Byzantine, Texas

( OCA ) - Orthodox Christians everywhere — especially those within driving distance of the US capital — are encouraged to bear witness to their faith at the annual March for Life Monday, January 23, 2012. As in years past, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, will speak at the pre-March program and offer prayers for the victims of abortion at the conclusion of the March. He will also attend the annual Rose Dinner. Other members of the Orthodox Church in America’s Holy Synod of Bishops also are expected to attend. Marchers are asked to gather at noon under the “Orthodox Christians for Life” banner on the National Mall, west of Eighth Street near the Smithsonian Castle. After the rally, marchers will procede up Constitution Avenue to the US Supreme Court, where a Memorial will be celebrated for the victims of abortion. While additional details concerning the the Orthodox Christian witness at the March will be posted as received, general information on the March may be found at t...

( RISU ) - Representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church are concerned over the statements of Patriarch Sviatoslav (Shevchuk) that believers of the Kyivan Patriarchate are “the main Orthodox brethren” of the Ukrainian Greek Catholics. So reported to UNIAN-Religion the head of the Department of External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Ilarion (Alfeiev) of Volokolamsk. “We cannot remain indifferent to the statements of the new Head of UGCC that the believers of the Kyivan Patriarchate are “the main Orthodox brethren” of the Ukrainian Greek Catholics. The close contacts and even concelebration of Archbishop Sviatoslav (Shevchuk) with representatives of that schismatic structure unrecognized by any Orthodox Church, unfortunately, are an indication of ignoring of the official position of the Moscow Patriarchate and disrespect for the canonical rules of the Orthodox Church,” stressed Metropolitan Ilarion. “I am deeply convinced that we cannot reach real ...

Their photo galleries are a favorite of mine and are often my go-to place for festal photos. ( Holy Cross Hermitage ) - Due to the increased requests for prints of our monastery photos, we have launched a brand new website— Hermitage Photography . Our Hermitage Photography website will make available hundreds of monastery photos in a wide variety of sizes and formats. Click on the “Create a Card” option to design your own personlized greeting and Christmas cards. Find a favorite photo for yourself or for someone you love and purchase high quality prints.

( AOB ) - Upon receiving the information that Archbishop Jovan of Ochrid was arrested on December 12, 2011, while entering the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) from the border with Greece, the Hierarchs of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America reaffirm the position taken by the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA) in August 2005, and furthermore restate that the persecution and new imprisonment of Archbishop Jovan by FYROM are an outrage, and ask for his immediate release. This arrest has a history of several years and began when the schismatic church of FYROM started persecuting the canonical Archbishopric of Ochrid, an autonomous part of the Serbian Orthodox Church. This imprisonment, as did the previous ones, violates religious freedom in a supposedly free state. That a recognized, canonical Orthodox Christian hierarch can be imprisoned once again under false allegations, and while trying to ...

( MSNBC ) - BETHLEHEM, West Bank — A Christmas cleaning of the Church of the Nativity turned into scuffles on Wednesday between rival Christian clerics zealously guarding denominational turf at the holy site. Brooms and fists flew inside the church marking the birthplace of Jesus as some 100 priests and monks of the Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic churches brawled. Palestinian police, bending their heads to squeeze through the church's low "door of humility," rushed in with batons flailing to restore order. "It was a trivial problem that ... occurs every year," said police Lieutenant-Colonel Khaled al-Tamimi. "Everything is all right and things have returned to normal," he said. "No one was arrested because all those involved were men of God." Administration of the 6th century Bethlehem church, the oldest in the Holy Land, is shared by Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian clerics. Any perceived encroachment of jur...

( UOC-USA ) - My beloved brethren in our Lord: Greetings in His Holy Name from Znamyanka orphanage in Ukraine! His Beatitude Metropolitan Constantine and I were just informed that His Eminence Archbishop Antony, the spiritual father of the Eastern Eparchy of our Church and the President of the Consistory of the UOC of the USA has been hospitalized in Somerset, NJ for emergency tests following numerous heart discomfort symptoms. He will remain in the hospital for the next several days until the doctors are able to stabilize him. Please, remember the Archbishop in your prayers. O Holy Father, Heavenly Physician of our souls and bodies, who sent Your Only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to heal those in illness: visit and heal Your servant and our brother in Christ Archbishop Antony, granting him release from pain and restoration to health and vigor, that he may give thanks unto You and bless Your holy Name, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: now and ever, a...

( London Daily News ) - The Greek criminal justice system is today in the dock having used extraordinary methods to "capture" Abbot Ephraim the leader of the largest monastery on Mount Athos in Greece, and one of Christian Orthodoxy's leading spiritual figures. The Greek courts have deemed that the monk who was undergoing medical supervision in his residence at the Vatopaidi Monastery, a flight risk, and is now headed towards the notorious Korydallos prison in Athens to be held in custody, ahead of trial in Athens. Speaking to The London Daily News earlier today one of Abbot Ephraim's entourage confirmed that the length of custody in a Greek jail was unknown, until bail is agreed. Mr. Yiannis Matzouranis, who appeared for Abbot Ephraim said that ‘the remand into custody decision had no moral or legal base’. "The custody decision against a clergyman renowned world wide for his charitable work and spiritual mission a few days before Christmas comes to ad...

( RISU ) - A regular session of the Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) was held on December 23 with the blessing of its head, Metropolitan Volodymyr, reported the website of the UOC-MP. According to the Statutes of government of the UOC-MP, the session was chaired by a permanent member of the Holy Synod, Metropolitan Ahafangel (Sevvin) of Odesa and Izmail, whose term of bishop’s ministry is the longest. The meeting was attended by Metropolitan Ioannikiy of Luhansk and Alchevsk, Metropolitan Onuphrius of Chernivtsi and Bukovyna, Metropolitan Ilarion of Donetsk and Mariupol, Metropolitan Pavel of Vyshgorod and Chornobyl, Metropolitan Lazarus of Simferopol and Crimea, Archbishop Mytrofan of Bila Tserkva and Bohuslav, Archbishop Aleksander of Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi and Vyshneve, Archbishop Ambrosii of Chernihiv and Novgorod-Siverskyi, bishop Yelisey of Berdyansk and Prymorsk and bishop Nicodim of Zhytomyr and Novohrad-Volynskyy. The Holy Synod of th...

( MSNBC ) - A Syrian Greek Orthodox nun prays at the Virgin Mary monastery in Sidnaia, north of Damascus, on Dec. 23. Nine months of unrest in Syria have stripped Christian neighborhoods of any sign of Christmas joy. Syrian Christians have decided to cancel celebrations and only observe Christmas Mass.

( orthodox.cn ) - Hegumen Philaret (Bulekov), Deputy Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations (DECR) of the Moscow Patriarchate held a series of meetings in Beijing with government and religious organizations in China. Father Philaret led a DECR delegation at a round table, "Compatriots and the Russian Orthodox Church: Experience of Cooperation in Asia", held in Beijing on December 10-11, 2011 with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church. On December 9, 2011 Hegumen Philaret visited the State Administration of Religious Affairs of the People's Republic of China (SARA PRC), where he met with the head of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Ms. Guo Wei. A wide range of issues of cooperation between Russia and China in the religious sphere was discussed, as well as the pastoral care of Orthodox compatriots in China and cooperation on normalizing the situation the Chinese Autonomous Orthodox Church. Acc...

This statement reiterates what Met. Hilarion (head of the Department for External Church Relations) has been saying about the upcoming "Great Council" of the Orthodox Churches. Namely, that decisions at the council and those made in preparation to the council should be valid when acceded to unanimously. It will be interesting to see how the divisive topics besetting the Church today will be dealt with leading up to the council and at the council itself. ( mospat.ru ) - A process of preparation for the Pan-Orthodox Council launched fifty years ago has become brisker, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia noted in his report delivered at the meeting of the Moscow Diocesan Assembly. All Local Orthodox Churches, which take part in the preparation, have got agreement on the ten topics of the Council out of ten. According to His Holiness, the advance is unthinkable without preliminary agreement that ought to be reached at the Pan-Orthodox pre-Council meetings;...

A look through the journey from Campus Crusade for Christ to the Evangelical Orthodox Church to the Antiochian Archdiocese. ( YouTube ) - The American youth culture exploded during the 60s and 70s. College campuses were brimming with students eager to explore all that life has to offer. As this new generation formed its identity, some underwent a spiritual awakening. A close-knit group of Christians, who had found the faith during their college years, followed seven former campus ministers on a journey to discover what they called, the "New Testament Church." Decades later, they never expected where this journey would take them. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Doesn't have quite the same ring as "O Christmas Tree" (Ach Tannenbaum), but a cute picture nonetheless.

( Armenian WD ) - On December 19, 2011, the Primate welcomed Bishop Mikael Mouradian, Eparch of the Armenian Catholic Eparchy of the United States and Canada, to the Western Diocese. The Eparch was accompanied by the Very Rev. Fr. Krikor Chahinian, Pastor of St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Catholic Church and Assistant Pastor the Very Rev. Fr. Armenag Bedrossian. In a friendly atmosphere, the clergy held a discussion about the overall mission of the Church and related issues. A reception at the Armen Hampar Family Room followed the meeting.

It's time for my annual "God is with us!" Christmas post. It is one of my favorite musical moments of the liturgical year and, after a listen to a few of these selection, I think you'll understand why. A Christmas event entitled "God is With Us!" ( AFR ) - Fr Joseph Huneycutt welcomes you to St Joseph Orthodox Church, Houston, Texas for this Special AFR Christmas presentation: “God is With Us” by the St Romanos Chorale under the direction of Dr William Attra. The St Romanos Chorale takes its name from the Syrian religious poet and hymnographer of the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church, St Romanos, who is considered to be the greatest of the Byzantine melodist-poets. The Chorale is composed of singers from Orthodox Christian churches in the greater Houston area. The music is sung a capella in both Byzantine and Slavonic styles, predominantly in English, but also in Greek, Arabic, and Slavonic. The Chorale has presented beautiful Orthodox Christian music t...

( thestar.com ) - For 14 years, Victoria Ivantchenko lived as a nun at a Greek Orthodox Monastery in Bolton, Ont. Now she wants to get paid for it. A secular court must decide whether she, as a nun, was an employee of the monastery or a volunteer servant to God. Ivantchenko is suing the Sisters of St. Kosmas Aitolos Greek Orthodox Monastery — including the Mother Superior — as well as the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Toronto for “wrongful constructive dismissal.” It’s unclear why Ivantchenko even left the monastery, but in her lawsuit she also alleges slander, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of mental suffering. She is seeking damages and back pay. More information here . “This is a unique case. It’s been a terrible ordeal for my client and given that she is a nun, the unpleasantness is very difficult for her,” said Ivantchenko’s lawyer, Norman Epstein, who declined to elaborate on his client’s history at the monastery for legal reasons. The crux of the case...

H/T: Orthodox Pathway I made a pilgrimage to this mission in Mechanicsburg, PA to see the Hawaiian Myrrh-Streaming Iveron icon when it visited them earlier this year. For those unfamiliar with a bishop's vestments, this is a good introduction.

( novinite.com ) - The State must probe the Bulgarian Orthodox Church over ways it spent its subsidy in the last 20 years. The statement was made by the President of the trade union Confederation of Labor "Podkrepa" (Support), Konstantin Trenchev. He says that an audit has not been conducted in many years despite numerous reports of violations, including alerts to the Prosecutor's Office. According to the syndicates, the clergy does not make social insurance contributions. Trenchev also insists on exposing the names of priests and bishops who have been collaborators and/or agents of the former Communist State Security, DS. About BGN 1.5 M from the State budget have been slated each year, in the last five years, for subsidy for the Church, plus another BGN 700 000 for Bulgarian churches abroad. Local municipalities are also allowed to subsidize religious institutions. Meanwhile, a check of the Main Labor Inspectorate has revealed that in the entire Pleven bishopri...

( Rorate Caeli ) - November 8 of this year witnessed an extremely rare event: the priestly ordination, in Russia and according to the Byzantine Rite, of a Russian Orthodox convert to Catholicism. On this day, Fr. Deacon Pavel (Paul) Gladkov was ordained by Bishop Milan Šášik of the Carpatho-Rusyn Greek Catholic Eparchy of Mukachevo in the Latin-Rite Cathedral of the Transfiguration in Novosibirsk (in Siberia). More photographs can be found on the website of the Catholic Church in Siberia. The new priest was born into Russian Orthodoxy in 1982 and became Catholic in 1999. The ceremony itself was according to the Byzantine Rite with some elements of the Latin liturgical tradition (such as the prostration for the Litany of Saints, which has been adopted by some Eastern Catholics for their ordination rites.) The new priest is now one of about 20 Greek Catholic priests serving the small but growing community of Greek Catholics in Russia, of whom only a minority -- sometimes called ...

( MSNBC ) - A Russian Orthodox priest blesses the Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft at the launch pad of the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Dec. 20, 2011. The launch of the Soyuz TMA-03M with an international crew aboard including US astronaut Donald Pettit, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers, is scheduled for December 21.

Many moons ago I did an interview with Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick about his soon to be published book Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy (the interview can be found here ). At the time I had been listening to his wildly popular Ancient Faith Radio podcast of the same name and was intrigued to hear that the content of the podcast was going to be used as fodder for a book. Others have reviewed this book since its publishing, but please indulge me as I add my opinion to the discussion. The book looks at the faiths outside of Orthodoxy (first Christian and then non-Christian) and provides short adumbrations of the history and beliefs of these non-Orthodox groups. In a world where Wikipedia is a smartphone or laptop's keyboard away, one might ask why such a book is necessary. To that premise I answer that it is impossible to describe the beliefs of a religious group without some form of bias. Actually, one can certainly list facts, figures, and other such humdrum data, but what people are o...

( AOB ) - Five new bishops have recently been consecrated for the Church in North America and have joined the Assembly of Bishops of North and Central America: Bishop Ignatius was consecrated to the sacred episcopacy on July 10th as an auxiliary bishop for the Antiochian Archdiocese of Mexico; Bishop John was consecrated to the sacred episcopacy on December 11th as the auxiliary bishop for Worcester and the Diocese of New England of the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America; Bishop Anthony was consecrated to the sacred episcopacy on December 11th as the auxiliary bishop for Toledo and the Diocese of the Midwest of the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America; Bishop Nicholas was consecrated to the sacred episcopacy on December 11th as the auxiliary bishop for Brooklyn and assistant to the Metropolitan of the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America; Bishop Sevastianos was consecrated to the sacred episcopacy on December 17th as the auxiliary bishop of Zela and assistant to t...

( YouTube ) - His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios visited The New Grounds of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church at Ground Zero, and held a Memorial Service and Artocclasia to Celebrate and remember those lost on 9/11 and to bring the message that we will built our church here, after long battle with the Port Authority. English starts about 2 minutes in.

( Pravoslavie )- December 16 at 14:30 at the second Winter Orthodox exhibition at the Exhibition Center of the North-West of Russia the priest, Philip Gatari from Kenya, will conduct a prayer service in Swahili, which will be the beginning of the program devoted to the Orthodox Church in this East African country. Father Philip Gatari is priest of the church of St. Anthony in the village Ishamara in the area Nieri in Central Kenya. He is also a director of a rural school, located near the temple. The Nieri area consists of 14 Orthodox priests where nearly every village has its church. In total, Kenya has hundreds of Orthodox churches. The number of Orthodox believers is close to a million, with almost one thirtieth  of all Kenyans professing Orthodoxy. Experts note that Orthodoxy is the most rapidly growing religion in Kenya, saying that it is the new Christianity in Africa. In the villages mass baptisms are not a rare case - sometimes 50-70 people. In the minds of the Keny...

( Telegraph ) - A scissor-wielding protester has destroyed a controversial billboard of the Virgin Mary, just days after it went up outside a New Zealand church. Hours after the attack, 100 or so Roman Catholics gathered to pray in the rain in front of the ruined billboard, which had shown Mary gasping in shock as she examined a pregnancy testing kit. The billboard outside the Anglican church of St Matthew's in the City, in central Auckland, New Zealand, had drawn thousands of angry comments as well as messages of support from around the world. Arthur Skinner, a member of an organisation calling itself the Catholic Action Group, who described the Renaissance-style picture as "satanic", was photographed attacking it. "Yes, it is vandalism," Mr Skinner proclaimed proudly outside the church. "I'm guilty. If they want to arrest me, be my guest. "If it comes to that, I believe in being persecuted for my faith." He told the crowd o...

For an earlier post on Fr. Nathan Monk see here . His congregation is currently petitioning to be accepted into the Antiochian Church as a Western Rite parish. ( Pensacola Digest ) - So, a priest walks into a city council meeting — stop me if you’ve heard this one — and is nearly hauled away by the police for speaking calmly to his elected officials. Hilarious, right? Father Nathan Monk wasn’t laughing at last night’s City Council meeting. During the Boyd Forum, an open comment period named in honor of the late civic activist LeRoy Boyd, Father Monk chided the council members — and Council President Sam Hall in particular — for their actions at Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting. At that meeting, several citizens had spoken in opposition to the proposed anti-homeless ordinances, and in doing so made unflattering comparisons to historical figures (one person mentioned Heinrich Himmler’s “Final Solution“) and questioned the Christian charity of any council member who would sup...

From a great blog I stumbled upon named Lessons from a Monastery , a post on cleaning holy objects. Here’s a tip I consider to be very important that I picked up from the monastery the first time I cleaned with them. The sisters use four different cleaning clothes when dusting the various pictures, icons, and objects in their monastery. For all the (for lack of a better word) secular things in the monastery they use a wet wettex to dust and a dry cloth to dry. However, for all the icons, censors, anything like that, a separate wettex is used and another dry cloth as well. The basic principle being, “holy things are for the holy”. They simply write an “E” (for eikona - icon) on the cloths for holy things so they don’t get them mixed up. I prefer to always use a different colour wettex, pink for holy objects, blue for regular ones. Once the wettex/ cloths for icons, etc. have become too tattered to use the sisters burn theirs (we’ll discuss this in another post). I have just t...

( NLM ) - How should we paint cherubim? Painting a spiritual being is always going to be bit problematic. The representations that we see are most commonly based upon those instances in scripture where they have appeared visually. Even then it's not always straight forward. For example, the vision of Ezekiel describes a being that is a compound image of faces, wings, wheels, multiple eyes, fire and chrysolite (whatever that is). Reading through the biblical passage, its difficult to imagine how everything fits together and if I had been set the task without any tradition to refer to I don't know where I would start. Looking at the various traditional images, artists seem to pick up on particular details and represent those and do not seem to try too hard to create a single picture with everything present. It gives me the impression that perhaps what Ezekiel is describing may not be a steady image, but shimmering changing picture in which different things stand out at diff...

Not particularly newsworthy, but I like the composition of the photo. You can read more about his trip to Mount Athos with others clerics from the Russian Church here .

( YouTube ) - Consecration of Bishops John, Anthony & Nicholas by His Beatitude Patriarch Ignatius and members of the Holy Synod of Antioch at the Holy Dormition Church at the University of Balamand in Lebanon on December 11, 2011.

( STOTS ) - The anniversary of his repose is December 13 th . In 1983 the following was broadcast on CBS regarding Fr. Alexander's life and impact on the Orthodox world.

( RISU ) - The unification process between the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, which began last autumn, failed. According to the Kyivan Patriarchate, the clergymen of the UAOC are to blame for the failure of the dialogue. Representatives of the Kyivan Patriarchate particularly accuse Metropolitans Mefodii and Andrii, who laid down an unacceptable condition, the resignation of Patriarch Filaret. On December 13, in Kyiv, the bishops of the UOC-KP at their synod passed an address stating their position in this regard, reported the website of UOC-KP. The bishops reminded in the document that the two churches made repeated attempts to unite. “The first attempt to unite was made in 2000-2001, when Symphoniticon was signed at the residence of the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople and later agreements were reached at a meeting in Ternopil. However, these agreements did not result in unification as the head of UAOC, Met...

( OCA ) - His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, celebrated the Divine Liturgy at Saint Herman of Alaska Sobor here on Sunday, December 11, 2011. Concelebrating with Metropolitan Jonah were His Grace, Bishop Irenee of Quebec, Administrator of the Archdiocese of Canada; Archimandrite Alexander [Pihach], Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Canada, Dean of Alberta, and Sobor Rector; Archpriest Phillip Eriksson, Rector of the Holy Martyr Peter the Aleut Church, Calgary, AB; Priest Philip Halliwell, a priest of the Canadian Archdiocese studying at Saint Tikhon’s Seminary, South Canaan, PA; Protodeacon Nazari Polataiko, Secretary of the Archdiocese of Canada; and Deacons Daniel Frisen and Matthew Francis. During the Divine Liturgy, Metropolitan Jonah ordained Deacon Matthew Francis to the Holy Priesthood, while Bishop Irenee ordained Subdeacon Jesse Isaac to the Holy Deaconate. After the dismissal, Edward and Virginia Byfield and Lillian Trefan were conferred the Award of Saint Tikhon P...

Compare... Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon y...

( Orthodox New Zealand ) - The Kursk Root Icon made a special flight over Auckland during its visit to New Zealand With the blessing of the First Hierarch of ROCOR, Metropolitan Hilarion, the Kursk Icon On Tuesday, December 7, was flown over the city of Auckland. The Holy Icon, accompanied by Archpriest Vladimir Boikov, Dean of New Zealand parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church, and the guardian of the Icon, Deacon Nicholas Olhovsky, was flown over the city with prayer in a small aircraft. The use of the aircraft was graciously offered by Alexander Zapisetsky (who piloted the plane) and Igor Ivanov. Being parishioners of the Church of the Resurrection in Auckland, they are also the directors of the Eagle Flight Training company. The Holy Icon was in New Zealand from Novemebr 29 until December 7, and was greeted everywhere by the faithful (Russians, Serbs, Greeks, Romanians, Arabs and New Zealanders) with a great measure of reverence and piety. We are preparing an article a...

Axios! Many years to my good friend on his ordination to the diaconate! ( STOTS ) - On Tuesday, December 13th, Joel Wilson was ordained to the Holy Diaconate by His Grace Bishop Matthias of Chicago and the Midwest. In addition to his studies Dn. Joel has been an invaluable service to the St. Tikhon's Community. He has worked closely with the seminary administration contributing the design aspects of various publications, assisted with the implementation of the seminaries intra-mail system, as well as the seminary website. May God bless he and his family as they begin this next phase of their public ministry. AXIOS!

( Vimeo ) - Interactive Lab developed, installed, and provided support for all the interactive equipment at the exhibition. This complex project consisted of 5 sub-projects: 1st, a multitouch 3D-globe, showing the Church's eparchies across all the continents; 2nd, an interactive belfry, represented the images and sounds of most significant bells and belfries; 3rd, an interactive kiosk, based on an iPad with an external display, featuring 12Gb of multimedia content on every Church's eparchy; 4th, a virtual 3D library, showcasing books, supported by the Church; 5th, an interactive media-wall, presenting the Church's mass-media.

On Sunday, December 11, with the blessing of Archbishop Demetrios (Ecumenical Patriarchate in the USA) and at the invitation of Alexander Karlutsosa, Archbishop Justinian of Naro-Fominsk visited the Church of the Dormition in Long Island, NY.

( pravmir.com ) - An “Exhibition for the Blind” is not the Right Name. This is Rather an Exhibition of Icons for All to Touch and Approach the Sacred. The exhibition that’s currently in the “House of Icons” (Moscow, Russia) is for all. Regardless of the way they read information – by vision or by touch. The exhibits there may be touched. They SHOULD be touched. The exhibition’s aim is to familiarize visitors with the world of iconography, from the very beginning, the creation of paint, to the finished icon. This process starts from minerals – malachite, lazurite, hematite – out of which pigments are made.Our visitors can also see mortars, in which iconographers grind paints, brushes that they use, and boards, on which the icons are created. Moreover, represented boards illustrate the process of icon creation: there are boards with linen, boards with priming, and boards with imprints. “The exhibition also shows materials used in iconography: wood, ceramics, plaster, smalt, ...

( antiochian.org ) - On Sunday, December 11, 2011, three new auxiliary bishops were consecrated for the Self-Ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America at the Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos in the Patriarchal Monastery of Our Lady of Balamand, Balamand, Lebanon. Their Graces, JOHN, ANTHONY and NICHOLAS were consecrated as bishops of Worcester, Toledo, and Brooklyn and will serve as auxiliaries to His Eminence, Metropolitan PHILIP. His Beatitude, IGNATIUS IV, Patriarch of the Great City of God, Antioch, and all the East, presided at the liturgy and was assisted by 12 bishops including several Metropolitans from Lebanon and Syria. His Grace, Bishop JOSEPH represented His Eminence, Metropolitan PHILIP at the consecrations and was accompanied by more than 60 clergy and laity from throughout the Archdiocese including many archdiocesan board members. The group was organized and led by the Vice-Chairman of the Archdiocesan Board of Trustees, Mr. Fawaz El-Kho...

Men cleaned the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, West Bank, Monday. Christians are starting to journey to the holy church ahead of Christmas. ( Abed al-Hashlamoun/European Pressphoto Agency )

The last post used OCA photos for the ROCOR statement. To continue in this vein I'm using ROCOR photos for the OCA statement. ( OCA ) - His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, Primate of the Orthodox Church in America, and His Eminence, Metropolitan Hilarion, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, concelebrated the Divine Liturgy for the first time at the Synodal Cathedral of the Sign, New York, NY, on Saturday, December 10, 2011. The celebration marked the first time in nearly 70 years that the primates and hierarchs of the OCA and ROCOR have concelebrated. It is noteworthy that the Liturgy was celebrated on the cathedral’s Patronal Feast of the Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God, which was present during the Divine Liturgy. At the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, Metropolitans Jonah and Hilarion exchanged warm greetings and spoke of the historic significance and importance of the occasion. “I am profoundly grateful for this opportunity to come tog...

ROCOR issued a statement to the faithful on this event and its meaning. Until the OCA site publishes its story on the event, I have interspersed some of their photos of the concelebration. ( ROCOR ) - Since the normalization of ties between the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and the Moscow Patriarchate in 2007, there have been numerous concelebrations between ROCOR and the Orthodox Church in America, including some at the hierarchical level. This year is marked by the first two concelebrations between the First Hierarchs of the Church Abroad and the Orthodox Church in America, and we state the following, in response to questions by the clergy and faithful: Well attended might be an understatement The Russian Orthodox diocese in the New World was formed in Alaska, while Alaska was still part of the Russian Empire, in 1795. In the following century, after the United States obtained Alaska from Russia, more and more Russian Orthodox parishes were formed in the cont...