Met. Tikhon is locum tenens of Nikonian dioceses

(OCA) - On Tuesday evening, September 3, the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church met via teleconference in Special Session under the presidency of His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon. At this meeting, the Holy Synod declared vacant the sees of the Diocese of New England and the Albanian Archdiocese following the death of His Eminence, Archbishop Nikon.

At this same meeting, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon informed the members of the Holy Synod that he would be the locum tenens for these two dioceses. It is to be remembered that under Met. Jonah the synod said that the metropolitan should not be put into this position because of the strain it places on the primate - this edict was immediately abandoned following his stepping down.

Russian exarchate not as pro-Moscow as many have assumed

(Orthodoxie) - Today was held in Paris an Extraordinary General Assembly ( Statutes , Articles 35 and 28) of the Archdiocese of Russian Orthodox Churches in Western Europe. The discussion was lively and the various opinions could be exchanged. The question asked was: " Do you accept the canonical act of attachment of the Archdiocese to the Moscow Patriarchate as presented in the published document? The assembly counted 186 voters. There were 179 votes cast, six whites and one draw. The "yes" vote received 104 votes, or 58.1% of the votes cast, the "no" 75 votes, or 41.9% of the votes cast. We are waiting for the official communique of the Archbishop who will inform about what will be done.

On Mount Saint Macrina

(SQPN) - Every year, thousands of Eastern-rite Catholics gather in a small Western Pennsylvania town on pilgrimage to Mount Saint Macrina. Tom and Noelle Crowe explain how the pilgrimage started and what Pope Pius XI and Archbishop Fulton Sheen had to do with it.

St. Gabriel Monastery welcomes pilgrims

(Daily Sabah) - Some 5,000 members of the Assyrian community from around the the world gathered in the southeastern town of Midyat to remember Mor Gabriel or Saint Gabriel, on the 1,351st anniversary of his death.

The faithful gathered at a monastery bearing the saint's name in the town, located in southeastern Turkey's Mardin. The monastery is one of the oldest surviving Assyrian monasteries in the world and believed to have been built some 1,600 years ago. Speaking at the religious service dedicated to the saint, Hori Gabriel Aktaş, vice metropolitan of Midyat for the Assyrian church, said they were pleased with the fervent atmosphere.

"We have a large crowd today who came from Europe and other cities," he said. Daniel Savcı, an Assyrian priest who attended the service, said Mor Gabriel was among the most revered saints of the community due to the multiple miracles he exhibited during his lifetime.

"We mark his anniversary of death here in this monastery because this is where he was buried along with thousands of other saints. It is like a second Jerusalem for the community," he said. The community set up large pots outside the monastery and served meals to the guests while the faithful recited the Bible throughout the night and into the early hours of Tuesday.

Russian exarchate's initial response to Constantinople

From computer-translated French...

---

(AROC-WE) - On Saturday August 31, 2019, the day after the meeting of the Board of Directors, the Office of the Archdiocese issued a communiqué detailing the three points that were retained by the Board for consideration by the Assembly on the future of the Archdiocese.

Shortly after this publication appeared a statement from the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople expressing his decision to grant a canonical leave to Archbishop John "personally and only for him".

Monseigneur Jean announces that he had not requested such a holiday to date and sent the Patriarchate a request for explanation. In the meantime, Archbishop Jean confirms that the Extraordinary General Assembly will be held regularly on the 7th of September as planned.

But the decision of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople has the consequence of modifying the list of the solutions envisaged, submitted for the consideration of the Assembly.

Thus the first option for the study of a new ecclesial structure for the archbishopric in the Patriarchate of Constantinople is rendered obsolete.

Father George Ashkov, for his part, informed the Archbishop that he was asking for the withdrawal of his project, which had become unimaginable for the time being in the newly created situation, while hoping that it could be examined later.

Thus it will remain in the General Assembly of September 7 to decide directly on the "project of attachment to the Moscow Patriarchate" developed during six months by the joint commission "archbishop-patriarchate of Moscow".

In order to carry our assembly in prayer, we ask all our faithful to practice a fast from Wednesday to Friday and to invoke in their prayers the Holy Spirit so that He will lead the members of the AGE towards the path that will allow the Archdiocese to continue the works of our predecessors with blessed memory.

Syriac Catholic Church reestablished diocese in Northern Iraq

BERUIT (Crux) - To support the faithful and encourage them to stay in their homeland, the Syriac Catholic Church has reestablished a diocese for the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan celebrated the new diocese at a Mass at Queen of Peace Syriac Catholic Church in Irbil, Iraq, Aug. 24. In his homily, he commended the faithful for being “the embodiment of the living faith, and a testimony to the challenge and steadfastness amid takfiri terrorism and in the face of evil forces that wanted to kill hope in your believing souls.”

“I say and repeat: You have carried the cross on the example of the Savior, our divine teacher, and you have persevered in your faith, your heritage and your hope, which has been admired around the world, East and West alike,” Younan said.

Archbishop Nathaniel Nizar Semaan heads the new Diocese of Hadiab-Irbil and all Kurdistan. Previously, the area was under the Mosul Archdiocese’s jurisdiction.

Semaan was ordained a bishop June 7 as the coadjutor archbishop of Mosul; then he was named archbishop of the new diocese when it was erected June 28. He had served as a priest in London for 14 years.

The Hadiab Diocese was founded in the 13th century, but had dissolved by the mid-17th century.

In the summer of 2014, some 120,000 Christians were uprooted from Mosul and the Ninevah Plain by the Islamic State, fleeing to Irbil in the Kurdistan region. While dozens of families have since migrated to the West, some families have returned to liberated areas in the Ninevah Plain, and others have settled in the Kurdistan region.

Younan noted that, during their synod in June, the Syriac Catholic bishops decided to revive the diocese “in order to activate the episcopal care of the clergy and believers residing in the Kurdistan region.”

The Kurdistan regional government has provided two plots of land in Ainkawa and Dahuk, each dedicated to the construction of a Syriac Catholic church.

Read more »

Pat. Irinej recovering following hospitalization

(spc.rs) - A health condition of His Holiness Irinej, Serbian Patriarch, who is being hospitalized at the Military Medical Academy, is stable.

His recovery is in progress, and a permanent consulting body of doctors of the Military Medical Academy headed by Brigadier General Prof. Dr. Dragan Dincic expects that the Primate of the Serbian Church will reassume his regular responsibilities soon.

His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Irinej has been in the Military Medical Academy since the 27th August 2019.

Grand event at St. Sava Serbian Church in San Gabriel, CA

And to quote my favorite line from the event - Metropolitan Joseph: "Kosovo is Serbia!"

---

(spc.rs) - For months the St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church in San Gabriel, California has been actively beautifying their church, parish hall and grounds in preparation of hosting the annual Diocesan Days celebration on this jubilee year 2019, as we mark the 800th anniversary of the autocephaly of the Serbian Orthodox Church. With the blessings of His Grace Bishop Maxim of Western America the annual Diocesan Days celebration came to an official start on Friday, August 30, 2019, as distinguished guests, clergy, monastics and the faithful began to slowly arrive to St. Sava’s Church in San Gabriel. As is the established custom, this annual celebration in the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Western America, per the blessings of the diocesan bishop, dedicates the first day and first order of business to a clergy seminar. This year’s seminar was led by the Most Venerable Archimandrite Metodije of the Royal Lavra Hilandar Monastery.

Following lunch Bishop Maxim introduced Fr. Metodije who delivered a moving talk on the role of Mount Athos in the celebration of eight centuries of the Serbian Orthodox Church. After all, Fr. Metodije noted, St. Sava was abbot of Monastery Hilandar at the time he became the first Serbian Archbishop. Moreover, St. Sava played a great role not only in the life of the Serbian monastery but throughout the Holy Mountain. There is an opinion that the entire Athonite monastic community rejoiced exceedingly upon hearing of his appointment to the rank of archbishop. The reason was that the Latins, who had control of Constantinople at that time, had appointed one of their bishops to the Diocese of Ierissos, under whose jurisdiction Mount Athos belonged. As the Athonite monks were firm and staunch defenders of Orthodoxy, they did not want the Latins to tonsure their monks, ordain their hierodeacons and hieromonks. Thus, St. Sava’s election brought much joy as he, himself, was an Athonite monk, and now would be able to tonsure and ordain monks throughout the Holy Mountain, which, in fact, he did.

Not only was Saint Sava respected at one time in history among Athonite monks but even to this day. As Fr. Metodije noted, eight centuries have passed since the time of Saint Sava and yet he is still loved greatly by monastics throughout the Holy Mountain. In fact, it is hard to find a monastery that doesn’t have a fresco of him or his father St. Symeon the Myrrh-bearer.

Read more »

Groundbreaking at new Orthodox school in Ann Arbor, MI

(ROCOR-Chicago) - On August 28, 2019 – the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos – His Eminence Archbishop Peter presided at the ceremonial groundbreaking for the Ann Arbor Orthodox Classical Academy, located on the campus of St. Vladimir Orthodox Church in Ann Arbor, MI. Following the evening services for the Image of the Lord Not Made by Hands, a special prayer for the founding of a new structure, and the requisite sprinkling of the site of the school with Holy Water, His Eminence took up a shovel and broke the ground at the location of the future day school. His Eminence was joined at the groundbreaking by the Rector of the St. Vladimir parish, Archpriest Gregory Joyce, along with the parish deacons Vladimir Pyrozhenko and Dmitriy Kashchenko. Also participating were visiting clerics Archpriest Victor Trotskyy (Rector of Dormition Cathedral, Ferndale, MI), Archpriest Vasily Kuzmych (Rector of Holy Trinity Church, Milwaukee, WI), and Priest Joshua Genig (Rector of St. Innocent Church, Redford, MI). Also taking part in the ceremonial groundbreaking was Jack (Alexei) Mitchell, Starosta of the St. Vladimir parish, and Gloria Appling, Head of the Academy.

God willing, construction will start on the school building in the next few weeks, with classes beginning in the fall of 2020. The parish and the school Steering Committee ask the prayers of all for the success of this important venture, which is slated to be the only preK-12 Orthodox Christian daily school in Michigan.

To learn more about the Ann Arbor Orthodox Classical Academy please visit the school web site here.

To make a donation to support the school project, please visit the school’s "Network for Good" site here.

Pictures of the Groundbreaking can be found here.

Russian Church receives Malankara delegation

The Russian Church really has no equal in holding discussions with Oriental Orthodox bodies. There's a constant stream of delegations, talks, reciprocal visits, etc. going on all year long.

---

(ROCOR) - On August 31, 2019, at the invitation of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, the Primate of the Malankara Orthodox Church, India, His Holiness Catholicos Baselios Marthoma Paulose II, arrived in Russia. During his official visit he is accompanied by Metropolitan Zachariah Mar Nikolovos, head of the Malankara Church department for external church relations; Metropolitan Yuhanon Mar Diascoros, secretary of the Malankara Church Holy Synod; Rev. Abraham Thomas, secretary of the Malankara Church department for external church relations; and Rev. Aswin Zefrin Fernandis, head of the Malankara Catholicos’s protocol service; Rev. Jiss Jonson, personal secretary to His Holiness the Catholicos; Mr. Jacob Mathew, member of the Malankara Church Council; Mr. Kevin George Koshi, head of the communication service of the Malankara Church department for external church relations; Dr Cherian Eapen, a representative of the Malankara diaspora in Russia.

At Domodedovo airport, His Holiness was met by Bishop Dionisy of Voskresensk, first Patriarchal vicar for Moscow and deputy chancellor of the Russian Orthodox Church; Hieromonk Stephan (Igumnov), DECR secretary for inter-Christian relations; Archpriest Sergiy Tocheny, head of the Moscow Patriarchate administrative secretariat; and R. Akhmatkhanov, DECR secretariat for inter-Christian relations.

On the same day, the guests visited the Patriarchal Convent of the Protecting Veil to venerate the honourable relic of the Blessed Matrona of Moscow. They saw the churches and buildings of the convent and met with the mother superior Theophania (Miskina) and inmates of the convent’s orphanage for girls.

The plan of the visit includes a meeting with His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia; talks with Metropolitan Hilarion, head of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations (DECR), a tour of churches and monasteries in Moscow and the Moscow Region and visits to theological institutions of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The visit will last until September the 5th.

***

The Malankara Church is part of the family of the Oriental Churches along with the Coptic, Ethiopian, Eritrean Churches and the Armenian Apostolic Church. According to tradition, it was founded by St. Thomas in the 1st century. Its center is located in the State of Kerala, India. It has dioceses and parishes in India, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Europe and North America. The latest visit of its Primate to Russia took place in 1976.

ROCOR Western American Diocese gets second vicar bishop

(ROCOR) - The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, during a meeting on August 30, 2019, at Danilov Monastery in Moscow, deliberated on the confirmation of a decision of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia on the candidacy of Archimandrite James (Corazza) for Bishop of Sonora, Second Vicar of the Western American Diocese.

In accordance with the Act of Canonical Communion of May 17, 2007, hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia "are selected by her Council of Bishops or, in cases foreseen by the Regulations of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, by the Synod of Bishops. Such elections are confirmed in accordance with canonical norms by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia and the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church."

The members of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church decreed to confirm the decision of the selection of Archimandrite James (Corazza) as Bishop of Sonora. The place and time of his consecration are left to the discretion of the Hierarchy of the Russian Church Abroad.

EP flattens W. Europe Exarchate of Russian tradition parishes

And by flatten I mean compress the organizational chart of. This body will either accept this decision or just come under Moscow. And as Moscow has already drawn up their plans for this same group, I am more disposed to think that's the way they'll go.

---

(Romfea) - The meeting of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which took place on Thursday and Friday, August 29 and 30, in the Holy Trinity Monastery of Halki, was concluded.

During the meeting, it was decided to discharge Archbishop Ioannis of Harioupolis from the Apostolic and Patriarchal Ecumenical Throne, personally and only to him, thereby relieving him of the responsibility of the Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox parishes of the Russian Tradition in Western Europe. services.

As a consequence, Metropolitan Emmanuel of France is now responsible for parishes of the former Exarchate.

The same is true of the rest of the former Exarchate parishes in other Western European countries, which fall under the responsibility of the respective Hierarchs of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in these areas.

Furthermore, the Ecumenical Patriarchate has decided to appoint Archpriest Alexis Struve, University Professor, to replace the Head of St. Alexander Nevsky Holy Church in Paris.

Bishop Demetrios of Mokissos heading to Florida

After taking a year-long sabbatical (more here) following his not being selected to head the Metropolis of Chicago, it seems the Greek Archdiocese has sent him to Florida. He has also been placed in another position within the Episcopal Assembly (you can read some history on his last position here).

---

NEW YORK (GOARCH) - The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America joyfully announces that His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America appointed His Grace Bishop Demetrios of Mokissos as the Hierarchal Proistamenos of the St. Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine in St. Augustine, FL, which falls directly under the auspices of the Archbishop.

Among the duties and responsibilities of His Grace Bishop Demetrios will be the organization and development of missionary, social, and philanthropic activities geared towards the Spanish speaking population of the USA, since His Grace is knowledgeable in the Spanish language—the second most-prominent language in the State of Florida.

In addition, following the resignation of His Eminence Metropolitan Savas of Pittsburgh from his position as the Synodal Liaison of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the USA to the Orthodox Christian Mission Center and consequently from his position as a member of its Board of Directors, His Grace Bishop Demetrios was appointed as his replacement.

As is known, His Grace Bishop Demetrios served for many years as a priest and as a hierarch in his position as Chancellor for Metropolitan Iakovos of Chicago of blessed-memory, and after the falling asleep in the Lord of Metropolitan Iakovos, His Grace Bishop Demetrios returned to his position as Auxiliary Bishop of the Archbishop of America.

Composition of the new Holy and Sacred Synod of the EP

Kind of light on Americans, no?

---

(Romfea) - The term of the Holy Synod begins today, September 1, and will last until February 29, 2020.

The Hierarchs in its new composition are the following:

Metropolitan Ieremias of Ankara
Metropolitan Sotirios of Toronto and All Canada
Archbishop Eirinaios of Crete
Metropolitan Makarios of Anaea
Metropolitan Theodoritos of Laodicea
Metropolitan Makarios of Gortys and Arkadia
Metropolitan Athinagoras of Belgium
Metropolitan Amphilochios of Ganos and Chora
Metropolitan Damaskinos of Kydonia and Apokoronas
Metropolitan Nathanael of Kos and Nisyros
Metropolitan Athinagoras of Kydonies
Metropolitan Myron of New Zealand.

Abp. Nikon of Boston has reposed

Southbridge, MA (OCA) - His Eminence, the Most Reverend Nikon, Archbishop of Boston, New England, and the Albanian Archdiocese, fell asleep in the Lord on Sunday, September 1, 2019.

Born to a pious Orthodox family in 1945 in New York, Archbishop Nikon graduated from Saint Vladimir’s Seminary in 1966. He was ordained to the Diaconate on July 5, 1969, and to the Priesthood the following day, July 6. His Eminence served at Saint Nicholas Church, Southbridge, MA, and Saint Thomas Church, Farmington Hills, MI.

On Friday and Saturday, May 24 and 25, 2002, Archbishop Nikon was consecrated Bishop of Baltimore and Auxiliary to His Beatitude, Metropolitan Theodosius in conjunction with the annual Memorial Day Weekend pilgrimage to Saint Tikhon Monastery.

Archbishop Nikon was nominated as Bishop of Boston at the Albanian Archdiocesan Assembly on October 10, 2003, and the Holy Synod elected him as Bishop of Boston on October 22, 2003. He served as administrator of the Diocese of New England and was elected ruling bishop during the fall session of the Holy Synod in October 2005. He was installed with the title Bishop of Boston, New England and the Albanian Archdiocese by His Beatitude, Metropolitan Herman at Holy Trinity Cathedral, Boston, MA on December 16 and 17, 2005. In addition to his archpastoral leadership of his own dioceses, he served as locum tenens of the Diocese of the South from February 2011 until March 2015.

Archbishop Nikon was elevated to the rank of Archbishop on May 9, 2012.

A full obituary and service times will be posted as soon as it is received.

May Archbishop Nikon’s memory be eternal!

Marathon of a letter penned to EP's exarch of SE Asia

(Interfax) - Open letter of Metropolitan Sergiy of Singapore and Southeast Asia, Patriarchal Exarch of Southeast Asia, to Metropolitan Ambrosios of Korea (Patriarchate of Constantinople)

Your Eminence Metropolitan Ambrosios,

I have long hesitated to respond to your interview published on The Orthodox World website on April 12: https://theorthodoxworld.com/exclusive-how-the-moscow-patriarchate-tramples-on-church-canons-and-undermines-orthodox-unity-in-korea/. However, the impression from my recent trip to Ukraine, to attend with a blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia the celebrations on the occasion of the Name Day of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine, led me to the decision to respond to your public statements.

Since your interview remarks are published on a website which gives no information about those who run and edit it, I can see no other way to respond to these publications than to appeal personally to you. However, considering the public nature of your statements, my letter will be open as well, so that readers can draw their own conclusions.

I remember with joy how warmly you welcomed me with a brotherly kiss when I visited you in Seoul in June 2017. So, it is much more painful to see in what dark colours you, without being shy of rumours and conjectures, paint the pastoral and missionary work of the Russian Orthodox Church. Have the complicated relationships between our two Churches caused by the decisions of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople to create a new ‘church’ structure in Ukraine really made such a radical impact on your attitude to us? But no, you write with a reference to an anonymous ‘elder’ saying that for a thousand years many church leaders in Russia have never learnt what the Gospel teaches, thus cultivating ‘a satanic and imperialistic theory of “Moscow as the Third Rome”’. And all this is said as if you have always believed it. Should I now conclude that the welcome you gave me in Seoul was hypocritical, and that now your attitude is sincere?

Read more »

Church of Greece further punts Ukraine issue down road

You can almost feel the discomfort the Church of Greece has in handling this situation. It is almost exactly unlike the feeling a judge has when forced to fine a child for setting up an un-permitted lemonade stand in front of his house. Where little Timmy had no idea he was doing anything that would run afoul of municipal food safety laws, the Ecumenical Patriarch knew exactly how he was taking a tough situation and turning lemons into... more and possibly even less palatable lemons. Ff the tomos was not received well by at least some of the patriarchates, things were bound to go much as they have. And yet Greece acknowledges its close fraternal bonds with Constantinople and also holds to a greater and more wide-ranging role of the Ecumenical Patriarchate than its Slavic brothers would. Can the Greek Church consider this slower consultative path for her bag of lemons and end up offending fewer people (the Γλυκό λεμόνι του κουταλιού outcome) or is it destined to eventually take a side and the baleful looks that will come with it? Time will tell.

---

(Ronfea) - The issue of recognition of the status of Autocephaly of the Ukrainian Church appears to have been referred to the Holy Synod of the Hierarchy, following a decision by the Standing Holy Synod of the Church of Greece.

As characteristically noted in the announcement issued after the meeting, “Following the proposal of the Synodic Committees on Dogmatic and Legislative Issues and Inter-Orthodox and Inter-Christian Relations on the Ukrainian Issue, the Holy Standing Synod recognizes the Ecumenical Patriarch’s canonical right to issue the status of Autocephaly, as well as the privilege of the Primate of the Church of Greece to further deal with the question of recognition of the Church of Ukraine”.

It is worth noting that despite the fact that the Hierarchy’s agenda for next October has been announced since July, the issue of the recogniton of the Church of Ukraine is not included.

Concerning the other topics of the meeting, the Standing Holy Synod, following a recommendation from Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece, and recognizing the need for a Spiritual Center of the Church of Greece and a pilgrimage of the Church of Christ the Savior at a panorthodox level, decided to activate the Committee to this end, on the occasion of the completion of 200 years since National Palingenesis.

It was also confirmed that Archimandrite Nicodemos Farmakis is the new Director of the Central Financial Services of the Church of Greece (EKIO), to whom the President and the Members of the Holy Synod wished good ministry.

Furthermore, it was approved that the relics of Hierarch Palaion Patron Germanos shall be transferred for a few days to Patras from Dimitsana where they lie for the festive events of the 200 years since the Revolution of 1821.

Finally, a memorial service was held for Metropolitan of Fthiotida, late Nikolaos, and Metropolitan of Lemnos and Saint Efstratios, late Hierotheos.

"Full of wisdom, Constantine, rejoice!"

People who have read this blog for a while know that I am a big proponent of the Saint Constantine School in Houston, TX. My children went there and it really prepared them for college. So I am overjoyed to see the Constantinian model spreading to PA. You might even see me there.

---

The Saint Constantine School of the Lehigh Valley invites you to its inaugural event!

Come learn about a K-12 classical school in the Orthodox Christian tradition slated to open in the Lehigh Valley in Fall 2020.

Featured speakers will be the Right Rev. Bishop Thomas (Joseph), Ed.D., and Dr. John Mark Reynolds, Headmaster of Saint Constantine School - Houston.

This event is held with the support, initiative and blessing of the Lehigh Valley Orthodox Clergy Brotherhood

Opinions in inexhaustible supply

One of the things one learns quickly in the parish setting is that people have lots of opinions and they will find ways of making them known one way or another. Some few will come out and state them, some will form committees to investigate things with preconceived outcomes in mind, some will send anonymous letters to priests or their bishops, and some will turn council meetings into soapbox sessions for these pet positions.

A good priest learns how to respond to such things with love, patience, and a firm divider between acceptable and unacceptable behavior. I, for one, won't even read an anonymous letter. It will go unanswered and most probably into the trash. That's not a secret position, but a very public one. The poison-pen is all rights and no responsibilities, all questioning and no willingness to be questioned, all opinion and no mercy. At the same time I've listened to quite long coffee hour conversation on how a parishioner is sure he has found proof-positive that the end times are just around the corner or that some change to the church appointments is "uncanonical." You can respond to and counsel on the parousia or the placement of poinsettias on the solea quite easily after you have mastered the measured glance and the ability to truly listen without always becoming emotionally drawn into another person's animated opinion on a topic. You also learn that no matter how innocuous or vanilla a pastor you are, someone is going to "take this matter all the way up to the top" and you are going to be called by your bishop to account for some matter you quite possibly don't even remember happening. "Let me talk to your manager" might as well have been on our Bill of Rights at the nation's founding so it's to be expected.

Where the priest in particular runs into trouble is the Internet. Those moments in church life where a priest comes into contact with the wider world are bordered by time and space. There is an occasion and place in which face-to-face conversations can occur, for answering letters, and to sit on committees. But there seems to be limitless time for the Internet to spout opinions without cease at all hours in your direction. Both pastorally and from the blog I receive the occasional indignant email or message. Years at both have taught me how to spot the missive that wants to have honest dialogue and the letter that wants to instruct me about how wrong I am... at great length. You get a sense that "This person has an inexhaustible supply of opinions and will keep responding at all hours with the same measure of self-assured fervor as this first message until his keyboard catches on fire." Nothing fruitful comes of these uphill dialogues. The priest is the nail and the originator of the communiques is the hammer with a job to do.

All this to say that dipping ones toe into the Internet from any position of authority (pastoral, scholarly, athletic, scientific, etc.) is almost an invitation for people with all the time in the world on their hands to take you to task. Just because they want to jump down the rabbit hole with you, doesn't mean you have to follow them. My advice is not to. Your time and energy are finite resources and such people will find someone else to latch onto rather quickly. That's my hard-learned advice. Take it as one man's opinion. I promise not to send you an email at 2 AM.

Church of Czech Lands & Slovakia celebrates autocephaly

(Basilica) - The Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia celebrates on Tuesday its 21st anniversary since the bestowing of autocephaly by the Ecumenical Patriarch in 1998.

The history of this Church dates back to the 9th century legacy of Sts Cyril and Methodius, the enlighteners of the Slavs.

Its modern history started after World War I when Czechoslovakia was mainly inhabited by Catholics.

At that time, many Russians and Ruthenians came to Czechoslovakia.

Among them, priest Matej Pavlik, the future Orthodox bishop and martyr Gorazd, stood out. He had a major influence in the country’s future and was declared a saint in 1987.

Back then the Orthodox numbered almost 40 000.

In 1921, the Serbian patriarch of Belgrade consecrated Bishop Gorazd of Prague as the first independent bishop of the Czechs. During World War II, the church was disbanded and Bishop Gorazd and other Orthodox clergy members were executed in the summer of 1942 by the Nazis for alleged connections with the resistance movement. Also, many people, including Orthodox priests, were taken to forced labor camps.

Read more »