Byzantine, Texas

( SPZH ) - The jury members of the vocal competition were so delighted to listen to the choir of the Russian Orthodox Seminary that they did not have time to press the button. The team of Schola Fratrum teachers and seminarians of the Russian Orthodox Seminary, located in the city of Epineux-sen-Senar on the outskirts of Paris, took part in blind auditions of the French vocal show “Voice”, performing the condo “My soul, rise up, why are you sleeping?” from the Great Penitent Canon of St. Andrew of Crete. It is reported by Interfax. The jury members, including the famous French performers Lara Fabian, Amel Bent, Marc Lavoine and Pascal Obispo, sat with their backs to the participants of the contest and did not immediately understand how many people there were and in what language they were singing. During the performance, the judges looked at each other in amazement and, as they later admitted, got so lost in thought during the acapelic singing that they simply did not have time t...

Honestly, I divide March for Life participation into two camps. Those hierarchs who come to the prayer vigil and enjoy a nice meal and those who actually get out onto the concrete - rain or shine, freezing wind or icy sleet - and prayerfully walk with the people. So, for example, nothing short of a blizzard would keep Abp. Michael (Dahulich) of New York from marching. The OCA and ACROD have been staples in DC for decades. And I'm pleased to see UOC-USA representation this year, too. God willing, future marches will see even more jurisdictions represented. One thing is consistent, though: young people. As the president said, young people are the backbone of this March. This is true about the Orthodox in attendance as well. I was proud to have some of my children marching as they have in years past. May the Lord have mercy on us for the great and tragic sin of abortion. Prayers for the mothers of the unborn, their fathers, and the children held close to our Lord's heart from conc...

Given the tomos of the OCA and the existence of ROCOR here, how can Moscow defend the establishment of a new parish in North America? Whenever people bring up the existing MP parishes in the Americas the response is "These parishes requested to stay in the Moscow Patriarchate many years ago." No such historical exigences exist here. ( ROC ) - A year ago the Orthodox citizens of the city of Cancún, Mexico, appealed to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, asking for his blessing, as they intended to establish a parish of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Moscow Patriarchate’s Administration for Institutions Abroad instructed the acting administrator of the Patriarchal parishes in the USA, Bishop Matthew of Sourozh, to render assistance in organizing regular divine services for the community members and to explore a possibility for opening a parish in Cancún. Throughout 2019, with the blessing of Bishop Matthew, Rev. Kirill Chacon, rector of the Church ...

( Moscow Times ) - An influential spiritual leader plans to build the world’s largest Orthodox Christian Church in central Russia, the Znak.com news website reported Monday. Once completed, the 25-story structure on the site of a women’s monastery in the Sverdlovsk region will reportedly hold up to 37,000 worshippers. “The Saint Sophia Church will become an outpost and the largest Orthodox Church in the world,” Zhanna Ryabtseva, a senior regional manager of the pro-government All-Russia People’s Front movement, told Znak.com. “Construction of the first stylobate will begin in 2020,” Ryabtseva, who Znak.com says is a parishioner of the project’s mastermind, said. The mastermind is reportedly Father Sergei, the secretive leader of the women’s monastery where the church is set to be built and the confessor of several public figures, including former Crimean attorney general Natalya Poklonskaya. "The project is being masterminded by Father Sergei, a former policeman who ser...

Moscow, January 24 ( Interfax ) - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has expressed words of solidarity with the Jewish people in connection with the 75th anniversary of the Holocaust, saying he regrets that mankind has not fully learned this historical lesson. "The memory of this horrific event of the 20th century is also important today. To our great regret, we are seeing a revival of radical ideologies not only at the level of separate terrorist groups but on the scale of whole states. The problem of particular political or religious figures assuming exclusive rights is very acute now. Against this backdrop, new precedents of anti-Semitism, Christianophobia, hatred of other religious traditions are becoming increasingly frequent," the head of the Russian Church said in his address to participants of the 5th World Holocaust Forum. The patriarch said with regret that the international community had in the 21st century allowed the persecution of Christians whose ri...

Larnaca ( AsiaNews ) - Promote "ecumenical cooperation" between the Churches of the Middle East in the theological, social and media fields, with the aim of giving ever greater witness to Christ in a "unitified" perspective. This is what the executive committee of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) asks, at the conclusion of the third meeting held on January 21 and 22 in Larnaca (Cyprus), chaired by John X Yazigi, patriarch of Antioch and Greek Orthodox primate. In the final release, Christian leaders also asked to pray for the "release" of Yohana Ibrahim and Boulos Yaziji, kidnapped in Syria in April 2013 and of whom there is no known information. People will have seen this month's updates that reported that they might have died some years ago. The political and institutional situation in the various Middle East countries, marked by wars, ethnic-confessional violence and massive exodus are among the concerns of the members of the MECC, wh...

Paris, France, Jan 21, 2020 / 01:00 pm ( CNA ) - Debate began on a bioethics bill in the French Senate Tuesday after tens of thousands of people marched through the streets of Paris to protest state funding for medically assisted procreation for lesbian couples and single women. “A child is a gift to be received, not an order to be manufactured. The absence of a father is an injury that can be suffered, but it is monstrous to inflict it on purpose,” Archbishop of Paris Michel Aupetit said in a statement ahead of the protest on Sunday. Critics of the bill have highlighted several bioethical questions surrounding in vitro fertilization, including preimplantation diagnoses, embryo storage, anonymous sperm donation, and the creation of so-called “savior siblings” -- embryos created via in vitro fertilization for the use of the stem cells in their umbilical blood to treat a sick older sibling. Archbishop Aupetit, who practiced medicine and taught bioethics at a medical school before ...

For those of you marching with me for Life this month and for those who simply wish to pray for our holy innocents, here's an icon from Uncut Mountain Supply you might like: Icon of the Theotokos "Protectress of the Unborn" . O believers, come let us perceive a type in the law, and the shadow and the letter. Every male that opens the womb shall be holy to God. So the unoriginate Father's firstborn Logos and Son, who is the firstborn of the Mother who knew not man, we magnify.

History is an interesting thing. There was no Armenian patriarch in Constantinople until the Ottomans conquered it, relocated Armenians into the city, and placed a leader for them there. Armenians - being non-Chalcedonians - were not permitted to operate in the Orthodox city before the sacking. So to have the EP at the enthronement is a turn-around that reflects the effect a few hundred years can have on relations. According to the narration often repeated and generally accepted regarding how and when the Istanbul Armenian Patriarchate was established, the establishment coming with the conquest of Istanbul took place as follows: “When Mehmet the Conqueror was in Bursa before the conquest of Istanbul, he showed an intimacy and love for the Armenian people and Hovagim who was the spiritual leader of them there. When the Conqueror was talking with Hovagim one day, Hovagim prayed that “May God make your kingdom higher than the other kingdoms” and the Conqueror responded a promise which ...

( Boston Globe ) - Hellenic College Holy Cross in Brookline has been placed on probation following concerns about the school’s financial resources and planning, according to the school and an accreditor. In a joint statement Thursday, the Greek Orthodox school and the New England Commission of Higher Education said the commission voted in November to place the college on probation for two years. According to the statement, the “Commission found that Hellenic College, Inc. does not now meet the Commission’s standards on Institutional Resources and Planning and Evaluation. The Commission also issued a Notation to the College that it is in danger of not meeting the standards on Organization and Governance and The Academic Program.” The commission will monitor conditions at the school during its probationary period, and the college will maintain its accreditation during that time, with continued “eligibility for federal funding, including student financial aid,” the statement said. ...

A homily entitled " The Voice Crying Out in the Wilderness " by Archimandrite Jack (Khalil). Hat tip to a favorite blog (also essential reading as a gateway to the Arabic-speaking Church) Notes on Arab Orthodoxy . The four evangelists agree that John the Baptist was the voice crying out prophesied by the Prophet Isaiah (40:3). According to the Apostles Matthew and John, the Baptist himself was the one who announced that Isaiah's prophecy was being fulfilled. The prophecy appears in the Book of Isaiah, chapter 40, which announces the consolation of Jerusalem. Its context is very important for understanding the message that the Baptist wanted to deliver by declaring that the prophecy was being fulfilled. The Prophet Isaiah had previously informed the King Hezekiah that his people would be taken captive to Babel and enslaved there (39:6-7). After that, he announced God's visitation to Jerusalem and His pardon of its sins (40:2) and His coming there to save it (40:5,...

CONSTANTINOPLE ( TNH ) – His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, at the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy on Sunday, January 5, at the Patriarchal Church of Saint George, said in his homily, that “the invitation from Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem “to preserve unity in Eucharistic communion” must be actually sent to the Patriarch of Moscow and not to all Orthodox Churches.” Representatives from the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, led by Metropolitan Makarios of Lviv, also participated in the Divine Liturgy on the first anniversary of the granting of the Tomos of Autocephaly for the Church of Ukraine. The Ecumenical Patriarch added that the “non-canonical” initiative of Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem, “left a deep impression” on them. His All Holiness, addressing the delegation from Ukraine, said, “we are delighted to welcome you to the Ecumenical Patriarchate to celebrate all together the first anniversary of the granting of the Tomos of the Autocephaly to the Orthodox...

( St. Andrew's ) - The feast of Holy Apostle Andrew, the ‘first-called’ of Christ’s Apostles, and the patronal feast of our parish, was celebrated on the Friday and Saturday of Thanksgiving Weekend in a truly beautiful and prayerful manner. His Eminence, Abp. Michael, led the clergy and faithful in the blessing and dedication of our parish’s newly-refurbished and installed cupola. Vladyka got into a personnel lift which hoisted him vertically 35 feet into the air, where he was able to see the cupola eye-to-eye and sanctify it with Holy Water.

( RISU ) - Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine said that the Orthodox Church of Ukraine has been a success, but there is still a lot of work to do. He told it to reporters on Monday, according to UNN. " The first year of the institutional formation of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine is coming to an end, and today we can say that the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, as such, has been a success. But we still have a lot of work to do so that all Orthodox Ukrainians to unite around Kyiv, so that all of us together in the one Local Ukrainian Orthodox Church serve God, serve the interests of our Ukrainian people and serve the interests of the Ukrainian state," the first Hierarch said. He added that over the past year, about 600 parishes from the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine have joined the Orthodox Church of Ukraine." "In recent months, there have been some problems related to re-registration, that is, de facto. Some parishes that have declared the transi...

DETROIT/SOUTHFIELD, MI ( OCA-ROEA ) – Saint George Romanian Orthodox Cathedral will be the site of the Ordination to the Episcopacy of Archimandrite Andrei (Hoarște) on February 1, 2020. The weekend will begin with the celebration of Great Vespers with the Proclamation of Election and Calling of the Bishop-Elect on Friday, January 31 at 7:00pm, followed by a formal reception in the Cathedral Cultural Center. The Bishop-Elect will recite his Profession of Faith the next morning, Saturday, February 1 at 9:00am, immediately followed by the Divine Liturgy with the Ordination to the Episcopacy. A Grand Banquet will follow at the nearby St. John Armenian Church Cultural Center. The following day, Sunday, February 2 at 9:30am, Bishop Andrei will serve his first Hierarchal Divine Liturgy at St. Mary Romanian Orthodox Cathedral in Cleveland, Ohio, followed by a banquet hosted by the parish in his honor. At the request of Archbishop Nathaniel (Popp), Ruling Hierarch of the Romanian Orth...

Popular speaker and artist Jonathan Pageau was invited to speak to the Orthodox Inter-Seminary Movement at St-Tikhon's Seminary in November. As he stated, "I wanted to show them how the tradition of iconography exemplifies the pattern of Church itself as the body of Christ, but also the pattern of reality as it unfolds before us."

( RNS ) - A drummer breaks ice prior to the Epiphany ritual, in Kalofer, Bulgaria, Monday, Jan. 6, 2020. Thousands of Orthodox Christian worshippers plunged into the icy waters of rivers and lakes across Bulgaria on Monday to retrieve crucifixes tossed by priests in ceremonies commemorating the baptism of Jesus Christ. In the mountain city of Kalofer, in central Bulgaria, dozens of men dressed in white embroidered shirts waded into the frigid Tundzha River waving national flags and singing folk songs.

( Romanian Church ) - During an event, which was held on Friday, January 3, at Zografeion Lyceum, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew gave advice to the population of the Greek Diaspora, that is the youth and their parents, and then he blessed and cut the Vasilopita. The Ecumenical Patriarch highlighted the profound impact that technological development has on society and drew the attention of parents and young people to the potential dangers of using new technologies: “Television, the Internet, and computers have brought radical changes in the identity of children and in society. Technology has a lot of influence on the child ‘s psyche, education and daily life. Experts talk about the ‘disappearance’ of childhood as well as of the loss of childhood ‘innocence’. If we consider the violations of children’s rights worldwide, children-victims of war conflicts, children-refugees, and deprivation, then we understand why children do not have the right environment for development and protecti...

( Orthodox Times ) - In his letter in English in which he avoided using words such as “synaxis” or “synod,” something that would confront him with the holy canons of the Church, the Patriarch of Jerusalem invited Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the other primates of the Orthodox Churches in Jordan for a “fraternal gathering in love,” a term coined by him. Following what he stated in Moscow after his meeting with the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem proceeds with his initiative to “find peace among the Churches,” as he claimed, by sending an invitation to the Orthodox primates for this “fraternal gathering in love” to be held by the end of February. In his letter brought to light today by orthodoxia.info, after having explained the prominent place of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem in the Holy Land and its historic interventions to maintain peace in the region, Patriarch Theophilos announced that he had decided to build a bridge amon...