| His Holiness Patriarch Kirill Delivers Address at a Meeting of the Supreme Church Council Source: DECR On 26 December 2018, the Supreme Church Council of the Russian Orthodox Church held a regular session in the Hall of the Supreme Church Council of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow under the chairmanship of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. His Holiness delivered an opening address. Photo: Oleg Varov/foto.patriarchia.ru I greet all the members of the Supreme Church Council at this year’s last session. Of course, we will discuss the results of the year, but first of all, I would like to cordially greet all of you. And I have to say a few words about the year gone by, which, as we all feel, was very difficult. The situation of our Church in Ukraine is still a source of great tension, a factor affecting the well-being of Orthodox Christians, their spiritual welfare. You are well informed, you know what is going on, what developments – radical, extremely dangerous for the integrity of the Ukrainian people, and not only for our Church – have recently taken place in Kiev following the decision of the Ukrainian parliament requiring to change the name of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. These changes will be followed by repressions, and it is completely obvious that an ultimatum has been presented: if the Church does not change its name, its registration will be cancelled. And if the Church changes its name, then, naturally, an enormous pressure will be exerted on the Ukrainian people, on the public. There is no doubt that acts of violence will be committed to take away church buildings. People in Ukraine are believers, they are Orthodox Christians, firm in faith and emotional, hence there is a risk that the situation concerning the church buildings can escalate into bloody conflicts. Therefore, I ask you to pray even more zealously for peace in the brotherly Ukrainian land and for the preservation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. As is widely known, what triggered persecutions of the Ukrainian Orthodoxy was the unprecedented decision of Constantinople, going beyond the bounds of any canonical order and therefore criminal, to encroach on the canonical territory of the Ukrainian Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, on the territory of our Church. This encroachment resulted in and was followed by the devastating developments, first of all, the interference of the governmental authorities, also unprecedented. And it occurred in the country which declares its commitment to the European values, one of which is the separation of the Church, of religion, from the state! In violation of this fundamental European value the state in the person of president directly interferes in church administration, one may say, presides at what is called “unification church council” and participates in negotiations with Constantinople on the so-called “tomos,” doing all this in front of TV cameras, in plain view of the whole world. |
| The Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America issues Statement, Petitions on the Holy and Great Council Source: OCA The Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America Statement on the Holy and Great Council to be convened on the Island of Crete June 16-27, 2016 We greet you in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the Way and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6). For many decades, the Orthodox Church has witnessed the efforts to assemble a Holy and Great Council as a contemporary witness to the Holy Orthodox Faith. The initiative in this modern endeavor belonged to the Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras. The long pilgrimage toward the Holy and Great Council began in the 1960s. There were long pauses in this pilgrimage, followed by a renewed period of intense preparation at the initiative of His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. Through the decades, Pan-Orthodox conferences, consultations, and meetings of patriarchs and primates have revised the list of topics. During recent months, as the churches have reviewed draft documents and reflected on their formulations, new proposals have been brought forth and fresh disagreements have arisen. Even at this late stage, participation in the Holy and Great Council is uncertain, and its outcome is equally uncertain. In the midst of all this uncertainty, there is one certainty: the Orthodox Church in America, not being universally recognized as an autocephalous church, is not invited to be a participant. Our reaction to this is one of sadness, but not alienation. With gratitude to God, we affirm our identity as the Orthodox Church in America. We also affirm with gratitude to God our autocephaly, as granted to us by the Russian Orthodox Church, and as recognized by the Churches of Georgia, Bulgaria, Poland, and the Czech Lands and Slovakia. We affirm with profound gratitude to God our Eucharistic communion with all Orthodox Churches, beginning with the Ecumenical Patriarchate. We therefore accept and affirm our right and duty to accompany the Holy and Great Council with love and reflection and prayer. |
| 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 On commemoration day of St. Catherine, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk officiated at the Church of St. Catherine the Great Martyr In-the-Fields the representation of the Orthodox Church in America On December 7, 2020, the commemoration day of St. Catherine the Great Martyr, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations, officiated at the festive service at the Moscow representation of the Orthodox Church in America - the Church of St. Catherine In-the-Fields. The archpastor was assisted by Bishop Anthony of Moravichi, representative of the Patriarch of Serbia to the Patriarch of Moscow; Protopresbyter Vladimir Divakov, secretary to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia; Archpriest Nikolay Balashov, DECR vice-chairman; Archimandrite Seraphim (Shemyatovsky), representative of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia; Archpriest Daniel Andreyuk, rector of the St. Catherine Church and representative of the Orthodox Church in America to the Moscow Patriarchal see; Archpriest Kakhaber Gogoshvili, Georgian Orthodox Church, acting dean of the Moscow church district; Archpriest Sergiy Tocheny, rector of the Church of Jacob Zabedee in-Kazennaya Sloboda and the Church of the Finding of the Lord’s Sepulcher in-Barashi; Archpriest Leonid Kalinin, rector of the Church of Great Martyr Clement the Pope of Rome In-Zamoskvorechie and chairman of the Experts Council for Church Art, Architecture and Restoration; as well as clergy of the St. Catherine Church. After the Prayer of Fervent Supplication, Metropolitan Hilarion lifted up a prayer read at a time of the spread of a pernicious infection. After the liturgy, Archpriest Daniel Andreyuk greeted Metropolitan Hilarion and thanked his concelebrants for their prayers and read out the message of greetings from His Beatitude Tikhon, Metropolitan of All America and Canada. |
| On the situation caused by the refusal of several local Orthodox Churches to participate in the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church Source: DECR Photo: http://www.patriarchia.ru Statement of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church For many decades the Russian Orthodox Church took and continues to take an active part in the preparation of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church. Since the 1 st Pan-Orthodox Conference in 1961 on Rhodes, the outstanding hierarchs and the best theologians of our Church have made their contribution to the work on a great number of the Council’s topics, including those which were not to be included later in the agenda of the Holy and Great Council. For the sake of the earliest convocation of the Council, the Russian Orthodox Church has repeatedly re-affirmed her readiness to achieve decisions mutually acceptable for all the participants in the pre-Council process, even if such decisions diverted from the already agreed rules of the Council’s preparation. However, the principle of pan-Orthodox consensus has been the invariable basis of the pre-Council process beginning from the 1961 Rhodes Conference, which, on the initiative of the Patriarch of Constantinople, resolved the following: “The decisions of joint meetings shall be adopted with the fullunanimity of the delegations of the Churches” (The Procedure for the Function and Work of the Rhodes Pan-Orthodox Conference, Par. 14). Later this rule was fixed in the Rules of Procedure of Pan-Orthodox Pre-Council Conferences adopted in 1986 as follows: “The texts on all the agenda items of the Pan-Orthodox Pre-Council Conferences shall be approved unanimously” ( Article 16 ). The 2014 Synaxis of the Primate of Orthodox Churches re-affirmed the following: “All the decisions made both during the Council and the preparatory stages shall be made on the basis of consensus” (The Decision of the Synaxis of the Primates, Par. 2a). The same principle was established in the Working Procedure of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church, which has been developed by the Synaxis of the Primates of Orthodox Churches, which took place on January 21-28, 2016, in Chambesy. This Procedure provides, among other things, that the Council “shall be convened by His Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch with the consent of their Beatitudes the Primates of all the universally recognized Local autocephalous Orthodox Churches Article 1). |
| The decisions of the hierarchy of the Church of Greece on the “Holy and Great Council” and the final outcome Met. Hierotheos Vlachos At its meetings on 24 and 25 May 2016, the Hierarchy of the Church of Greece, as was its right and responsibility, studied the texts adopted by the Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conferences and Summits of the Primates, further to the decision and proposal of the Standing Holy Synod. Having taken into account Article 11 of the Organization and Working Procedure of the “Holy and Great Council” it decided to submit proposals, amendments, corrections and additions, which were submitted within the prescribed time to the competent Pan-Orthodox Secretariat of the “Holy and Great Council”. As stated in Article 11 of the Organization and Working Procedure of the Holy and Great Council “At the conclusion of deliberations, the approval of any change is expressed, according to pan-Orthodox procedures, by the consensus of the delegations of each autocephalous Orthodox Church. This means that an amendment that is not approved unanimously shall not be passed.” The important thing is that most of these proposals were adopted unanimously by the Hierarchy of the Church of Greece, while some were approved with a minority of one or two Bishops voting against out of a total of 76 present, and one proposal was approved by an open vote. These facts imply that this decision by the Hierarchy of the Church of Greece was solidly supported and expresses the consciousness of the Orthodox Church in Greece, which has a high theological, pastoral and monastic ecclesiastical level. 1. The key points of the decisions of the Hierarchy There are four key points in the decisions taken by the Hierarchy, namely, the issue of the person , the granting of autonomy to an ecclesiastical province, the Orthodox Church and the rest of the Christian world, and the unity of the Church as a given fact. a) According to the Fathers of the Church, the term person was attributed to the Triune God, while throughout patristic literature the biblical term human being (anthropos) is used for humans in the theological meaning of human beings created in the image and likeness of God. When sometimes the Fathers use the term hypostasis for human beings, they use it based on the Bible and not on philosophy. |
| Presenting his report to the Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, which opened on February 2 in Moscow, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia spoke on the preparations for the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church. Photo: http://www.patriarchia.ru/ ‘We believe that the Church of Christ is One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic, as the Creed clearly states. The Church is one by her nature. The existence of many autocephalous Churches in the world is a form of the Church’s existence in history most suitable for carrying out her salvific mission. We also know that the Church’s decision-making important for the Orthodox Plenitude has always required the participation if not of all the Orthodox hierarchs then at all events representatives of each Local Church. In this sense, Ecumenical Councils and some other Councils of pan-Orthodox significance are a visible expression of the Unity of the Church, her conciliar nature, a reflection of her self-awareness as one body in Christ (sf. Rom. 12:5). ‘The reception by the whole Church of a particular Council has always been gradual and, ‘as church history shows, no Council could impose its decisions on the Church if they proved to be rejected by the people of God, if there was no all-church reception of a Council’s resolutions’. For this reason, no Ecumenical Council became such only by the fact of its convocation: its real significance became clear only after some, sometimes very long time. ‘We do not call Ecumenical the forthcoming Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church. Unlike ancient Ecumenical Councils, it is not called to make decisions on doctrinal issues because such were made long ago and are not subject to revision. It is not called either to introduce any innovation in the liturgical life of the Church and her canonical order. Nevertheless, it may, if prepared correctly, become an important factor in consolidating the inter-church unity and cooperation and contribute to the clarification of the responses that the Orthodox Church gives to challenges of today on the basis of her age-old Tradition’. |
| Triumph, but not Triumphalism: On the Sunday of Orthodoxy Do many today in the West read the works of the ascetic and spiritual writers of the ancient Church? But the Orthodox – monks and laity – read these books and guide their spiritual life by them. Dear Fathers, Brothers, and Sisters, We have gathered today to celebrate the Triumph of Orthodoxy. This feast was established in the ninth century to mark the final victory of the Church over iconoclasm, and also in memory of all the great Fathers and Teachers of the Church – theologians, hierarchs, priests, monks, and laymen – who have dedicated their lives to the defense of Church doctrine from heresy. To all of them, by tradition, we on this day proclaim Eternal Memory, while to heretics and schismatics – Anathema. In many Western countries, the Triumph of Orthodoxy has become a day on which the Orthodox of various jurisdictions gather together in order to pray together and to witness to their unity of faith. This unity is not easy to maintain in conditions in which there sometimes arise contradictions, misunderstandings, and even conflicts between Local Orthodox Churches. Unlike the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church does not have a single head, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, nor does it have a single administrative structure; instead, every Local Church has its primate and governs itself independently. Despite this apparent disunity, the unity of world Orthodoxy is preserved, and the witness and ministry of the Orthodox Church continue. What is the Triumph of Orthodoxy today, in our time, so distant from the ninth century, when this feast was established? Above all, it is that – regardless of the most severe persecution – the Orthodox Church has not lost its faith and its liturgical tradition, reflected in its church architecture, iconography, church singing, and the whole structure of its services. The Orthodox Church has been persecuted and oppressed over the course of many centuries – by Arabs, Crusaders, Mongols, Turks, and the Bolsheviks in Soviet Russia. Repression on an unprecedented scale was unleashed against the Russian Church in the twentieth century, when hundreds of bishops, tens of thousands of priests and monks, and millions of laymen were killed; a multitude of churches was destroyed; all monasteries and theological schools were destroyed; and when the goal was to wipe off the Church from the face of the earth. But the Church survived, preserving its faith and its unity at the expense of the blood of the multitude of Confessors and New Martyrs who are our intercessors before God. |
| Presenting his report to the Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, which opened on February 2 in Moscow, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia spoke on the preparations for the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church. " We believe that the Church of Christ is One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic, as the Creed clearly states. The Church is one by her nature. The existence of many autocephalous Churches in the world is a form of the Church’s existence in history most suitable for carrying out her salvific mission. We also know that the Church’s decision-making, important for the Orthodox plenitude, has always required the participation if not of all the Orthodox hierarchs then at least representatives of each Local Church. In this sense, Ecumenical Councils and some other Councils of pan-Orthodox significance are a visible expression of the unity of the Church, her conciliar nature, a reflection of her self-awareness as one body in Christ (cf. Rom. 12:5). " The reception by the whole Church of a particular Council has always been gradual and, as church history shows, no Council could impose its decisions on the Church if they proved to be rejected by the people of God, if there was no pan-Church reception of a Council’s resolutions. " For this reason, no Ecumenical Council became such only by the fact of its convocation: its real significance became clear only after some, and sometimes a very long time. " We do not call Ecumenical the forthcoming Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church. Unlike ancient Ecumenical Councils, it is not called to make decisions on doctrinal issues because such were made long ago and are not subject to revision. It is not called either to introduce any innovation in the liturgical life of the Church and her canonical order. Nevertheless, it may, if prepared correctly, become an important factor in consolidating the inter-Church unity and cooperation and contribute to the clarification of the responses that the Orthodox Church gives to challenges of today on the basis of her age-old Tradition. " |
| The Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church will meet in June this year, according to the Athens News Agency-Macedonian Press Agency (ANA-MPA). A decision was made as the Primates are gathered in a Synaxis at the Orthodox Center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambesy, Geneva, whose work is done under the presidency of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. Of course, for the Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church to meet in June, during the period of Pentecost (06/19/2016), the Primates in Geneva must definitely choose the themes and regulations. The decision to convene the Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church in Crete, rather than at the headquarters (Constantinople) of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, was dictated by the " exceptional objective circumstances " (i.e. the recent Russo-Turkish crisis), which basically prevents the Moscow Patriarch Kyrill and his delegation from visiting the City. That is why this Synaxis of Primates is meeting in Geneva and not in the Phanar, as originally planned. The gathering in Geneva involves eleven of the fourteen Primates, with their delegations. Three are missing: Patriarch John of Antioch, Metropolitan Savvas of Warsaw and All Poland for health reason, and Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece for personal reasons. The work of the Synaxis will continue until January 28th. The convocation, " barring the unexpected, " of the Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church this year in Constantinople was decided in March 2014 at the Synaxis of the Primates, which had gathered at the Phanar. The themes of the Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church includes the following ten topics: 1. The Orthodox Diaspora. 2. The manner in which Autocephaly is assigned. 3. The manner of the administration of Autonomy in semi-independent Churches within the limits of Autocephalous Churches, such as the Orthodox Church of Finland under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. 4. The Diptychs. This is the order of the Autocephalous Churches, according to honor and ranking, by which the Primates are commemorated. The order of the Churches may change. (For example, the Church of Cyprus, although it is one of the most ancient and was recognized by the Third Ecumenical Synod in Ephesus in 431, is tenth in the order, having been surpassed by Patriarchates, which have been granted Autocephaly in recent times by the Ecumenical Patriarchate and not by an Ecumenical Synod.) |
| Right-believing Great Prince Rostislav-Michael the Prince of Kiev Commemorated on March 14/27 Saint Rostislav-Michael, Great Prince of Kiev, was the son of the Kievan Great Prince Saint Mstislav the Great (June 14), and the brother of holy Prince Vsevolod-Gabriel (February 11, April 22, and November 27). He was one of the great civil and churchly figures of the mid-twelfth century. His name is connected with the fortification and rise of Smolensk, and both the Smolensk principality and the Smolensk diocese. Up until the twelfth century the Smolensk land was part of the Kievan realm. The beginning of its political separation took place in the year 1125, when holy Prince Mstislav the Great, gave Smolensk to his son Rostislav (in Baptism Michael) as an inheritance from his father, the Kievan Great Prince Vladimir Monomakh. Thanks to the work and efforts of Saint Rostislav, the Smolensk principality, which he ruled for more than forty years, expanded and was built up with cities and villages, adorned with churches and monasteries, and became influential in Russian affairs. Saint Rostislav founded the cities of Rostislavl, Mstislavl, Krichev, Propoisk, and Vasiliev among others. He was the forefather of the Smolensk princely dynasty. In 1136 Saint Rostislav succeeded in establishing a separate Smolensk diocese. Its first bishop was Manuel, installed between March-May of 1136 by Metropolitan Michael of Kiev. Prince Rostislav issued an edict in the city of Smolensk assuring Bishop Manuel that he would provide him with whatever he needed. On September 30, 1150 Saint Rostislav also ceded Cathedral Hill at Smolensk to the Smolensk diocese, where the Dormition cathedral and other diocesan buildings stood. Contemporaries thought highly of the church construction of Prince Rostislav. Even the sources that are inclined to report nothing more about it note that “this prince built the church of the Theotokos at Smolensk.” The Dormition cathedral, originally built by his grandfather, Vladimir Monomakh, in the year 1101 was rebuilt and expanded under Prince Rostislav. The rebuilt cathedral was consecrated by Bishop Manuel on the Feast of the Dormition, August 15, 1150. Prince Rostislav was a “builder of the Church” in a far wider sense: he endowed the Smolensk Dormition church of the Mother of God, and transformed it from a city cathedral into the ecclesiastical center of the vast Smolensk diocese. |
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