| Archive Consecration of restored Orthodox churches in Arbin and Az-Zabadani 23 January 2023 year 10:55 On January 22, 2023, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations, took part in the Sunday Divine Liturgy at the Church of Great Martyr George the Conqueror in Arbin, Syria. This church was seriously damaged because of military actions near the Syrian capital during an active stage of clashes with militants. Recently the restoration work in it carried out at the expense of the Russian Federation and with the support of the Russian Orthodox Church has been completed. Before the Liturgy, the restored church was consecrated by His Beatitude Patriarch John X of Great Antioch and All the East and Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk. His Beatitude’s concelebrants included Metropolitan Anthony, hierarchs of the Orthodox Church of Antioch - Metropolitan Ephraim of Aleppo and Alexandretta, Metropolitan Nicholas of Hama, Bishop Moses of Dara, Bishop John of Sergiopolis, Bishop Arsenios of Hierapolis, the clergy of the Patriarchate of Antioch, as well as Metropolitan Anthony’s retinue including Archpriest Nikolay Balashov, adviser to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia; Archpriest Igor Yakimchuk, DECR vice-chairman; and Archimandrite Philipp (Vasiltsev), representative of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia to the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East. Worshipping in the sanctuary were Bishop Moses of Larissa and Bishop Roman of Seleucia. Among the worshipers in the church were Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Russia in Syria A. V. Yefimov; Commander of the Russian Federation Armed Forces Group in the Syrian Arab Republic Colonel-General A. N. Serdyukov, Executive Director of the Foundation for Support of Christian Culture and Heritage Ye. Skopenko, and representatives of local authorities. The service was held in Arabic and Church Slavonic. In his Primatial homily, His Beatitude Patriarch John X of Antioch congratulated those present on the restoration and re-consecration of the Church of Great Martyr George the Conqueror in Arbin. ‘We know this city very well. Living in it are people of Christian and Moslem communities, and they all deserve to live a life in goodness and dignity and to meet their spiritual needs’ His Beatitude stressed, ‘Today we thank the Lord for the opportunity to see, after all that happened here, how many buildings were destroyed in Arbin, that we, both Christians and Muslims have assembled in this church where the first Liturgy after the restoration has been celebrated’. |
| Accept The site uses cookies to help show you the most up-to-date information. By continuing to use the site, you consent to the use of your Metadata and cookies. Cookie policy Church for Russian Orthodox community consecrated in Lebanon DECR Communication Service, 10/03/2024 On 10 th March 2024, while in Lebanon, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, DECR chairman, took part in the celebrations marking the lesser consecration of the Holy Annunciation Church in Jal El Dib, provided by Metropolitan Silouan of Byblos, Botris and Dependencies (Mount Lebanon) for the use of the Russian-speaking Orthodox Christians in Lebanon. Metropolitan Anthony officiated at the consecration that was followed by the Divine Liturgy celebrated by the Russian hierarch together with Metropolitan Silouan of Mount Lebanon and Metropolitan Nifon of Philippopolis, representative of the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. Among other concelebrants were Archimandrite Philip (Vasiltsev), representative of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’ to the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, rector of the Russian Orthodox Church’s Metochion in Beirut; Archimandrite Seraphim (Shemyatovsky), rector of the Moscow Metochion of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia; Archpriest Igor Yakimchuk, DECR deputy chairman; and clergy of the Patriarchates of Antioch and Moscow. The Liturgy was celebrated in the Arabic and Church Slavonic languages. Attending the divine service were Mr Alexander Rudakov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Lebanon; Mr R. El Khoury of the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Mr Yegor Skopenko, executive director of the Foundation for the Support of Christian Culture and Heritage; Lebanese politicians and public figures, and Russian citizens residing in Lebanon. After the Liturgy, Metropolitan Silouan of Mount Lebanon greeted all those present. In his speech, he pointed out that the restoration of the Holy Annunciation Church in Jal El Dib had been a matter of particular concern for His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’, who had taken upon himself the task of getting the work completed. Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, and Metropolitan Nifon of Philippopolis had also made their contribution, facilitating the restoration works, Metropolitan Silouan noted. |
| Archive Пн Round table on Orthodoxy in China takes place as part of the Nativity Readings 24 January 2024 year 18:42 On 23rd January 2024 as part of the XXXII International Nativity Readings a round table was held at the pilgrimage centre of the Moscow Patriarchate entitled “The Traditions of Orthodox in China: Losses and Gains of the Past and the Image of the Future”. The organizers of the round table were the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate and the metochion of the Chinese Orthodox Church in Moscow. Gathered in the Annunciation Conference Hall of the Universitetskaya Hotel were clergy, sinologists and representatives of the scholarly and educational community from the Institute of Eastern Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow State University, Saint Petersburg State University, the Russian State University for the Humanities, the International State Institute for International Relations, the Moscow Architectural Institute and other institutions of higher learning. Those wishing to participate in the meeting, including guests from China, were able to do so by videolink. Hieromonk Kirill (Peregudin) from the secretariat for affairs of the Far East under the Department for External Church Relations and professor of the Moscow Architectural Institute doctor M.Yu. Shevchenk acted as moderators of the session. Before the work of the round table began, Father Kirill served the Divine Liturgy in Church Slavonic in the domestic Church of Saint Olga located on the fifteenth floor of the pilgrimage centre. Concelebrating with him was cleric of the metochion of the Chinese Orthodox Church deacon Anatoly Goldman. Church hymns in both languages were sung by the choir of the metochion under the direction of O.S. Lesina. During the Litany of Fervent Supplication the prayer for the people of China by Saint Nicholas the Serb was offered. In his greetings to the participants of the round table the director general of the pilgrimage centre hierodeacon Sergei (Turkeyev) wished all the participants success and practical results in their work. |
| Interview with fr. John Behr, St. Vladimir’s Seminary, NY And so the Russian tradition has become American - we are American, the 4th-5th generation in America. So in St. Vladimir " s we do everything in English. But if the people we are teaching need Slavonic to serve in their Church, we have classes in Slavonic, but our main liturgical language is English. Like Orthodoxy in any country, American Orthodoxy has come to have its own particular feeling. Orthodoxy in Bulgaria, in Romania, in Greece, in Russia - all of them have their own flavor. 09 April 2007 Q: Why should theological institutions communicate amongst each other and what is the importance of such communication? A: Because ultimately theology is always a dialogue. We are always working to understand our inheritance, our tradition, we’re coming to fuller contemplation of Christ and we are doing it together. As schools, we are always involved in teaching, but teaching means always reading, studying, talking to others, engaging in dialogue with them, and as we continually move forward in contemplation of Christ and the teachings of the Church, we must do it together, in dialogue. It was essential from the beginning the Christians have spoken with each other, about their teaching and what they were doing. Q: You mean that no union is possible without dialogue. But the opposite can happen, for example, Churches step aside because they have different opinions, conflicts? A: From the times of the Early Church, from the proclamation of the Gospel, we have Paul’s letters to the communities, and he already has to correct their actions. So, from the beginning, we’ve always been in dialogue and in discussion. The theological discussions can cause separations only if they are not undertaken in the spirit of love. But it is better to approach each other and to talk about the differences we might have, to make everything surface and then come to a resolution of the conflict rather than not talking to each other, pretending everything is OK. |
| John Anthony McGuckin Russia, Patriarchal Orthodox Church of KONSTANTIN GAVRILKIN The Russian Orthodox Church (hereafter, ROC), also known as the Moscow patriarchate, is ranked fifth in the listing of the autocephalous Orthodox Churches (after Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem). The largest multinational church in the world, it has jurisdiction over most of the Orthodox parishes in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and other territories of the former Soviet Union (except for Georgia, which has its own autocephalous church), as well as a number of parishes in various regions of the world, organized in dioceses or under the direct authority of the patriarch of Moscow. There are also a number of ecclesiastical entities that emerged after the breakdown of the ROC caused by the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and incessant persecution of the church by the Soviet government (Tsypin 2006). Some were part of the massive Russian diaspora, others emerged from the Catacomb movement (Beglov 2008). An outline of the history of the ROC helps to understand the difficulties ncountered when dealing with the complex phenomenon of Russian Orthodoxy. EVAN RUS LATE 9TH-EARLY 13TH CENTURIES In 988, Vladimir, the Grand Prince of Kiev (980–1015), ordered the inhabitants of the capital to be baptized in the Dnieper river, following his own baptism in Chersonesus earlier that year. There were, however, Christians in Kiev already by the mid-10th century, and their numbers grew after the conversion of Vladimir’s grandmother Olga, who ruled in Kiev from 945 to 963 and was baptized in Constantinople in 954 (Golubinskii 1901). The missionary work of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, and especially their disciples in Bulgaria, who translated the basic corpus of Christian texts, including the liturgy, into Slavonic in the late 9th and early 10th centuries, were factors that eased the Christianization of the region. The mission was sponsored by the patriarchate of Constantinople, which exercised control over the ecclesiastical life of Ancient Rus and appointed all the Metropolitans “of Kiev and All Rus” until the mid-15th century (on the profound Byzantine legacy in Ancient Rus, see Thomson 1999). |
| Accept The site uses cookies to help show you the most up-to-date information. By continuing to use the site, you consent to the use of your Metadata and cookies. Cookie policy DECR chairman concelebrates Liturgy with Patriarch of Antioch at Russian Church’s Metochion in Damascus DECR Communication Service, 28/01/2024 On 28 th January 2024, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relation, who is visiting Syria with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’, took part in the Divine Liturgy at the Church of Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-Bearer – Representation of the Russian Orthodox Church in Damascus. Officiating at the Liturgy was His Beatitude Patriarch John X of Antioch and All the East. Among other concelebrants were Bishop Romanos of Seleucia, chief secretary of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Antioch; Bishop Moussa of Darayya; Bishop John of Sergiopolis; Archimandrite Yakoub (Assaf), a staff member of the Patriarchate of Antioch; Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, advisor to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’; Archpriest Igor Yakimchuk, DECR deputy chairman; Archimandrite Philip (Vasiltsev), representative of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’ to the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East; and Priest Alexander Yershov, assistant to the DECR chairman; The liturgical prayers were offered in the Arabic, Church Slavonic and Greek languages. Attending the divine service were Mr Alexander Yefimov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Syrian Arab Republic, as well as representatives of the Centre for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides and Refugee Migration Monitoring in the Syrian Arab Republic, and numerous Russian citizens residing in Syria. At the end of the Liturgy, His Beatitude Patriarch John of Antioch wholeheartedly greeted Metropolitan Anthony, the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Ambassador of the Russian Federation. |
| Д.Г. Полонский Почитание римского папы Льва I великого в южно- и восточнославянской традициях XII-XVII веков Источник Статья посвящена истории почитания римского папы Льва I Великого у православных славян, отраженной в болгарских, сербских и русских памятниках письменности различных жанров. Предложено объяснение причин, из-за которых посвященная понтифику церковная служба могла стать стимулом для появления в XII в. в Киевской Руси славянского перевода его главного богословского сочинения, широко распространявшегося в рукописной традиции на протяжении XV-XVII вв. The article deals with the history of veneration of Pope Leo the Great by the Orthodox Slavs as reflected in different genres of Bulgarian, Serbian, and Russian literary monuments. The author proposes an explanation why the church service devoted the pontiff could be an incentive for the creation the Slavonic translation of Leo’s main theological work to be created in the twelfth century in Kievan Rus’, and then was widely disseminated in the East Slavonic manuscript tradition throughout the fifteenth – seventeenth centuries. Деятельность папы Льва I Великого (440–461) в качестве первоиерарха Римской церкви, как и его сочинения, давно привлекают внимание историков и теологов. По-видимому, самый яркий эпизод биографии папы Льва Великого – его дипломатическая победа над предводителем гуннов Аттилой, впервые описанная папским секретарем Проспером Аквитанским, а позднее запечатленная многими живописцами эпохи Возрождения, в том числе Рафаэлем Санти Р. 262, 323]. Вторгшиеся в Италию гунны намеревались захватить и разграбить Рим, и когда на исходе лета 452 г. Аттила со своим войском подошел к Мантуе, навстречу ему выехало посольство во главе с Львом I. Понтифик вручил вождю гуннов богатые подарки и уговорил его уйти из Италии. В позднейших легендах, отраженных на фресках и полотнах, при встрече с папой Львом I Аттила увидел спускавшихся с небес и грозивших ему оружием апостолов Петра и Павла и, испугавшись, повернул коня. |
| Photo: riabir.ru “Love is not sentimentality, but sacrifice.” -Archimandrite Vasileios The Language Barrier One of the greatest difficulties which modern Americans face when encountering Holy Orthodoxy is one of language. I do not refer, however, to the outward obstacle of the use of Church Slavonic, Greek, Arabic, or any other of the languages of Orthodox immigrants to this country. I refer rather to the colossal problem of the usage of the English language. For all of its intrinsic and obvious secularism, our culture is nonetheless profoundly steeped in the language of Christianity. So much so that my professor of American Literature in college, himself a Jew, once said to us that it is absolutely futile to attempt to understand any literature written more than fifty years ago without first having a thorough and comprehensive knowledge of the Christian Bible. So far so good, right? But the problem is this: whether we are aware of it or not, the Christian vocabulary of the English language has been deeply saturated with five hundred years of theology, and frankly this theology can ofttimes be quite far from Orthodox Christianity. To put it another way: there are certain theological assumptions which our minds automatically make whenever we hear a Christian word, and these assumptions are conditioned not only by our own explicitly held beliefs but also by our shared cultural heritage and the historical development of Christianity in the West. But Orthodoxy must nevertheless use this same set of English words, despite the fact that the Orthodox Church sometimes means by them something far different than what we as American actually hear when these words are used. This can be true even of words that are altogether foundational to Christianity itself: grace, salvation, sin, judgment, temptation, mercy, repentance… even love. As a result, it can be extremely difficult for us to come to an authentic understanding of what Christianity really is, of what the Church really teaches about the most important questions in life: who is God, who are we, how ought we to live? And our difficulty is made so much the worse by the fact that we very often have no idea that there is a problem at all, we do not even realize that these words mean something far different than what we think they mean. |
| The hierarchs warn that they will quit the Assembly of Canonical Bishops if Belya becomes a member L to R: Abp. Elpidophoros, Pat. Bartholomew, Alexander Belya. Photo: slavonic.org A number of top hierarchs of the jurisdictions of the Canonical Assembly of Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America have united to protest the Greek Archdiocese’s planned consecration to the episcopacy of a defrocked former archimandrite. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, a jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, announced earlier this month that the Constantinople Synod elected Alexander Belya as an auxiliary bishop of the Greek Archdiocese for its Slavic Vicariate, with his consecration set for July 30. However, Belya is, in fact, a defrocked former archimandrite of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. In a letter addressed to the Greek Archdiocese’s Archbishop Elpidophoros, the signing hierarchs, His Eminence Metropolitan Joseph (Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America), His Grace Bishop Longin (Serbian Orthodox Church in North, Central and South America), His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae (Romanian Orthodox Metropolia of the Americas), His Eminence Metropolitan Joseph (Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Diocese of the USA, Canada, and Australia), and His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon (Orthodox Church in America), warn that the consecration of Belya poses a great threat to Orthodox unity in America. In fact, if Belya is made a bishop and therefore becomes a member of the Assembly of Bishops, the hierarchs warn that they will be forced to quit the Assembly, as they recognize the canonicity of his defrocking by ROCOR in 2020. Besides Abp. Elpidophoros, the letter was also sent to Patriarch Bartholomew and all members of the Assembly of Bishops. “In addition to our canonical concerns, we have serious questions about his character based on past direct and indirect interactions with him and his family,” the bishops write to Abp. Elpidophoros. |
| The Interference by the Phanar in the UOC-MP Affairs Divides and not Unites People in the Entire Orthodox World Source: Orthodox Life (Russian) Why does the Phanar act so cautiously with Orthodox in America and yet acts in such an irresponsible way in Ukraine? What is the stand of the ROCOR on the policy of the Phanar in Ukraine? We have discussed these and other topical issues with Archpriest Seraphim Gan, Chancellor of the Synod of Bishops and Personal Secretary of the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. —Your Reverence, can you tell us about the situation with the Orthodox jurisdictions in the USA? —In 2019, we are going to celebrate the 225th anniversary of the arrival of Orthodoxy to North American continent. The true faith was spread in our land by a group of missionary monks from Valaam Monastery. Among the saints who shone forth in this land are St. Herman, the Wonderworker of Alaska, who came from Valaam Monastery; the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Metropolitan Innocent (Veniaminov), a great hierarch and the Enlightener of North America; and His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon, the future confessor of the faith of Christ, who reinforced the Orthodox presence in the USA and zealously provided spiritual guidance to all Orthodox ethnic groups represented there. St. Tikhon encouraged the translation of Orthodox services into English. He appointed bishops and clergy in the Diocese of North America of the Russian Orthodox Church to give due pastoral care to Serbs, Arabs, Greeks and other Orthodox who found themselves in a foreign land. The famous Holy Hierarch Raphael (Hawaweeny) of Brooklyn (1860-1915; canonized by the OCA in 2000) was consecrated a bishop by the future Patriarch Tikhon to rule Antiochean parishes on the territory of North America. St. Raphael served in Arabic, English and even Church Slavonic in the parishes under his archpastoral care. His holy relics (as were the relics of St. Tikhon of Moscow) were uncovered in the 1990s and found incorrupt. |
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