Byzantine, Texas

BOSTON ( TNH via OCL ) – Nothing serious or substantial was achieved for the second time during the joint meeting of the committees on the Charter of the Archdiocese, which was convened at the Phanar on Tuesday, March 8, 2023. Initially, it was announced that the meeting was going to be held in Chalcedon, and the excuse used for the change of the location was that it was due to the work of the Holy Synod. We note here that the Synod’s first day was Monday, March 7, convened at the Phanar, and its second and final day was March 8 at the historic monastery of Zoodochos Pigi in Baloukli. We reveal that Patriarch Bartholomew, before the synodic sessions ordered one of the clergy employees of the Patriarchal Court to collect the cell phones of all the members of the Synod in his attempt to stop leaks to The National Herald , which just minutes after the meeting of the Synod in December 2022 was over had revealed in detail all that was said and done during its sessions. That was the reason ...

( SOC ) - Press Release - Regarding state terror against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is, as is commonly known, the only canonical and legal Orthodox Church in Ukraine, and at the same time the largest religious organization in that country. She is recognized by all Orthodox Churches around the world, as well as by all Christian Churches and confessions, while only four Orthodox Churches, which make up a very small percentage of the Orthodox universe in terms of their number of believers, recognize the non-canonical schismatic structure that calls itself the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, but lacks even the most basic attributes of being a church. Of course, even if the numerical disproportion were in favor of the non-canonical structure, that is, at the expense of the canonical Church, this would not change anything on the ontological level: the Church is the Church, and an illegal parasynagogue can become a Church only through repentance and canonical pro...

Just so we're clear, according to the precedent set by the Ecumenical Patriarchate last week in Lithuania, Tatsis could appeal to the ecumenical throne and be reinstated and allowed to set up his own church without anyone ever having to talk to Archbishop Makarios. Does that make any sense to you? Of course not. And that's why the Lithuanian decision is going to prove a catalyst for even more egregious decisions very soon.  ( GOA-Australia ) - The Holy Archdiocese of Australia informs the reverend clergy and the Orthodox people of the fifth continent that, by decision of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the former clergyman Eleftherios Tatsis was imposed with the penalty of the removal from the rank of the priesthood for a series of ecclesiastical and canonical offenses that he committed. Therefore, the defrocked cleric by decision of the Orthodox Church has returned to the rank of the laity and has lost the privilege of wearing priestly vestments as we...

 

Everything reasonable that one might want to know is available at   https://www.assemblyofbishops.org/directories/parishes/ .  What possible good thing could one ascribe to building "reports" on MP/ROCOR/OCA parishes?   ( romfea ) - [computer translated] In an e-mail, Romfea.gr sent a letter by e-mail to the clergy of Ieras, Iersepos, according to information from Romfea.gr. Apostle. In that letter, Bishop of Medea is said to be asking the clergy for information and information about the action of the Patriarchate of Moscow, of ROCOR and OCA on the outskirts of the Holy Diocese of New Jersey. The Most Reverend at the beginning of the letter, among other things, emphasizes: "The Archbishop of America, Mr. A hopeful man sent me a letter from the Chief Secretary of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, asking us to present to the Ecumenical Patriarch Mr. Bartholomew report on the presence and work of the Moscow Patriarchate within the Holy Diocese of New Jersey". The Bishop...

You can read more here . ( ROEA ) - On March 6, 2023, the Michigan Supreme Court DENIED the request of Defendants St. Nicholas and Ven. Parascheva Romanian Orthodox Church, Troy, Michigan, to consider their appeal of the September 15, 2022, decision of the Michigan Court of Appeals in favor of the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America. Therefore, the Defendants have exhausted their legal remedies in Michigan to retain control over St. Nicholas. The Episcopate expects the Defendants to immediately relinquish control over the church property so that the parish of St. Nicholas can return to proper canonical order within the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America.

The future of Orthodox growth is pan-Orthodox coordination. CHICAGO, IL ( OCA-DMW ) – The ‘Dakotas Mission District’ is an administrative territory within the Minneapolis Deanery of the OCA Midwest Diocese of Chicago. Established in February 2023, it is located in the states of North and South Dakota and is overseen by His Eminence Archbishop Daniel of Chicago and the Midwest. His Eminence is represented in the Missions District by the District Dean of the Minneapolis Deanery. The Dakotas Missions District was established for the purpose of focusing energies and coordinating resources among new and established parishes, missions and chapels of all Orthodox jurisdictions within the Missions District wishing to work together in a common effort to evangelize the Dakotas. Co-ordination of missions and evangelizing initiatives currently is spearheaded by the established OCA parishes in Minot and Fargo, and by the newly established mission of the Antiochian Archdiocese in Bismarck, ND. Thoug...

“Let the mouth also fast from disgraceful speeches and railings. For what does it profit if we abstain from fish and fowl and yet bite and devour our brothers and sisters? The evil speaker eats the flesh of his brother and bites the body of his neighbor. ” - Saint John Chrysostom

Orthodoxy is not too fond of silence. Some priests I have known look visibly alarmed when there is a lull in a service. As such, we even have a formalized way of "vamping" or stretching out musical pieces as the occasion arises when something is taking longer than expected or the set music has been repeated many times already. I warn you, though, once you catch te-ri-rem in your ear, it is hard to get out of there. Teretismata  - (τερετίσματα, lit. “chirruping”), musical vocalizations set to the meaningless syllables te te te, to to to, ri ri ri, etc., which first appear appended to or inserted in 14th-C. chant settings. On a larger scale, they are found as independent melodic units known as kratemata and used to prolong a hymn. Some are given descriptive titles; epithets such as “bell,” “viola,” “trumpet,” and “nightingale” are used in the Kratematarion, a collection of kratemata arranged according to the eight modes. Teretismata constitute the chief element of an ornate s...

Some weeks ago I made mention of Patriarch Bartholomew's decision to reinstate some clergy in Lithuania. Many people thought this was the first chess gambit towards a longer game. Many people were right. ( Orthochristian.com ) - Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė signed a cooperation agreement today to formally establish the presence of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The Patriarch and state are thus establishing a parallel jurisdiction in the Baltic state, as Lithuania is universally recognized within the Orthodox Church as the canonical territory of the Moscow Patriarchate. “Today, a new perspective opens before us and an opportunity to jointly seek the establishment of the Exarchate of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Lithuania,” Pat. Bartholomew said after signing the agreement, reports lrt.lt. The Prime Minister had declared as early as May that the state was willing to help Constantinople set up shop. However, the PM is kn...

Clergy, by dint of our profession, often come onto the Internet to say things much as we would in a parish setting. But the Internet is not a parish. As such, we often find ourselves in situations without the proper orientation to move about successfully and fall headlong into the muck. The Internet is not your home In a church, you often know the people with whom you are speaking. There is a certain measure of trust you have for them and they have a respect for your office if not for you specifically. No one is paying the laity to be there so people who don't want to be at church simply aren't. Further, if someone is curious or concerned about what Father X really meant, they can walk over to him at coffee hour and ask.  No such dynamics are at play on the Internet. Online there should be no presumption that the people reading what you have to say have any affection for what you wrote or you personally. They didn't get up early to drive to your church, didn't stand pat...

There's a whole playlist here . Feel free to skip the OTSA endorsement section at the top of the below video. I did.

( OCA ) - The OCA Office of Pastoral Life (OPL) today announced V. Rev. Archimandrite Maximos Constas, PhD, as speaker for the upcoming Synaxis: National Clergy Retreat for Active and Retired Priests from October 17-20, 2023, at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake Conference Center in Mundelein, Ill. This conference will provide an opportunity for fellowship, prayer, and education for all priests and bishops of the Orthodox Church in America. “We are delighted to have Father Maximos join us as the guest speaker at our first Synaxis: National Clergy Retreat,” said Director of the OCA OPL Archpriest Nicholas Solak. “Not only is he a noted scholar, teacher and academic, but Father Maximos’ lived experience as an Orthodox Christian great-schema monk will help our cohort of clergy to ponder the place of the Prayer of the Heart in our priestly ministry.” His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon and the Holy Synod of Bishops encourage all priests to participate and their parishes to financially...

( Antiochian.org ) - The newly spread tone among believers regarding the fast is that it is not obligatory or a duty. Consequently, the believer can ignore it or practice it whenever and however he wants. Fasting is a necessary and binding virtue. If the commandments of the Lord in His Holy Gospel are binding, then fasting is necessary and binding. The Lord Himself asked us to fast: "This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting" (Matt. 17:21; Mark 9:29); "And when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites" (Matt. 6:16); "And after they had fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on them" (Acts 13:3). The clearest example for believers is Jesus' practice of fasting. He fasted for forty days. If He Who is without sin has fasted, how much more do we need to fast as humans, especially since we know that He was incarnate and lived in our midst to give us the ways of salvation which are needed for us, by imitating what He did? The commitment of fait...

I am chagrined to see a hierarch advocating this. I don't want to repeat all that I said when Abp. Elpidophoros advocated the same .

( OCA ) - The Archdiocese of Western Pennsylvania, the Diocese of the Midwest and the Bulgarian Diocese announced today that the 2023 Parish Development Forum will be held in the Cleveland suburb of Parma, OH at Holy Trinity Orthodox Church from the afternoon of Thursday July 13 through noon on Saturday 15, 2023. Now in its tenth year, the Parish Development Forum, is a conference for clergy and laity dedicated to exploring the challenges facing Orthodox parishes, delivering actionable ideas and good practices valuable to parish leaders and creating mutually supportive relationships among participants. “The 2023 Forum theme will be “Our Parish and the Future”, noted Archpriest Stephen Frase, Clergy Chairperson for the Forum. “During this Forum attendees will collaborate on ‘the 2030 project’, an effort to explore the recent past, present and future challenges of N. American Orthodox parishes. Sessions will consider the important societal, cultural, demographic and even technological tr...

( Antiochian.org ) - "The Auditing of our Sacramental Life" by Bishop Thomas (Joseph) and Fr. David Hyatt “Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.” (1 Corinthians 4:1-2) There has been much discussion in recent days about whether people who enter the Orthodox Church later in life should be received only by baptism with triple immersion or whether immersion or sprinkling from another Christian tradition is sufficient to be received through chrismation only. The intention of this article is not to choose one side or the other but rather to encourage the clergy to take seriously what we will accept and what we will not accept ‘as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.’ It is certainly a hot topic of my catechumens and college-aged parishioners of late. The term ‘steward’ refers to a manager (Gk. οἰκονόμος) who was typically a former slave who had been g...

As I have often lauded, the OCA is refreshing transparent in the way they do things. Proceedings are clear, documents are published for all to read, and things come out of a deliberative process. You might be surprised by how some other jurisdictions keep such guidelines as discussed below together only as a loose confederation of episcopal letters clergy are supposed to remember were put out even decades ago.  ( OCA ) - The Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America is releasing a revised version of the Guidelines for Clergy  (PDF). Originally released in 1998, the Guidelines provide support and direction to priests and deacons on questions that arise in the fulfilling of their sacred duties. In particular, the Guidelines apply the Holy Canons and other traditional sources of pastoral direction to the present context. While never intended to be an all-encompassing pastoral handbook, certain sections of the revised Guidelines are expanded. In particular, more guid...

Once a Russian monk, whose obedience was often to run many errands for the monastery, asked the abbot if he could listen to a recording of the prayer rule whenever he was obliged to travel. And the abbot replied, "So your tape recorder will be doing the praying, and your tape recorder will be saved."