Byzantine, Texas

Edward Pentin with the National Catholic Register has written an article that is head and shoulders above its contemporaries on the topic of the upcoming Council in Crete. It delves into the broader topics but also the players involved. I recommend it wholeheartedly. VATICAN CITY ( NCR ) — The historic meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow in Havana Feb. 12 — the first such encounter since the Russian Orthodox Church was founded in the 10th century — would probably not have happened were it not for another historic upcoming meeting: the Pan-Orthodox Council. He's not alone in thinking this. Editorials on this point range from delight at the Holy Spirit working among us to chagrin that the Russian Church is trying to show up Constantinople. The leaders of all Orthodox Churches will gather June 16-27 for the first time since 787. Over the succeeding 12 centuries, there have been councils of various levels attended by representatives of various Churches, but...

( Interfax ) - The first in history meeting between the patriarch of Moscow and the pope of Rome, which had been on the agenda for 20 years, was held in Havana on February 12. Head of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk tells Interfax-Religion correspondent Alexey Sosedov about its results, influence on settling the main problem existing between the two Churches, fears about Orthodox and Catholics closing up, and prospects of the pope's visit to Russia and the patriarch's visit to Rome. - Your Eminence, what do you think about results of the meeting between Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis? - Much is said that it is the first meeting in history, that there has never been such a meeting before, but I think that the most important about it is the content of the meeting. It is certainly pleasant to see the pope and the patriarch together, talking to each other in a fraternal atmosphere, smiling to each other. But the most...

( OCA ) - Five Orthodox Christian bishops will bless the new ZOE House of ZOE for Life in Parma’s original post office at 5454 State Road during its open house on Friday, March 4, 2016. The open house will begin at 6:30 p.m. with the blessing slated to take place at 7:00 p.m. Slated to bless the house are His Eminence, Metropolitan Savas of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Pittsburgh; His Eminence, Archbishop Nathaniel of Detroit and the Romanian Episcopate [OCA], His Grace, Bishop Daniel of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA, His Grace, Bishop Gregory of Nyssa of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese of the USA, and His Grace, Bishop Paul of Chicago and the Midwest [OCA]. Headquartered in Cleveland Heights, OH, ZOE for Life is a non-profit Orthodox Christian ministry that helps women during and after crisis pregnancies, offers pure living resources and retreats, and assists Orthodox Christian couples seeking to expand their families through adoption. The agency, ...

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( ICN ) - The 21 Coptic Christians brutally executed in Libya one year ago remembered in a prayer service in the Palace of Westminster, during morning prayers at the Church of England General Synod, and in a Vespers Service at the Coptic Orthodox Cathedral of Saint George in the United Kingdom. A service of commemoration was held in the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft in the Palace of Westminster on 10 February 2016. The service was attended by members of both Houses of Parliament and co-hosted by His Grace Bishop Angaelos, General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church and The Reverend Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons. Prayers were offered, along with a moment of silence, in memory of the 21 Copts at opening prayers of Church of England General Synod. Speaking in memory of the 21 Copts Bishop Angaelos said: "One profound result and gift of this horrific act is that it brought people together. These men paid the ultimate price, but gave us a cau...

Why am I posting about the retirement of a diocesan treasurer? Because, by all accounts, he was an innovator and a genius with building up the coffers of the diocese while giving the missions a strong helping hand towards permanent buildings and full parish status. Some of his methods are making their way into other dioceses seeking to revitalize and grow. ( OCA-DOS ) - As was announced at our Pastoral Conference last week, Milos Konjevich, after years of tireless and selfless service to our Diocese, is now retiring from his position as Treasurer of the Diocese of the South. The Diocese of the South will always remain deeply indebted to the lengthy service of Milos Konjevich, his care for the churches and faithful, and his development of many of the financial programs that have contributed to our diocese’s vitality. At a Diocesan Council Meeting on December 16, 2015, the Diocesan Council resolved to appoint Carissa Avant and Mary Warnky as Accountants for the Diocese of the South. Th...

H/T: Lessons from a Monastery

As the commenters to this blog have decided to run with scissors despite my recommendation to slow down and put the sharp things away, I'm going to close comments for the day of Monday. We'll return to normal commenting after this moratorium and see if sanity has been restored.

It's so long and wide-reaching you can see why they were still editing the below document up to the day before the face-to-face meeting. ( MOSPAT-USA ) - "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the holy Spirit be with all of you” (2 Cor 13:13). 1. By God the Father’s will, from which all gifts come, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the help of the Holy Spirit Consolator, we, Pope Francis and Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, have met today in Havana. We give thanks to God, glorified in the Trinity, for this meeting, the first in history. It is with joy that we have met like brothers in the Christian faith who encounter one another "to speak face to face” (2 Jn 12), from heart to heart, to discuss the mutual relations between the Churches, the crucial problems of our faithful, and the outlook for the progress of human civilization. 2. Our fraternal meeting has taken place in Cuba, at the c...

( MOSPAT ) - On 11 February 2016, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia began his Primatial visit to Latin America. Cuba is the first country that he is visiting. His Holiness has come to Cuba at the invitation of Mr. Raúl Castro, President of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Cuba. It is the first ever visit of a Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia to Latin America. Prior to his elevation to the Patriarchal throne in 2009, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill visited Cuba in 1998, 2004 and 2008 in his capacity as chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, and made his outstanding contribution to the promotion of contacts with this and other countries of Latin America. His Holiness will also visit the Republic of Paraguay and the Federative Republic of Brasil. At Havana’s José Martí International Airport, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church was met by Mr. Raúl Castro Ruz, President of Cub...

Let's please keep things civil in the comment boxes. If you take the rhetoric up a notch, the next poster is going to take it up two more.

What an odd thing to worry about. Moscow ( Interfax ) - The Russian Orthodox Church does not believe that the superiority of the Pope traditionally worshipped by Catholics will have an impact on the protocol and spirit of the oncoming meeting between the Pontiff and Patriarch Kirill. "In the times when an undivided Church existed, the archbishop of the city of Rome was, indeed, the first in the list of primates of Christian Churches," Hieromonch Stefan (Igumnov), secretary of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations, said when speaking on Rossiya-24 television on Thursday. This circumstance did have a mark on the protocol of communications between Christian leaders "but this procedure was considerably simplified during the pontificate of the current Pope", he went on. "Perhaps, it will be understood from the protocol of the mutual greetings that the meeting is quite long-anticipated and that these people have much to discuss at the meeting,...

( Christian Times ) - The former Soviet Republic of Georgia is planning a new bill that will legally punish irreverence toward religion. However, concerns have been raised the 'blasphemy bill' could be used against any organization who does not follow the church's principles. The bill has been approved by committee, and according to The Guardian, is headed for the parliamentary floor. If passed, the bill will impose a fine of 100 lari, equivalent to $120 USD, for insults to religious feeling. The penalty will then be doubled if the offense is committed a second time. Religious minorities fear the bill may be used to guard the interests of the influential Georgian Orthodox Church. While these minorities agree that all religions should be protected by the law, they are concerned the 'blasphemy bill' will become a tool for discrimination against them. Baptist Bishop, Rusudan Gotsiridze, said that the law would not protect anyone; at least, not the minorities, an...

( OCA ) - Saint Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary here has announced the creation of three new scholarships for students from the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. “It is a great joy to announce the creation of these three new full scholarships,” said His Eminence, Archbishop Michael, Seminary Rector. “The scholarships will cover tuition, room, and board, allowing these seminarians to focus on their priestly formation and enter ministry in the Holy Orthodox Church without any debt.” The scholarships are named in honor of three current Antiochian hierarchs—the Patriarch John X Scholarship, the Metropolitan Joseph Scholarship, and the Bishop Thomas Scholarship. “Saint Tikhon’s is honored to continue its long history of training young men for ministry in the Antiochian Archdiocese,” said Archpriest Dr. Steven Voytovich, Seminary Dean. Marshall Makoul Goodge, a second-year seminarian from Saint Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church, Emmaus, PA, believes th...

It might be surprising to some that the Greek Catholics have a lot to say about this conference between the Pope of Rome and the Patriarch of Moscow (ranging from fearful anxiety to thoughtful analyses to making fun of a Russian hierarch's English ). The difference for them is that, unlike many Catholics, Greek Catholics live (some might say squat) in Orthodoxy's backyard. Any change in the relationship of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches has a significant effect on their daily lives. The below is the beginning of a very long article on the subject entitled " As pope and Russian patriarch meet, Ukraine fears a ‘shaky’ Vatican ." ( Crux ) In much of the world, Friday’s historic meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia in Havana, Cuba, will be hailed as a breakthrough. Attitudes are more mixed, however, in Ukraine, long the front line of tensions between Catholics and the Russian Orthodox. There, the 5-million-strong Greek Catho...

( Antiochian Church ) - The Antiochian Orthodox Church receives in Sao Paulo, on behalf of His Beatitude John X the Patriarch of Antioch and all the east, the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, Cyril, who will celebrate the Divine Liturgy on Sunday February 21 in the Orthodox Cathedral of St. Paul, the center of the Antiochian Archdiocese in Sao Paulo and all Brazil, whose shepherd is His Eminence Archbishop Damaskinos (Mansur). This unique event comes during the official tour paid by His Beatitude Cyril of Russia, to Latin America, between February 11- 21, which will be inaugurated by a historic meeting with His Holiness Pope Francis in Cuba on February 12 in the presence of very high official figures from Syrian and Lebanese origins, on political, diplomatic, and religious levels, besides a huge crowd of believers from antiochian and Russian churches in Sao Paulo. The visit of His Beatitude Cyril the Russian patriarch, to the Antiochian Orthodox church in Brazil, is a manifestati...

From the blog Artoklasia, a post entitled " Why Pray For the Dead? " When you die you will face what is known as the partial judgment. This will include a complete examination of your life. With a good account you will be led by angels to a mystical place where we will anticipate the joys of Paradise awaiting the final judgment and your resurrection. If you do not know God at this point and have not lead a life of repentance you will be controlled by the demons who will lead you to a place where you anticipate the torments of Hell or an eternal life separated from God. Elder Cleopas tells us this about those who are destined for eternal torments, "If someone at the partial judgment is destined for eternal torments and is a Christian and servant of Christ, he has but one hope. His hope is in the intercession of living Christians who are able to pray to Christ for him to be rescued from the torments of hell or at least to find some relief from them." Paul te...

Bulgarian Orthodox faithfuls light candles with jars of honey during a holy mass for the ‘sanctification of honey’ at the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin church in the town of Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, February 10, 2016. Honey and beehives are sanctified by performing a ritual for health and rich harvest. On St. Haralambos’ Day, sick or blind people go to church and pray for healing. According to traditional concepts, St. Haralambos is the lord of all illnesses, especially the plague. Doing any housework is strictly forbidden that day, because of the fear of any coming illness. Women are only allowed to bake round bread and decorate it with a cross in the middle and a large wreath at the edge for health. Honey is consecrated in the local church and then all the bread is coated with that honey. The rest of the honey is kept in the house as a remedy. According to the belief, St. Haralambos blesses the land and it gets warmer and ready to be cultivated. EPA/VASSIL DONEV

From the blog The Orthodox Clergy Wife by Presbytera Anonyma, a post entitled " Hugging the cactus: When the wrong people apologize ." I once heard a story about a pastor who had to deal with a small explosion of the parishioner kind. While meeting with the music ministry group, the pastor asked the music leader to do a particular piece of music in the service. For whatever reason, the music leader had what can only be described as a tantrum—HATED that piece of music! This response shocked and upset the other musicians at the meeting. The pastor had to tell the music leader afterward that they needed to just apologize to the other musicians and do as he had asked about the music. But no apology was forthcoming, and the pastor received the advice of extreme humilty from a colleague: yes, that person gets upset for no reason– YOU be the big person to apologize even though you weren’t the one to do wrong, and they will settle down and everything will be all right. The p...

( Timeline ) - When people who haven’t talked in 1,000 years finally decide to bury the hatchet, that’s a hell of a Kumbaya moment to get excited about. On Friday, the Vatican said Pope Francis would meet with Russian Orthodox Church leader Patriarch Kirill I in Cuba next week. A pope and a Russian Orthodox patriarch have never met. That’s big news in the Christian world. The Eastern Christian churches and the Roman Catholic church split in 1054 in what’s since been called the Great Schism, or the East-West Schism. The leader of each church excommunicated the other — a punishment that held until 1965. The AP called next week’s meeting a “historic step to heal the 1,000-year schism that split Christianity” and said it “marks a major development in the Vatican’s long effort to bridge the divisions in Christianity.” But there’s a wrinkle. The Russian Orthodox Church is just one of 14 self-governing churches that make up the Eastern Orthodox Church, and while it’s the biggest (about ...

( MOSPAT ) - On 5-7 February 2016, the Commission for Dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Coptic Church held in Cairo its first session. An agreement to establish the Commission was reached during the meeting between His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and His Holiness Coptic Patriarch Tawadros II. That meeting took place during the visit that the Primate of the Coptic Church made to Russia in the period from October 28, to November 4, 2014. The first meeting of the joint working group for preparing the dialogue took place in Cairo on February 13, 2015. The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Synod of the Coptic Church approved the list of the Commission members, the former on May 5, 2015, and the latter in July 2015. Representing the Moscow Patriarchate at the meeting were: Bishop Gennady of Kaskelen, co-chairman of the Commission; Hieromonk Stefan (Igumnov), DECR secretary for inter-Christian relations; Rev. Viktor Kulaga, rep...

The recent story about the entrance of the vagante "Catholic Church of the East" into ROCOR is about to blow up. This process, as many people expected, did not go well. More information will follow soon.

( Ahram ) - After Egypt President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi apologised for not finishing the reconstruction work of Christian properties damaged in the aftermath of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi’s ouster in 2013, the engineering unit of the Armed Forces immediately started cooperating with Coptic authorities to wrap up the pending renovations, religious Coptic figures said. While visiting Cairo's St. Mark Cathedral on Christmas Eve, El-Sisi apologised to the country's Christians over the delay in the completion of renovations, which he says will be done by the end of 2016. The churches undergoing renovation were attacked in August 2013 on the day of the dispersals of pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo, with the ensuing hours seeing sectarian attacks against Christians in Upper Egypt, where the Coptic population is relatively large. El-Sisi, who was defence minister at the time, immediately announced that the Armed Forces would pay the costs of renovating and rebuilding all chur...

( UGCC ) - The Head of the UGCC noted that for many years the ROC refused to participate in such a meeting and named the UGCC as an obstacle for dialogue. “The meeting cannot be an end in itself, but must rather be an instrument, a necessary means for honest and open dialogue. I am, therefore, pleased, that we are no longer considered an obstacle and aren’t being used to justify one’s unwillingness to engage in such dialogue,” said the Primate of the UGCC. He emphasized that the meeting between the two primates will take place practically days before 70th the anniversary of the Lviv Pseudo-sobor, during which the UGCC was forcibly liquidated. “The Russian Orthodox Church, unfortunately, to this day has not condemned this act of coercion, perpetrated by the Soviet authorities. We hope that the meeting of the Pope and the Patriarch will create a new context for movement in the direction of historical justice,” said His Beatitude Sviatoslav. The Head of the UGCC also hopes that the v...

( OCA ) - Over 80 clergy and lay youth and camp workers gathered at Saint Seraphim Cathedral here January 21-23, 2016 for this year’s Pan-Orthodox Youth and Camp Workers’ Conference. “This annual conference is sponsored by the Orthodox Christian Camp Association and the leaders of all the different jurisdictions’ youth departments,” said Andrew Boyd, OCA Youth Director. “This year’s gathering was hosted by the Orthodox Church in America—and it was especially joyous to see so many come together to work to do better for our youth.” The theme of the conference—“Feed My Sheep: Crisis, Trauma, and Everyday Life”—was explored in two keynote addresses by Archpriest Dr. Steven Voytovich, Dean of Saint Tikhon’s Seminary, South Canaan, PA, and numerous workshops. Father Steven focused on mental health and development in youth and young adults, as well as burnout and self-care for pastors and youth workers. Workshops focused on ministering to young veterans, responding to crises at cam...

One hopes this process will go more smoothly than the ROCOR Western Rite enterprise has gone. I expect once these parishes make it into the Assembly of Bishops website's parish listing that there will be some surprised visitors. (ROCOR-EAD) - Over the past several months, the leader of an independent church movement called the " Catholic Church of the East, " the former Archbishop Ramzi Mussalam, has begun a remarkable transition: to bring his entire movement, of over 60 parishes, into the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR). The former archbishop was received into the Orthodox Church and ordained a deacon and priest with the encouragement and blessing and by the hand of Metropolitan Hilarion, ROCOR’s First Hierarch. The former archbishop is now Hieromonk Elias. Father Elias grew up in the Scranton area of Pennsylvania as a communicant of the Polish National Catholic Church, in which he was ordained to the priesthood. The process of Orthodox catechizati...

( MOSPAT ) - Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations (DECR), held a press conference on February 5, 2016, at the DECR. The meeting with Russian and foreign mass media reporters was devoted to the Primatial visitation of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia to Latin America, which will take place from February 11 to 22, 2016, His Holiness will visit the Republic of Cuba, Republic of Paraguay and Federative Republic of Brazil. Participating in the press conference were also V. Legoida, head of the Synodal Department for Church-Society Relations, and Rev. Alexander Volkov, director of the Patriarchal Press Service. The DECR chairman told the gathering about the forthcoming visit of His Holiness to Latin America: “The first point of the program will be a visit to Cuba, to which His Holiness will arrive, on the invitation of the Chairman of the State Council and Council of Ministers Raul Castro, in the evenin...

While this is not a sign of a possible end to the schism (as NPR suggested today), it is remarkable in that the Ukrainian Greek Catholic issue (described by Moscow as an "open wound") is still not resolved. ( RT ) - The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, is to meet his Roman Catholic counterpart, Pope Francis, during a historic visit to Latin America. The groundbreaking meeting is to happen in mid-February in Cuba. The meeting between heads the two major Christian churches would be an unprecedented move to mend a millennium-long rift between the Western and Eastern branches of the religion, which started with the Great Schism of 1054. The upcoming meeting confirms Russia’s status in the Christian world, according to Alexandr Avdeev Russia’s ambassador to the Holy See. “In light of the Western sanctions, the meeting between the two celebrants is a confirmation of Russia’s role in Christian civilization,” he told TASS. Persecution of Christians ...

( MOSPAT-USA ) - On Tuesday, February 2, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Russia, concurrently during the Holy Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, hierarchs who hold their obedience outside the canonical borders of the Moscow Patriarchate met in Moscow. The meeting was chaired by the chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk. Attending the meeting was the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York; Archbishop Anatoly of Kerch, Archbishop Mark of Berlin, Germany and Great Britain; Archbishop Theophan of Berlin and Germany; Archbishop Simon of Brussels and Belgium; Archbishop Gabriel of Montreal and Canada; Archbishop Michael of Geneva and Western Europe; Archbishop Elisey of Sourozh; the Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in Canada, Bishop Job of Kashira; Bishop Agapit of Stuttgart; Bishop Pet...

( Christian Today ) - The intensified fighting between Turkish government forces and Kurdish separatists recently damaged one of the ancient churches in the world founded around 1,700 years ago in Turkey. The Syriac Orthodox church was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, destroying a portion of the wall surrounding the St. Mary Church in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir on Jan. 28. "It was like a war zone... Our house was shaking and we thought it would collapse," said Fr. Yusuf Akbulut, the priest of the church, who hid with his family at his home located on church grounds during the attack. "We wouldn't have left the church. But when we looked [on the street] and saw that land mines and rockets were exploding non-stop, we knew that we couldn't stay," he told World Watch Monitor. Akbulut said he initially dialled 155, the police emergency line, for help but was told that his neighbourhood was a no-go area, barricaded off to civil authorit...