Byzantine, Texas

( SCOOCH ) Paramus, NJ – Last night – July 17 2020 – the bishops of the Standing Conference of Oriental Orthodox Churches joined together in a prayer for peace and justice in our troubled world.   The service was hosted and led by His Eminence Mor Dionysios John Kawak and the clergy of the Syriac Orthodox Archdiocese of the Eastern USA at St. Mark’s Syriac Orthodox Cathedral. His Eminence was joined at the altar by the President of SCOOCh, His Grace Bishop David, Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of New York & New England and Patriarchal Exarch of the Coptic Orthodox Archdiocese of North America, His Eminence Mor Titus Yeldho of the Malankara Archdiocese of the Syriac Orthodox Church, and His Grace Bishop Daniel of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church. Clergy of the Armenian, Coptic, Eritrean, Ethiopian, and Syriac Orthodox Churches were also present.   After vespers prayed in the Syriac Orthodox rite, His Grace Bishop Daniel Findikyan preached a moving homily o...

( Coptic-NYNE ) - Joint Statement of the Coptic Orthodox Archdiocese in New Jersey and the Diocese of New York and New England on Sexual Misconduct July 22, 2020 With allegations of sexual misconduct recently coming to light, we recall the words of St. Paul saying, “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it.” (1 Corinthians 12:26). We condemn the cruelty of any and all sexual misconduct. The betrayal of trust and abuse of authority by any member of the clergy or servant within our churches is, without exception, unacceptable and abhorrent to the teachings of our Christian faith. We bitterly regret any harm inflicted on our daughters, sons, or their families. The Coptic Orthodox Archdiocese in New Jersey and the Diocese of New York and New England (“Archdiocese and Diocese”) will not tolerate sexual misconduct of any kind, including sexual abuse of minors by any of our clergy, employees or servants. If anyone is aware of any suspected incident of sexual abuse of a minor by any ...

( OCA-DNE ) - July 24, 2020 Protocol 07/017 To the Reverend Clergy and Pious Faithful of the Diocese of New England, Christ is in our midst! With this letter, I am happy to announce the procedure by which, God-willing, a new bishop will be nominated and elected for the Diocese of New England. This procedure is in conformity with the standard procedure for such an election in the Orthodox Church in America. The procedure is as follows: 1) This present letter will serve as notice to all parishes of the Diocese of New England that any parishioner in good standing can identify one possible candidate for possible nomination as diocesan bishop. Names may be submitted directly and confidentially to the Chancellor of the Diocese of New England, Archpriest John Kreta, at the following email address: fjkreta@snet.net. All names of candidates must be submitted for nomination by August 31, 2020, and no names received after that date will be considered... Complete article here (PDF).

( Antiochian ) - Not even a global pandemic could stop 357 voices from across the Antiochian Archdiocese – and other Orthodox Christian jurisdictions – from gathering to learn how best to worship and glorify God through singing/chanting and conducting. Without missing a beat, the Department of Sacred Music hosted its 35th annual Sacred Music Institute and ninth annual Youth Music Ministry – virtually via Zoom meeting – on the weekend of July 17-19, 2020. The theme served as a comfort during troubling times: “God is with Us: Music of the Nativity of Christ.” From his office at the Archdiocesan Headquarters in Englewood, New Jersey, His Eminence Metropolitan Joseph welcomed the attendees and teachers. He had hoped to greet each one of them in person – as is the yearly custom at the Antiochian Village – but Sayidna found silver linings. “This generation has its turn to sacrifice for the common good and safety of our brothers and sisters while denying our own wants and desires.” He continu...

Moscow, July 27 ( Interfax ) - The Hagia Sophia becoming a mosque and the recent arson of a church in Nantes should make one pause for thought and undertake to prevent such things in Russia, Bishop Savva, a deputy administrator of the Moscow Patriarchate, said. "A namaz in the Cathedral of Saint Sophia... The arson of the Nantes Cathedral (far from being the first church arson in France in a year, let alone other anti-Christian actions) ... Some would say, perhaps even with a kind of smirk, that this is a response to Europe's abandoning Christianity. What are you laughing at? You're laughing at our common tragedy!" Bishop Savva said on Telegram. Having acknowledged that Russia's path is special, he nevertheless said, "But European civilization is our common civilization. An assault on it is an assault on us." Bishop Savva called Russia "one of the main pillars of Europe (whatever the descendants of various Germanic tribes, from the Saxons to the Lan...

New York, NY ( GOARCH ) – Today, His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros met with President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence at the White House on the concerns of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese over the seizure and re-conversion of the Hagia Sophia into a mosque. Following the meeting with the President and Vice President, the Archbishop stated: “I am grateful to have met with President Trump and Vice President Pence in the White House and communicated our grave dismay at the re-conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque, as well as ongoing security concerns for the Ecumenical Patriarchate and issues of religious liberty. In view of tomorrow’s day of mourning, we persevere in prayer but also bring our struggle to the highest levels of government for action and consideration.” And also... ( Greek Reporter ) - Archbishop Elpidophoros of America met with President Trump and Vice President Pence late on Thursday to discuss Turkey’s recent decision to convert ...

William F. Buckley wrote his famous book about anti-religious bias at Yale in the early 1950s. SEVENTY YEARS AGO. Wave after wave of conservatives has complained about college bias. Harold Bloom. Dinesh DSouza. David Horowitz. Ben Shapiro. Charlie Kirk. Ask, why won't it change? — Bobby Lopez (@RLopezMission) July 22, 2020

Possibly good fodder for seminarians needing a wife... A silly song about a woman who regrets declining a marriage proposal from the priest’s son:  The priest’s son asked me to marry him - he was giving me seven oxen. Oh, I thought and thought - I won’t accept, I thought. He was giving me seven oxen. But I stupidly didn’t take them, I would have plowed with six of them and sold the seventh. I would have hired a guy to take care of them, a young man that would chase the oxen to the watering hole. And while the oxen are drinking, you’ll stand with me. We’ll chat, my sweetheart, we’ll speak softly like doves murmuring.

( ROC ) - At its session held on July 16-17, 2020, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church adopted a statement concerning the decision of Turkey’s authorities to change the status of Hagia Sophia. The text of the statement is given below. The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church expresses its profound regret over the decision of the state leadership of Turkey to revoke the museum status of Hagia Sophia and to give it to the Muslim community for public worship. The decision was taken with no regard for the petitions and explicit position of the Primates and hierarchs of the Orthodox Local Churches, representatives of foreign states, numerous international non-governmental and human rights organisations, and clerics of various confessions and religious traditions. It has hurt religious feelings of millions of Christians all over the world, which can cause disturbance of interfaith balance and impair mutual understanding between Christians and Muslims both in and beyond Turkey....

It bears repeating that many of the protections on the practice of religion and freedom of speech in the United States are absent in Canada. What we have codified from the beginning, they have not. And yet, as with what we see in the UK, government overreach and thought policing in Canada often presage what will happen here. That's why it's important to see what they are doing to groups like the Knights of Columbus, to pro-life advocates, to students and faculty in universities who don't keep current on the latest woke theory, et al.  So here is a letter from  Archbishop Sotirios of Canada entitled " Coronavirus and Holy Communion:  A Chronicle of Events." ( GOA-CA ) - With the advent of the coronavirus, our churches were closed to the public on March 17, 2020, by order of the government authorities in Canada (we are generally referring to government authorities in Canada, because matters in regard to health do not fall under the jurisdiction of the federal govern...

July 6, 2020 ( UCC-CA ) - OTTAWA. The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) is saddened by the disgraceful act of vandalism that took place at the site of the Memorial to the Victims of Communism – Canada, a Land of Refuge. The Memorial to the Victims of Communism is to be a national place of mourning, reflection, contemplation, and remembrance, honouring the millions of innocent victims murdered by Communist regimes throughout the world. Millions of people, including many Ukrainians, who were subjected to the brutality and inhumanity of Communism, fled to Canada – where they found liberty and peace. That this sight was desecrated through this act of hate is unacceptable and deplorable, and an insult to the hallowed memory of the millions of innocent victims of Communism. This is a reminder to us all of the need for further education and awareness in our own society about the evil and crimes of Communism. The vandalized sign has been removed and the UCC National Office has contacted the O...

( ROCOR-WAD ) - Open Letter to The Honourable Gavin Newsom, Governor of California from His Eminence Kyrill Archbishop of San Francisco and Western America in light of the decree issued by the Governor of California that forbids choral singing in churches. Your Excellency, I hereby express my protest against the recent prohibition of liturgical singing in houses of worship, which is an infringement of the rights and religious freedoms of the clergy and faithful of the Western American Diocese of the Russian Diaspora, the other Local Orthodox Churches, performing their ministry in this state, as well as other religious bodies. During the years of Soviet rule, when the Russian Orthodox Church was subjected to persecution, Russian émigrés and their descendants comprising the Russia Church Abroad, came to the United States of America and other countries overseas, in order to freely confess their Orthodox Faith, to freely perform Divine Services, to observe the feast days, fasts and all the...

( NBC News ) - A court ruled Friday that Istanbul’s iconic Hagia Sophia can be converted from a world-famous museum back into a mosque, in a big victory for the Islamic conservatism of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey's top administrative court, the Council of State, said that a 1934 decision to convert what was then a mosque into the museum was unlawful, according to Reuters, paving the way for its restoration as an Islamic place of worship despite international concerns. "The cabinet decision in 1934 that ended its use as a mosque and defined it as a museum did not comply with laws," the Council of State said, the news agency reported. The president had proposed restoring the UNESCO World Heritage site into a mosque, placing the almost 1,500-year-old building at the center of a struggle between those who want to preserve Turkey’s secular roots and the president’s aspirations. Erdogan signed a presidential decree Friday that said the Hagia Sophia would be h...

It's pretty surprising to see the laity trying to put an age limit on their clergy. Benefits cost containment? A check on "power" from long service? A benign thought that garnered this extraordinary response? ( GOARCH ) - July 8, 2020 - Communique of the Holy Eparchial Synod The Holy Eparchial Synod met today in an extraordinary video conference at the invitation of His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros with an exclusive objective to discuss the recent public debate on an official proposal to change the pension program of the Hierarchs. Following a discussion, it is stated that in accordance with the Sacred Canons of the Orthodox Church, there is no age limit for the exercise of the duties of Hierarchs. The retirement from active ministry (or not) of an individual Hierarch is entrusted exclusively to the individual choice and sole judgment of said Hierarch. Furthermore, it is noted that within the Ecumenical Patriarchate, no such age limits are applied. In conclusion, the ...

  You might wonder how this prohibition on communing the Greek faithful came to be. Orthochristian.com seems to point squarely at their own Greek community . Shocking but not without precedent. Many people attempted to put their fingers on the scales of justice at the parish and diocesan level in many jurisdictions.  This is unique in that it worked with 100% effectiveness. May God have mercy on their souls.

( The Hill ) - Among the trio of recent decisions, perhaps the most politically potent was the court’s 7-2 ruling to give certain employers more leeway to opt-out of paying for birth control, as is generally required under ObamaCare. “The Supreme Court's decision to enable the Trump Administration’s brutal assault on women’s health, financial security and independence is a fundamental misreading of the statute,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement. “The Affordable Care Act was explicitly designed to prevent discrimination against women and to ensure that women have access to preventive care, including contraception.” In the Obama era, religious nonprofits could claim an exemption from contraceptive coverage. But legal challenges arose in response to the Trump administration’s move to expand eligibility to companies that voiced religious or moral objections. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the majority, which comprised his fellow conservative justices, as well as t...

( orthochristian.com ) - Late last year, Metropolitan Emmanuel of Gaul of the Patriarchate of Constantinople announced the creation of a vicariate of Russian parishes in France, and on Saturday, July 4, a constitutive general assembly of the vicariate was held, thus marking its official formation. “There was an historical event yesterday. The Russian Vicariate of the Metropolis of Gaul of the Ecumenical Patriarchate was officially formulated,” writes Hieromonk Damaskin of the new vicariate. Patriarch Bartholomew sent a message on the occasion of the assembly in which he notes that the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople resolved to remove the status of exarchate from the Archdiocese of Russian Churches in Western Europe in November 2018 and to instruct its parishes to move under their local Greek metropolis “in order to conform to the canonical tradition of the Orthodox Church.” This change of status eventually led to the majority of the Archdiocese, under the guidance of ...

It is to be expected that when someone is mistreated that he should ask after God's justice, but when that same man errs himself he wants less justice and more mercy. It being one thing to clamor for the prosecution of the man who speeds past you on the highway, but you must also acknowledge the same man will find it perfectly reasonable - and even desirable - to be given a warning in lieu of a ticket for his own speeding. Mercy is a strange thing. We find it natural when applied to ourselves, but difficult to cultivate in response to the actions of others. And we can apply this "self" to people we identify with and those deserving what we perceived justice for those who we do not. So it is that a Catholic priest attempted to tackle this interplay of justice with mercy and got burned. He called for societal reflection and personal introspection, and was punished for not saying the right words in the right order. A chaplain's role is not that of the shaman's rote i...

Fr. Dn. Nicholas is an important anglophone voice for Orthodoxy. He is an intriguing mixture of great respect and reverence for tradition while at the same time not being afraid to engage with ideas for fear of breaking them. Our faith is not a brittle antique but something with which we really should - as Israel did - wrestle. The Christian is obliged to evangelize and he is best empowered to do so when he is informed, engaged, and unafraid of the topics of the day. What value the Internet? What value social media? What value the epic narrative format? What value the Church's understanding of sex, friendship, love, and more? After you've watched this video, do be so kind as to visit his blog at A Light so Lovely .

( Orthodox Times ) - Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew will lay the foundation stone of the first Orthodox monastery in Austria – the first in the region of Central Europe – on September 26. The ceremony of the laying of the foundation stone would have taken place on June 27, but it was postponed due to the COVID-19 restrictive measures.  The foundation stone will be laid by the Ecumenical Patriarch together with the Metropolitan of Austria and Exarch of Hungary and Central Europe, Arsenios, Roman Catholic Bishop Ägidius Johann Zsifkovics, and the governor of the Austrian state of Burgenland, Hans Peter Doskozil. The construction work will begin at the beginning of October.  The first Orthodox monastery will be built in Sankt Andrä am Zicksee in the Austrian federal state of Burgenland, which is located in eastern Austria near the border with Hungary. The Roman Catholic Bishop, Ägidius Johann Zsifkovics, granted this plot of land to the Holy Metropolis of Austria for the const...

This is a new series and I find the first installment fascinating. Give it a read , from the blog Multa Legenda... There are things that everyone just knows, there are things that “everyone knows” but few actually understand, and there are things that “everyone knows,” but some don’t believe. Let me state a few propositions, by way of example: Britain is currently under partial lockdown, Elizabeth II is Queen of the United Kingdom, and Boris Johnson is Prime Minister. (I am writing on June 17, 2020). The Earth goes around the Sun, and the novel pneumonia that began spreading in China in roughly November 2019 is caused by the coronavirus denoted (by the standard nomenclature while I write this post) SARS-CoV-2. The Earth is undergoing climate change due to increased production of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by human, who are a product of several millennia of mammalian evolution by natural selection. Every one of these propositions represents the standard view, among expert...

( OCMC ) - His Eminence Elder Archbishop Makarios of Kenya recently sent OCMC an update on the Archbishop Makarios III of Cyprus Patriarchal Seminary in Kenya. Thankfully, your support has made it possible for the seminary to make the necessary adjustments and continue its operations amidst COVID-19. Read His Eminence's update below: Greetings in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Allow me to write this letter in regards to my email and telephone conversation with Fr. Martin, to express my heartfelt appreciation to the Orthodox Christian Mission Center fraternity and moreso the OCMC board headed by Fr. Martin Ritsi, the Executive Director, for the cordial relationship and the support for our mission work here in Kenya that has spanned for many years. Through your support and grants for the Orthodox Patriarchal Ecclesiastical School: Archbishop Makarios III of Cyprus Seminary, and especially during these times of global economic challenges brought on by the COVID-...