarchal assignment, a request submitted to Pope Bergoglio by the Patriarch at a recent hearing. In the letter, Francis considers the Patriarch of Antioch’s decision as opportune and n...

( Basilica.ro ) - On April 30, the Sunday of the Myrrhbearing Women, His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae (Condrea) was enthroned as the first Romanian Orthodox metropolitan of the Americas. The event took place after the Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral of Sts. Constantine and Helen in Chicago. The delegation of the Romanian Patriarchate was led by Metropolitan Nifon of Târgoviște. The Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church established the new metropolis on October 28, 2016, and then-Archbishop Nicolae was elevated to the rank of metropolitan on Sunday October 30, 2016 after the Divine Liturgy in the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest, with His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel presiding. His Eminence Archbishop Nicolae was born on April 15, 1967 in Constanta, Romania. He attended high school in Constanta and Bucharest and continued with the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Sibiu from 1988 to 1992. He earned a Master’s Degree (1995) and a PhD in Theology (2001) at Marc Bloch Universit...

Reposting this blog post from several years back... Today we celebrate the life of St. Alexis of Wilkes-Barre (pictured right from an icon at Christ the Saviour Seminary). Most hagiographies are written with a set beginning and a set end to the conversion of the Carpatho-Rusyn people in the United States. What is often left out is the continued ill-treatment of the Rusyns by local hierarchs and from Rome itself. This eventually led to the further departure of Greek Catholics into Orthodoxy - this time by Met. Orestes under the omophor of Constantinople. What is often also left out is the loss by those that followed St. Alexis of many of the practices particular to the Rusyn people. Music, clerical dress, and liturgical idiosyncrasies were cast of in favor of Russian practices. Some will say that many of these were Latinizations and, while that is true to some degree, many were authentic Eastern practices - many in fact Pre-Nikonian. From the OCA Saints and Feasts section... Our ...