Byzantine, Texas

New story on the Maronite Sisters of Christ the Light founding tomorrow (June 1, 2008). I'll be in New York tomorrow so maybe I'll make a visit. If I do, expect pictures. Complete announcement is here . They even have a blog . The Eparchy of St. Maron of Brooklyn takes the historic step this June of establishing the first congregation of active religious sisters of the Maronite Church within the United States. Called the Maronite Servants of Christ the Light, these sisters will assist parish priests throughout the eparchy in a variety of pastoral work, ranging from directing religious education programs, to working with families, youth, and the elderly. Statement from Bishop Gregory J. Mansour “The contribution made by consecrated women in the Church is beyond measure. The Maronite Church is no exception. The time has come for the Eparchy of Saint Maron to foster and sponsor a community to assist the priests in the pastoral care of the Eparchy. Sister Marla Marie Lucas has ap...

The ever-readable and enlivening Koinonia has written a lengthy article here . Below is a portion from the bottom of the article. ... So, what has this to do with the difficulties we often see in Catholic/Orthodox conversations? Though it needs to be developed more fully, I would suggest this: We often talk as if the Catholic/Orthodox dialog is a conversation is between two different, even competing, traditions. In fact these conversations are always conversations between human beings who in their conversations with each other, make selective appeals to their own understanding of the past, both their own and the other's. Traditions, to state the painfully obvious, do not have conversations—only human beings can speak, can enter into a conversations. Excellent points! Tradition, as Metropolitan John (Zizioulas) has pointed out in Being in Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church, only exist enhypostatically (ἐνυπὀστασις - the human nature of Jesus is derived from the Logos ...

See here for background. Thought provoking article on De unione ecclesiarum here .

Nothing ground breaking, so much so that I pondered not posting, but the "letter" had been mentioned so often in the coverage of the Cardinal's visit that I feel obliged to present it here. VATICAN CITY, 30 MAY 2008 (VIS) - The Holy Father has written a Message to His Holiness Alexis II, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, delivered by Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, during a meeting with the Patriarch. In the text of his English-language Message, the Pope writes that the cardinal's visit to Russia "offers me a welcome opportunity to extend my cordial greetings, to express my esteem for your ministry in the Russian Orthodox Church and to restate my appreciation for your commitment to fostering relations between Catholics and Orthodox". "It is with joy", the Holy Father adds, "that I reflect on the experience of growing closeness between us, accompanied by the shared desire to promote...

This a link to a long memorandum on the problem in Estonia; one Church under Russia and one under Constantinople with the latter being less recognized and its very existence quite upsetting the Moscow Patriarchate. It is also an article on the delegation to the Orthodox-Catholic Ravenna Dialogue refusing to sit with the Estonian Church (Constantinople) and leaving the conference entirely. Moscow then publicly refutted the value of Ravenna both because of what it said and because Moscow wasn't there. Here is the preamble for the full article found here . Delegations of the Patriarchates of Moscow and Constantinople held negotiations on 26 March 2008 in Zurich to discuss their differences concerning the situation of the Orthodox Church in Estonia, which had forced the Russian Orthodox Church delegation to withdraw from the meeting of the Joint International Commission for theological dialogue between the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Churches, which took place on 8 October 2008 in ...

Moscow, May 29, ( Interfax ) - Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia and Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, discussed in Moscow on Thursday the expansion of the Uniate Church in the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church. "The talks centered, among other matters, on the expansion of the Uniate Church, including in Ukraine. The Patriarch also said that canonical Orthodox believers in Western Ukraine must have decent church buildings to pray in," a source in the Moscow Patriarchate told journalists after the meeting. Another issue raised was the spiritual rearing of children, who are heirs of the Orthodox tradition by birth, at Catholic orphanages. No specific discussion was held on a possible meeting between Alexy II and Pope Benedict XVI, although "the possibility in principle" was confirmed, according to the source. The Russian Patriarch said that a meeting like this must be thoroughly prepar...

The Catholic Church gets explicit on female "ordinations." I love how the media covers this ridiculousness. If I claim to be the King of Oregon or the Viceroy of Maine, no one takes me seriously. If a group of women in rainbow colored outfits gets on a boat and does a ceremony then declare themselves priestesses (or as they prefer "Womenpriests") it's widely reported as a valid event that the Church at large doesn't like. How would that work with the tables turned? If I get a janitor from the 4th floor of the CNN building to let me in the building and then into Jonathan Klein's office can I call myself the President of CNN? I suspect not. May 29, 2008 ( RV ) The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has issued a general decree regarding the priestly ordination of women. Signed by the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal William Joseph Levada, the decree was published in Wednesday evening’s edition of the Vatican newspa...

This is long. Enjoy. May 26, 2008 ( America Magazine ) - These are frustrating times for Vatican II loyalists, as the council’s mandated liturgical renewal comes under attack by those who “look back in anger”—to borrow the title of John Osborne’s 1956 play—at real or imagined deficiencies of the liturgical renewal carried out after the Second Vatican Council. I have been asked to comment on the present situation from my perspective as a specialist in the liturgical heritage of the Christian East. Note that I am neither a liturgist nor a liturgical reformer, but a historian of the liturgy who believes his task is to point out the facts of liturgical history and what they might mean for today. As such, I maintain that the Roman Catholic liturgical renewal in the wake of Vatican II was an overwhelming success, returning the liturgy to the people of God to whom it rightly belongs. The reform mandated by the council was not perfect, because nothing but God is perfect. But it was done as wel...

This is the last week to vote in the Eastern Christian Blog Awards. Please do go vote! http://ecawards.blogspot.com/ Quite a good turn-out with an encouraging mix of front-runners.

Constantinople - 5/27/2008 ( ARCHONS ) - A delegation from the Anglican Communion was received by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, May 19-21, 2008 in Istanbul, Turkey in the framework of the continuation of the informal talks between the two traditions. Members of the delegation were the Rt. Reverend Bishop Mark Dyer, Anglican co-Chairman of the Anglican-Orthodox Theological Dialogue, and the Revd Canons Gregory Cameron, Deputy Secretary General and Director of Ecumenical Affairs at the Anglican Communion Office, and Jonathan Goodall, Chaplain and Ecumenical Officer to the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams. The above distinguished visitors were met at the airport of Istanbul by a patriarchal representative, and were received by His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in audience. During their stay, the delegation had a meeting with the Orthodox Commission, headed by His Eminence Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia, Orthodox Co- Chairman of the Anglican-Orthodox Theologic...

Quite a lot of Romanian Orthodoxy in the news of late. Here's a little more. Timisoara , May. 27, 2008 ( CWNews.com ) - A Romanian Orthodox bishop has shared Communion with Catholics, causing a sensation in a country where Byzantine Catholics and Orthodox have a history of tense relations. At the consecration of the Queen of Peace parish church in Timisoara on May 25, Orthodox Metropolitan Nicolae Corneanu of Banat asked to share Communion. The Orthodox metropolitan approached the altar and received the Eucharist from his own hand. Romanian Catholic Bishop Alexandru Mesian of Lugoj was the celebrant of the Divine Liturgy in the Byzantine Catholic church; Archbishop Francisco-Javier Lozano, the apostolic nuncio to Romania, was also present. Although Orthodox and Catholic bishops often join in ecumenical services, and occasionally participate in each other's liturgical ceremonies, they do not share Communion-- an indication of the breach in ecclesial communion between the Orthodo...

Kyiv ( RISU ) — On 25 May 2008, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko met with the Vatican’s State Secretary, Cardinal Tarchizio Bertone, to discuss Ukrainian-Vatican relations, state-church cooperation, and inter-confessional dialogue in Ukraine. The participants discussed the possibility of setting up a research team to study and analyze historic documents concerning the Ukrainian state – especially ones mentioning the man-made famine of 1932-3 – that are found within the Vatican’s secret archives. According to the presidential press service, Yushchenko awarded the Vatican State Secretary with the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (1st Degree) for his outstanding personal contribution to the spread of peace, justice, and human rights. Later, he extended an invitation for Pope Benedict XVI to visit Ukraine, noting that Ukraine highly appreciates the pope’s aims of ensuring the respect of universal values and worldwide peace. In turn, the Vatican delegation made special mention of Ukr...

Here is the initial news story on the possible new exarchate. The complete article is here . May 23, 2008 ( OCA News ) - Sources close to Syosset confirm that four priests of the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America's ( ROEA ) Joint Dialogue Commission ( JDC ) presented a plan to the OCA's Synod of Bishops meeting on May 14th whereby the ROEA would leave the jurisdiction of the OCA in the near future. The plan envisions the 80 + parishes of the ROEA uniting with the 40 + parishes of the much smaller Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of the Two Americas ( ROAA ). The new "Romanian Exarchate" would have "optimal autonomy" under its own elected Metropolitan but would receive its chrism from Bucharest, not Syosset. The mechanics of the proposed 'unification' are as yet unclear, although contrary to widespread rumor, a vote will not be taken at the next ROEA congress, to be held over the Fourth of July weekend in Grass Lake, Michigan. The OCA responded wi...

An important story in and of itself as much as in light of recent events. President Yushchenko invites the Ecumenical Patriarch to visit for the Ukrainian celebrations of the 1020th anniversary of the introduction of Christianity in Russia in July. Then the Moscow Patriarchate says he can't do that - only Moscow can. So now the good president has invited the Pope of Rome to come to Ukraine. Kiev, May. 26, 2008 ( CWNews.com ) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has invited Pope Benedict XVI to visit Kiev. With Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone visiting Ukraine, President Yushchenko handed the Vatican Secretary of State a personal message to the Pontiff, asking him to visit Kiev sometime this year. A visit by the Roman Pontiff to Kiev could have great significance, at a time when Yushchenko is seeking to unify the Orthodox churches of Ukraine. Three separate groups are contesting the leadership of the country's Orthodox faithful. One of those groups-- which maintains its fealty to th...

I found this post from Khanya poignant (links added are my own): Yesterday was the 5th Sunday of Pascha, the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman. It was a most appropriate occasion for teaching about the evil of xenophobia, such as we have been seeing in South Africa recently . For the Jews, the Samaritan Woman was a foreigner, a lekwerekwere, and in the Gospel Reading (John 4:5-42) we are told that the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. The Samaritan Woman was amazed that Jesus, a Jew, would talk to her. At that time Jews from Galilee, like Jesus and his disciples, would often make a long detour via the Jordan valley when traveling to Jerusalem for festivals, to avoid having to pass through Samaria. But on this occasion Jesus took the direct route, and his encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well was a result. In the Church, however, we are often part of the problem instead of part of the solution. Twenty years ago, when the first non-Greek priest was ordained by the Archbisho...

May 23, 2008 ( Catholic Herald ) Three thousand Iraqi Christians have been received into the Chaldean Catholic Church in California, with up to 300 in Britain also joining an "exodus" into the Church. Had not heard about the British movement anywhere else before. The congregation of the Assyrian Church of the East were reconciled with Rome after Bishop Mar Bawai Soro was suspended by its Synod. The bishop served as the Church of the East's Bishop for California and was also the Secretary-General of his Church's Inter-Church Relations and Education Development. However the hierarchy were unhappy with his ecumenical position and attempts to bring the church closer to the Vatican. In November 2005 the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East (ACE) issued an official letter to Bishop Soro informing him of his expulsion. The man described by Fr Robert Taft as a "zealous and brilliant religious leader of his people" has felt that, in this time of inte...

Excellent post from Glory to God for All Things : I have written on modern distortions of “personal relationship” in which “private” relationship is one of its corrupted meanings. I have also noted that, properly understood, “personal” always carries a meaning of “corporate” as well. To be in personal relationship with Christ necessarily means that I am in relationship with His Body, the Church. There is a mutual sharing of life - my life becomes Christ’s - His life becomes mine - and so forth. All of this means that what happens to one happens to all. There are yet greater depths to the fullness of what is meant by a personal relationship, far more than I can begin to say here, or to say with much experience. But I will frame this depth by saying that when we speak of person in the language of the Church - then we have begun to speak in language which the Church first used and continues to use with regard to the three Persons of the Holy Trinity and the Personhood of Christ (in its t...

Kyiv ( RISU ) — On 20 May 2008, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko met with a delegation of the Constantinople Patriarchate (CP) of the Orthodox Church. At the beginning of the meeting, Yushchenko expressed his gratitude for the efforts of the CP to consolidate Orthodox Churches. “We support in all ways the efforts made by you in the Christian world,” said the president. He expressed both the position of the state and that of the Ukrainian clergy with regards to the desire for unity amongst Ukrainian Churches. “Both the Ukrainian religious community and the state are convinced that we should promote closer relations with the mother Church of the Constantinople Patriarchate,” said Yushchenko. “Ukraine is going [down] this road.” The president thanked CP representatives for the visit, noting its excellent timing in the months approaching the 1020th anniversary of baptism of Russ and inviting universal patriarch Bartholomew I to participate in the celebration in the end of July. In the...

I do not hear many kind words from Orthodox friends about the Kyiv patriarchate - I should take this for a given as most of them are converts into the Russian Church. I hope this whole thing gets sorted out peaceably, but considering a bishop of one patriarchate just beat up a priest from another (sending him to the hospital) my hope is tempered with trepidation. Kyiv ( RISU ) — On 20 May 2008, Patriarch of Kyiv and All Russ-Ukraine Filaret Denysenko met with a delegation of the Universal Patriarchate of Constantinople (UPC) at his residence in Kyiv. The delegation visited Ukraine on 19-20 May on the invitation of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and included Metropolitan Emmanuel of Gaul [or France even :) ] , the General Secretary of the UPC Synod, Archimandrite Elpidophorus, and archpriest Vasylii. According to the UOC-KP press center, Patriarch Filaret presented the UOC-KP’s position on most of the problematic issues within the Ukrainian Church and answered the delegation’s ...

This is more on the trip by Cardinal Kasper to Russia by the Pontifical Oriental Institute. In standard Roman fashion it was sent out in one big textual blob. I took the liberty of creating paragraphs where none existed. May 22, 2008( POI ) - An "important" visit, especially for the "relations between the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church". That's how mgr. Paolo Pezzi, archbishop of Moscow, looks at the trip that Card. Walter Kasper, President of the Papal Council for the promotion of the unity of Christians, will take in the Russian Federation from 21 to 30 May. "The cardinal - highlights to SIR mgr. Pezzi - will have a number of meetings, with the Patriarch Alexius II and with the metropolitan bishop Kirill , whom he will meet in Smolensk.In addition, he will visit some Orthodox and Catholic places; in particular, I think I should mention his visit to Kazan, where he will go on a pilgrimage to the icon of the Virgin of Kazan, which he brought back ...

VATICAN CITY, MAY 21, 2008 ( Zenit.org ).- Cardinal Walter Kasper left for Moscow today to take a message from Benedict XVI to Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia. Cardinal Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, will be in Russia through May 30. The trip was undertaken at the invitation of Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, the president of the Department of External Affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate, reported the pontifical council. The program of the visit includes an inaugural celebration for the feast of Corpus Christi at the Catholic cathedral of the Archdiocese of the Mother of God in Moscow. The cardinal will be received by Patriarch Alexy II in an encounter during which the cardinal will give him the Pope's message. The pontifical council president will also participate in a celebration for the name day of Metropolitan Kirill. Cardinal Kasper will make a pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Kazan, to venerate the...

Kiev, May 21, Interfax - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has invited Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople to join the celebration of the 1020th anniversary of baptizing Russia. Yushchenko handed an invitation for the Patriarch to a delegation of the Constantinople Patriarchate in Kiev on Tuesday, the presidential press service has reported. The Ukrainian president expressed gratitude for the efforts the Constantinople Patriarchate has been making to consolidate Orthodox Churches. "We fully support your efforts in the Christian world," the president said. "The Ukrainian believers community and the state are convinced that we must advance towards Church accord, towards rapprochement with the Mother Church of the Constantinople Patriarchate," Yushchenko said, noting that, "Ukraine has been moving along this way." To me these are important statements I had not expected to hear. The delegates conveyed gratitude for the opportunity to explore, whil...

Here is a story from Wikipedia: According to legend, Romanus was not at first considered to be either a talented reader or singer. He was, however, loved by the Patriarch of Constantinople because of his great humility. Once, around the year 518, while serving in the Church of the Panagia at Blachernae, during the All-Night Vigil for the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, he was assigned to read the kathisma verses from the Psalter. He read so poorly that another reader had to take his place. Some of the lesser clergy ridiculed Romanus for this, and being humilitated he sat down in one of the choir stalls. That sounds like a nightmare. In fact it sounds like the image in the back of my head before I do the reading. Overcome by weariness and sorrow, he soon fell asleep. As he slept, the Theotokos (Mother of God) appeared to him with a scroll in her hand. She commanded him to eat the scroll, and as soon as he did so, he awoke. He immediately received a blessing from the Patriarch, mounted...

Do we consider this violence to be cyclical? Do we say that in a land of unending death, torture, and lawlessness that killing a man for killing another man is justice or just more kindling for the fire? BAGHDAD, Iraq, MAY 20, 2008 ( Zenit.org ).- The Church in Iraq is opposing the death penalty for one of the kidnappers involved in the March death of Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho. "If he were still alive, Archbishop Rahho himself would not permit that someone would die for him," Chaldean Auxiliary Bishop Shlemon Warduni of Baghdad told AsiaNews. "Let us recall that the principles that have always inspired the Church are forgiveness and reconciliation." Bishop Warduni was the representative of the Church who tried to contact the kidnappers after they abducted Archbishop Rahho on Feb. 29 outside of a church where he had led the Way of the Cross; it was a Friday of Lent. During the kidnapping, his three companions were killed. For days there was no news from the archb...

As I expected and posted about earlier, Russia was not happy with Ravenna. Moscow, May. 20, 2008 ( CWNews.com ) - The Russian Orthodox Church has officially rejected a doctrinal statement approved by a joint Catholic-Orthodox theological commission at a meeting in Ravenna, Italy last October. The Ravenna meeting reached agreement that the Bishop of Rome traditionally enjoyed primacy among all the world's bishops, of both the Eastern and Western churches. While Vatican officials hailed the agreement as an important ecumenical landmark, they cautioned that the Catholic and Orthodox churches have a different understanding of primacy. Indeed the Ravenna document noted "differences of understanding with regard to the manner in which it is to be exercised, and also with regard to its scriptural and theological foundations." The Russian Orthodox rejection of the Ravenna statement is not a surprise, since representatives of the Moscow patriarchate were critical of the document wh...

Traveling southward for a family reunion (the wife's Polish family) in the Austin/Houston area we were lucky enough to be able to go to a Maronite Qorbono before returning home. More lucky still were we that there was a baptism during the liturgy so that I was just another in attendance taking pictures (albeit with an iPhone). Completely uninitiated in the liturgics of their liturgy I can only say that it seemed a mix of Syriac, Latin, and Byzantine practices rolled into one. The parishioners, while largely Lebanese, were also a representative cross-section of the area. The "green book" they use is based on the 1992 universally accepted liturgy. There has also been a very recent synodal meeting which will further reorient the liturgy to its historical roots. I'm told some word will come out on this in the future (less than five years).

Lots of pictures available here .

May 18, 2008 ( BBC News ) - The archbishop of the northern city of Mosul was kidnapped in February by gunmen who attacked his car, killing his driver and two bodyguards. His body was found in a shallow grave two weeks later. The Iraqi government said the criminal court had imposed the death sentence on Ahmed Ali Ahmed, known as Abu Omar. The US embassy in Baghdad welcomed the verdict. "Reiterating our condolences to the archbishop's family and community, we commend the Iraqi authorities for bringing the perpetrator of this brutal crime to justice," a statement said. In the past, the government of Nouri Maliki has been accused by Iraq's Christian minority of not doing enough to protect them from persecution, the BBC's Caroline Wyatt reports from Baghdad. Churches, priests and businesses owned by Christians have been attacked repeatedly. Kidnappings by Sunni and Shia groups, as well as criminal gangs, have been common since the US-led invasion in 2003. Many Christi...

I found this speech interesting - primarily because of the tie made between the promise of God to His Chosen People, the political fallout with the Obama campaign, and the denouncement of violence in the name of religion. The Hebrew early on that received the standing ovations was "Happy Independence Day!" Full text here . We gather to mark a momentous occasion. Sixty years ago in Tel Aviv, David Ben-Gurion proclaimed Israel's independence, founded on the "natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate." What followed was more than the establishment of a new country. It was the redemption of an ancient promise given to Abraham, Moses, and David – a homeland for the chosen people in Eretz Yisrael (Land of Israel) . ... Centuries of suffering and sacrifice would pass before this dream was fulfilled. The Jewish people endured the agony of the pogroms, the tragedy of the Great War, and the horror of the Holocaust – what Elie Wiesel called "...