Byzantine, Texas

FAIRBANKS ( News Miner ) — St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, 326 Fifth St., Juneau, is the oldest continually-used Orthodox church in Southeast Alaska, and the only surviving octagonal Orthodox church in Alaska. Juneau’s Orthodox church was established at the request of local Tlingit Indians. According to a 1994 history of the church, there were several reasons for the invitation. One was the Russian Orthodox Church’s long history in Southeast Alaska. By the 1890s there were sizable populations of Tlingit Orthodox believers in the Sitka and Kilisnoo areas. Another was the Orthodox Church’s acceptance of Tlingit culture, its encouragement of Tlingit literacy (Orthodox clergy developed the first written Tlingit alphabet), and use of the Tlingit language in church services. Juneau’s Tlingit encouraged Sitka clergy to visit, even though there were Protestant denominations working in the area. This may have been because, in keeping with the U.S. government’s assimilationist policy toward N...

( Orthodox History ) - Nine years ago, at a conference at St. Vladimir’s Seminary, I presented a paper called, “The Myth of Unity and the Origins of Jurisdictional Pluralism in American Orthodoxy.” My thesis, basically, was that, contrary to the prevailing narrative at the time, Orthodoxy in America was not administratively united prior to the Bolshevik Revolution and the formation of the Greek Archdiocese. I planned on publishing the paper in a scholarly journal, or something, and at one point we here at SOCHA had a single-issue online journal that featured my paper, but the journal quickly disappeared, and the paper has remained sitting on my hard drive all these years. Until now, because, reinspired (thanks to my wife) to continue my work on church history, I’ve decided to simply publish the latest version of “The Myth of Unity” here at Orthodox History. This version was revised in 2011, and while some of my references to present-day Orthodoxy in America may be a tad outdated, I ...

A few years back I posted this . I think it's time for a reposting./ This is a blog. It is not a news outfit. No one pays me to post anything nor is there a foundation that sends me money by the word. If we look at this with a chronological and historical eye, it was my wife who thought with all my combing of Orthodox resources on the Internet that I should put what I find in one place online. It followed me from Texas, to seminary, to the priesthood and parish life. Seven thousand, two hundred and fifty posts later we are here. If I enjoy a photo of a monk throwing a snowball, it will probably get posted. If I think someone made an interesting point, it might get posted. If there is a spat between two parties and you are expecting that I'm going to strive for the news media's Israel-Palestinian parity policy you're going to be let down. There is bias, but there is also often an attempt to post from the other side as well. Also, I will post about non-Chalcedonians ...

( ekathimerini.com ) - The Perpetual Holy Synod of the Church of Greece has been called to an emergency session over ongoing name talks between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Kathimerini understands. The meeting was called by Archbishop Ieronymos, according to sources, in order to discuss Sunday’s rally in Thessaloniki, where tens of thousands of people gathered to protest the use of the term “Macedonia” in any of the proposals put forward. Thessaloniki Metropolitan Bishop Anthimos called on the church council to re-examine its position on the talks following the rally, saying that the Church should never agree to any composite name containing the word “Macedonia.” Earlier this month, the Holy Synod had unanimously agreed it would oppose any solution that included the use of the term “Macedonia” by FYROM, citing political, national and ecclesiastical reasons, as it could bolster the claims by FYROM’s self-declared “Church of Macedonia.” Last week...

By Fr. Michael Lillie who serves Nativity of Christ Orthodox Church , one of thePatriarchal Parishes in the U.S.A located in Youngstown, Ohio. Homilies/Sermons Philsophy of Homiletics: Preaching is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and therefor prepared with prayer. (Archbishop John Shahovsky – The Orthodox Pastor) Sermons Should be Direct, Simple, Spiritually Pure, and have no worldly taint.. (Archbishop John Shahovsky – The Orthodox Pastor) Sermons are preached in words but confirmed in action. (Archbishop John Shahovsky – The Orthodox Pastor) Sermons can be Spoken extemporaneously or written, but MUST come from the heart, from the fullness of the faith and the sweet desire to comfort, strengthen, enlighten , and reassure.. (Archbishop John Shahovsky – The Orthodox Pastor) Sermons can only be beneficial to the faithful if it strengthens and enlighten the preacher himself also. (Archbishop John Shahovsky – The Orthodox Pastor) A Sermon or lesson has value to the faithful ...

The OCA and ACROD are still putting other jurisdictions to shame by their full-throated and long-lasting involvement in the March for Life (and pro-life causes in general - see who is involved in ZOE for Life, the St. Ambrose Society, etc.). I was unable to go this year, but will be back next year for sure. ( OCA ) - Tens of thousands of pro-life marchers from across the United States gathered in the nation’s capital on Friday, January 19, 2018 for the 45th annual March for Life. The annual March marks the anniversary of the January 22, 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion in the United States. The theme of this year’s March was “Love Saves Lives.” As reported earlier, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon, led the Orthodox Christian hierarchs, clergy, seminarians and faithful at the March. Other participating hierarchs included His Eminence, Archbishop Melchisedek of Pittsburgh and His Eminence, Archbishop Michael of New York. In addition to representing the Holy ...

Have you read up on St. Basil's Center? Give it a look . The Center offers Eastern University students the opportunity to minor in Orthodox Thought and Culture. It features an interdisciplinary, integrated curriculum focused on the Great Books of the Church Fathers, as well as other noteworthy but rarely studied Orthodox theologians, philosophers, novelists, poets, statesmen, cultural figures, musicians, iconographers, and artists.

" Blame me not ," said the scorpion, in a supplicatory tone, "it is not my fault; it is that of my nature; it is a constitutional habit I have of stinging." ( Fordham ) - Together with the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, Fordham’s Orthodox Christian Studies Center has been awarded a research grant from the British Council in the USA to examine LGBTQ rights alongside Eastern Orthodox identity. As part of the British Council’s Bridging Voices project, the grant will bring together diverging voices from both sides of the Atlantic to Fordham for a seminar in June 2019 titled, “Contemporary Eastern Orthodox Identity and the Challenges of Pluralism and Sexual Diversity in a Secular Age.” The seminar, research, and resulting papers, will facilitate discussion on issues related to sexual diversity within Eastern Orthodoxy and how policymakers in Europe and the U.S. can respond in a measured manner, said Aristotle Papanikolaou, Ph.D., the Archbishop Demetr...

( The National ) - The Saint Elias Greek Orthodox Cathedral was inaugurated in Abu Dhabi on Saturday by the Minister of Tolerance, Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, and in the presence of Patriarch John X Yazigi, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East. The new church is located in Abu Dhabi’s Al Mussafah industrial area on a land plot donated by the UAE leadership as a gesture of the country’s values of tolerance, love and peace. Sheikh Nahyan expressed his thanks to Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, for their support in establishing the religious edifice in Abu Dhabi. “Our presence together in this spiritual celebration is a strong affirmation of the special and strong relationship between the UAE and Lebanon, which is always based on the ideal values and common principles we cherish together," Sheikh Nahyan said...

( AFR ) - We were fortunate to find a helpful “Journey to Pascha 2018” chart made by Fr. Jonathan Bannon. He kindly offered to share it, and it is now available as a free download from this post. It provides a map of the milestones along the way and weekly suggestions for participation in your personal spiritual life. Click here to download the PDF of Journey to Pascha 2018! Good strength for Lent, great joy for Pascha!

MISSISSAUGA, ONT. ( National Post ) — On a wintry Tuesday afternoon, in a small conference room at the back of a Pentecostal office building in the Toronto suburbs, 60 people representing Muslim, Jewish, Sikh, Christian and other faiths spent two hours debating whether the government is violating their religious freedoms — and if so, what to do about it. The concern arises out of the Canada Summer Jobs program, which this year comes with a new “attestation” box that all applicants must check off before submitting. The wording of the attestation, which many still find confusing, seems to require a declaration that the applicant does not advocate an anti-abortion position. A growing number of faith-based groups see the attestation as a threat to the principle of religious freedom in Canada. While some of them are staunchly pro-life, others don’t take a firm stance on abortion rights but don’t want to be forced to take a side in order to apply for a grant. Tuesday’s discussion was ...

( The Hill ) - The Trump administration has created new protections for health workers who have religious and moral objections to certain procedures, such as abortion or assisted suicide. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Thursday it will create a new division under the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) responsible for investigating complaints filed by workers claiming that their employers have violated their religious rights. The changes represent a major shift for the OCR, which in the past has primarily focused on enforcing patient safety and privacy concerns. "No one should be forced to choose between helping sick people and living by one’s deepest moral or religious convictions, and the new division will help guarantee that victims of unlawful discrimination find justice," OCR Director Roger Severino said at the announcement ceremony Thursday morning. "We are saying, with the launch of this division, you do not need to shed your religio...

I've kept the numbered footnote references in the post. What they reference is available at the end of the lengthy document. ( Orthodox Ethos ) - The Patriarchate of Alexandria’s appointment of six “deaconesses” in the Congo in February 2017 has prompted calls in some corners for other local churches to follow suit. In particular, a group of Orthodox liturgical scholars has issued an open statement of support for Alexandria, declaring that the “restoration of the female diaconate is such that neither doctrinal issues nor authoritative precedents are at stake.”1 We, the undersigned clergy and laity, beg to differ and are w riting now with three purposes: to question what was accomplished in the Congo, to clarify the historical record on the place of deaconesses in Orthodox tradition, and to point out the serious doctrinal issues raised by the appointment of deaconesses. First, as to what was accomplished in the Congo, we note that the Patriarch of Alexandria did not use the B...

If you hadn't already heard, David Bentley Hart recently came out with his own pro-apocatastatic rendering of the New Testament. So far the review have not been kind. The very popular N.T. Wright has joined their number. I find Wright's comment "... dogma supersedes the text" to be insightful. It's a rather stinging criticism of the Hart New Testament that some may want to read. ( The Christian Century ) - When a theologian of the stature of David Bentley Hart offers a “pitilessly literal translation” of the New Testament that is “not shaped by later theological and doctrinal history” and aims to make “the familiar strange, novel, and perhaps newly compelling,” we are eager to see the result. He promises to bring out the “wildly indiscriminate polyphony” of the writers’ styles and emphases, converging on their “vibrant certainty that history has been invaded by God in Christ in such a way that nothing can stay as it was.” But his two main claims (to be “liter...

This has always been an interesting feast for me. It has an interesting history and the Church has developed some very rich imagery in the hymnody for the feast. Festal celebrations often began locally and then expanded either through constant expansion or through conciliar decree. This process continues today as you will see the occasional post here when a Church joins in the glorification of a local saint from another patriarchate. Bound to the Lord * and imprisoned in a dungeon, * thou didst bind falsehood, O apostle. * Wherefore, we honor thee lovingly, * and with faith we kiss thy chains, * whence drawing forth health of body * and salvation of soul, * we praise thee as is meet, O thou who hast beheld God, * converser with the incorporeal ones. O most blessed Peter, chief among the apostles, loose me, who am bound by the chains of the passions, wretch that I am, as once the angel of God loosed thy chains, leading thee forth most gloriously from the dungeon wherein thou wast i...

Already ordered mine. Happy to see they upped the font a tad for easier reading. ( OCA ) - Saint Tikhon’s Monastery Press is pleased to announce the publication of the Hieratikon (Volume 2]: Liturgy Book for Priest and Deacon , edited by Hieromonk Herman [Majkrzak] and Dr. Vitaly Permiakov. The volume includes the full texts of the Divine Liturgies of Saint John Chrysostom and Saint Basil the Great and the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, together with several explanatory introductions regarding hierarchical, vesperal, and paschal Liturgies; the order of censing; and priestly and diaconal concelebration. Appendices include hymns and verses of the liturgical year, various blessings (palms, artos, fruit, herbs, etc.), and more. With the blessing of His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon, the 1967 text has been carefully compared to the standard Greek and Slavonic editions, and revised in consultation with the Orthodox Church in America’s Holy Synod of Bishops and Department of ...

ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE VICARIATE FOR PALESTINIAN/JORDANIAN ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES IN THE USA Second Annual Orthodox Bioethics Conference Saturday Feb 10, 2018 Hosted by Saint Lawrence Orthodox Christian Church 6192 Highway 9, Felton, CA 95018 “ Do You Not Know That Your Body Is The Temple Of The Holy Spirit? ” Drug Abuse and the Nature of Addiction 8:30-9:00 AM: Akathist to the Theotokos of the Inexhaustible Cup 9:00-9:30 AM: Registration & Refreshments. 9:30-10:30 AM 1st Session (Arabic with English translation) "Addiction: Αn Expedited Progression To Psychological Crisis” – Very Rev. Archimandrite of the Ecumenical Throne Damaskinos Alazrai, PhD. (Psychology). 10:30-11:30 AM 2nd Session (English) “Addiction As Idolatry: Looking For Salvation Apart From God" – Very Rev. Father Thaddaeus Hardenbrook (MA: Literature, MDiv: Community Studies), St. Lawrence Orthodox Church, Felton, CA. 11:30-12:30 PM Lunch 12:30-01:30 PM 3rd S...

Do I think they will be discussing the Macedonian issue ? Yes, yes I do. ( EP ) - On Sunday, January 7, 2018, His All-Holiness received His Beatitude Patriarch Neophyte of Bulgaria together with the members of his entourage—various metropolitans and clergy of the Church of Bulgaria—at the Ecumenical Patriarchate, during His Beatitude’s visit for the reopening of the newly renovated Church of St. Stephen in the Phanar District.

OLMSTED FALLS, OH ( OCA-DMW ) — ZOE for Life! will sponsor a Supplication Service for the Unborn at Saint Innocent Church [OCA], 8526 Usher Road, Olmsted Falls, OH on Sunday, January 21, 2018 at 6:00 p.m. Priest Alessandro Margheritino, Rector of Saint Innocent’s and President of the Greater Cleveland Council of Orthodox Clergy, will lead the service. The Spiritual Father of ZOE for Life!, Priest Nicholas Mihaly, Pastor of Saint Nicholas Church, Erie, PA [American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese] also will serve. Archmandrite Demetri [Carellas] of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Pittsburgh will give a presentation, “Love Saves Lives,” following the service, which is open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. For further information, call ZOE for Life! at 440-893-9990. ZOE for Life! is a non-profit Christ-centered support organization with three major goals: to help women who need confidential emotional and spiritual support during crisis pregnancies, to assist ...

( orthochristian.com ) - Only a handful of specialists now know about a liturgical rite called “the Furnace Act” practiced in Russia from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, and mentioned as early as the tenth century in Byzantium. It was a rite that was celebrated on the great feasts. With this rite also began the forefeast of the Nativity of Christ. One of the musical-folklore specialists who has researched the “Furnace Act” is Andrei Kotov, creator and conductor of the Siren Choir—a marvelous Russian choir that performs ancient Russian religious music. “We searched a long time for it. At first we found a description of it in the Book of Rites of the Dormition Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin (there are only two descriptions extant—in the Dormition Cathedrals of Moscow and Novgorod), and having found a detailed description, we started our search for the music,” recalls A. Kotov. “It took us nine years to gather a unified Furnace Act—we had to find all the music that went into...

( OCA ) - Funeral services for His Grace, Bishop Mark [Forsberg], 83, Former Bishop of Boston, will be celebrated at Christ the Saviour Cathedral, 16601 NW 77 Court, Miami Lakes, FL on Thursday and Friday, January 11-12, 2018. Bishop Mark fell asleep in the Lord on Monday, January 8. Visitation at the cathedral will begin at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 11. The Funeral Service will follow at 6:30 p.m. On Friday, January 12, the Divine Liturgy will be celebrated at 10:00 a.m., followed by interment at Vista Memorial Gardens, Miami Lakes, FL. His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon will preside. A repast will follow at the cathedral. Born in Detroit, MI on April 2, 1934, Bishop Mark was ordained as a Melkite Greek Catholic deacon and priest in 1964. The following year, he was received into the Orthodox Church. While pursuing studies at Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, Yonkers, NY, he served Saint George Antiochian Orthodox Church, Albany, NY and later Saint Ge...

For more information, go check out the Facebook event here !

For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

You can stay updated at http://www.newmendoc.com .

( YouTube ) - This was originally a Serbian song, translated into Russian, sung by a choir from Nizhni Novgorod. Text in English below: A faith eternal, a faith ancient. A faith of our princes, A faith eternal, a faith ancient. Our Orthodox faith. The faith of the regiment and princes, The faith of our knights. A faith eternal, a faith ancient. Our Orthodox faith