Byzantine, Texas

( HTS ) - With Bishop Luke, Rector of Holy Trinity Seminary and Abbot of Holy Trinity Monastery presiding and offering all prayers, and Archpriest Alexander, Dean of Holy Trinity Seminary, serving as master of ceremonies, distinguished Orthodox clergy and scholars from across the country gathered at Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary from March 7 to March 9. Hailing from several Orthodox jurisdictions in America and all four major Orthodox seminaries, the speakers offered lectures and discussions on how Orthodox anthropology can and must engage with secular culture in North America to help heal the trail of brokenness left behind as radical modernists, both secular and religious, surge forward with so-called "advances" for individuals and society. Engaging on both theoretical and practical levels, the Jordanville Conference, as it is now known, demonstrated how the problematic presuppositions of modernity have necessarily led to incorrect understandings of human beings, religi...

Thorough, loving, and unflinching is how I'd characterize this letter. Not seeking to widen the division, but also unwilling to let the Ukraine situation stand as it is without the deep concern it merits. This is how the OCU/UOC-KP issue is going to be solved. Not by denunciations on the one side or sycophancy on the other, but by a frank discussion of the merits of the arguments put forward; truth spoken in love. ( Orthodox Albania ) - Your Holiness Most Divine Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome, and Ecumenical Patriarch, Most Beloved and Dearest Brother in Christ God and Co-celebrant of our Humbleness in Christ our God, B a r t h o l o m e w, kissing Your Most Divine All-Holiness we address You in a most amiable manner. Having awaited with great anticipation the reply of Your Venerable Prominence, on the question of overcoming the concerns of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania, regarding the Primate of the new Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Ukraine, we receiv...

( Orthodoxie ) - Metropolitan Onufriy of Kyiv gave his blessing to offer prayers for autistic children and their parents during the Divine Liturgy in all the churches and monasteries of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The specific date of March 24 was chosen, because it is the feast day of Venerable Alexis of Goloseyevsky Skete, who suffered from muteness until the age of 13, when he was cured at Pascha. Alexis was born in Kyiv in 1840. He became a monk at the Kyiv Caves, then lived from 1893 on at Goloseyevsky Skete, where he became a known staretz, a clairvoyant, and spiritual father of many hierarchs and faithful. He died on March 11/24, 1917. The saint is now especially prayed for autistic patients. A cure from this disease took place on March 24, 2019 at St. Nicholas Church in Kryvyi Rih (Ukraine). “After venerating the icon of St Nicholas, a 12-year-old child, who until then was not able to speak, uttered his first words. The teachers present at this event were deeply moved...

( Catalog of Good Deeds ) - Everyone who has been to an Orthodox Liturgy must have seen altar servers or the priest himself dispensing pieces of a special bread called antidoron to the faithful. What is it and where does it come from? Antidoron (Greek ἀντίδωρον) literally means “instead of Gifts”, that is, it is consecrated bread, which is given as a blessing for those people who didn’t receive Holy Eucharist for some reason. Antidoron’s main ingredients are remains of the prosphora from which the priest had taken out the Lamb to be placed onto the Holy Paten during the Liturgy and be consecrated as the Body of Christ by the invocation of the Holy Spirit. In larger Greek parishes, sometimes additional entire prosphora are used for distribution after Liturgy. Consumption of antidoron is described in various written copies of the Studite Rule. However, the term antidoron wasn’t established yet and was often substituted with the term eulogia (Greek εὐλογία), which means a blessing...

This interview was posted in several languages before this English version was published by the EP. The machine translations were rather poor, so I am glad to be able to post it now. People have asked a lot of questions of the motivations and thinking that went into Constantinople doing what she did. This interview touches on many of these points. ( EP ) - Thank you for your time and your noble intention to give readers of “Politika” answers to very sensitive issues that characterize the positions of Orthodoxy in the modern world, namely – as you feel and know well – answers to very interesting questions about the Church of Ukraine. We admit that among the Serbian public, your explanation for this situation and your arguments have not been presented to a satisfactory degree. In contrast to this, the view and attitude of the Russian Church is constantly repeated in the Serbian media, and readers are fully familiar with them. With this interview, I am taking the opportunity to clarify...

BOSTON ( TNH ) – The faculty of the Holy Cross School of Theology wrote a letter dated March 8, 2019 addressed to Archbishop Demetrios of America and to the chairman of the Board of Trustees in which it expressed its great concern regarding three ‘notations’ imposed on the School by The Board of Commissioners of the Association of Theological Schools Commission on Accrediting. The professors wrote to the Archbishop “these three notations is of great concern to the faculty of Holy Cross.”. They are also asking for a financial audit: “The first steps to address this notation would be to conduct a transparent audit, by outside experts, of the structural budgetary operation of the institution. This audit should be shared with administration, faculty and staff as well as trustees. We also recommend the immediate recruitment of highly qualified past and new high impact board members, either to serve on the board of trustees, or even as part of a presidential financial advising committee...

( Romfea ) - Metropolitan Emmanuel of France is in Lebanon since last Wednesday, in a series of meetings with the religious authorities of the country, along with Metropolitan Amphilochios of Adrianople. Patriarch Ioannis of Antioch welcomed the delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate at the Monastery of Profitis Ilias, accompanied by the Metropolitan Siluan of Mount Lebanon (Batroun) and the Bishop Constantine of Chrysoupolis. The two sides referred to issues of mutual interest and inter-orthodox relations, while the Patriarch of Antioch expressed his warmest wishes to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew for the mission of the delegation. The meeting with the Patriarch Aram of Armenians and Cilicia was conducted in a good atmosphere. There were discussed issues of the Christians in the Middle East, especially the progress of the Bilateral Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Ancient Churches of the East.

Very little about Church history is absent from a search on the Internet. There is, of course, a lot of bad editorializing and no small amount of bad or intentionally misleading scholarship out there too, but if you know what you are looking for you can easily double check citations or quotations in minutes. My college and high school-aged children now take as a given that their professors will run their papers through plagiarism and citation filters, but it doesn't seem as apparent in some religious circles that what is proffered as fact is going to be checked by anyone and everyone who has the free time to do so. In this heightened post-Ukrainian Church reconfiguration environment every word of every patriarchate is being scanned line by line for error. Stepping away from the issue at hand for a moment might prove illustrative. I have made a hobby of language (philology/etymology/phonology/etc. - not a glamorous pastime I grant you) and almost daily find people positing the mos...

( SVOTS ) - Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev’s Orthodox Christianity, Vol. V is now available through St. Vladimir’s Seminary (SVS) Press, marking the completion of the monumental Orthodox Christianity series . The five-volume series is a detailed and systematic exposition of the history, canonical structure, doctrine, social and moral teaching, liturgical services, and spiritual life of the Orthodox Church. The purpose of this series is to present Orthodox Christianity as an integrated theological and liturgical system, in which all elements are interconnected. This fifth and final volume is dedicated to the mysteries (or sacraments) of the Orthodox Church—baptism, chrismation, the Eucharist, confession, ordination, unction, and marriage—in addition to the services of monastic tonsure, Christian burial, the blessing of water, and the consecration of a church building, which were also regarded as mysteries by some of the fathers of the Church. The book also explains the remaining ...

Hostility to free speech often hits religion directly. This is especially true on college campuses where an increasingly fragile student body thinks it is protecting itself from harm by not engaging with people with differing opinions - making them wholly unprepared for the real world. I'm all for mandating respect for free speech in all its forms in our schools. ( Fox News ) - President Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to promote free speech on college campuses by threatening colleges with the loss of federal research funding if they do not protect those rights. "We’re here to take historic action to defend American students and American values," Trump said, surrounded by conservative student activists at the signing ceremony. "They’ve been under siege." "Under the guise of speech codes, safe spaces and trigger warnings, these universities have tried to restrict free thought, impose total conformity and shut down the voices of great youn...

( Romfea ) - The Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate decided to include in the canon of the Orthodox Church of Estonia those who gave their lives in martyrdom and those who are accounted as confessors for the Orthodox Faith between 1944 and 1955, following a proposal by the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Estonia and its President, Metropolitan Stephanos of Tallinn and All Estonia. The names of the new New Martyrs are the following: Saint Petros, Bishop of Tartu and Petseri, Saint Alypios, Archimandrite Saint Vladimiros, Protopresbyterian Saint Seraphim, Priest Saint Ioannis, Priest Saint Leonidas, Priest Saint Andreas Saint Alexandros Their memory was decided to be celebrated on August 20. The Orthodox clergy and people of Estonia accepted this decision of the Mother Church of Constantinople with great joy and spiritual contentment.

I must say that the pan-Orthodox Sunday of Orthodoxy events were very different affairs all over the country. Some priests continued to go, some chose to stay home, some went to alternative Sunday of Orthodoxy events held by ROCOR. Some priests I know who never go to such events who went to the pan-Orthodox icon procession just so they wouldn't look like they held any sort of animus. For my part, there were more people at this year's event than I had ever seen before. ( SOC-NASA ) - During the first week of the Great Fast, as we are preparing to once again on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, in a visible way with all other Orthodox Christians, celebrate the Triumph of Orthodoxy and the Restoration of Icons, the Western American Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church hereby notifies its priests and faithful to steadfastly maintain to the current practice of concelebration with other Orthodox bishops, priests and faithful from all the Orthodox Dioceses in the United States of America....

Happy to credit whomever might have made this. Comment if you know.

Finally translated for us. ( ARCHONS ) - In a January 14, 2019 letter to His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana and all Albania called for a pan-Orthodox Council to resolve the crisis in Ukraine. His All-Holiness’ response, detailing the duties, responsibilities and rights of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, follows below. Protocol Number 104 Your Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana and all Albania, most beloved and precious brother, concelebrant in Christ our God of our Modesty: We address Your venerable Beatitude with exceeding delight, even as we greet you with a fraternal embrace. We received and thoroughly examined your fraternal letter of last January 14, 2019, following our letter of December 24, 2018, related to the canonical ecclesiastical acts that we initiated in Ukraine, and we would like to respond herewith so that, in a spirit of sincere instruction – which, as by God’s mercy Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and ...

Séminaire orthodoxe russe d'Épinay-sous-Sénart / Русская духовная семинария во Франции

( SVOTS ) - Seminarians from St. Vladimir’s, St. Tikhon’s, and Holy Cross seminaries gathered on the campus of St. Vladimir’s Seminary March 8-11 for the Spring 2019 Conference of the Orthodox Inter-Seminary Movement (OISM). Founded in the 1960s and revived in 2003 (by Archbishop Michael of New York while he led St. Tikhon's) , the OISM fosters fellowship and cooperation among Orthodox seminary and theology students. The group meets every year at one of North America’s Orthodox theological seminaries. St. Vladimir’s Seminary (SVOTS) was selected as the host for 2019. "Selected" needs a little context. There's a rotation of schools. The next school in the rota is asked if they can host and if they can't the next school is asked. It's a student-led organization so more freeform than you might expect. “I joined OISM because I wanted to actively foster a deep brotherhood between Seminarians of every jurisdiction. We also had in mind how isolated and lonely...

( ROMFEA ) - On March 19, the Hierarchy of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, chaired by Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece, meets in order to examine many important issues of the ecclesial world. In particular, the Hierarchy, which will be meeting until March 21, will decide about the filling of vacancies in the Metropolises of Sisanio and Siatista, Glyfada and Peristeri. Also, Metropolitan Ierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agios Vlasios will present to the Hierarchy the results of the deliberations of the special committee set up for the dialogue with the state on issues of common interest, as decided by the Hierarchy of the Church of Greece on January 16. The issues include, among others, the crucial issue of the status of clergy in relation to the state and the clergy’s payroll. The subject of the Autocephaly of the Church of Ukraine will also come into focus. The working sessions of the Hierarchy will commence with the service of the Divine Liturgy in the Katho...

BOSTON ( TNH ) – Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew announced the new composition of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate for the period March 1 to August 31 as part of its regular practice of semi-annual reorganization. The new composition of the Holy Synod, under the presidency of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, includes the following: Metropolitan Augustinos of Germany, Metropolitan Germanos of Tranoupolis, Metropolitan Sotirios of Toronto, Metropolitan Makarios of Anaeon, Metropolitan Theodoritos of Laodicea, Metropolitan Evgenios of Rethymno and Avlopotamos, Metropolitan Amphilochios of Ganos and Chora, Metropolitan Damaskinos of Kydonia and Apokoronas, Metropolitan Nathanael of Kos and Nisyros, Metropolitan Konstantinos of Singapore, Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Symi, and Metropolitan Nathanael of Chicago. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew sets the agenda for the topics that will be discussed in each session. Also, the Patriarch makes the recommendations for election...

Here's the first of the series...

( Church of Jerusalem ) - On Cheese fare Sunday, February 25/ March 10, 2019, at 5.00 p.m. and at the Service of the Small Compline, at the Holy Church of Saints Constantine and Helen, H.H.B. our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos read the prayer of forgiveness on the occasion of the beginning of the Great Lent. The reading of the prayer was followed by the brotherly osculation of forgiveness among the Hagiotaphite Archbishops with His Beatitude and the exchange of forgiveness wishes among the other Fathers, the Nuns and the pilgrims. At the end of the service, everybody returned to their cells for personal prayer, while the Patriarchate Headquarters remains closed until Wednesday of the First Week of Lent.

If you've read about the Baptism of the Rus', of Cyril and Methodius, of St. Alexis or any other great evangelical moment, this video is worth your time. Prayers for our brothers to the south!

I've been pondering the shorter term effects of Moscow (and her dependents - MP parishes in the "diaspora" and ROCOR) suspending communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Not the "What will this mean in 10 years" sort of question, but the "What does this mean today" variety. When the Russian Church ordered all of her people to suspend having anything to do with the EP the effect in the US was that no one will see them at any pan-Orthodox events, as a signee of any pan-Orthodox statements, or on any stage with other hierarchs speaking to current affairs. Anywhere a Greek or Ukrainian or Carpatho-Rusyn or Albanian or Palestinian clergyman might be present, a ROCOR clergyman isn't going to show up. Simple numbers tell you that in any inter-jurisdictional event a Greek priest is going to be there. So what does that mean for the average layperson not in ROCOR/MP? They aren't going to hear the often more conservative and traditionalist opinion. ...

The Albanian Church is blessed to be led by Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana. He is - by all accounts that I have read and by people who know him - a true leader of his people and has a loving heart. I am especially pleased to see His Beatitude speak below on the limitations of economia. We, especially in the United States, have taken it to mean "guiding principles without any teeth." The things I have seen swept aside leave me breathless. But I digress. This is a very fair letter that brings up very fair points. I still don't see how the EP is going to be maneuvered into a council over this, but there will come a day when an unrelated event is held in Constantinople and no one will come for fear of being pictured with the popularly perceived metaphorical ecclesial bed bugs that are the hierarchs of the OCU. As things stand now many Churches are taking a "Hate the sin. Love the sinner." approach where there is no suspension of communion, but no one is going to ...

( Hurriyet ) - The Armenian Patriarch in Turkey Mesrob Mutafyan passed away in Istanbul on March 8, according to hospital sources. The top religious leader of the Christian Armenians in Turkey, Archbishop Mesrob II Mutafyan died at age 63 in an Armenian hospital where he was receiving treatment in Zeytinburnu, Istanbul. He had been incapacitated since 2008 with an early onset of dementia. Mesrob was elected Patriarch in 1998, replacing the late Karekin II. In 2008, Archbishop Aram Ateşyan was appointed to fulfill Mesrob's duties as the acting patriarch. Bedros Şirinoğlu, the head of the Armenian Foundations Union and the Board of Surp Pirgic Armenian Hospital, expressed his condolences to the Armenian community in a statement. “Our Patriarch Mesrob Mutafyan, whom we have been trying to treat for 10 years in our hospital, unfortunately passed away at quarter to 1 p.m. today due to a heart attack. He was a precious religious man. He loved his country and nation...

This article is making the rounds again so I thought I'd repost here. Many men misunderstand what seminary is as much as they misunderstand what the priesthood is. For a not insignificant number the clerical ranks conjures images of mystical experiences, a place of respect in the Church, and a grace-filled way of life. Seminary seemingly calls upon the same sort of ideas; as if our formation centers are Orthodox Hogwarts. They aren't. Seminary isn't a finishing school for holy men or a transformative institution that's going to take your poorly established prayer life, failing marital communications, ineffective interactions with your children, or anything else and "fix" them. If anything it's going to exacerbate any problems you might have. So don't go to seminary and "see if it's what I'm called to do." Do a lot of research and discussion with your family beforehand. You may be surprised to hear that many men don't finish semi...

( AOB ) - “ Fast Questions and Fast Answers about American Orthodox Christian Monasteries ” (PDF) is the third essay in a group of mini-reports about Orthodox Church life in America. Not many people realize that there are eighty Orthodox Christian monasteries in the USA which represent great variety of ethnic and liturgical traditions. In fact, America is, probably, the only place in the world where - within the same country - one can visit Greek, Russian, Romanian, Serbian Orthodox monasteries and experience their different “ethnic” liturgical styles, worship practices, church architecture, musicology and iconography. Besides worship services, there are many other interesting aspects and facts related to the lives of American Orthodox monasteries. Here are some examples of the questions that are addressed in this report: Are there any monasteries that are especially interesting to visit, because of their architecture or religious arts? Are there any monasteries that offer some in...

( RISU ) - Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine has stated that the first foreign parishes of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine will soon become subordinate to the Constantinople Patriarchate. In an interview with Ukrayinska Pravda, he has noted that the transition process could not be rapid, but it had already begun, HB reports. “There are many parishes in Europe that have expressed willingness to become subordinate to the Ecumenical Patriarchate. I even had discussions a few days ago with certain community representatives who say, “We have good relations, we are already changing jurisdiction.” Now, I am preparing leave certificates for those priests, who have submitted requests,” said the Metropolitan. At the same time, he says there are some communities that do not want to move. “But we will have a dialogue with them. On the part of Patriarch Bartholomew there is no aggressive attitude that you have to transfer us these parishes today,” added Epifaniy. He reported t...

( AFR ) - Is small always bad? Can it be OK sometimes, perhaps even occasionally good, or maybe even better? It doesn’t seem like being small should be bad all the time, and yet, everywhere we go, all we hear about is how getting bigger is better. It certainly didn’t bother David to be very small when he went against a much bigger Goliathan obstacle. Our Lord and Savior started with a mere 12 men, most of whom did not have particularly distinguished theological credentials. And now, almost 2,000 years later, the biggest movement in the world remains the very small church Christ started. And most of the early Christian churches of the day all started very small. Some stayed that way and became strong, and many grew. With my special guest, Joe Kormos of the OCA, we explore some of the unique challenges facing small churches and some possible solutions and ideas to help them more fully meet their mission. Click here and tune in to the March 6, 2019 Stewardship Calling 1st Wed...

( ROC ) - The Press and Mass Information Bureau of the Serbian Orthodox Church spread a statement emphasizing, in particular, that the only Church known to and recognized by the Serbian Patriarchate in Ukraine is the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church led by His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine. The document characterizes the encroachment of the Patriarchate of Constantinople on the territory of the Russian Church as uncanonical and calls the “unification council” convened with the participation of Constantinople a disuniting and dividing false-council that “deepened a ditch of alienation and societal disintegration in the unhappy country of Ukraine.” The Serbian hierarchs and clergymen are recommended to refrain from liturgical and canonical communion not only with the “primate” of the newly-created OCU and “others of that ilk,” but also with those bishops and clerics who con-celebrate and enter into communion with them. The Serbian Orthodox Church also asks the ...

There are some sites cranking out anti-EP articles multiple times a day every day of the week. It has gotten to be a deluge. If I were to repost even a tenth of it, I'd be up all day doing so. Some of the articles turn opinion into fact and conjecture into certitude so they won't be reposted without equal space for a contradictory opinion or from an entirely different party with a neutral voice. On the below, I can't countenance a reason why the EP would want to be present at this meeting. He could hardly chair the event impartially and the optics of it would be horrible. Had the EP intervened to remedy the Qatar situation or had Antioch not pulled out of Crete, things might be different, but as they are now the conciliar process is occluded. ( UOJ ) - Patriarch Bartholomew rejected the proposal of the Primate of the Antioch Orthodox Church to hold a pan-Orthodox discussion of the religious situation in Ukraine.  In a letter to the Primate of the Antiochian Orthodox ...