Byzantine, Texas

( ROCOR-WAD ) - A regular meeting of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, which has coincided with the day of celebration of the memory of Holy Hierarch John of Shanghai and San Francisco the Wonderworker and the 25th Anniversary of his canonization, is being convened within the borders of the Western American Diocese.

Moscow ( Interfax ) - The Moscow Patriarchate initiates a public discussion of the draft document on Inviolability of Life from Сonception, where it urges to set out the rights of embryo in the acting legislation. "The Orthodox Church stresses that fundamental rights of embryo as a human personality should be set out in the legislation", the draft posted on the official website of the Russian Orthodox Church reads. The Church also urges the state to guarantee the doctors' right to refuse making an abortion for the reasons of Christian conscience. Authors of the church document insist that an embryo is a human being and it means that it has the right for life. "Scientific experiments with embryos and their freezing is unacceptable. The fact that for thousands embryos an opportunity of development and life is substituted by experiments and death, undermines human dignity and violated the right for life," the document says. Its authors also believe th...

Many people have contacted me over the last year believing that Ukraine was the first piece in a domino tumbling line of dissatisfied ecclesial bodies that wanted their own recognition separate from the Church they were under that would be scooped up by Constantinople. Churches all over the world would be weakened (so goes the theory) until the papal aims of the Phanar are realized. Montenegro has often been listed among likely candidates. It seems His All-Holiness (at least here) has no interest in raising the hackles of the Serbian Church. Glory to God. ( Romfea ) - A letter to the President of Montenegro, Milo Đukanović, was sent by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, referring to the intention of the first to create an Orthodox Church in Montenegro. As pointed out in the letter, Patriarch Bartholomew expresses the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s concern about President Milo Đukanović’s intention to create an Orthodox Church in Montenegro. He also expressed the concern about the rat...

Metropolitan Orestes Chornock, widower bishop and founding primate of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese ( Orthodox History ) - I have a list of 213 Orthodox bishops who have served in America. Of these, 179 were never married (we’ll call them “celibates”), and the other 34 were widowers. So 84% celibates, 16% widowers. (Two of the “widowers” are special cases, because they were widowed before they joined the clergy, so they never served as married priests. But I classified them as widowers for this study.) Here are a few observations from the data: Most of the bishops were ordained priests in their twenties. Median age at priestly ordination: Celibates: 29 Widowers: 24 This is pretty remarkable, because canonically, the minimum age for priestly ordination is 30. Yet I found that 58% of American Orthodox bishops were ordained to the priesthood before the age of 30. I realize that there are exceptional cases — just in this study, Saints Innocent of Alaska, Ti...

Let me provide some disclosure here: I am a fan of both Dr. Peterson and Catholic Bp. Barron. At the same time I understand what defects in their positions are vis-à-vis Orthodox theology. So I am not asking anyone to take notes and accept their positions as presented uncritically. Comments like "He is dangerous!" or "He isn't even a Christian!" have their place, but I'm not asserting I'd let either man preach Sunday's sermon for me. We can ponder the good and dispense with the bad as mature listeners. I will say that their discussion of engagement with the modern world equipped with the tools provided by Christianity is well worth listening to. These are two men every month speaking to millions of Christians and non-Christians alike and have been immensely successful in their efforts. The experiential nature of Christianity is a bit of a homiletic favorite of mine as many people seem to be able to read themselves into and then out of Orthodoxy witho...

An engaging, illustrated guide to confession for children. This 100-page, easy-to-use aid will help a child understand and prepare for confession. Designed for both younger and older children, this book assists the child with brief, inspirational thoughts followed by prayers and an age-appropriate self-examination based on 1 Corinthians 13 (the "love chapter"). A Child's Guide to Confession also includes a glossary of basic vocabulary that children typically encounter when learning about or going to confession. Fully illustrated in a simple, colorful, yet reverent style. This work for our children was compiled by the editors, as well as various staff members and content contributors, of Ancient Faith Ministries under the supervision of several Orthodox clergy as cited on the copyright page: namely, Fr Noah Bushelli, Fr Nicholas Speier, and Fr Andrew Stephen Damick. A Child's Guide to Confession recently came out from Ancient Faith Publishing and I was happy t...

( OrthoChristian ) - As OrthoChristian reported yesterday, Archbishop Elpidophoros was enthroned as the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America’s (GOARCH) seventh primate at the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Manhattan on Saturday. The enthronement service was led by Metropolitan Augustinos of Germany as Patriarch Bartholomew’s personal representative, as GOARCH falls within the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The service was also attended by representatives of all Orthodox jurisdictions serving in America, as well as representatives from the Catholic, and Coptic, and other confessions. Notably, the Liturgy and enthronement were also attended by two representatives from the Moscow Patriarchal Parishes in America: Abbot Nicodemus Balyasnikov and Fr. Mark Rashkov of the St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral in New York City. Although the Russian Orthodox Church suspended communion with the Patriarchate of Constantinople in October over the latter...

( Orthochristian.com via The Weblog of John Sanidopoulos) - "The Apostles almost always fasted." Saint John Chrysostom (Sermon 57 on the Gospel of Matthew) Patristic Testimony Concerning the Fast The fast of the holy Apostles is very ancient, dating back to the first centuries of Christianity. We have the testimony of St. Athanasius the Great, St. Ambrose of Milan, St. Leo the Great and Theodoret of Cyrrhus regarding it. The oldest testimony regarding the Apostles Fast is given to us by St. Athanasius the Great (†373). In his letter to Emperor Constance, in speaking of the persecution by the Arians, he writes: "During the week following Pentecost, the people who observed the fast went out to the cemetery to pray." "The Lord so ordained it," says St. Ambrose (†397), "that as we have participated in his sufferings during the Forty Days, so we should also rejoice in his Resurrection during the season of Pentecost. We do not fast during the season o...

( Basilica ) - The four Primates of the Autocephalous Orthodox Churches in the Middle East will meet a second time in Nicosia in the near future in an effort to find a solution for the ecclesial issue of Ukraine. The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria addressed for the first time the issue of granting autocephaly to Ukraine in an interview with the Greek newspaper Ethnos. Patriarch Theodoros announced that the leaders of the Orthodox Churches in the Middle East will meet again ‘very soon’ in Nicosia. ‘I think a solution can be found. We simply have to let aside our personal issues and consider the interest of the Church.’ In April, Patriarchs Theodoros of Alexandria, John X of Antioch, Theophilos III of Jerusalem and Archbishop Chrysostomos of Cyprus met at the headquarters of the Archdiocese of Cyprus to discuss the most important ecclesiastical issues relating to the consolidation of the Christian presence in this region and the deepening of cooperation between the local...

First, let me say that I consider the entire "Orthodoxy in Dialogue" blog to be a dumpster fire. I refrain from posting about it for the same reason people don't snap shots of the restaurant's grease trap and keep their photographic efforts to palatable photos of the meals on their plates. There's enough comestible material to enjoy that one need not frequent such places. It's not so much dialogue as a catch-all for all the detritus of perversions anyone could hope to avoid for much of their lives. So color me shocked when a Protodeacon of the OCA took it upon himself to publicly flush all manner of heretical and amoral waste onto the Internet for all to see. I was less shocked to find that Pdn. Theodore serves under Fr. Arida (who some will remember had entire clergy brotherhoods writing in alarm about his compositions of a similar bent). The article, entitled "LGBTQ+ IN OUR CHURCHES by Protodeacon Theodore Feldman" is available here . Le...

( OCA ) - Orthodox Christian faithful who trace their roots to Cappadocia filled the Church of the Mother of God here on the Sunday of All Saints—June 23, 2019—as His All-Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon concelebrated the Divine Liturgy. Metropolitan Tikhon and a delegation representing the Orthodox Church in America that included Archpriest Alexander Rentel, Chancellor, and Archdeacon Joseph Matusiak had been invited by His All-Holiness to participate in the annual pilgrimage to Cappadocia in conjunction with a three-day pilgrimage to the Ecumenical Patriarchate. His Eminence, Metropolitan Paisius of Lerou Kalimnou also concelebrated with His All-Holiness, His Beatitude, and the OCA delegation. At the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, His All-Holiness warmly welcomed His Beatitude, recalling the many occasions on which Metropolitan Tikhon, representing the Orthodox Church in America, had visited the Patriarch...

( Romfea ) - On Monday, June 24, 2019, the Holy Synod of the Autocephalous Church of Ukraine met under the presidency of Metropolitan Epiphanius in Kiev. The Holy Synod discussed about the “Local Synod” that convened under the presidency of the honorable “Patriarch” on Thursday, June 20 and, by decision, removed the administration of the Metropolis of Kiev and handed it to Metropolitan Epiphanius. “Filaret remains in the Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, however, he has lost his canonical rights and duties concerning the administration of the Metropolis of Kiev,” states inter alia the decision of the Holy Synod , which also annulled the decision of February 2019, according to which honorary “Patriarch” Filaret remained the Head of the Province of Kiev, preserving all the Churches he owned. “Honorable ‘Patriarch’ Filaret can address the Holy Synod, by sending a letter to Metropolitan Epiphanius of Kiev, to discuss his future position in the Orthodox Church of Ukraine t...

ENTHRONEMENT ADDRESS HIS EMINENCE ARCHBISHOP ELPIDOPHOROS Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity New York, New York (June 22, 2019) Secretary Azar, Your Eminence, Metropolitan Avgoustinos of Germany, Personal Representative of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Your Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, beloved and esteemed predecessor, Your Eminence Metropolitan Methodios of Boston, Archdiocesan Vicar, and Beloved Brothers of the Holy Eparchial Synod and Bishops of the Holy Archdiocese of America, Your Eminences and Graces, Hierarchs of our Sister Orthodox Churches and Ancient Oriental Churches, Reverend Abbots of the of the Monasteries of the Holy Mountain and the Monasteries of our Holy Archdiocese, Devout and Reverend Clergy and Presvyteres of this Holy Archdiocese of America, Honored Members of Ecumenical, Interfaith, and Academic Communities, Esteemed Representatives of the Diplomatic Corps, Distinguished Archons, Members of the Order ...

( Byzcath.org ) - Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, the Prefect for the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, is in the United States this month, visiting some of the numerous Eparchies (Dioceses) and Eastern Catholic Communities spread throughout the country. The first stage of the Cardinal Sandri’s visit began in the city of Chicago, the seat of both a Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy and a Syro-Malabar Diocese. On Friday, the Prefect met with members of the Ukrainian Eparchy of St Nicholas of Chicago, including the Bishop, Venedykt Aleksiychuk. He also visited the Cathedral, as well as the parish of Sts Volodymyr and Olha. On Sunday, Cardinal Sandri presided at the Holy Qurbana (the “Holy Sacrifice”), the Eucharistic liturgy of the Syriac tradition, as part of his visit to the Syro-Malabar community. The St Thomas Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Chicago covers the whole of the United States, and is one of three eparchies of the Syro-Malabar Church outside of India. The following day, Mo...

( Romfea ) - The “Local Synod” of the so-called “Patriarchate” of Kiev, chaired by the honourary “Patriarch” Filaret in the Cathedral of St. Vladimir in Kiev, met on Thursday, June 20. During the meeting, the “Local Synod” annulled the decisions of the Unification council, held on December 15 in Kiev, where the cessation of the so-called “Patriarchate” of Kiev and its accession to the Autocephalous Church of Ukraine were decided. The resolution issued by the “Local Synod” states that “the Patriarchate of Kiev continues to exist and has a state entity, while Filaret continues to be its Head.” “The Tomos granted by Constantinople to the Autonomous Church of Ukraine does not comply with the Statute of other Autocephalous Churches and makes the Church of Ukraine dependent on the Patriarchate of Constantinople,” the resolution says at another point. In closing, the participants thanked the Ecumenical Patriarch for trying to resolve the ecclesiastical Ukrainian issue, but, as they n...

( RISU ) - In St Volodymyr's Cathedral of Kyiv, on the initiative of ex-Patrairch Filaret, an assembly involving several hierarchs, priests and lay people of the former UOC-Kyiv Patriarchate started, which participants call a "Local Council." The main goal of the "Council", as ex-Patriarch Filaret had previously announced, is to restore the Kyiv Patriarchate, which will exist separately from the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine. The "Council" is being held in the former main Church of the UOC-KP — St Volodymyr's Cathedral, whose rector Archpriest Boris Tabachek is a supporter and longtime ally of Filaret. Only two bishops out of more than 40 bishops of the former UOC-KP arrived at the "Local Council of the UOC-KP". Metropolitan Ioasaph of Belgorod and Oboyany and his vicar Bishop Petro (Moskalev) arrived from Russia. In Russia and Moldova, there are several acting Orthodox parishes that belonged to the UOC-KP, they are sub...

Is throwing firecrackers into a cabin the best idea? No. Is it something to fire someone over? My list of camp activities that should get a camp director fired has firecrackers near the bottom. Trust falls and participation trophies should be met with automatic witchducking. ( GNN ) Evagoras Constantinides, a Greek Orthodox priest who served for years as the director of the Ionian Village summer camp program of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America has been relieved of his duties following the use of firecrackers to awaken campers. According to an eyewitness, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution by what he called a “well-connected” Fr. Evagoras, the campers had slept beyond their wake up call and he was angry and tossed firecrackers into their sleeping quarters, startling the teen-aged boys. According to the eyewitness, one camper who has autism and was in the cabin suffered an adverse reaction to the explosion of the firecrackers. The eyewitness said that...

This is not the end of the legal fallout from the Greek Archdiocean financial scandal. It is the beginning. NEW YORK ( GOARCH ) — As previously communicated to the Faithful by the Archdiocese, after becoming aware of financial irregularities in late 2017, the Archdiocese self-reported its discoveries to governmental authorities in the State of New York. In the Spring of 2018, the Archdiocese was contacted by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the Inspector-in-Charge of the New York Office of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Since that time, the Archdiocese has worked cooperatively with their offices. The US Attorney’s Office announced today that George Papadakos, the Archdiocese’s former Director of Finance, has pled guilty to embezzling more than $60,000 of Archdiocesan funds for personal expenses. According to the government’s publicly posted report, Mr. Papadakos, of Westfield, New Jersey, pled guilty to one count of wire fraud. Mr. Papa...

For a couple of reasons I made the trek over to Western Pennsylvania and spent some time with the people of Ancient Faith. The first is that my wife wanted me to go and no man with any sense stays home when his spouse opens the gilded cage of the rectory and lets this little birdie fly free for a weekend. The second is that this blog is going to have a lot more interviews and original content developed than it has to date. Keeping abreast of Orthodox events is important, but people are doing interesting things and their activities aren't getting enough attention. Here are a few words on my experience at the event. Here's the boilerplate on the conference: The Ancient Faith Writing and Podcasting Conference is a professional development and fellowship opportunity for Orthodox Christians who want to enrich their creative work or break into a new media field. The Conference is open to published and unpublished attendees. If you want to be here, we want you to be here! ...

( RISU ) - The Orthodox Church of Ukraine representatives emphasize that Filaret has no right to convoke such an assembly on his own behalf and call it a 'Council'. This is reported by ZN. The Orthodox Church of Ukraine has officially warned Patriarch Emeritus Filaret that holding the “Local Council” of the dissolved Kyiv Patriarchate would mean a split. The official statement also warns that the participants of such a 'Council' will be excommunicated. “Patriarch Emeritus” Filaret has no right to convoke on his own behalf the “Local Council of the UOC-KP” either under the Charter of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, or under the Charter of the dissolved UOC-KP. The voluntary and non-statutory conduct of an assembly of a group of unauthorized persons -- such assembly being referred to as the Council -- will constitute the church split and the secession of organizers and participants of such meetings from the Orthodox Church of Ukraine with all canonical and legal cons...

( Romfea News ) - The Primate of the Alexandrian Church, Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria and All Africa, in his interview to the newspaper “Ethnos”, for the first time takes a stand on the issue of granting Autocephaly to Ukraine. Speaking about the attitude of the Archdiocese of Alexandria on the issue of the Autocephaly of the Ukrainian Church, the Patriarch of Alexandria has clearly pointed out that he has lived the pain and schism of the Ukrainian Church, but he knows very well “the Russian Church as well, because I was nurtured there for ten years and the Patriarchate of Alexandria has emotional bonds with it”. He acknowledges, however, that there is a huge problem, that of the Autocephaly, which “Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew had the right to grant” but he clarifies that what has divided the Churches is the people who took the status of Autocephaly. He revealed the initiative of Archbishop of Cyprus to meet with the Ecumenical Patriarch so as to ask for a meeting...

“The parents must see to it that their children become rich, not in silver and gold and the likes of them, but in piety, understanding and virtue.” -- St. John Chrysostom

From the Orthodox History blog , the intriguing topic of what some of our clergy do once their wives have passed away. It's interesting to see how successful these men were moving from the married clergy to a celibate administrative role. The transition did not always go well, but the New World has made use of these men to good effect. ( Orthodox History ) - Everyone knows that Orthodoxy doesn’t allow married men to become bishops. This is kind of a live issue here in America, because a lot of our jurisdictions have trouble finding qualified episocopal candidates, while excellent priests are ineligible if they are married. I wouldn’t hold my breath for a revival of the married episcopate, for a whole bunch of practical reasons. But what’s often lost in the conversation about the celibate episcopate is the category of widowers. That’s what we’re going to start talking about today. I have long been fascinated by widower bishops. They got married, often had children, experienced ...

A friend of mine brought Exaltation Press to my attention a few weeks ago. I emailed them for an interview and Fr. John Hogg was kind enough to answer a few of my questions. How long has the press been "in business" and what prompted you to start this effort? My family is bilingual and so for years, we've gotten our kids good Orthodox books from other countries. As the priest of a parish with a lot of children (out of about 110 people, over half are children) I know that parents are eager to have good books for their children and I've often regretted not being able to lend them the books we read to our kids. A few years ago, we bought a book on Great Lent for children, with a reading for every day of the fast (and for the pre-Lenten Sundays). It looked really good and so it got me thinking about translating it. At that point, I had no idea about how I would get the rights or get it published, but just wanted to see if there was interest in a project like...

" Do we really need deacons? " is the question Fr. Lawrence Farley asks in his latest blog post. Beyond all said below is the reality that the Liturgy is not set up for a priest without a deacon. Priests have long prayers they have to read during the litanies. Without a deacon the priest is left to line read a few words between the responses and hopefully by the end of the litany have enough read that the ekphonesis (the audible bit you hear at the end of the prayer) is actually tied to his having finished the prayer. Some priests pre-read some prayers, some priests can successfully fly through them, and some - dear reader - just skip them in favor of a Liturgy that proceeds seamlessly. In this and several other ways the deacon makes the Liturgy flow better without having to make adjustments or abbreviates. We in America do the Liturgy without deacons, but we do so lacking something important. If you've ever been to a church when the cantor isn't there due to illness ...

Let me preface my response by saying two things. First, this is a very forthright letter that clearly states Ancient Faith's policies on their content providers. Second, whenever I have contacted them with a question or comment, I have received a response. In their early days I once emailed to ask about where to find a recording I had just heard of "Lord I Have Cried..." - it took mere minutes for them to respond and send me the music itself. That has been my consistent experience when I have emailed equally benign questions or very pointed concerns. If you email them, you will get a response. You may not like the response if it's a call for action or the like (as we Americans tend to want things done "Right now, damn it!"), but they will hear you out and acknowledge your missive. I have often found that the people who have the most to say also have the most vocal and voluminous set of opinions. In no small numbers, one will find that outlandish opinion...